Congo

Three years ago, we held the Millennium Summit, during which we crafted a clear-cut common vision for the twenty-first century, a road map to confront the challenges of globalization: peace and security now facing new threats, development and international cooperation, the environment, pandemics and so forth. One year later the first challenge to this reassuring and ambitious edifice arose, the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The international community reacted unanimously and immediately adopted a collective response. A few months later we witnessed the aggravation of tensions with the Iraq crisis, which severely tested the principle of collective security and moral authority of the United Nations, to the point that we doubted the rationale for and the survival of what should be, after all, our common home. Finally, and most recently, we have witnessed the failure of the Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancún. This deadlock in defining a negotiating process to revive the Doha round places in jeopardy the growth prospects of the world economy which would otherwise benefit all people. This can also be interpreted as a new opportunity to marginalize the countries of the South. All of this shows that this present session is being held in a particularly worrisome context. These developments are dangerous for the management of international affairs that should be marked with a spirit of dialogue, consultation and openness. We must, therefore, return to the spirit of multilateralism that characterized the Millennium Summit. We must reaffirm, loud and clear, the role of the United Nations as a central axis of collective security and inspiration for the rules of international cooperation aimed at justice and equality. For this reason it is important to strengthen the role of our Organization and improve its effectiveness. The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has now presented a very edifying report in this connection and we very much encourage him to persevere along the path of reform and rationalization and to place the multilateral system at the core of the management of crises and the display of leadership in the world. Your election, Sir, to the presidency of this session of the General Assembly is, for us, a tremendous asset. It symbolizes the sovereign equality of all States, large and small, and is a way of paying tribute to your great qualities and your diplomatic experience. We are convinced that you will know how to skilfully guide our debate on multilateralism to a satisfying outcome, very much in keeping with the high expectations of the community of nations. This year, once again we see the challenges to peace and international security at the very core of our major preoccupations. Everyone remembers the attack of 19 August 2003 against the United Nations offices in Baghdad. The death of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, and several dedicated servants of the United Nations, is still alive in our memories. In paying tribute to their courage and dedication, we must do everything within our power to ensure that their sacrifice was not made in vain and that the cause they served so heroically does indeed triumph in the interests of the Iraqi people and the noble ideas of the United Nations. We must therefore encourage the Security Council to return to its essential unity so that the international community, led by the moral authority of the United Nations, can help the Iraqi people to find peace, security and stability and reconstruct their country devastated by war and many years of embargo. Not far from Iraq, the international community is still confronted with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 14 This shows that the infernal cycle of violence can only lead to a dead end. The two parties must come to their senses and return to the vision set out in the road map, which provides for the creation of a Palestinian State that is independent, democratic and viable, living side by side with Israel and its other neighbours in an atmosphere of peace and security. The Security Council approved this vision in Security Council resolution 1397 (2002) and the two parties committed themselves to respecting the road map on 4 June 2003 at the outcome of the Aqaba Summit. We must now bring them back to the negotiating table, with no pre-conditions, and demand that they refrain from any measure or unilateral action that is incompatible with the goals of the road map. Still on the subject of peace and security, it seems to be necessary and essential to emphasize that we must refrain from conflating terrorism, religion or civilization as belonging to any geographical area or supporting any national liberation struggle. Just as we must be firm, demanding and united when confronting acts of unjustifiable blind violence, we must also be vigilant so as not to be tempted by convenience. In our relentless struggle against terrorism, it is important to give appropriate responses when it comes to the sovereignty of peoples, respect for human rights, social justice and combating poverty. We must also seriously analyse the causes that serve as the breeding ground or pretext for terrorism. This is also part of conflict prevention and, to some extent, the prevention of terrorism. This year we are celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first special session of the General Assembly on disarmament. It is regrettable to note that, since the end of the cold war, so little progress has been accomplished and today’s deadlock in the Conference on Disarmament is a tragic display of our failure. At a time when the international community is legitimately concerned about weapons of mass destruction that might fall into the hands of terrorists, it is important to remind all of the actors that they must abide by the multilateral agreements and scrupulously respect them. Within the context of disarmament activities, we welcome the holding, last July in New York, of the first Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the 2001 Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. My country hosted in Brazzaville, from 12 to 14 May 2003, a sub-regional seminar on the implementation in Central Africa of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and presented at that time a report reflecting Africa’s firm determination to eradicate this scourge. As part of its implementation of the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel landmines, from 9 to 10 September 2003, Congo destroyed its stock of landmines. During two public operations carried out with the support of Canada and the United Nations, our Government destroyed 5,220 landmines. We intend to continue with an operation to search out landmines in the southern part of our country that borders on Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is to illustrate the degree of cooperation that prevails among the countries of Central Africa when it comes to questions of peace and security. Africa is seen today as the focal point for the challenges confronting humanity, in particular as regards armed conflict, underdevelopment and the proliferation of pandemics. But this is not all that Africa has to offer the rest of the world. Various courageous initiatives now show Africa’s determination to take its fate into its own hands: the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Council for Peace and Security. The African Union Summit that was just held in Maputo, Mozambique, eloquently displays this attitude of ours. My delegation associates itself with the statement made on 24 September by His Excellency Mr. Joaquim Alberto Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique, on behalf of the African Union. The Acting President clearly informed the international community about the resolve of the African continent to overcome current obstacles to building a new Africa in the areas of peace, security, democracy, human rights, economic development and regional integration. It is precisely in this sprit that His Excellency Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo, put forward his thoughts in a statement entitled, “For a Pan-African Pact against Aggression” 15 at the summit in Maputo, which constitutes a contribution to preventive diplomacy that will help to spare the African peoples the horrors of fratricidal strife and enable them to devote themselves exclusively and usefully to development objectives and a code of conduct between African States, lending timely support to the framework outlined by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union. My country, which is the current acting President of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC), takes such concerns to heart as it discharges its mandates in the management of various crises that are shaking our subregion. We have already had the opportunity to deplore the fact that Central Africa suffers from the paradox of being both one of the richest subregions on the continent and one of the weakest zones in terms of human development indices. All the current initiatives of the leaders of the subregion are geared towards the resolution of this paradox. Thus, during the past year, significant progress had been registered in the various countries that have experienced, or are experiencing, armed crises — Angola, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, the Central African Republic, Burundi and Chad. In the quest to resolve these crises, we have counted on the cooperation of diverse partners, especially the United Nations and African Union. Allow me to briefly touch on some of the situations that require particular attention from the international community. With respect to Angola, while we welcome the return of peace in that country, ravaged for nearly three decades by civil war, we wish to urge the international community to help the Angolan authorities in their efforts at reconstruction. We continue to support the intention of the Angolan Government to submit for consideration at the present session a draft resolution on international assistance for the reconstruction and economic development of Angola. We also welcome the positive developments under way in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, distinguished in particular by the establishment of transitional institutions and the deployment of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Ituri. We urge the international community to continue its support for the pacification and reunification process under way in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to further contribute substantively to the reconstruction programmes in place. I would like to reaffirm our steadfast wish to see this neighbouring and brotherly country find peace again, a guarantee for stability of the subregion. I am also duty-bound to draw the attention of the international community to the situation in the Central African Republic, which has been confronted for years with serious and persistent economic, social and security problems. I would like to recall here that alarmed by this ever-worsening situation, CAEMC has established an ad hoc committee on the Central African Republic, presided over by His Excellency El Hadj Omar Bongo, President of the Gabonese Republic. It has also deployed a peacekeeping force in that country. CAEMC’s involvement in the Central African Republic, which has received much encouragement, particularly from the Security Council, mainly aims at the reconciliation of the Central African people, the pacification of the country and the prompt restoration of constitutional order. The holding of a Central African dialogue fits precisely in the framework of the recommended measures. This country, which has suffered greatly these past years, truly needs assistance from the international community to regain peace, stability, economic growth and democracy. That is the meaning of the appeal made at Brazzaville on 17 May 2003 by the ECCAS Ministers at the meeting of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa. Still with respect to our subregion, I would like finally to stress in particular the crisis that raged in the Democratic Republic of Sâo Tomé and Pr'ncipe in July 2003. At that time, ECCAS, the African Union, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Nigeria worked in perfect concert to re-establish the constitutional order shattered in this country on 16 July 2003. While we commend the contribution made by the United States and South Africa, we would like to appeal again for the entire international community to give substantial assistance to the Democratic Republic of Sâo Tomé and Pr'ncipe, particularly to the emergency programme that has just been established by the Government of this country. We must also follow with great interest developments in Burundi, where every step forward 16 must be supported and encouraged to make the process irreversible. To that end, the international community is urgently called upon to make good on the financial commitments made during the conferences in Paris and Geneva. The situations that I have just mentioned lead us to the relevant conclusions of the open Security Council meeting on 22 October 2002 on strengthening cooperation between the United Nations system and the Central African region in the maintenance of peace and security. At that meeting, we expressed our appreciation for the cooperation between our region and the United Nations while welcoming, inter alia, the work of the Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa. We welcomed the multi- country programme of demobilization and reintegration put forward by the World Bank. Since then, we welcomed the visit of the Security Council in June 2003 to the Great Lakes region and the multidisciplinary mission of the United Nations system, and we are eagerly awaiting its conclusions. These conclusions will allow us to meaningfully participate in the future public debates of the Security Council on our subregion, one year after the meeting that elaborated a comprehensive, integrated, determined and concerted approach to the problems of peace, security and development of Central Africa. Energized by that approach, we intend to participate in the international conference on peace, security, democracy and development in the Great Lakes region. We intend to seize this historic opportunity to exorcise the demons of hatred and violence and lay the foundation for peaceful coexistence among our peoples and nations, which share a common destiny. While reaffirming the central role that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has to play in that conference, I would like to stress that the Republic of Congo, my country, which is close to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in so many ways, would not understand if it had to attend as an observer at this crucial event. The same goes, by all accounts, for other neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, such as Angola and the Central African Republic. The issues of peace, security and building national unity were at the core of the Congolese authorities’ concerns during the past year. It is in this framework that the 17 March 2003 agreement must be placed, thanks to which peace continues to reign throughout the entire territory. Having regained peace, we are seeking to build on it each day, particularly by implementing the programme of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants. We are also working towards the resettlement of internally displaced persons. It is not hard to fathom that these missions require considerable funding, which the Congo cannot provide alone. We would like to thank all our partners for their active solidarity. We must still meet the great challenges of reconstruction, economy recovery, poverty reduction and the fight against HIV/AIDS, all sectors for which national strategies have been adopted. To implement this vast project, which we have called “The New Hope”, we are mobilizing all the national forces capable of providing assistance to the State, including local government authorities, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector. In that framework, we have conducted negotiations with our external partners with a view to benefiting from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative. All of these achievements can be implemented only in a world free from fear, as envisaged by the founders of our Organization, and as we believe today. This is why we wish to reiterate our faith and attachment to the United Nations, an irreplaceable framework and beacon of all hopes for peace for humanity, and which has never seemed more clearly necessary than today.