Let me
begin by congratulating you, Sir, on your well-deserved
election to preside over the sixty-fifth session of the
General Assembly. I assure you of Tanzania’s full
support and cooperation. I also thank and congratulate
your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Abdussalam Treki,
for his leadership and accomplishments.
Having just concluded a successful summit on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I would like
to congratulate the Secretary-General, His Excellency
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his leadership, dedication and
commitment to the work of the Organization and for
the new momentum that he is bringing towards the
achievement of the MDGs. Once again, we welcome
his Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health
and urge the international community to render the
necessary support for its implementation.
We emphasize the importance of national
leadership and global partnership in meeting the
MDGs. Tanzania will do its part. We call on all
partners to do their part, as stipulated under MDG 8.
One such successful partnership is the collective efforts
of the African leadership through the African Leaders
Malaria Alliance (ALMA), chaired by His Excellency
Mr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United
Republic of Tanzania. Our focus within ALMA is on
ensuring that we attain the 2010 targets for universal
coverage of appropriate malaria prevention, diagnosis
and treatment interventions. We are confident that, if
the requested support is realized, we can attain that
target. For that reason, we ask for the full and timely
replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria.
We all know that the Millennium Development
Goals will not be attained without sustained economic
growth and sustainable development. For Tanzania,
where the vast majority of the people depend on
agriculture for their incomes and livelihoods, poverty
cannot be alleviated without addressing the challenges
of production, productivity and markets in the
agricultural sector.
Recognizing that, Tanzania has developed a
programme known as Kilimo Kwanza, which translates
as “Agriculture First”, aimed at transforming and
modernizing the agricultural sector. A key component
of the programme is the improvement of infrastructure,
especially irrigation systems, transport and energy.
However, the major challenge for us remains how to
finance the huge investment gap in infrastructure. That
gap cannot be filled by the public sector alone. For that
reason, the participation of the private sector is
imperative.
Tanzania has undertaken a number of reforms to
create an environment conducive to private sector
investment. We have created the requisite legal,
regulatory and institutional framework to attract both
local and foreign private investment in infrastructure
development. We now have a public-private
partnership policy in place, and Parliament enacted a
bill on such partnerships in June.
Through a presidential circular, Tanzania also
established the Tanzania National Business Council as
an institution to provide a forum for public-private
sector dialogue. The Business Council brings together
public and private sectors with a view to reaching
consensus and mutual understanding on strategic issues
relating to the efficient management of resources in the
promotion of socio-economic development in
Tanzania. The Council’s Chairperson is the President
of the United Republic of Tanzania.
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The Government of the United Republic of
Tanzania would like to reaffirm its commitment to
democratic good governance, the rule of law and
respect for human rights. The recent peaceful
referendum in Zanzibar produced a new political
dispensation that provides for a Government of
national unity whichever party wins the elections. That
should now stabilize Zanzibar and strengthen the
democratic ideals that we all aspire to as Tanzania
prepares for its general elections, scheduled for
31 October. As in previous elections, we will do
everything in our power to ensure that these are
peaceful, free and fair. We thank all partners that,
bilaterally or through the United Nations system, are
strengthening our capacity to realize that goal.
Tanzania is pleased that Africa has continued to
play a leading role in conflict prevention, management
and resolution, as well as in entrenching principles of
good governance. Increasingly, more and more African
countries are holding free, fair and peaceful elections,
followed by smooth transitions. The peaceful
referendum in Kenya that paved the way for a new
Constitution demonstrates the will of African countries
to take charge of their own destinies. That is a matter
of great satisfaction to us, and we commend the people
and leadership of Kenya for that important
achievement.
We thank and commend all who continue to work
hard for a political solution to the situation in Darfur
that will lead to durable peace and address the
humanitarian situation. We are concerned about
periodic eruptions of violence, and we call on all sides
in Darfur to join the peace process. In the meantime,
we commend the African Union-United Nations Hybrid
Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) for the good work that
it continues to do under very difficult conditions. We
therefore urge the international community to give
UNAMID all the support that it needs.
We note the preparations and progress towards
the holding of a referendum in Southern Sudan early
next year. We call on all parties to do everything in
their power to keep to the timetable for that
referendum. The referendum must be peaceful, free and
fair, and the wishes of the people of Southern Sudan
must be respected. We commend the Secretary-General
for his initiatives to facilitate that process, including
his decision to appoint a panel of eminent persons,
headed by His Excellency Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, the
former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, to
monitor the process. We pledge Tanzania’s full support
to Mr. Mkapa and his team for the successful
accomplishment of the task ahead of them. We urge all
parties to cooperate with the team, and we call upon
the international community to provide the requisite
support for the successful holding of the referendum
and the peaceful management of its outcome.
Tanzania will continue to play its role in ensuring
lasting peace and stability in Africa and elsewhere.
That includes contributing to United Nations
peacekeeping operations and missions in Africa and
elsewhere, including those we have deployed in Darfur
and Lebanon.
We are concerned about the worsening political,
humanitarian, social and security situation in Somalia,
which threatens the whole region and, ultimately, the
world. Recently, we witnessed terrorist bombings in
Uganda by the group Al-Shabaab, which caused the
loss of many innocent lives and the destruction of
property. Having been victim to similar attacks in
Dar es Salaam in 1998, Tanzania condemns that
barbaric attack in the strongest terms and expresses
solidarity with and support for Uganda and other
neighbours in tracking down and prosecuting those
involved.
We highly commend Uganda and Burundi for
contributing peacekeeping troops in Somalia under the
African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). We
further thank all those African countries that have
committed to providing additional troops to AMISOM.
We ask the international community to provide the
support needed to make that deployment possible and
timely. However, the problem of Somalia cannot be left
to Africans alone. In that regard, the Security Council
must be more engaged and supportive in finding a
lasting solution to Somalia.
Tanzania is concerned about the continued
increase in piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden and the
Indian Ocean, which are now spreading beyond the
coast of Somalia. The piracy issue cannot be resolved
on the seas alone or without addressing the causal
factors on land. A coordinated, coherent,
comprehensive and integrated response that includes
political, military, financial and legal support is
needed. The United Nations and the international
community should work closely with the African
Union, members of the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development and other neighbouring States to
11 10-55122
suppress acts of piracy, as well as to apprehend and
prosecute those who commit that crime.
In the United Republic of Tanzania, we recently
amended the criminal code to allow our courts to
prosecute suspected pirates under universal
jurisdiction. We call on the international community to
enhance the prosecution and custodial capacities of
countries, such as ours, that apprehend and prosecute
pirates. The international community must also agree
to share post-prosecution custodial responsibilities
with the affected States. Tanzania has also offered to
train 1,000 Somali soldiers in Tanzania in the firm
belief that, in the final analysis, peace and security in
Somalia lie in the hands of the Somalis themselves.
Over the years, Tanzania has been a home for
many refugees. The current stability in our
neighbouring countries has enabled voluntary
repatriation of many refugees, in addition to those who
have been naturalized. As a result, the population of
refugees in Tanzania declined from 1.2 million in 1994
to 108,426 by 31 July this year. This has enabled the
closure of 12 refugee camps.
Tanzania has also continued its tradition since
independence of granting citizenship to refugees who
have been in our country for many years. In April this
year, we naturalized 162,254 refugees who entered the
country in 1972. The Government is now in the process
of integrating these naturalized persons into Tanzanian
society.
This, however, is a costly exercise. It is estimated
that the naturalization and local integration programme
will cost over $146 million. This is a huge burden to a
poor country like Tanzania. We call upon the
international community to support this integration
programme under the principle of equitable
responsibility and burden-sharing.
We join others in welcoming the adoption of
resolution 64/289 on system-wide coherence, which,
among other things, established UN Women. It is our
hope that UN Women will receive the required support
from the international community and the entire United
Nations system to deliver on its mandate. Tanzania
congratulates Ms. Michelle Bachelet on her
appointment to head UN Women and assures her of
Tanzania’s unwavering support as she discharges her
duties.
Tanzania’s experience as a pilot country in the
delivering as one reform initiative has convinced us
that this, indeed, was a good decision and has
strengthened national ownership and leadership. I am
pleased that Tanzania will, in January 2011, be the first
country to present a common country programme.
Tanzania fully supports the priorities that you,
Sir, have set for the sixty-fifth session of the General
Assembly. Inclusive and democratic governance is as
important at the national level as it is at the global
level. It has, sadly, taken too long to give this issue the
priority it deserves at all levels. We believe that the
inclusive global governance agenda will ensure
accountability and equitable participation in
international trade and financial institutions, and open
doors for fair and equitable participation of developing
countries in the World Trade Organization, the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Tanzania emphasizes and reaffirms the
inclusiveness of the General Assembly as opposed to
the Security Council. We thus call upon all Member
States to press for the expeditious reform of the
Security Council. Africa has the largest number of
Member States. It cannot continue to be denied fair
representation in that important organ of the United
Nations. We urge all Member States to support Africa
in its rightful pursuit of permanent representation on
the Security Council.
In this regard, Tanzania reiterates the decision of
the African Union, as contained in the Ezulwini
Consensus, which demands not less than two
permanent seats with all the prerogatives and privileges
of permanent membership, including the right of veto,
as well as five non-permanent seats.
On the issues of the Middle East and Western
Sahara, let me reiterate what His Excellency President
Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete said during the sixth-fourth
session of the General Assembly in 2009 (see
A/64/PV.6). Tanzania supports a two-State solution
whereby Israel and Palestine would live together side
by side and at peace with each other. Tanzania strongly
maintains that this is the best way to sustainable peace
in the Middle East.
Regarding Western Sahara, the President also
called upon the Security Council to expedite the
process of giving the people of Western Sahara the
opportunity to decide their future status. This matter
10-55122 12
has dragged on since 1975 — in other words, for too
long. The time has come to end the impasse.
Let me conclude by once again reaffirming
Tanzania’s belief and confidence in the United Nations
as the Organization and forum for global governance
and the pursuit of the letter and spirit of its Charter: a
world free from wars and dehumanizing poverty; a
world of sustainable economic and social progress, as
well as freedom, human rights and justice for all. We
reaffirm our commitment to doing our part in pursuit of
that world.