The
Chadian delegation warmly congratulates the President
on his election to the presidency of the Assembly at its
sixty-sixth session and assures him of its cooperation
and support as he carries out his noble endeavours.
I also express my delegation’s admiration for his
predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss, who skilfully guided
the Assembly’s work during the sixty-fifth session.
Finally, Chad pays tribute the Secretary-General,
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his work on the
development front and towards peace in the world. We
reiterate to him our warmest congratulations on his
well-deserved re-election to a second term at the helm
of our Organization.
My delegation welcomes the choice of the central
theme for our general debate, “The role of mediation in
the settlement of disputes”. This theme is fully
consistent with our own political vision, our
convictions and our philosophy of a harmonious and
egalitarian world.
Chad has made its own modest contribution in
supporting the efforts of the State of Qatar, the United
Nations and the international community by
participating at the highest level in the negotiations and
conclusion of the Doha Framework Agreement for the
Resolution of the Conflict in Darfur between the
Sudanese Government and the armed opposition in
Darfur. We sincerely hope that this crisis will finally be
resolved. To that end, the Sudan should be supported
by the entire international community, so that peace
and security can be restored throughout the country
and in the subregion.
Furthermore, we are concerned by the hotbeds of
tension that are spreading throughout the world and
that sometimes stem from the profound changes taking
place, particularly in some countries of the Middle East
and in the Maghreb. That process is often described as
the Arab Spring.
Our Organization must be resolute in its
commitment to stand with the parties to conflict, as
part of efforts to find solutions based on reconciliation
and forgiveness. In addition to the losses of human life
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that we have witnessed, we should also mention the
fact that dramatic circumstances such as these also
result in the inevitable streams of refugees and the
displaced. And when we speak of refugees and
displaced persons, we are talking about misery and
terrible suffering. We are well qualified to discuss this
issue, given that Chad is now hosting more than
100,000 refugees from Central Africa in the south-
western part of the country and more than 290,000
Sudanese refugees and 180,000 Chadian displaced
persons in the east. They have been living in this
situation since 2003, in precarious environmental and
social conditions.
We call on the international community to show
solidarity and to assist us in assuming responsibility
for all Chadian displaced persons. In the wake of the
full withdrawal last March of the United Nations
Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad
(MINURCAT), the Chadian Government assumed
responsibility for the protection of refugees and
displaced persons, as well as of the humanitarian
organizations that are assisting them, by setting up a
special national force known as the Détachement
intégré de sécurité. It is to be hoped that our partners
will continue to deploy efforts alongside us and
complement them with the financial and logistical
support necessary to the proper functioning of that
force.
In addition, like a number of other Sahel
countries, Chad has witnessed the return from Libya, in
very dangerous conditions, of almost 100,000 of its
nationals who were forced to leave Libya in a state of
utter destitution. I should like to take this opportunity
to thank the International Organization for Migration
and other institutions as well as all those countries that
have assisted us in repatriating and providing
assistance to our nationals. Our deepest desire is for
peace to return to Libya so that the killing can end and
the Libyans can reconcile in the framework of the
National Transitional Council in order to build a State
based on the rule of law and democracy.
In connection with the building of a new Libya,
we would draw the attention of our Libyan brothers to
the situation of those of our citizens who, despite
having contributed to the development of that country
as immigrant workers, are sometimes referred to
indiscriminately as mercenaries. In addition, we wish
to express our great concern about the fate of the
400,000 Chadians who remain trapped in Libya. We
call on the new Libyan authorities urgently to take
measures aimed at fulfilling its commitment to protect
immigrants.
Chad would also like to share with the Assembly
our views on current issues of common concern, a
number of which are being discussed in meetings
during this session. These are mainly problems that
affect international solidarity. They include the
handling of economic and environmental crises as well
as the security situation in our region. These issues
directly affect our daily lives in that they hinder or
even stall our development efforts, particularly in the
case of countries emerging from conflict, such as Chad.
The aftermath of those crises will certainly jeopardize
the implementation of our development strategies and
our capacity to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals by 2015.
Chad, which has lived through decades of
external attacks, cannot achieve the Millennium
Development Goals unless it receives substantial
support through, inter alia, the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries initiative. For that reason, we have
repeatedly called for support from the relevant
international institutions.
One of the consequences of climate change is that
this year the Sahel area saw low levels of rainfall,
which could lead to an environmental and humanitarian
catastrophe such as the one that we have seen in recent
months in the Horn of Africa.
We commend all of the initiatives undertaken by
the Organization to promote international solidarity
with our countries through high-level meetings and
summits, including the United Nations Conference on
the Least Developed Countries, held in Istanbul, and
upcoming conferences on combating desertification
and on sustainable development, to be held in Korea
and in Rio de Janeiro, respectively.
Among the other major initiatives that we have
undertaken, I would like to stress in particular those
relating to free emergency health care, maternal and
child health, communicable diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and malaria, and free education at all levels.
Our policies on gender and on the empowerment of
youth remain the cornerstone of our vision of a new
Chad that is moving ahead and making progress.
Finally, of all the challenges facing us, the issue
of sustainable development remains a priority. Indeed,
31 11-50871
following the holding in Chad in June 2010 of a
meeting on the Great Green Wall initiative by the
countries of the Sahel, our country in October 2010
convened the eighth World Forum on Sustainable
Development on the theme “Save Lake Chad”. The
action plans that emerged from those meetings are
being publicized so as to ensure support for their
implementation. We call once again on the
international community to assist those countries
located on the banks of Lake Chad to help save the
lake, because the world should know that the future of
the Congo Basin forest depends on its survival, as does
the combat against desertification.
The question of Palestine has been outstanding
for far too long, and its impact on regional and global
security influence is felt daily. There is therefore an
urgent need for an international consensus on the issue
of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. We
believe that the time has come to recognize a State of
Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel.
We must have the courage to move forward in this
direction, which is essential in order to bring about
peace between the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.
For that reason, I call on all peace- and justice-loving
countries to commit themselves to that end.
Finally, we would like once again to touch on the
issue of the reform of the United Nations, one of whose
characteristics is the marginalization of a large part of
humankind; I refer here to the African people. African
States, individually and collectively, are today key
players in terms of peace, security and development.
Unfortunately, it has to be said that they have not yet
assumed their full role within the system, because of,
inter alia, their marginalization in the context of
initiatives aimed at resolving certain conflicts that pose
a threat to peace and security on our continent.
United Nations reform is absolutely necessary,
and we should accelerate the process, in consideration
of the claims and legitimate hopes of Africans, whose
main concern is to fulfil the right of the African
continent to be represented on the Security Council by
a permanent seat with veto power. That is the only way
for Africa to effectively contribute to conflict
prevention and settlement and to the maintenance of
peace in the world at large and on the African continent
in particular.