In taking
the floor for the first time before this Assembly, I offer
my heartfelt thanks to the international community and
all the friendly countries that had faith in our struggle
for democracy, and whose support never failed us
during the painful and trying post-electoral crisis in
Côte d’Ivoire.
Please also allow me, Mr. President, to
congratulate you warmly, as other speakers before me
have done, on your outstanding election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth
session, which attests to the recognition of your
remarkable contribution to expanding the influence of
the Organization and promoting its ideals. We assure
you of my delegation’s full support in carrying out
your mandate. I would also like to convey to your
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss, my full
appreciation and that of my delegation for his
remarkable work and encouraging results during his
presidency.
I would further like to make a special mention
here of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his
determined commitment and tireless efforts on behalf
of world peace, earning him deserved reappointment to
a second term at the head of the United Nations. In
reiterating my warm congratulations upon your
re-election, I would also like to reaffirm, on behalf of
the Ivorian people and Government, as well as
personally, our profound gratitude and thanks for the
crucial role the United Nations and you personally
played in resolving the Ivorian crisis.
I note with satisfaction that, for the first time in
history, a woman — Ms. Dilma Rousseff,
democratically elected in 2010 to lead Brazil —
opened our general debate. I celebrate this fact.
The theme chosen for this session — “The role of
mediation in the settlement of disputes by peaceful
means” — demonstrates our will to place our
Organization at the heart of international crisis
resolution. It also focuses the attention of our
Assembly on one of the main missions entrusted to the
United Nations — the use and promotion of
negotiations in the resolutions of conflicts, whose
proliferation and gravity have posed an unrelenting
threat to the balance and progress of humankind in
recent years. The implementation of such an approach
in international relations calls for resolute involvement
and solidarity on the part of Member States in seeking
negotiated solutions to current and potential disputes at
the international, regional and subregional levels. In
this regard, I welcome the independence of South
Sudan and its admission as the 193rd State Member of
the United Nations.
The recent history of peoples underscores the
virtues of dialogue and negotiation for resolving even
the most complex conflicts, as proven by the
dismantling of apartheid and the progress, albeit
modest, in the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian
crisis.
This is a theme close to our hearts, as the father
of the Ivorian nation, President Félix Houphouët-
Boigny, left his mark on the history of Côte d’Ivoire
and the entire African continent as a result of his
pragmatic approach to resolving conflicts through
dialogue. The UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Peace Prize attests to and represents the international
community’s recognition of his efforts to promote
peace. I am therefore honoured and proud to make a
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commitment to follow in the footsteps of the approach
promoted by that apostle disciple of dialogue and
peace. In this context, my country is fully ready, as in
the past, to tirelessly promote the option of negotiation
to resolve and prevent conflicts and safeguard peace —
a prerequisite for all social and economic development
in the world.
The much sought prize of peace, even through the
appropriate routes of consultation and dialogue, cannot
be achieved without more balanced and fairer
economic development in our world. In this regard, the
economic and financial crisis that has shaken the world
for three years and whose consequences are still being
felt, especially in developing countries, demands
action, even as growth becomes more apparent in some
regions. This trend has been growing since 2010, due
in part to the economic performance of emerging and
developing countries, must absolutely be consolidated
if we want to sustainably prevent the relapse of such a
crisis.
Nevertheless, strong economic growth is not
enough to guarantee security and stability in our world.
It must necessarily be accompanied by transparent and
equitable access to employment, especially for young
people, security and justice if we truly want to break
the cycles of political and criminal violence. We must
therefore urgently adopt a new model for development
based on environmental constraints that ensures that
the needs of the population for employment, security
and justice are met. Such a challenge can be overcome
only through solidarity.
The food, energy and environmental crises and
natural disasters, which have become ever more
frequent and serious due to the effects of climate
change, demonstrate that the balance of human life,
despite the immense progress achieved in a great
number of areas, remains fragile. They also underscore
how closely the fates of the peoples of the world are
linked, as no geographic, racial or religious division
can withstand either the occurrence or the negative
effects of these phenomena. Aware of our
responsibilities to our people and, above all, to
humankind as a whole, we must therefore join forces
through the multilateral framework to seek innovative
and effective solutions to these crises and other
catastrophes, which pose a real threat to international
peace and security.
In this regard, I would like to reiterate the
compassion of the people and Government of Côte
d’Ivoire to the victims of natural disasters, especially
in Japan, the Caribbean and the United States. I extend
special and brotherly sympathy to the peoples of the
Horn of Africa, who are suffering the grave effects of
famine as a result of an extended drought.
Faced with these humanitarian tragedies, the
political commitment of all States Members of the
United Nations is indispensable. My delegation
therefore welcomes the initiatives undertaken by the
international community — especially the French
presidency of the Group of 20, and the specialized
institutions of the United Nations and the African
Union — to meet the immediate needs of the affected
populations.
International peace and security remain a cause of
major concern for our Organization, given the
proliferation of armed conflicts, nuclear threats,
terrorist activity, transnational crime, human
trafficking, drug trafficking and pandemics. All of
these hamper the world’s harmonious development,
especially in Africa, which, riven by many areas of
tension, struggles to ensure its economic and social
development despite its enormous potential.
The United Nations has a role to play in
strengthening the international solidarity that is
indispensable as we seek effective and appropriate
solutions to these crises. This requires the mobilization
of adequate resources to fund research and
development in the areas of food crop production,
renewable energy and sustainable development. To that
end, a substantial reduction in military spending is
required, allowing such resources to be found. Such a
sacrifice would be very useful towards the survival of
mankind.
Aware of these crises, since taking office I have
sought to enhance the security of my country.
Discussions are nearing completion on tripartite
agreements with our neighbours, particularly
Liberia — with which one has already been signed —
Ghana and Guinea, with the support of the High
Commissioner for Refugees and United Nations
peacekeepers present in the region. These agreements
seek to ensure the voluntary and rapid return of Ivorian
refugees from those brotherly countries and to protect
our eastern and western borders from the movement of
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armed groups, drug trafficking and traffic in precious
metals.
Negotiations are also under way with our Western
partners to ensure that Côte d’Ivoire becomes a
bulwark of regional defence and security in the fight
against terrorism. The recent ratification of the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child on the involvement of children in armed
conflict reinforces our firm resolve to use all legal
means to combat violence and to protect the security of
our most vulnerable people, particularly women and
children.
The outcome of the social and political conflict
that began in Côte d’Ivoire in 2002 marks the return of
democracy to our country, based on the promise of the
rule of law and a society that shares the common ideals
of peace and respect for human rights. For that reason,
coexistence is the cornerstone of my Government’s
programme. As soon as I took office, I established
national reconciliation as one of our priorities by
creating a Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation
Commission designed to create conditions conducive
to dialogue among all levels of society in order to heal
the wounds of the crisis, re-knit the social fabric,
restore national cohesion and promote peace and
justice.
Furthermore, the Government, which is
responsible for making those principles the basis for its
activities, is working tirelessly to ensure social and
economic recovery towards the reconstruction Côte
d’Ivoire. Thus, the President’s emergency programme
launched in March, while I was at the Golf Hotel, has
already had favourable results for the people of Côte
d’Ivoire, particularly those of Abidjan, who suffered
pillage and property destruction. The programme is
focused in particular on improving basic social
services, especially the provision of drinking water,
health care, education, electricity and public sanitation,
which are major challenges that must be met as we
attempt to achieve our Millennium Development
Goals.
The organization of parliamentary elections
before the end of this year will allow us to enhance
democracy and social justice in Côte d’Ivoire, with the
support and assistance of the United Nations through
Security Council resolution 2000 (2011) of 27 July
2011, which demonstrates again the Organization’s
determination to support Côte d’Ivoire until the end of
the crisis as provided by the Ouagadougou Political
Agreement.
The socio-political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire over
the past 10 years has undermined the economic and
social development of my country. It is my ambition,
as we approach 2020, to make Côte d’Ivoire an
emerging nation, reconciled with itself and with other
nations and united by republican values; a modern
State that respects the independence of the judiciary
and will combat impunity and ensure the promotion of
merit and competence.
In closing on this note of hope for my country, I
call for the determined and ongoing involvement of all
States Members of the United Nations in the pursuit,
through dialogue and cooperation, of collective,
effective and lasting solutions that will create a better
world based on more harmonious and secure forms of
development.
Côte d’Ivoire, which in the past was often called
on to help in the quest for peaceful solutions to
conflicts, intends to take up this vocation once again.
This is a natural mission for us in many respects,
because Côte d’Ivoire, as Félix Houphouët-Boigny
said, is the friend of all and the enemy of none.