Sudan

Allow me to extend, on behalf of the people and Government of the Sudan, our heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of the Dominican Republic and to the families of the victims of the tragic American Airlines crash that took place earlier this week. We would also like to express our condolences to the brotherly people of Algeria, who recently suffered sweeping floods in their country. At the outset, I would like to express to you, Mr. President, our warm congratulations on your election as President of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly. We are pleased to assure you of our confidence in your ability to lead our work to success. We would also like to express our gratitude to Mr. Harri Holkeri for the able and efficient way in which he discharged the presidency during the last session. I would also like to salute Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and extend to him our warm congratulations on his re-election to head the Organization for a second term. I am pleased to congratulate him once again on winning the Nobel 25 Peace Prize. We are confident that he will continue in his untiring efforts to lead the Organization towards its noble objectives of achieving a better tomorrow for humanity. This session is being held at a time of extremely complex developments in the wake of the tragic terrorist acts that took place in New York and Washington, D.C. From this podium, I would like to reaffirm Sudan’s condemnation and denunciation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We would like to express once again our sincere condolences to the Government of the United States and to the families of the victims. The Sudan calls upon the Organization to rise to the onerous challenges, heavy burdens and subsequent repercussions of these events. This will require a coordinated and collective international effort to combat terrorism and uproot its causes and sources under the authority of international legitimacy. In this context, we must differentiate between good and evil — we must avoid putting both in one basket. We should not confuse the issues, because if we do, good might be transformed into evil. I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize Sudan’s readiness to continue to participate in and contribute to this effort. Sudan has ranked first among Member States that have ratified or acceded to international conventions on terrorism. At the regional level, Sudan was among the first countries to ratify the Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism. It has also ratified the Convention of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Combating International Terrorism. We are in the process of ratifying the Convention of the Organization of African Unity on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism. At the national level, we have adopted a law to fight terrorism. Through these measures, my country is helping to build a proper and sound foundation for combating and uprooting international terrorism in accordance with international legitimacy. I would like to join those who preceded me by saying that terrorism does not belong to a particular religion, nationality, or ethnic group. It is an international phenomenon. Therefore, we must coordinate our efforts internationally to uproot it. We deplore efforts in some circles to link terrorism with Islam in cheap attempt to sow discord among the followers of divine religions and to portray the issue as a clash between cultures and civilizations. Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, and as such is far from having any connection to terrorism. The proceedings of this session could not have come at a more opportune moment for us in the Sudan. We reaped the benefit of our common efforts supported by our brothers and friends to lift the sanctions that have been imposed on the Sudan by the Security Council since 1996. This will contribute to Sudan’s further cooperation with the international community. In this context, the Sudan calls upon the Security Council to pursue this objective policy and review the sanctions it has imposed on a number of countries, including Libya and Iraq. The Sudan also calls upon the Security Council to dispatch a fact-finding mission in connection with the Alshifa pharmaceutical factory in the Sudan, which was destroyed by American missiles in August 1998. We believe that the bombardment of this factory was a flagrant mistake committed by the former American administration. It is a mistake that should be recognized and corrected, which would allow Member States and peoples of the world to regain confidence in the Organization and help remove a source of grievance and injustice. Thus the people of the world could live together in a world of justice, equality, security and peace. The delegation of the Sudan believes that now is the time to end the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed on certain countries, including the Sudan, which have negative effects on many sectors of our population, particularly women and children. We in the Sudan look forward to a new era in our relations with the Organization following the lifting of the sanctions imposed on our country. We are pleased to confirm that we will endeavour to make every possible moral and intellectual effort to support the activities of the Organization that promote the well- being of humanity. We also anticipate that the Organization will play an effective role and make a new contribution towards assisting the Sudan in the implementation of its national development programmes, including the eradication of poverty and the rehabilitation of areas destroyed by war. 26 The Sudan, as the current Chair of two African regional organizations, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States, would like once again to recall the historic Declaration adopted by the Millennium Summit so as to confront the challenges faced at all levels by the international community in the twenty- first century. The Sudan hopes this Declaration will be translated into real and tangible action aimed at achieving justice and equality and the full participation of all Member States in the creation of a better tomorrow where human beings will be liberated from fear, poverty and destitution. For us to realize our aspirations, this session should give special attention to reforming the Organization’s organs, since they are the mechanisms through which the international community coordinates plans to realize international peace and security, comprehensive development and prosperity for all humanity. The Security Council tops the list of these organs. Member States have been calling for an expansion of its membership in the permanent and non- permanent categories, so that it will be more representative of the current United Nations membership. They have also called for improvement in its working methods and decision-making process, which should be more democratic and transparent. The General Assembly should be enabled to carry out its role as enshrined in the United Nations Charter with respect to maintaining international peace and security, and should also exercise its duty to hold other organs of the Organization accountable. We should like to emphasize the need to revitalize the role of the Economic and Social Council, considering that it is the forum that sets out international development policies. Its resolutions should be linked more to economic and social aspects than to political ones. The Council should be guided by the decisions adopted at the Vienna Conference, which considered the right to development an inalienable human right. All countries that participated in the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, unanimously confirmed their utmost determination to eradicate all forms of racism and xenophobia and to address their root causes in order to achieve justice and fairness for all peoples who have suffered and continue to suffer from the scourge of these heinous practices. The Sudan supported the implementation of recommendations from the Durban Conference, including those of the Group of eminent persons. With regard to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, the Sudan expresses its deep concern at the stalemate in the peace process and reaffirms the need for total Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories in accordance with United Nations resolutions. This will enable the Palestinian people to regain its sovereignty over its territories and establish its independent State with holy Jerusalem as its capital, and allow sisterly Syria and Lebanon to restore their sovereignty over all their occupied territories. The Sudan also reiterates its deep concern for the negative humanitarian impacts of the current military operations in Afghanistan on the civilian population. We welcome and support the mission of the Secretary- General’s representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. With regard to Somalia, where the tragedies of the long-standing war spread negative effects to the whole region of the Horn of Africa, the Sudan delegation calls upon all Somali parties to respond to the voice of reason and complete national reconciliation in Somalia, allowing Somalia to fulfil its regional and international role. By the decision adopted at the eighth Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Summit in Khartoum last November, the Sudan was mandated, together with neighbouring countries, to complete the national reconciliation efforts in coordination with Somalia’s Transitional Government. In conformity with this mandate to restore stability in Somalia, the President of the Republic of the Sudan, Omer Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir, current Chairman of IGAD, has appointed a special envoy for peace in that sisterly country. The special envoy is engaged in intensive contacts with the countries of the subregion, the Transitional Government in Somalia, the different Somali factions and the IGAD secretariat. From this podium, the delegation of the Sudan calls upon the United Nations and the international community to support the efforts to restore security, stability and infrastructure in Somalia, so that the Government will be able to fulfil its commitments and establish peace and stability in the country. 27 We understand the concern of the international community over the continuation of the war in the southern Sudan. I would like to bring to the Assembly’s attention the position of the Government of the Sudan with a view to ending the war and achieving peace through the following steps: an immediate, supervised and total ceasefire; regular access to humanitarian assistance for the population in need; negotiations on a political solution to the problem; and the reconstruction of the areas affected by the war. The ninth IGAD Summit is to be held in Khartoum in January of next year. We hope that the questions of the Sudan and Somalia will be given the importance they deserve so that leaders will come away with a clear vision of how to end the war and restore peace in this sensitive region of the world. In this context, I would like to refer to the statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan before the Third Committee last week. He stated that the war in the Sudan is not a religious war, as is repeatedly alleged by some circles wishing to distort the truth. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for their joint initiative for peace and reconciliation in the Sudan. I would also like to pay tribute to IGAD member States for their initiative to stop the war in the Sudan and the genuine efforts to restore peace in my country. The Government of the Sudan will continue its commitment to cooperating with the United Nations, donor countries and humanitarian organizations in order to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the victims of the war. With regard to economics, the Government has maintained and enhanced reform and liberalization programmes and has introduced measures and incentives to promote local and foreign private investment. The Sudan has now succeeded in normalizing its relations with regional and international financial institutions. A positive sign of this is an increase in local investments and steady flows of foreign investment to the Sudan. We are mindful of the accelerated pace of globalization in the domain of international law, especially in the field of criminal liability and bringing before international criminal authorities individuals charged with committing heinous crimes prohibited by international law. In this connection, we believe it is imperative that all States and individuals should stand as equals before international law. The avoidance of double standards is a true safeguard against the distortion of international justice and ensures that it stays on the right path. We have made considerable effort in the past few years, in coordination with many countries of the world, to guarantee the faithful application of these standards and noble principles. To this end, the Sudan chose to follow words with deeds by quickly signing the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court. International cooperation on disarmament should be based on commitment and adherence to international law and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, including the sovereign equality of States, territorial integrity, the peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and the legitimate right of States to self-defence. In conclusion, I would like to invite the Assembly to reaffirm the political will required to achieve international peace and security. I call upon all to adopt concrete measures ensuring that globalization becomes a positive engine of progress; that its advantages and benefits are shared by humanity at large, not restricted to a minority; and that globalization does not lead to cultural and intellectual hegemony and is not used as a means of political and economic pressure. If that happened, it would undoubtedly result in widening the development gap and the clash between the different cultures of the North and the South. Let us all join together in a new era of international relations based on the rejection of conflicts and confrontation, on mutual respect and non- interference in the internal affairs of others. To this end, I would like to reaffirm the Sudan’s commitment and pledge to cooperate with the international community to move forward in realizing the common aspirations of all humanity.