Gabon

Permit me at the outset to express to Assembly President Julian Hunte the congratulations of my country, Gabon, on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at this session. Indeed, his election has symbolic value, since, through him, Saint Lucia has become — as he himself said — the smallest country ever to have occupied that high office. Is that not a perfect illustration of the universal vocation of the Organization, which recognizes the equality and rights of all its Members, small and large, but also their common responsibility in the conduct of the world’s affairs? Gabon expresses to him its wishes for success in leading this session, and we assure him of our full cooperation. We also congratulate Mr. Jan Kavan, who preceded Mr. Hunte in his office, on the work that he accomplished. In addition, we thank the Secretary- General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the self-sacrifice and 25 courage with which he is leading the Organization at this time of grave world turbulence. The extreme seriousness of the situation facing the world today sometimes leads the United Nations, when States are unable to carry out responsibilities that in principle devolve to them, to assume those responsibilities. As the United Nations carries out its difficult mission, its authority, unfortunately, is quite often sorely tested, and the very lives of its personnel are threatened. The tragic death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, one of the torch-bearers of the ideals of the United Nations, and other staff members in Baghdad on 19 August is a dreadful reminder of just how fragile international peace and security are. Nevertheless, despite the delicate nature of the situation, the activities of the United Nations must be pursued in Iraq to assist in the reconstruction of the country. Beyond Iraq, the future of the entire Middle East region must be at the centre of all our attention. The road map remains, despite current threats to its enforcement, the sole hope to restore peace between the parties to the conflict and sustainable regional balance to the Middle East. Gabon urges the two parties to end the violence and resume their dialogue. Despite the persistence of some hotbeds of tension, the overall situation in Africa has witnessed positive changes. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the peace process has begun to be implemented with the creation in June 2003 of a Transitional Government, whose chief mission is the establishment of new democratic institutions and preparations for elections. It goes without saying that the security and stability of the country continues to depend on that of the entire Great Lakes region. This is why Gabon ardently desires the completion of the Arusha process in Burundi. After a period of uncertainty, the Central African Republic is also restoring peace, particularly thanks to specific pacification measures taken by the country’s new authorities. To complement their efforts, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, which met in Libreville in June 2003, decided to make an ad hoc contribution of 5 billion francs CFA to the Central African Republic. For its part, Gabon has always actively worked for peacekeeping and peace-building in Africa. This was recently demonstrated again in Sâo Tomé and Principe, where the good offices of President Bongo and his African peers, particularly those from the Economic Community of Central African States, contributed to the restoration of constitutional order in the country. Unfortunately, these welcome events are at variance with our inability to react promptly to some crisis situations that jeopardize collective security and cause gross violations of human rights. We must assume a two-fold duty today: to strengthen our collective means of conflict prevention and, when those efforts do not obtain results, to have the capacity to react swiftly to contain armed conflicts before their escalation brings about new humanitarian disasters, as was recently the case in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia. African countries have shown their ability to manage crises on many occasions. But their will is most often impeded by the scarcity of human resources and lack of appropriate logistical means. To facilitate the prompt deployment of peacekeeping forces in these regions, should we not establish, under the auspices of the United Nation, a partnership between African countries and the developed countries that provide logistical support. Because many conflicts are rooted in poverty, any effort to resolve them must be based on the quest for efficient solutions to the problems inherent in underdevelopment. The Monterrey Consensus, reaffirmed during the Johannesburg Summit, is based on the recognition that financing for development is a crucial element for an international strategy for sustainable development. The drop in private international investment in developing countries is liable to hinder them from truly recovering. Moreover, many of these countries, in particular those known as medium-income countries like Gabon, continue to devote huge resources to repay external debt. Gabon remains convinced that only a courageous strategy to defer or cancel debt would enable the economic recovery of the countries involved. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has become a development problem, also deserves our attention. The disease is now the leading cause of death among women and the young in Africa. In other words, its main victims are our nations’ hope. We welcome the 26 fact that the high-level plenary debate that took place last week at United Nations Headquarters itself reaffirmed the commitment of the international community to combat this horrifying disease. The ills that the world is facing should prompt us to identify the structural causes and find the best way to respond. This is particularly true with respect to the fight against international terrorism. One vital stage in this process is the establishment of a legal framework conducive to effective international cooperation. We must finalize without delay the negotiations to adopt a universal convention against international terrorism in all its forms, including the issue of the acquisition of arsenals of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups. The positive forces that drive our world towards greater integration and solidarity are increasingly jeopardized by growing threats. Because the new challenges of our world have a global impact, we must respond collectively. Only close coordination and active multilateral cooperation will enable us to meet them. It is within the United Nations, a high-level forum for dialogue and cooperation, that we can achieve this objective. To do so, as we have stressed during the previous session, we must strengthen our Organization, particularly by restoring the role of the General Assembly and reforming the Security Council. We agree on the principle. May we thus have the courage and will to harmonize our views to attain this ideal of change and strengthen the multilateral dimension of our Organization.