Allow me
first of all to congratulate Mr. Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-third session. He can count on the
full cooperation of the Togolese as he carries out his
noble task. We would also like to pay tribute to the
Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for the insight
and determination which he has demonstrated in
leading the Organization since taking up his post.
At the high-level meeting on Africa’s
development needs, held here on 22 September,
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Member States noted that despite the efforts that have
been made, the situation in Africa demands continued
serious consideration by the international community
in order to help Africa face up to the many challenges
it faces. It was also stressed that the fight against
poverty and the fight for sustainable development
cannot succeed without considerable official
development assistance and fairer trade between
nations.
In that regard, it is unfortunate that the North-
South dialogue has been exhausted, as evidenced by
the recent failure of the World Trade Organization
negotiations in Geneva. Indeed, while international
trade should become a tool for development, the
balance of global economic power, which was
responsible to a great degree for the dependence of
countries of the South on their partners in the North,
will continue to deteriorate. Most countries perceive
globalization as the status quo, which makes the
objectives of development and social justice even more
difficult to achieve. To think that, when the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 2000,
many of us were hopeful that they would be achieved.
For that reason we call upon the international
community, especially the countries of the North, to
respect the commitments made.
We note with concern that today new and even
greater challenges are being added to the long list of
those which our States already face. The sharp rise in
the price of oil and other raw materials, as well as the
increasing demand for energy, along with the effects of
the global food and financial crises are among these
new challenges.
The current food crisis will not fail to have
catastrophic consequences if aid to agriculture is not
reviewed and increased; it is unfortunate that such
assistance was cut by half between 1992 to 2000. It
should also be stressed that few resources have been
allocated to agricultural infrastructure, to irrigation and
to supplying water to the population.
We venture to hope that the new partnership
established on 4 June in Rome between the Alliance for
a Green Revolution in Africa, the United Nations, the
Food and Agriculture Organization, the International
Fund for Agricultural Development and the World
Food Programme will contribute to an appropriate
response to the situation.
Togo has suffered the negative effects of a long
political and economic crisis. However, since President
Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé’s accession to power in
May 2005, the Togolese Government has sought
suitable solutions to the major concerns of the Togolese
people by implementing a pragmatic policy based on
national reconciliation, poverty reduction and
strengthening democracy and the rule of law.
In that context, the head of State worked to
conclude a comprehensive political agreement in
August 2006, which was signed by the major political
parties and which opened the way for the holding of
legislative elections in October 2007. There is little
need to remind members that those elections took place
in a peaceful, transparent and safe environment. They
led to the establishment of a broad-based Government
and a pluralistic National Assembly, which shows the
commitment of the head of State to strengthen the
democratization process in an atmosphere of
understanding and national unity.
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate
our thanks to the friendly countries and multilateral
partners that have fully resumed their cooperation with
Togo following the implementation of the agreements
signed. In order to consolidate that commitment
process, the Togolese Government is working tirelessly
to see through the institutional and constitutional
reforms provided for by the comprehensive political
agreement.
In the legal field, it has undertaken to modernize
the justice system, so as to guarantee its independence.
In the same vein, national consultations aimed at
establishing a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
Commission were launched on 15 April 2008. The
Commission will be charged with shedding light on
acts of political violence committed in the past and
finding ways to compensate the victims. The results of
those consultations have just been submitted to the
head of State.
Similarly, in its search for better strategies to
fight corruption and improve good economic
governance, Togo recently signed a memorandum of
understanding with the African Peer Review
Mechanism, by which it agrees to submit to periodic
reviews by the other members of the African Union
(AU) and to be directed by the jointly adopted
parameters for political, economic and financial
governance in Africa. As part of the financial reform,
25 08-53129
soon the post of auditor-general and a national audit
office will be set up. A Government audit programme
is in the process of being finalized.
The torrential rainfall that struck our country last
July sorely tested our Government’s efforts. It led to
countless human injuries and material and financial
losses, including the collapse of a dozen bridges, the
flooding of railways and the destruction of roads,
villages and fields. That disaster, the second of its kind
in a year, makes it very difficult to move from region
to region.
The solidarity shown to our country enabled us to
assist the affected and to start rebuilding some of the
infrastructure. Here, I should like to express our deep
gratitude to Ghana, Benin, France, China, the United
States of America, Brazil and all the other countries,
organizations and institutions that helped us.
As members can see, in spite of our efforts the
overall situation in our country is far from satisfactory.
Therefore, our country deserves more substantial
support. In that regard, the positive results of the Togo
Development Partners Conference, held in Brussels on
18 and 19 September, leads us to hope that the
international community is ready to play a decisive
role in assisting our country to get back on its feet.
We would like once again to express our
profound thanks to all those who contributed to the
success of that conference, in particular the European
Union, France, Germany, the United States of America,
Portugal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, the Niger, the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic
Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the
Central Bank of West African States, the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the
West African Economic and Monetary Union.
For decades, Togolese diplomacy has worked to
strengthen friendship and cooperation among States
and peoples. Thus, at both the bilateral and the
multilateral levels, Togo has always done its utmost to
achieve the peaceful settlement of disputes with the
purpose of maintaining peace and stability wherever
threatened. Those actions, undertaken through dialogue
and consultation, are part of the efforts made by
African countries to ensure better living conditions for
their populations. Togo believes that dialogue and
consultation must be the preferred ways to settle
ethnic, religious or territorial disputes, which are true
obstacles to harmonious coexistence among States and
peoples.
Along those lines, it must be recalled that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is at the core of the
political and security problems in the Middle East,
continues to be the focus of the highest concern for the
international community. In order to promote peace
and stability in that region, the international
community must make a greater effort to find a just
and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
In that regard, Togo welcomes the ongoing
dialogue between the parties and hopes that the various
initiatives will lead to a comprehensive solution, based
on the principle of two States, Israeli and Palestinian,
living within secure and internationally recognized
borders.
Afghanistan and Iraq, which are experiencing a
major lack of security, deserve special attention. We
therefore call on the international community to
increase its assistance to the Governments of those
countries in their fight against terrorism, so as to
promote peace and reconstruction.
In Africa, while it is true that glimmers of hope
are to be seen in the settlement of crises, one cannot
but condemn situations such as those persisting in
Darfur and Somalia. We call on the various actors to
demonstrate more courage and political will to get out
of the vicious circle of violence and, thus, give peace a
chance.
Because of the orientation of its foreign policy,
the Togolese Government endorses all initiatives aimed
at preventing, fighting and eliminating the causes of
conflict, in particular the trafficking of and illegal trade
in small arms. For that reason, it did not hesitate to
support the proposal to draft and adopt a binding
international instrument on the trade in small arms.
Along those same lines, Togo was involved in activities
linked to promoting and safeguarding international
peace and security, as demonstrated by its participation
in the various peacekeeping operations of the United
Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS.
Today more than ever, the world needs security
and peace in order to devote its energies to eliminating
hunger, illiteracy and disease. To that end, it is more
urgent than ever to make concerted efforts to fight
inequality, injustice and exclusion.
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In our respective countries, we must build
societies where humanism and solidarity will reign in
peace and security. We believe that that is one of the
purposes of the founders of the United Nations and
which we must strive to achieve now, at the beginning
of the twenty-first century.