It is indeed
my pleasure, on behalf of the leadership, people and
Government of the Sudan, to greet the General
Assembly as it meets in its sixty-third session. We wish
its deliberations every success and hope to witness
tangible progress on all the issues and challenges that
must be given priority by this Organization. We refer,
of course, to the maintenance of international peace
and security; realizing the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs); containing the food crisis, poverty,
hunger, climate change and water shortages; and
reactivating the role of the United Nations in a
changing world.
We are indeed delighted to see Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann chairing this session. We are
confident that, with his wisdom, experience and
perspicacity, we may indeed be hopeful and optimistic
that the international community will realize its
ambitions for global development, reconstruction and
prosperity.
I also wish to strongly commend and thank
Ambassador Srgjan Kerim for the competence with
which he conducted the work of the sixty-second
session. We also thank the Secretary-General and his
staff for the efforts that they continue to deploy in the
service of the mandate of this Organization.
This session of the General Assembly falls amid
some very important and particular developments in
the international and regional spheres. Millions are
looking forward to a world of peace, stability and
prosperity that respects the common values and
principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations, notably respect for the sovereignty of States,
their choices, the peaceful settlement of disputes and
joint cooperation in all fields.
Although we continue to hope for and work
towards a capable and efficient United Nations and a
complete framework for multilateral cooperation that
takes into consideration the wealth and diversity of the
international community, we in the developing
08-51851 20
countries, especially in the African continent, remain
profoundly convinced of the need to maintain those
objectives and principles. We recall that our African
continent has had a long and difficult journey as a
result of its backwardness since it broke the yoke of
colonialism and fought its post-independence wars,
during which the objectives and aspirations of Africans
to lead a dignified life were forever thwarted by the
so-called lost decades of development and the
unfavourable economic and trade atmosphere. The
political and security situation of the African continent
has made it vulnerable to foreign interventions and
conspiracies that have undermined its stability and
rendered peace a more distant prospect.
In addition to discussing the various and well-
known threats and dangers facing the African continent
and all developing nations, I should like to draw
attention to and warn about the danger of the abuse of
what is called “universal jurisdiction”. That concept
that was condemned in July 2008 at the Sharm
el-Sheikh summit, which called on the Security
Council and the General Assembly to seriously
examine the issue and to cancel it. The politicization
and abuse of the aforementioned principle clearly
shows that disregard for and non-compliance with
political and professional norms that are guided by the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of
international law, together with the application of
double standards, pose grave dangers for the region
and beyond, threatening the stability and prestige of
the institutions of the international order.
Achieving peace and stability in the Sudan has
been a firm priority objective of our Government,
which has demonstrated its commitment to the option
of peace, as reflected in the historic milestone achieved
when we signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
on 9 January 2005 in Nairobi. The Agreement, which
ended the longest-running conflict on the African
continent since the colonial era, was reinforced by the
Darfur Peace Agreement, signed at Abuja, and the
Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, signed at Asmara,
Eritrea.
Our efforts to achieve peace have proceeded from
our conviction that peace will create a favourable
environment for the development of the Sudan’s vast
agricultural resources and wealth, which in turn will
ensure the sustainability of peace. Furthermore, peace
in the Sudan is a strategic goal aimed at reinforcing
stability in neighbouring countries, the region and the
continent. Thus, we appeal to all members of the
international community, through the Assembly, to
support the efforts to achieve peace and stability in the
Sudan. By so doing, they will promote, enhance and
guarantee peace and stability in the region and on the
African continent. We must avoid doing anything that
could negatively affect or jeopardize those efforts.
While our country is firmly committed to
implementing the provisions of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement, in particular by holding general
elections during the first half of next year and by
completing our national programmes for disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration and de-mining, we
hope that the international community will honour its
financial commitments, including those pledges
announced in Oslo in 2005 and in Norway in May
2008.
Here, in view of the difficulties and obstacles that
we have encountered in implementing the Agreement, I
should like to recall a principle of Western thought
regarding the difference between words and deeds. We
in the Sudan believe that our desire for the cancellation
of our foreign debt is in accordance with the spirit and
requirements of peace agreements, since that debt is
hampering our reconstruction efforts. We also call for
the lifting of the unilateral sanctions imposed against
our country, which defeat the true purpose of a
comprehensive peace. In that way, the citizens of the
Sudan could benefit from the dividends of peace.
The problem of Darfur has been the chief concern
of the people and the Government of the Sudan. No
one is more eager than our people to achieve peace and
stability in Darfur, which, after all, is their problem and
their responsibility. From this rostrum, we reaffirm our
full commitment to achieving a peaceful political
settlement of the crisis in Darfur, one that will enhance
the ongoing peace process through positive actions.
These include the implementation of the People of the
Sudan initiative, aimed at developing a national
consensus as to the best way to resolve the issue, as
stated by the President of the Republic during his
recent important visit to Darfur; the appointment of
Mr. Jebreel Basoli, Joint Chief Negotiator, whom we
fully support; the establishment of an Arab-African
committee, co-chaired by the Prime Minister of Qatar,
the Chairperson of the Commission of the African
Union and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab
States, to mediate peace negotiations between the
Government of the Sudan and the armed movements in
21 08-51851
Darfur, in close cooperation and coordination with the
representatives of the African Union and the United
Nations; and the implementation of the initiative that
was supported and welcomed by the African Union, the
League of Arab States and the Secretary-General of the
United Nations. The Sudanese Government of National
Unity sincerely hopes that those efforts will promptly
lead to comprehensive peace and stability in Darfur.
We had hoped that the signing of the Darfur
Peace Agreement on 5 May 2006 as a result of the
generous mediation of the African Union would
encourage the movements that had not signed the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement to do so. In
particular, in order to ensure full implementation of the
Agreement, power-sharing and the establishment of the
Transitional Darfur Regional Authority, male and
female citizens of Darfur have been appointed to
executive and legislative positions and various
arrangements have been put in place to ensure wealth-
and power-sharing and security.
However, as members are all aware, the
movements that oppose peace have continued to
boycott all the negotiations, undermining the efforts of
Mr. Jan Eliasson and Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim. The
movements have continued to reject the peace option
and to choose the military option, not to serve the
interests of the people of Darfur but to pursue a policy
aimed at regime change in the Sudan, as demonstrated
in the military aggression carried out on 10 May 2008
against the Sudanese capital itself. Those movements
would not have been able to do what they did had they
not been receiving mixed or wrong messages from
some circles, since they saw that the non-signatories
were not being pressured to join the organ of peace,
while those who signed the treaty were. That increased
the intransigence of the non-signatories, threatening
the chances for peace and the humanitarian conditions.
With regard to peacekeeping — and in
accordance with the principles of positive cooperation
with the United Nations and the African Union under
the agreement reached at the high-level understandings
in Addis Ababa on 16 November 2006, which led to the
adoption of Security Council resolution 1769 (2007)
establishing the mandate of the joint African Union-
United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
(UNAMID) — the Government of the Sudan has
fulfilled its commitments with regard to its role in the
peace process in Darfur and indeed has fulfilled many
other steps. The status of forces agreement has been
concluded. The mandate was transferred from the
African Union Mission in the Sudan to UNAMID on
31 December of last year. The headquarters have been
built and operational capacities have been established
in the three states of Darfur. Periodic coordination
meetings between the Government of the Sudan and
the command of the joint operation have been
deliberating on all the problems and resolving them.
On the humanitarian level, the Government of the
Sudan remains committed to executing the
humanitarian communiqué concluded with the United
Nations on 28 March 2007, which is being
implemented in an exemplary manner as a result of the
matchless follow-up mechanism to track the
implementation of the humanitarian communiqué and
the special efforts of the Government to open
humanitarian corridors in Darfur and to facilitate the
delivery of humanitarian aid. Once again we renew our
commitment to that effort.
At a time when the Government of National
Unity has taken giant strides to implement the peace
agreement, with the full support of the President of the
Republic, the electoral law has been passed and
approved by parliament to usher the Sudan to yet
another phase of democratic transformation and
peaceful transfer of power through general elections to
be held in 2009.
The country is fully mobilized and engaged in
turning over the page of violence and war in Darfur,
and amid those developments came the request of the
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to
the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue an arrest warrant. An
arrest warrant against whom? Against a man who
ended the longest war in Africa, a man who brought
peace to eastern Sudan and laid the foundations for
peace in Darfur. That request targeted the leadership of
the State, the symbol of its sovereignty and dignity, in
a failed attempt at political and moral assassination, as
well as causing delay or erosion of the peace process
for ulterior motives unrelated to justice or to the
realization of peace and stability in Darfur, and in a
State that is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.
Moreover, the actions of the Prosecutor disregard
the road map agreed upon by the Sudan, the United
Nations and the African Union on the basis of the
Addis Ababa understanding in November 2006 and the
international conference on Darfur held alongside the
last session of the General Assembly. The road map
08-51851 22
was further reiterated and endorsed by the Security
Council in its resolution 1769 (2007). The road map
was based on four tracks: rehabilitation and
development, the peace process as a priority, the
peacekeeping operation and the humanitarian track.
Thus the Prosecutor is turning upside down the issue of
accountability, which the Government of the Sudan
supports and which is already being handled by a
competent and effective Sudanese judiciary, and giving
it a completely different character by introducing it
into the International Criminal Court and destabilizing
justice and peace in the Sudan and the region. It is an
open invitation to the rebel movements that oppose
peace to stay away from the peace option. The actions
of the Prosecutor seek to influence negatively the
elections to be held in 2009, through which the
Government will enter into a new phase of peace and
democratic transformation.
From this rostrum, in the name of the
Government and the people of the Sudan, who were
unanimous in rejecting that step, I thank and commend
all the active forces of more than two thirds of the
international community, which through their regional,
geographic and political institutions and organizations
have condemned the measures taken by the ICC
Prosecutor and called on the Security Council to rectify
the situation arising from that action. Here I
specifically mean the member States of the African
Union, the League of Arab States, the Non-Aligned
Movement, the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, the member States of the African,
Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and other
countries that have expressed their disapproval and
their complete rejection of that step taken by the ICC
Prosecutor.
I would like to assure the Assembly that the
Government of the Sudan is making progress in its
resolute and principled goal of achieving lasting peace
and removing the bitterness of war and its legacy in
accordance with the values and principles of the people
of the Sudan and their mores, customs and traditions,
which are based on peaceful coexistence, reconciliation
and tolerance. The establishment of peace in Darfur
and in the Sudan and the steps taken by the Prosecutor
of the International Criminal Court are two parallel
lines that can never meet, hence such situations must
be rectified as soon as possible and there must be a
return to the commitment to the political process.
Since the issue of more democratic international
relations was one of the subjects proposed for the
general debate of this session, our country, like all
other African countries, has been following the efforts
to reform this Organization — especially the Security
Council, which is charged with the maintenance of
international peace and security and which has
remained as it is since its inception while the entire
international arena has been changing. That made
reforming that Council an urgent priority, so that it can
be more responsive to the aspirations of the developing
nations.
I am referring specifically to Africa, which has no
permanent representation in the Security Council,
whose agenda is beset with African issues. Here I
would like to reiterate that the Sudan is in accord with
the African position included in the Ezulwini document
on the issue of reforming the modus operandi and rules
of procedure of the United Nations so that it can be
more democratic, transparent, express equitable
geographic representation of the world’s continents and
reflect the developments that the world has seen since
1945.
Economic and trade developments compete with
each other. The failure of economic structures in many
developing and least developed countries constitutes a
problem that raises obstacles for the movement to
realize the MDGs as soon as possible. The current
structure of the international economy, with its
restrictive, unfair trade practices and restrictions on the
exports of developing nations, is a negative impact of
globalization, in addition to the heavy external debt
burden that paralyzes the region’s national economic
development. Those obstacles are very serious and
retard development, especially in the African continent.
The United Nations Millennium Summit
emphasized the special position of Africa as a priority
with regard to international assistance and channels of
cooperation and support through relevant initiatives
like the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) and other regional, subregional and national
initiatives.
Here, let me mention that the Sudan has
implemented several quick-income projects and several
short-term projects to benefit vulnerable groups.
Regarding the attainment of MDGs — especially the
alleviation of poverty, the development and support of
education, health and the fight against diseases like
23 08-51851
malaria — the State is still directing its efforts to attain
those objectives and to realize sustainable
development. We must take into consideration the
potential of the country and its vast resources, which,
according to reports of relevant international
organizations, make it capable of helping to solve the
global food crisis by providing food for millions
around the world.
National efforts in the Sudan can currently be
seen in the context of efforts to develop and revitalize
the agricultural sector and to realize a comprehensive
green revolution. Here I must emphasize the serious
negative impact of phenomena like climate change and
environmental deterioration, which have constituted
reasons for war and conflict in Africa. The conflict in
Darfur is one practical example of the impact of those
phenomena and how they directly affect the daily lives
and needs of individuals.
The Sudan, as a party to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
since 1999, emphasizes the need to put more effort and
coordination into intensifying multilateral action to
face those phenomena and to achieve a more efficient
system for the post-2012 era. Developing nations must
also participate in dealing with the causes and effects
of climate change.
The Sudan is of the view that developed nations
should fulfil their commitments to capacity-building
and should provide the financial and technical
resources to support developing nations in facing those
problems.
The Sudan emphasizes the fact that the
maintenance of international peace and security
requires, first and foremost, an urgent solution to the
problem in Palestine and that the situation be dealt
with in a decisive and serious manner, especially in
view of the tragic situation that the Palestinian people
in the occupied territories are facing. The international
community is called upon today more than any other
time to put pressure on the occupying authorities to
abide by resolutions of international legitimacy so that
the Palestinian people may realize their full right to
self-determination and the establishment of an
independent State with Jerusalem as its capital.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that for
the United Nations to continue playing its important
role imposes on us a collective responsibility to find
the solid will and determination to make the
Organization a truly collective framework for
multilateral, international efforts to deal effectively and
justly with international issues and problems. The
United Nations must establish clear and transparent
partnerships according to the Charter with regional
organizations in order to realize regional and
international peace and security. The Sudan, as a
committed and active member of this Organization,
will remain faithful to the objectives that constitute our
collective effort.