Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto, in electing you to the presidency of the
Assembly, Member States wished to show their
confidence in your wealth of experience, as former
Minister for Foreign Affairs, to successfully guide its
work. The Senegalese delegation congratulates you
through me. At the same time I wish to thank and
congratulate our Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
who has taken many initiatives since he was elected as
the leader of our Organization, as demonstrated by the
recent meetings dealing with Africa.
Many heads of State have referred to the dizzying
increase in the price of oil, including, just now, the
President of the Dominican Republic. That is not by
chance, because many of us have denounced the policy
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), which establishes the price of oil as it wishes
and tries to blame it on the increase in demand — as if
we had never studied economics.
The assessments of our association have not been
very optimistic, but it should be noted that the
objectives set by the founding Members have not been
achieved. I quote from the birth certificate of our
Organization that one of the purposes was “to promote
social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom”. I believe that the United Nations has served
humanity considerably by resolving some conflicts and
by establishing lasting peace, but we must also
recognize its shortcomings in many areas, including
peace and in the economic field.
Today, populations throughout the world have
great expectations of our meeting, because humanity,
fortunately, still hopes, and that hope remains alive in
the countries that are called poor, and indeed they are.
But I usually say with regard to Africa that it is not
poor, but rather that Africa is a continent that has been
impoverished over five centuries of slavery and one
century of colonization and exploitation. However,
despite all of that, Africa has engaged itself in
international cooperation — bilateral and multilateral.
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We also strive to contribute within the United Nations,
for example to peace, which is one of the objectives of
our Organization.
Experience teaches us that there are limits to our
international system. As you, Mr. President, and the
Secretary-General have both mentioned, we should
look directly at the issues and undertake reforms.
Above all, we must demonstrate imagination and a
capacity for innovation.
The first issue of concern to us is to feed Africa.
We must substitute this idea of food aid, which was at
the origin of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), and replace it with the
concept of assistance to agriculture, because we have
demonstrated that we are able to carry out agriculture
just like developed countries. Unfortunately, we suffer
from certain shortages, including seeds, fertilizer and
equipment, as I will show in a moment. In place of
traditional financing, we need to imagine what is
referred to now as innovative financing.
In June 2008, we raised an alarm over the
increase in the price of basic commodities and
especially of food products. The Secretary-General
asked FAO to meet in Rome with heads of State. We
dropped everything in order to go to Rome and respond
to that appeal, believing that real solutions would be
proposed. Solutions were proposed, but we are still
waiting for them to be implemented. At the same time,
I drew attention to the fact that the countries of the
Sahel region have three to four months of rain each
year, during which time one could grow whatever one
wanted if one had the means to do so. That is followed
by eight or nine months of drought.
We launched that appeal, but like the doctor who
arrives after the death, no one responded. Fortunately
for Senegal, we foresaw difficulties due to the weighty
global mechanisms and launched a programme called
the Great Agricultural Offensive for Agriculture and
Abundance. We were told it was too ambitious because
it amounted to $800 million.
The project, which began at the end of May, will
be completed in a month. I have the pleasure to inform
the Assembly that, beyond meeting its food needs,
Senegal has met the challenge of achieving a surplus.
Six months ago, Senegal was among the most food-
dependent countries, importing all its food, including
more than 600,000 tons of rice annually. But a look at
Senegal today reveals that there is green everywhere. I
called on all Senegalese everywhere, including in the
Senegalese diaspora, to farm as much as they
wanted — on 10, 20 or 1,000 hectares — so long as it
was food. That great offensive, as I have said, has
unquestionably been a great success. The world will
not see Senegal launching an appeal for food
assistance. We have solved the problem and hope that
we have solved it once and for all.
Admittedly, we could not have done it without
God’s help. The programme required $100 million, a
third of which was to be devoted to fertilizer.
Fortunately, our country is endowed with phosphate
deposits that can be directly used as fertilizer for crops,
thus enabling us to save one third of the cost of our
investment in the programme. This has been possible
because of the belief I have adhered to for more than
50 years. I have said for a long time that we could find
phosphate. We have now gone out to find that hidden
wealth. As I said in jest about the previous regimes,
God had hidden it from them, but we managed to find
it.
Africa has responded to the call to protect the
environment. President Obasanjo and I launched the
Great Green Wall Initiative, whereby a band of trees
15 kilometres wide and 7,000 kilometres long will
stretch from Dakar to Djibouti. Once again, we were
told that it was a dream. No, as I speak, since, in the
words of the philosopher, we believe in going forward
by walking, Senegal is in the process of building
587 kilometres of the Great Green Wall. Everyone has
supported us in this endeavour — France, the United
States, the European Union — at least in words. We are
looking forward to your support, especially from the
scientists, who we hope will help us to choose drought-
resistant plants. It is possible. I contacted scientists
through the Internet. They came from all over the
world — Europe, the United States, American
universities and Australia. I accordingly called for the
help now of the Science Without Borders association. I
invited scientists to Senegal because their knowledge
comes free of charge, and they are always willing to
make it available for the benefit of humankind.
The Great Green Wall will be backed by what we
call retention basins. Billions of tons of water that fall
during the rainy season are lost to runoff or the sea. We
are trying to capture that water, as is being done so
well in countries such as Burkina Faso. We in Senegal
are making that a systematic effort. The World Bank
27 08-51749
has labelled our effort conclusive, and we also want to
build a green strip from Dakar to Djibouti.
Africa is therefore responding to the call of the
international community to protect the environment.
However, I cannot fail to point out that the African
coast is in the process of disappearing, with several
centimetres being lost from Morocco to the Gulf of
Guinea each year. In that connection, a first meeting
was held in Cotonou a few days ago to address the
issue of coastal erosion.
As the Assembly is aware, the Secretary-General
has issued a challenge to Africa. Not long ago, the
World Bank indicated that five African countries were
capable of achieving the Millennium Development
Goals, including Senegal. The Secretary-General has
said that no African country would achieve the
Millennium Development Goals. I, for my part,
respond to challenges. I shall meet that challenge for
Senegal, I shall take it up, and that is not a dream. Not
long ago, Senegal was very far down on the World
Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index. Just a few days
ago, thanks to our targeted efforts to overcome our
shortcomings, Senegal was classified as the first
country in Africa for doing business, and the fifth in
the world.
Child and maternal mortality is one of the
obstacles to overcoming our shortcomings. After
giving thought to the problem, we decided a week ago
in Senegal that, so long as the problem is left up to the
State, we will not make progress. We have instituted a
new approach that entails putting in charge a woman in
each neighbourhood of the affected areas to monitor
pregnancies and help pregnant women to visit doctors,
as well as to immediately inform the authorities of any
problems. We hope that will enable us to reduce child
and maternal mortality. We are even going so far as to
provide cell phones to women in the interior of Senegal
so that they can report cases to health-care centres.
There is also a need to establish a new
mechanism to mobilize resources. That was our goal in
setting up a pilot group for solidarity levies to fund
development. We have also launched a digital
solidarity fund. We Africans have done that, with the
support of the entire world. We are therefore on our
way to bridging the digital divide identified by the
Secretary-General.
As we begin our work here, more than 1 billion
Muslims throughout the world are fasting in
accordance with one of Islam’s five pillars. Apart from
religion, for every Muslim the fast is a code of
behaviour inspired by the lofty values of peace,
sharing, forgiveness, respect and brotherly love,
irrespective of religion. On the basis of the letter and
spirit of the message of Islam, which are being
celebrated during this Holy month of Ramadan, and in
my capacity as Chairman-in-Office of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference, I should like here to
reiterate the adherence of the Islamic Umma to the
principles of the culture of peace and dialogue among
civilizations. We affirm that we condemn extremism,
violence, intolerance and discrimination, which are
contrary to the teachings of Islam and which our
religion condemns as a source of unhappiness and
discord. It is for that reason that we are willing to
engage in a dialogue with all civilizations.
The United Nations ideal of peace continues to be
tested by the reality of conflicts in the world. Although
we have certainly seen fewer trouble spots in Africa,
conflict still rages in Chad, the Sudan and Darfur. We,
for our part, will always continue to give our active
support to peace and the United Nations.
Quite sincerely, however, I believe that there will
be no solution in Darfur until we disarm all armed
groups, which have been clearly identified. As for
Zimbabwe, we welcome the progress that is being
made. In Mauritania, we, as a neighbouring country,
are very concerned about what is taking place. But I
should like to reiterate here that we very much believe
in the rule of law of the Republic, in accordance with
the position outlined by the African Union.
We are also continuing our efforts in the Middle
East, as we have been called on to give our support to
intra-Palestinian dialogue and to dialogue between
Israel and Palestine.
For many years now, I have consistently
bemoaned the ineffectiveness of economic thinking.
The failure from which we are suffering today is the
failure of economists and financiers and, more
generally, of the intelligentsia. I greatly appreciate the
appeal just made to the intelligentsia made by the
President of the Dominican Republic.
I continue to believe that the solution to the crisis
is not to be found in the North; crises begin in the
North, but we will not find their solutions in the North.
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The global economy moved from Europe to the
United States where it created a new centre of
development that has underpinned the global economy
for almost 200 years. Now that economy is running out
of steam because of crises like the one we are facing
today.
President Bush has told us about a solution
advocated by his financiers, but I am sorry: the
solution to the North’s crisis lies in the South; the
solution lies in Africa.
Rather than allowing capital to roam in every
direction to create inflationary situations, I think it
better, as a Keynesian thinker, to call on Members to
invest in the creation of wealth and jobs in Africa, a
continent possessed of great material and human
resources and capable of taking its turn as the engine of
the exhausted global economy. That economy, which
left Europe for the United States, will finally be
developed in Africa.
That is why we call on the entire world to invest
in Africa because it is there that I sincerely believe that
the last advances will be achieved. It is true that some
trouble spots remain — as in every country — but with
the support of the General Assembly and the
Secretary-General, and with all people of goodwill, we
are sure that Africa will be able to play that role,
provided of course that Africans are trained as soon as
possible to assume that historic mission.
It is on this note of hope and as Vice-President of
the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) and President-in-Office of the Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC) that I make an appeal to
all countries to continue supporting efforts for peace
and continue supporting investment efforts in Africa.