Senegal

The General Assembly has unanimously chosen you, Mr. President, to guide the work of the fifty-second session. This decision is a tribute to your outstanding personal qualities as a diplomat and a statesman, and at the same time a tribute to your vast experience in international relations. It also shows how much the international community appreciates the role played by your country, Ukraine, in the management of the major issues that characterize the evolution of world affairs. My country is pleased to express to you its warmest congratulations and best wishes for success in the execution of this noble mission. I would like to pay tribute to your predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia, for the competence and open-mindedness with which he guided the work of the fifty-first session of our General Assembly. We extend to him our deep gratitude. I would like to extend to the new Secretary-General of our Organization, Mr. Kofi Annan, my warmest congratulations. The election of Mr. Kofi Annan last 17 December was a tribute to the exceptional qualities of a man who has devoted his entire life to United Nations causes. I wish him every success in the important mission entrusted to him. I am convinced that he will do honour to our continent, Africa, and successfully lead our Organization into the next millennium. The world’s family of nations is once again meeting, as it does every year, to examine the current situation and, at the same time, to chart the course of progress for the 12 months to come. While making its contribution to this exercise in collective reflection, my country, Senegal, would like to associate itself with all of those who find hope for a better future for humankind in our Organization, because it is based on peace and solidarity. In fact, the United Nations remains an irreplaceable instrument for the promotion of peace, security and progress in the world, thanks to its universal character, to the international culture and ethics that it expresses and inspires and to its positive accomplishments. Two years ago, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, the international community stressed here, unanimously, the irreplaceable nature of the framework for reflection, discussion, synthesis and coordination of international life that the United Nations provides. In fact, the United Nations has been and remains a multidimensional symbol. The United Nations is, first, an indispensable tool for safeguarding global peace and security. Further, the United Nations is above all a source of new hope for many men and women who suffer from exile, hunger, poverty or illness. And lastly, the United Nations is a tool for the promotion of democracy, human rights and development — in other words, of justice among individuals, peoples, cultures and civilizations. In this light, we have made it one of our highest priorities to improve the capacities and the ability of the Organization to better tackle the challenges of today’s world. We have done so while affirming that “In order to be able to respond effectively to the challenges of the future and the expectations of the United Nations held by peoples around the world, it is essential that the United Nations itself be reformed and modernized.” (Declaration on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, resolution 50/6, para. 14) We are pleased to note today that this conviction has begun to be reflected in deeds. In fact, led by the dynamism of our Secretary-General, the United Nations has now embarked on a vast reform effort, unprecedented in the history of this institution. More specifically, on 16 July last Mr. Kofi Annan submitted to the General Assembly proposals for reforms that will make the United Nations the cornerstone of an international system better adapted to the realities of the twenty-first century. I would like to express all my gratitude to the Secretary-General and his collaborators for the commendable efforts and energy that they have applied to the development of proposals as bold as they are relevant. Senegal is now examining all these proposals in close coordination with its fellow members of the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Non- Aligned Movement. Senegal will do this while bearing in mind the political will expressed by all to undertake, within an appropriate time period, the necessary reforms, especially in the fields of development, maintenance of international peace and security, disarmament and promotion of human rights, so that the Organization can better respond to the demands of our day and to the aspirations of the peoples for which it was created. The Head of State of Senegal, His Excellency Mr. Abdou Diouf, has already provided the necessary guidelines and resources for this examination. In this framework, the reform of the Security Council requires the special attention of all Member States and, at the same time, a common will to be faithful to the ideal of peace that was inscribed in the Charter in San Francisco in 1945. The Working Group charged with examining this question has made considerable progress, even though consensus has yet to be found on such fundamental issues as expansion, composition and use of the veto in the Security Council. Nonetheless, we can and must underscore, welcome and support the many constructive and often complementary proposals that have been submitted and that have visibly enriched the debates over the course of the past year. We now must stay on track and redouble our efforts in order to take advantage of the momentum thus established and to succeed ultimately in our objective of restructuring the Security Council while modernizing it, making it more democratic and giving it greater credibility and greater transparency — and thus greater legitimacy. Africa has a natural role to play in this reform, a role that must be recognized given Africa’s historical evolution and its destiny as a continent of the future in the community of nations. The reform of the United Nations system towards greater coherence and greater dynamism is important, but equally urgent is the need for the maintenance and promotion of peace in the world. It is true that significant progress has been made in this area in recent years. Thus, the United Nations has succeeded in substantially strengthening its capacity to plan, establish and conduct peacekeeping missions throughout the world. My country, Senegal, is pleased to have been able to contribute to this progress, through, inter alia, the posting of officers from its army to the Secretariat in New York so that the various aspects of peacekeeping operations could be better rationalized. 2 But the desired improvement should not be limited to procedural matters, even though we must recognize that these matters are clearly important. Above all, we must also re-examine the orientation of United Nations missions in all cases in which peace in the world is threatened or breached. The international community must, in particular, be more realistic in the missions it confers upon the United Nations Blue Helmets. In this context, drawing lessons from operations such as that conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we must recognize something quite clear: by the rules of engagement established for them, the United Nations forces are not yet legally equipped to restore peace in theatres of operation where peace has been broken. Therefore, it seems to us more appropriate to entrust such missions to the Members of the United Nations that agree to conduct them in the framework of coalitions placed under the moral authority, but not the command, of our Organization. We would thus avoid giving mandates to United Nations soldiers without in turn giving them the legal, human and material means that are essential to the accomplishment of their missions. This choice is all the more desirable since multifaceted conflicts continue to afflict many regions of the world, starting, unfortunately, with Africa, our own continent. There significant progress has been made this year on the road to restoring peace in a certain number of countries, in particular in Liberia, which — thanks to the determination of the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the support of the international community — has just emerged from seven years of fratricidal conflict. But we must recognize that in the case of other crises, the path towards peace remains uncertain. This applies in particular to Sierra Leone, where the situation remains very disturbing in spite of the initiatives of the United Nations, of the OAU and most especially of ECOWAS to restore legitimacy in that country. In the Congo (Brazzaville), another of our brother countries, the world witnessed a sudden deterioration of the political situation in the military confrontation that began on 5 June 1997. Here again it must be recalled that the combined efforts of the United Nations and the OAU and the lucid and commendable actions of President El Hadj Omar Bongo, President of the Gabonese Republic and also of the international mediation committee, have, unfortunately, not managed to find a political way out of this grave internal crisis, the prolongation of which is a serious threat to peace in the subregion and the continent. Elsewhere on the continent, in Angola and in Somalia, internal conflicts continue to elude resolution. Faced with all the dangers posed by all these conflicts, Africans have established the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa. Nonetheless, it is clear that that pan-African organization does not alone possess the means to undertake the many and complex actions required by peacekeeping operations in Africa. Massive support from the international community is therefore particularly needed in this area. This is why I would like once again to commend the convening last 25 September, on the initiative of the President of the Security Council, of a special Council meeting at the ministerial level devoted to the preservation of peace, security and stability in Africa. We would also like to thank our colleague, Mrs. Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State of the United States. That meeting gave eloquent witness to the special importance that the international community attaches to African problems. However, I must emphasize that declarations of intent alone are not enough. We need concrete action. Hence, Senegal attaches great importance to the report that the Secretary-General is soon to submit to us and which is to contain specifically concrete recommendations on the causes of conflict in Africa, on the means of preventing them and, where need be, the means of resolving them in full agreement with our partners in the international community. In this context, we welcome the increasing assistance we are beginning to receive from certain major countries of the northern hemisphere in the framework of the strengthening of Africa’s capacity to maintain peace and react rapidly to crises. In this respect, we cannot but mention France, the United States of America and Canada, as well as other countries of the North. Along 3 those same lines, the inauguration in Copenhagen on 2 September by the Secretary-General of a planning centre for the new United Nations Stand-By Forces High- Readiness Brigade was an event of great importance for conflict prevention throughout the world. Also in the framework of these concerns for Africa, I should like to mention the ongoing conflict between the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on the one hand and the United States of America and the United Kingdom on the other with respect to the Lockerbie tragedy. We feel that the time is ripe for the parties concerned finally to successfully resolve this matter through dialogue and negotiation because — and this must be stressed once again — the people of Libya are suffering greatly from the embargo to which that country is being subjected. We welcome the significant progress made in the framework of efforts to achieve a definitive peace in the Western Sahara under the auspices of the United Nations and under the guidance of Mr. James Baker, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General. The situation in the Middle East continues to be of concern to peace-loving people. Recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, the expansion of existing Israeli settlements or the construction of new ones, delays in negotiations — these all have had, to our great regret, a negative impact on the peace process. We would mention also the clear-cut acts of violence perpetrated against defenceless civilians, such as the recent attacks in Jerusalem. All of these acts must be condemned unreservedly because they do enormous damage to the peace efforts. It is for all these reasons that we wish here to make a pressing appeal to the co-sponsors of the peace process and to the entire international community so that the most appropriate initiatives can be taken in order to salvage the peace process. For today, more than any other region of the world, the Middle East truly needs peace and security for its own development. This peace can be achieved only within a framework of mutual trust and the will to live together with respect for the rights and the dignity of all the peoples of the region. Global security also requires arms reduction and the elimination of certain categories of weapons. That is why, for more than 50 years now, the United Nations has attempted to create a world free of all weapons of mass destruction. In the pursuit of this objective, significant progress has already been made. One year ago, we welcomed in this very Hall and with deep satisfaction the conclusion of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. From that point on, the international community was involved in negotiations for a treaty for the elimination of anti-personnel landmines. Senegal, which is a member of the Conference on Disarmament, continues to attach special importance to this question, whose settlement would represent a major step forward towards a world that would offer greater security for all. In this context, we hope to see the Ottawa process, in which we are participants, succeed, by the end of this year, in the signing of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Eradicating poverty throughout the world has been and remains one of the fundamental objectives of the United Nations. By proclaiming in the Charter their determination to establish better standards of living in conditions of broader freedom, the founding fathers wanted to make of the United Nations an instrument that would fight for the social progress of all humankind. But at the present time, planet Earth is threatened by global challenges that know no boundaries and that spare no peoples. The world’s problems — poverty, exclusion, terrorism, organized crime and drug-trafficking — have become globalized far earlier than the economy has. That is why, regardless of the way in which we approach the future, the problems that exist at century’s end cannot be resolved except through concerted and integrated action that can manage harmoniously all of the upheaval that is accompanying this changing period of history. It is in this context that Senegal welcomes the successful conclusion of negotiations on the elaboration of an Agenda for Development. The consensus achieved in that Agenda, which draws its substance from earlier commitments in the various plans of action of recent international conferences, gives evidence of our shared faith in the virtues of a new global partnership for development based on the imperative of interdependence and on mutual benefit. Thus the conceptual framework has been set and accepted by all, and it remains for us to move towards action through a mobilization of resources commensurate with the generous intentions formulated in the Agenda for Development. Along these lines, the settlement of the debt crisis, just remuneration for commodities, the lifting of trade 4 barriers and an increase in official development assistance are indispensable prerequisites if we are to build a world that is more welcoming to everyone, so that our global village can be strengthened, in a spirit of solidarity, in a lasting way. In this context, the fight against poverty is of clear priority, because it is unacceptable, in this era of space technology and the Internet, that millions of men and women the world over, and especially in the southern hemisphere, still do not have the minimal conditions for a decent life. They lack water, electricity, medicine, food — in a word, they lack security and well-being. The aspirations of peoples to a better life is an eternal quest that we cannot neglect, as it is true that human beings must remain at the very beginning and end of development. In this quest for lasting solutions to the challenges of underdevelopment, my country took the initiative, at the thirty-third Summit of the OAU, held in Harare in June, to suggest two resolutions through which the Heads of State and Government of Africa unanimously renewed their support for the United Nations system in general and for the action taken by Africa in particular to raise the standard of living of African peoples. But this need for solidarity should not cause us to forget that any effort towards sustainable development is, above all, the national responsibility of States. It requires the definition and effective application of sound macroeconomic policies based on transparency, the rule of law, the practice of democracy, respect for human rights, social justice and the participation of all in the national development effort: in other words, it is based on what we today call good governance. As my country sees it, this choice, which must be supplemented by solidarity at the global level, is the most certain course towards the shared ideal assigned to us by the Charter of the United Nations. By enshrining in our Charter their attachment to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the founding fathers of the United Nations inspired millions of men and women to take what His Holiness Pope John Paul II called two years ago “the risk of freedom”. Their commendable struggle means that today, respect for these rights and these freedoms is universally considered to be an essential component of any undertaking whose goal is the progress and well-being of the individual. My country, Senegal, which attaches profound importance to the dignity and value of the human being, would like here to reiterate its commitment to continue to work alongside those many who are struggling to obtain or regain their right to freedom, justice and peace. This solidarity applies to our brothers and sisters in Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, the Great Lakes region and elsewhere, who aspire only to peace in order to build their own future. I would like, in this framework, to commend the appointment of Mrs. Mary Robinson to the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. We assure her of our support and wish her every success in her noble mission. The universal nature of the United Nations is a reality that must be consolidated and strengthened. In this context, we support without reservation the request of the Republic of China to join again the community of nations and be admitted to our Organization and its specialized agencies. Acceding to this request would be a significant contribution to the consolidation of the ideal of universality of the United Nations and do justice to the esteemed people of the Republic of China. Its economic and social development, commitment to democratic values and international behaviour have given irrefutable proof of its faith in the noble objectives of the United Nations Charter and of its capacity to assume the responsibilities of all Member States. When the Berlin wall crumbled in 1989, great hope was aroused in the citizens of the world. Hope was born of rapid movement towards a new international order which would bring with it peace and justice as well as solidarity and progress. In this new international order, the Republic of China has a place, a place recognized by international law and the demands of a rapidly developing world. In conclusion, I would like to say that the international community must do everything in its power to have hope triumph over the dangers menacing humankind. The human race’s God-given intelligence provides the possibilities and resources to achieve this end. We have no choice but to help the United Nations adapt to the new world and play its proper role as a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of common ends. This is all the more essential since the great challenges to our future can only be met in a global framework of solidarity. The only solution — whether in the struggle against terrorism, drug- trafficking and organized crime; in the protection of our environment and our collective health; or in the promotion of security 5 through disarmament or the reduction of poverty — is a concerted and united global effort. Together, we have already begun this effort, and my country urges the international community to continue it steadfastly. Senegal makes this appeal convinced that, with the intellectual and material resources available to humankind today, there is no challenge that cannot be met. All we need is the will. We can do it. We must do it. Let us do it together, as brothers and sisters belonging to one family.