Allow me, Sir, at the
outset, to extend to you my delegation’s warm
congratulations on your election to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. I would
like to assure you of my delegation’s full cooperation
in the discharge of your high responsibilities. My
delegation would like to register our appreciation to the
outgoing President, Mr. Ali Treki, for his able
leadership during the sixty-fourth session. We would
also like to take this opportunity to express our
appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for
his tireless efforts to ensure that the Organization lives
up to the purposes and principles set out in its Charter.
Allow me to begin my statement today by
reviewing some salient aspects of the political and
economic transformation in Ethiopia.
Such a review should of necessity begin with the
democratization process in Ethiopia, which is now
almost completing its second decade. In the political
transformation in Ethiopia over the past two decades,
our single-minded focus has been on building
institutions of democracy, good governance and the
rule of law. The essence of all our endeavours in that
regard has been the devolution of power to the people.
Our federal democratic order, built on the basis of
unity in diversity, has laid the foundation for lasting
peace and security. The democratization process that
Ethiopia has embarked on is irreversible and is taking
deep root at the level of the State and the society at
large.
Still, a democratization process in any country is
not an end in itself. The whole purpose is to create an
environment conducive to bringing about a better life
for the people. That inevitably leads me to our
economic policy and strategy. Today in our country
accelerated development is in full swing, while a
democratic culture and its institutional underpinnings
are developing at the grass-roots level.
The successful results achieved during the last
seven years and the challenges and experience gained
in the process of implementing the previous five-year
economic plan have helped in the formulation of the
next five-year plan — officially called the Growth and
Transformation Plan — covering the period of 2011 to
2015. The objective of that plan is to lay the necessary
basis for nation-building by creating and strengthening
a stable, democratic, developmental State and to
achieve the economic and social goals in the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
At the end of the five-year period the net result of
all our efforts will be that poverty in our country has
been made history. We are confident that by that time
our people will celebrate, together with the
international community, the end of an era of food
insecurity and dependency on food aid. That historic
event will give us an opportunity to extend our deep
gratitude to all our partners for their assistance in our
difficult times. We pledge to redouble our efforts and
utilize their assistance for rapid development of our
country that will extricate us from food insecurity once
and for all.
As regards the Millennium Development Goals,
the High-level Plenary Meeting of the sixty-fifth
session of the General Assembly, held here in New
York just last week, was timely. The outcome
document of that forum (resolution 65/1) should not be
just an appeal but a new pact, binding on stakeholders
with respect to renewed commitment to ensure that the
collective promises made at the dawn of the new
millennium are kept. The action agenda designed to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015
must ensure the mutual responsibility and
accountability of all stakeholders.
We in Ethiopia have made substantial progress on
all fronts towards achieving the Millennium
Development Goals. We have taken full charge of our
destiny, devised our own strategy and maximized the
mobilization of our domestic resources to achieve the
MDGs. The results so far have been very encouraging.
Over the past seven years, the Ethiopian economy has
performed well, having achieved an annual average
growth rate of 11.6 per cent. The robust economic
growth we have achieved has created the basis for
similarly robust growth in social indicators, and hence
on progress in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals.
Assessing the state of the MDGs today would not
be complete without some reflections on Africa from
the perspective of economic and social development
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and its organic link to the MDGs. In that connection, I
can do no better than to refer to what Mr. Zoellick,
President of the World Bank, said at the High-level
Plenary Meeting on the MDGs (see A/65/PV.3). The
most important point he made was that he believed in
Africa and that Africa can be a global pole of growth
and attract investment on African terms. That is what
we have been saying all along. He also said that one
needs to work with developing countries as clients, not
as development models from textbooks, and to help
them to solve problems, not to test theories. We in
Africa know what we can do; we want to know what
the rest of the world will do to help us achieve our
goals.
The issue of climate change remains among the
most critical challenges facing humankind today. Much
has been said, from Rio to Kyoto to Copenhagen. What
has been promised has thus far resulted in far less than
the urgency of the matter merits. We believe that time
is running out, and we are concerned that national
agendas of zero-sum preferences are overshadowing
the real urgency of addressing the matter in an
accelerated and coordinated manner. The upcoming
Cancún meeting on climate change should be different
from its predecessors. It should come up with a legally
binding commitment, coupled with the political will, to
allocate the necessary resources for adaptation and
mitigation efforts, especially for the most vulnerable
and exposed countries.
On energy and development, it has always been
self-evident that access to energy is key to fighting
poverty. It is central to development. Yet, 1.4 billion
people worldwide are without electricity, 80 per cent of
whom live in rural areas. Given the urgency of this dire
situation, we fully support the goal of universal energy
access by 2030, as set by the United Nations.
As the prevalence of conflicts around the world
clearly indicates, international cooperation is of
paramount importance to complement the efforts of the
United Nations in the area of peace and security. In
that regard, Ethiopia, as a founding Member of the
United Nations, has always been at the forefront in
discharging its responsibilities in the area of peace and
security. Since the early 1950s, Ethiopia has been an
active participant in United Nations peacekeeping
operations. At the moment, Ethiopia is among the
major troop-contributing countries to United Nations
peacekeeping missions.
Among the challenges that the international
community faces in the area of peace and security is
the scourge of terrorism. Like many other countries, we
have been at the receiving end of this problem. We
believe that unreserved international cooperation is the
only viable way to combat terrorism. Ethiopia will
continue to do its level best in that regard.
Any discussion of peace and security on the
international scene today will inevitably have to take
up the situation in the Horn of Africa. It is regrettable
that we still cannot talk about the situation in Somalia
with a great deal of optimism. On one hand, the threat
of extremism continues unabated in Somalia, as does
the danger posed by international terrorist networks
and their sponsors to Somalia, and beyond. On the
other hand, it is clear that there is little chance for
making progress in Somalia until there is harmony and
greater seriousness of purpose at the highest level
within the Transitional Federal Institutions of Somalia.
The Council of Ministers of the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),
which met here in New York on 22 September
preceding the mini-summit on Somalia convened by
the Secretary-General on 23 September, expressed its
regret with regard to differences within the leadership
of the Transitional Federal Government. It called upon
them to strengthen their cohesion and work together to
address the multiple challenges facing the country.
Furthermore, the Council of Ministers reaffirmed the
Djibouti process as the sole basis for peace and
reconciliation in Somalia, expressed concern about the
proliferation of initiatives and urged the United
Nations and other stakeholders to engage within the
region and with IGAD.
With regard to the situation in the Sudan,
Ethiopia is of the firm view that conceivably there is
no other conflict on the continent today comparable to
that of the Sudan. Hence, we believe that success in the
Sudan will mean significant success for Africa as a
whole. By the same token, failure may entail a serious
catastrophe for Africa. That is why the African Union
has given its unreserved attention to the issue, as
illustrated by the effort of the High-Level
Implementation Panel led by former President Thabo
Mbeki. We would like to express our appreciation to
the Secretary-General for holding a timely high-level
meeting on the Sudan here on 24 September. The
outcome of the meeting has been encouraging.
13 10-55396
It goes without saying that the referendums in
Southern Sudan and Abyei should be held on time and
strictly in conformity with the terms of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement. However, we
believe that, irrespective of the outcome of the
referendums and without in any way detracting from
the historic significance of that date, the parties should
not fix their minds solely on 9 January 2011. The
parties ought to recognize that here are several
commonalities, interests, bonds and values between the
peoples of the Sudan, north and south, that transcend
the decision to be taken in January 2011. That is why it
is of paramount importance that negotiations on post-
referendum issues should be conducted in earnest and
with the seriousness of purpose that the issues deserve.
When we talk of security in the Horn of Africa
region and the southern Red Sea, we cannot avoid
raising our concern once again about the destructive
role that the Government of Eritrea has continued to
play since independence. We in the IGAD region have
time and time again warned the United Nations, as well
as the international community, that the Eritrean
regime is the principal destabilizer in our subregion,
with its utter contempt for international law and the
norms of international behaviour.
It is indeed regrettable that the Security Council
is not taking the necessary steps to compel Eritrea to
live up to what is expected of it under Council
resolution 1907 (2009). Despite the sanctions, Eritrea
is still the principal architect of the complicated
situation in Somalia, through its training, arming and
nurturing of extremist elements such as Al-Shabaab
and Hizb al-Islam, who are causing havoc in that
country today.
That reprehensible conduct on the part of the
regime has been by no means isolated or confined to
our subregion. On the contrary, it has been standard
behaviour for the Eritrean regime, extending far
beyond the subregion, to other parts of the continent
and sometimes even outside it.
Consistent with its innate character, the regime
committed acts of aggression against practically all its
neighbours in the space of only a few years after its
independence. That is unprecedented for any newly
independent State, giving Eritrea the dubious
distinction of being an international pariah in the
family of nations. Therefore, if we are to achieve a
breakthrough in Somalia, the time is long overdue for
the Security Council to take resolute action and see to
it that its decisions are complied with.
Since its founding more than six decades ago, the
United Nations, as the principal global player on the
international scene with multifarious responsibilities,
has, under the circumstances, lived up to the vision set
for it in the Charter. There is no gainsaying the fact
that if the United Nations did not exist, we would have
had to create it. It is an indispensable Organization,
particularly for us in the developing world. However,
while underscoring its importance, we should not lose
sight of the need for its reform, which is an ongoing
process. That is how we can ensure the Organization’s
viability. Ethiopia will always be ready to give
whatever support is necessary to that end.
When we talk of the United Nations as a global
actor, the importance of cooperation between the
United Nations and our continental organization, the
African Union, need hardly be emphasized. Of
particular significance is the ongoing cooperation and
consultation between the United Nations Security
Council and the African Union Peace and Security
Council, in line with the provisions of Chapter VIII of
the Charter of the United Nations. We should continue
that cooperation, and Ethiopia will do whatever is
necessary in that regard.
In conclusion, let me reiterate, as a founding
Member, Ethiopia’s enduring commitment to the ideals
of our Organization and the fulfilment of its objectives,
as set out in the Charter, which remains a living
document and a source of inspiration for the
international community.