At the outset,
on behalf of the Republic of the Niger, I would like to
extend to Mr. Joseph Deiss my sincere congratulations
on his outstanding election as the President of the
General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. His
country, the Swiss Confederation, is known for its long
tradition in the area of international relations, and his
own career reveals proven skill and a wealth of
personal experience. Because of that, we believe that
under his leadership the work of this session will be
crowned with success. I can assure him of the full
support and complete cooperation of my delegation in
carrying out his noble and lofty mission.
To his predecessor, Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki,
representative of the great Socialist People’s Libyan
Arab Jamahiriya, I would like to pay particular and
fully merited tribute to him for the exemplary way and
the talent with which he led the work at the Assembly’s
last session.
Finally, with consideration and admiration, I
commend the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, a
promoter of peace, for his tireless investment in the
search for the most appropriate solutions to the many
challenges that assail the world today and cry out daily
to the individual and collective consciences of its
leaders. The particular attention he gives to the
situation of the most vulnerable countries, his constant
advocacy for achieving the Millennium Development
Goals and his recent journey to Africa deserve to be
commended.
The world will recall that on 18 February 2010,
in the face of an anti-constitutional drift imposed on
democratic and republican institutions of my country
by the Government in place, and the grave and certain
risk of the disintegration of national cohesiveness, the
defence and security forces of the Niger were obligated
to intervene on the political scene.
This was not the intervention of an army hungry
for power, but that of officers who were concerned
with safeguarding the unity and integrity of their
country, which had been endangered by the Head of
State at the time, who, through sheer self-interest, had
decided to ignore, by undertaking a civilian coup
d’état, all of the laws of the Republic, beginning with
the Constitution itself, which was replaced with
another that would have generously extended the
presidential mandate for three years, which was to have
ended on 22 December 2009. It was therefore for good
reason that our arrival was welcomed by national and
international opinion.
Having headed the country since 18 February
2010, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of
Democracy, over which we have the great honour to
preside, immediately set itself the primary goal of
taking all decisions necessary to bringing peace to the
socio-political life of the country. It was precisely to
that end that it drew up its programme for governing
on the basis of three pillars: the restoration of
democracy; cleaning up the country’s political and
economic situation by fighting against impunity,
10-54833 44
corruption and bribery; and the reconciliation of the
people of the Niger.
With a view to restoring a normal constitutional
regime, the National Independent Electoral Commission,
which was created to that end, drew up and proposed a
schedule for general elections and a draft budget for
organizing seven planned elections to the Government
and the Supreme Council for the Restoration of
Democracy, which accepted them after slight
modifications. According to that timetable, the electoral
process will take place from 31 October 2010 to 6 April
2011 and will include a constitutional referendum as well
as local, legislative and presidential elections.
I am pleased to recall here that, by an ordinance
of 11 March 2010, we decided to make ineligible
members of the defence and security forces, as well as
members of the transitional Government. I should
therefore like to take this opportunity to make an
urgent appeal to the international community to
continue to assist the Niger and its National
Independent Electoral Commission in the organization
of the programme of elections that I have just
elaborated. This assistance is crucial if we are to
achieve within the established time frame the core goal
of the Supreme Council and the transitional
Government of restoring constitutional order in the
Niger, following the outcome of the electoral process.
Moreover, with a view to guaranteeing free, fair,
transparent and credible elections, the Supreme
Council for the Restoration of Democracy and the
Government of the Niger, solemnly request through me
the participation of the United Nations and all
interested international institutions in observing the
various elections.
I was determined to make this trip to New York,
despite the many urgent needs and constraints
associated with the transitional agenda under way in
the Niger, to solemnly reaffirm before this august and
honourable Assembly that the commitments we made
following the events of 18 February 2010 are now at a
very advanced stage of implementation and that, God
willing, they will be upheld within the established time
frame and with international support. In this respect, I
note and welcome the fact that, in the report he
represented to the Security Council on 13 July 2010
(S/2010/324), the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for West Africa stressed that the
transitional authorities in the Niger have fully
respected their commitments.
In accordance with the second commitment made
by the Supreme Council for the Restoration of
Democracy, on 11 May 2010 we established a
commission to combat economic, financial and fiscal
crime and to promote good governance, which is
currently implementing a programme to restore the rule
of law in the Niger. In parallel, a high authority for
reconciliation and consolidation of democracy has been
created. This new institution is working with all the
necessary care to achieve the third goal, which is to
consolidate our national unity.
Finally, at the international level, since
18 February we have clearly reaffirmed the Niger’s
commitment to the universal values of peace, security,
good-neighbourliness, human rights, the rule of law,
democracy, international solidarity, strict compliance
with the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of
the African Union, the statutes of the Economic
Community of West African States and all other
relevant international legal instruments.
Poor economic and financial governance and the
political and institutional crisis were, unfortunately, not
the only threats facing the Niger. Sadly, there was
another scourge that was even more dangerous and
called for urgent countermeasures, but whose existence
was long concealed by the authorities of the time. I
refer to the very serious situation of food insecurity in
which my country finds itself.
On 10 March, an urgent appeal was made to the
entire national and international community for major
support to be given to our country in its efforts to
address this disaster. With the prompt and concrete
support of the Niger’s development partners and
through the national mechanism for the prevention and
management of food crises, action to mitigate the crisis
has been diligently undertaken. Of particular note
among these efforts are the cash-for-work operations,
the sale of reasonably priced grain, the free distribution
of food, seed and livestock feed assistance, and care
for malnourished children.
I take this opportunity to convey to all our
generous donors the profound gratitude of the people
of the Niger, the Supreme Council and the transitional
Government for that commendable and unforgettable
show of solidarity. We hope to see it continue so that
we can address the emerging situation resulting from
45 10-54833
floods wreaking havoc in several regions of our
country. We are also pleased to see that food security is
high on the list of issues on which the General
Assembly will focus during its current session and
among the priorities set for the Organization in 2010
by the Secretary-General.
At this stage, I welcome the initiative of Under-
Secretary-General John Holmes to come to the Niger
and visit isolated rural areas in order to see for himself
the desperate situation into which the people and their
livestock have been plunged. During his visit, he was
able to assess the scale of the crisis and its impact on
people — in particular on children — and livestock.
The appeal he made to the international community,
advocating the mobilization of $130 million to provide
urgent assistance to the populations affected, remains
highly urgent. We know, however, that we can count on
the understanding and ongoing concern of our
development partners, which have already been
reflected in the gradual resumption of their cooperation
with the Niger.
It is obvious that my country has serious
socio-economic problems, but the people of the Niger
are determined to overcome them with the support of
the international community. My country is young. It
has just celebrated its fiftieth year of independence
without fanfare because of the food crisis. Its people
are young, but they are also dynamic and resolved to
begin their march on the path to development.
This sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly
is taking place in an international context of strong
contrasts. Indeed, while tangible progress continues to
be made daily in many areas of concern, we face many
numerous and varied challenges in many other areas.
In Africa, positive developments have been
recorded. I welcome the holding of free, transparent and
fair elections, in particular in the Sudan and Burundi. I
welcome the decision of the authorities of Côte d’Ivoire
to organize presidential elections very soon. It is my hope
that the electoral process under way will be a success.
Indeed, that is the only way that Côte d’Ivoire will restore
the stability and calm that will allow it to fully play its
role as a driving force in West Africa.
Finally, I note that the peace and security
architecture of our continental organization is being
strengthened with the support of our partners, such as
the European Union and the United Nations, in
particular with imminent operationalization of the
African peace force and the early warning mechanism.
It is my ardent hope that significant progress shall soon
be made on the political front in other friendly
countries, such as the Central African Republic, the
Comoros, Somalia and Madagascar, in the Great Lakes
region and Darfur.
In the Middle East, the launch of direct bilateral
negotiations should, we hope, lead to comprehensive
peace based on the two-State solution, with an
independent and viable Palestine living side by side in
peace and security with Israel and other neighbouring
countries. From this rostrum, I wish full success to the
direct negotiation process among officials of those two
countries, sponsored by President Barack Obama of the
United States of America.
Other threats to international peace and security
continue to confront us on a daily basis. I refer above
all to terrorism, drug trafficking and the proliferation
of small arms and light weapons. West Africa — and in
particular the Sahelo-Saharan region, of which the
Niger is an integral part — is currently suffering the
bitter nexus of terrorism and trafficking of all types. In
spite of the efforts made, it must be recognized that
national and regional authorities continue to have
difficulty neutralizing these armed groups. The
abduction last week of foreign nationals in northern
Niger reminds us of the gravity of the situation and of
the urgent need for the measures necessary to deal
effectively with this threat to peace, security and
development in our country.
Indeed, with each passing day, terrorism grows in
scale in our subregion and threatens to tarnish the
image of the Sahel countries, compromise tourist
revenues and exacerbate our people’s poverty and
insecurity. We all know that poverty and desolation are
fertile grounds for terrorists. We must therefore
recognize the urgent need to promptly strengthen
international cooperation and economic and social
development programmes in these areas in order to
eradicate these scourges. The response to all these evils
must be coordinated. That is why the countries
concerned created a mechanism to coordinate counter-
terrorism activities following a ministerial meeting
held in Algiers on 16 March. With respect to drug
trafficking, the Economic Community of West African
States has adopted a plan of action to combat it, and
urgently appeals to the international community to
assist in its implementation.
10-54833 46
It has been widely understood since the 2005
World Summit that peace, security, development and
human rights are interdependent and mutually
reinforcing. In other words, peace, security and human
rights cannot be effective in a context of
underdevelopment and poverty. It is clear that the
Secretary-General fully shares this view because he has
made sustainable development one of his highest
priorities throughout 2010 through the achievement of
internationally agreed development goals. In this
respect, the High-level Plenary Meeting on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), held from 20
to 22 September, was a real opportunity for the
international community to address many subjects of
major concern more thoroughly.
As the participants in the High-level Meeting
firmly highlighted and I would note, there is a clear
link between the availability of resources and the
achievement of the MDGs. From my point of view, the
achievement of the MDGs remains possible for the
Niger, as I emphasized at the Meeting, but only to the
extent that substantial financial resources are made
available, in particular through an expanded and
enhanced partnership with the international
community. That is why I appeal for the mobilization
of the resources necessary through compliance with
commitments made in the Millennium Declaration
(resolution 55/2), the Monterrey Consensus
(A/CONF.198/11), and in the Outcome Document of
the Doha International Conference on Financing for
Development (A/CONF.212/L.1/Rev.1*).
The terrible earthquake that struck Haiti with
such force on 12 January; the deadly floods that
continue to affect Pakistan, India and the People’s
Republic of China; the terrible droughts and floods in
the Sahel; and the heatwave in Russia have all made us
aware of our collective vulnerability to natural
disasters and their underlying causes, such as
environmental degradation and climate change.
In this respect, as highlighted by the participants
at the 20 September high-level meeting on the
International Year of Biodiversity, the protection of the
environment should be everyone’s priority. It is
necessary to follow up on the voluntary commitments
made in the Copenhagen Declaration, in particular with
respect to financing adaptation and mitigation
measures.
With respect to United Nations reform, it is
encouraging to note the significant progress made in
the empowerment of women, governance and financing
activities to operationalize development. Let us not
forget that, on 30 June, the General Assembly
established the composite Entity for Gender Equality
and the Empowerment of Women, which, as of
1 January 2011, will be responsible for addressing
gender issues in place of the four institutions that have
hitherto worked to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women. This is an important act
which we dare to hope will lead Member States to
advance in other sectors of United Nations reform, in
particular reform of the Security Council.
I am convinced that this will strengthen the
Organization’s legitimacy and capacity for action in the
service of international peace and security. Indeed, if it
is to be up to this immense and delicate task, the
United Nations must be just, representative and
democratic.