Chad

In taking the floor for the first time before this Assembly, I feel legitimately proud to be the voice with which the people of Chad, its Government and its President, His Excellency Mr. Idriss Déby, convey a message of peace, hope and wishes for complete success in our work. I would like to join the eminent speakers who have preceded me in reiterating my delegation’s warm congratulations to the President on his illustrious election to preside over this session. That choice is both a tribute to his country, Ukraine — a country resolutely focused on the quest for global peace — and the culmination of his long career as a talented diplomat. He can be assured of the complete support of my country, Chad, in the discharge of his duties. I would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to his predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail, who has conducted the work of the fifty-first session with tact, competence and devotion. Lastly, I would like to greet our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, a son of Africa who has succeeded another great African, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The election of Mr. Kofi Annan is the culmination of a brilliant career devoted to the service of the international community. It is an honour to his country, Ghana, and to all Africa. I should like to assure him of the firm support of the Republic of Chad in his efforts to bring about the necessary and indispensable reforms of our Organization so as to make it more capable of achieving the purposes and principles of the Charter in our rapidly changing world. The ideals of peace, liberty and development, which are pursued tirelessly by each and every nation represented here, are of special significance for my country and people. Indeed, drawing upon the lessons of its sad experiences, since 1 December 1990 Chad has made a firm commitment to the establishment of a state of law and the tireless quest for peace and national unity which are the essential foundations for its economic and social development. At previous sessions the delegation of Chad regularly referred to positive developments in our country. Today I have the honour and privilege of announcing that with the presidential election of 1996 and the legislative elections held at the beginning of this year, most of our republican and democratic institutions are in place. Projects are under way to hold local elections. All this is taking place in a climate of peace and national harmony. The ongoing quest for peace between Chadians, the necessary consolidation of the achievements of national unity and the willingness to involve everyone in public administration have compelled our President, Mr. Idriss Déby, to practise what we call consensual, participatory democracy. It follows that all political parties, including those of the opposition, are represented in all State structures. By the same token, a national mediator has recently been appointed. The fifty-second session of the General Assembly coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is the proper place to reaffirm our loyalty to that instrument, which, despite its imperfections, is, in its own language, 14 “a common standard of achievement”. (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, resolution 217 (III), part A, operative paragraph) In Chad we are getting down to work, and significant progress has been registered. Thus, our independent press is one of the freest in Africa; human rights organizations are proliferating and carry out their activities unhindered; and organized civil society is fully playing its role. Despite these noteworthy advances, insidious campaigns have been sporadically unleashed against my country. For my Government the subject of human rights is not taboo. Thus, I should like once again to reiterate the invitation that Mr. Idriss Déby, President of the Republic, extended during his last visit to France to all countries and human rights organizations that are truly interested in the fate of the people of Chad: to come to Chad and freely look into the situation. With the return to social peace and political stability, my country is turning a new page in its history, one that should enable it to face the challenges of the twenty-first century. To do that, the Government of Chad has adopted a number of principles that, backed up by concrete actions, should make it possible to achieve vigorous and sustained economic growth. The objectives are the following: the continuation and consolidation of the process of democratizing political and social life; the increased participation of the citizens in political, economic and social life and in making decisions that concern them; the establishment of sound rules of government; the promotion of the private sector; the development of human resources; and the restoration and safeguarding of environmental equilibrium and of the ecosystem, with special attention being paid to environmental problems related to human activities. This entire development strategy will be presented and discussed at the round table on Chad to be held in Geneva in the months ahead. That meeting is necessary to reactivate and adapt the plan of orientation covering the period 1990- 2000. I take this opportunity to invite all countries and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to take part in that important conference on the future of Chad. I should now like to touch on a problem that is of crucial importance for my Government: the environment. Chad is a Sahelian country, afflicted, moreover, by drought and desertification. It is deeply concerned with protecting the environment, our common heritage, whose exploitation for us is a necessary condition for success in the struggle against poverty. This is the appropriate forum in which to express our hope that the results achieved by the Conference of States Parties to the Convention to Combat Desertification will meet our expectations. The prospect of the exploitation of Chad’s oil resources has led to a systematic disinformation campaign alleging environmental degradation in the region concerned. I should like solemnly to state here that all necessary measures have been taken by the Government not only to preserve environmental balance but also to prevent any risk of accident that could jeopardize it. Another subject of grave concern indirectly connected with the environment is that of mines, an estimated 1 million of which infest a large portion of the national territory, thus precluding any development activities in that region. We would reiterate in this respect the appeal for assistance in mine clearance that was made from this rostrum by President Idriss Déby during the commemorative meeting on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. My Government, a victim of the scourge of mines, welcomes the adoption on 18 September last of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti- Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The international situation remains alarming, even if peace ad security are not gravely threatened at the global scale. In Africa, despite the hopes born of the democratization of the political life of many countries, hotbeds of tension still persist. In Angola, implementation of the settlement plan advocated by the international community is running aground on obstacles that jeopardize a final return to peace in this country. We call again on all parties, particularly UNITA, fully to implement the Lusaka Protocol. Periodic clashes remind us that in Somalia, the hatchet has not definitely been buried, despite numerous attempts at reconciling the fraternal Somali people. The Great Lakes region is progressively entering a phase of relative calm despite sporadic incidents stemming from the chain of events that have caused upheaval in this part of the continent. We welcome the concerted efforts of the international community and of the countries of the subregion to help restore a definitive peace. 15 In Sierra Leone, the situation resulting from the coup is far from responding to the wishes of the people. Chad, for its part, strongly supports the consultations held within the framework of the Economic Community of West African States, and in particular the conclusions of its last Summit, held in Abuja, Nigeria. In Central Africa, closer to Chad, the exacerbation of the conflict in the sister Republic of the Congo, despite the appeal made at Libreville by eight Heads of State on 15 September last, is of great concern to us. My country is of the view that only an immediate and unconditional cease- fire can make it possible to re-establish dialogue between the two parties. This in turn would make possible a greater involvement of the international community, particularly for the deployment of a multinational force under the auspices of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The scope of the tragedy of these upheavals on the African continent can be gauged by the number of homeless and of refugees who, left to their own devices, are wandering from country to country, seeking a land to receive them where they can live in peace. It is urgent for the international community to take greater notice of these tragedies, which concern us all, in order to find appropriate solutions. This sombre picture of the situation on the continent does not eclipse the successes of international and, above all, African mediation in crisis and conflict situations, such as in the Central African Republic and in Liberia. In the Central African Republic, the painstaking settlement of the political and military crisis to the satisfaction of the political class is, for Chad — a neighbouring, brotherly country — cause for satisfaction. Likewise, we welcome the return to peace in Liberia, which has made it possible to designate a President of the Republic and a Parliament by means of free and democratic elections. In both cases, the contribution of Africa was decisive. We are proud of this, just as we commend the Security Council for its support of various African initiatives. This compels me to urge the acceleration of the process leading to the establishment of an inter-African peacekeeping force. We also urge the strengthening of existing structures, such as the Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa; the Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa at Lomé, in Togo; and the OAU’s Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution. With respect to Western Sahara, Chad welcomes the fresh impetus given the process by both parties and hopes that the settlement plan will shortly be implemented in full. In the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process seems to be put to the test, given recent developments in this region. We urge all parties concerned to respect the Washington agreements. This is the only alternative if we are to achieve definitive peace in this region. Neither violence nor extremism, nor, certainly, intransigence will allow us to arrive at a just and definitive solution to this crisis, which has gone on far too long. In Asia, the situation in Afghanistan and in Cambodia can be solved only by political means. Therefore we urge the protagonists to gather around the negotiating table and seek to resolve their differences. Chad welcomes the progress, however slow, that has been registered in recent years in disarmament. We denounce, however, the shocking trade in conventional weapons, which foment so many conflicts that ravage various parts of the world, including my country. We therefore support the efforts initiated in western Africa related to the moratorium on the export, import and production of small arms. My country reaffirms its unswerving faith in the virtues of dialogue as a means of resolving conflicts between States. I should like in this connection to refer to the question of the embargo that has so harshly and for so many years afflicted the neighbouring and brotherly country of Libya. Chad is in a good position to gauge the consequences that affect not only the people of Libya but also the people of Chad, as that country’s neighbour. That is why, as a country that is dually cut off and deprived of its principal means of evacuation and supply, Chad firmly supports the resolutions of the OAU, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement, and calls for the lifting of this unjust embargo. We should like to take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the people of Iraq and Cuba, who have been indiscriminately affected by similar measures. My country has noted with satisfaction the end of the bipolar world, which has made possible the advent of a new type of constructive dialogue that will enable us together to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. In resuming diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, the Government and people of Chad 16 have no intention other than to diversify their relations of friendship and cooperation with all peace- and justice- loving countries of the world on the basis of equality and solidarity. In the name of the principle of universality so dear to our Organization, we support the return of the Republic of China to the concert of nations. While the conflicts and other tensions throughout the world concern us, so too does the international economic situation. The justifiable fear expressed by the developing countries in the aftermath of the cold war has not been mitigated. The recent report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reminds us of this. Poverty in the developing countries and the impoverishment of important social strata in the developed countries provide fertile ground for intolerance, extremism and nationalism, whose consequences we are all too familiar with. Despite the numerous dense documents adopted at major conferences, the expected concrete action has run aground on the selfish conduct of the richest. Such an attitude imposes limits upon the globalization of the economy. Africa, which has benefited from the sustained attention of the international community during this decade, is still, unfortunately, a continent ravaged by poverty, malnutrition and epidemics of all kinds on a large scale. To the perpetual problems of indebtedness and the deterioration of the terms of trade are added the constant marginalization of our continent from the international economic circles. It is therefore urgent for concrete measures to be taken so that Africa can experience sustained growth, which should lead to genuine development. The terms of the declaration of the Heads of State and Government of the seven most industrialized countries and Russia in Denver last May should be made a reality in this respect so that Africa, whose well-known vast natural resources can really become part of the world economy. The new Chad reiterates its unswerving support of United Nations action in the sphere of peacekeeping and in the area of development activities. Over time, the reform of our institution has become an imperative. Therefore, in the context of globalization and interdependence, the United Nations must adapt itself and become both the instrument and the expression of multilateralism in which the interests of all are taken into account and safeguarded. For our part, we consider that the promotion of development must be at the core of our renewed Organization. The United Nations deserves more confidence than ever before, provided that it derives from incontrovertible legitimacy which the Security Council with its present composition is far from embodying. It has now been established that that irreplaceable body should be adapted, but its necessary restructuring should not have a detrimental effect on any part of the world. An acknowledgement of the legitimate claims of the various groups that make up our Organization is therefore indispensable. Chad, for its part, reaffirms the position stated at the last Summit of Heads of State or Government of the Organization of African Unity to assure the equitable representation of the African continent in that body, in which the destiny of peoples is at stake. This is a requirement if the renewed Security Council is to be credible and effective in the service of humanity and if it is not to be a Council of double standards.