Zimbabwe

My delegation congratulates you personally, Sir, as well as your country, Côte d’Ivoire, on your election as President of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. Your election is testimony to the role you and your country have played in international relations. We are confident that the United Nations will benefit from the term of your presidency. Allow me also to congratulate your predecessor, His Excellency Ambassador Samuel Insanally of Guyana, on his outstanding stewardship of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session. His conduct of the many complex and vital issues before that session was indeed praiseworthy. Our tribute also goes to our Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his sterling leadership of our Organization during the past year, a year in which it has continued to face ever-increasing challenges. We are especially grateful to him for his continued efforts to further the objectives of the United Nations in Africa and elsewhere, and for his tireless drive to enhance the Organization’s role in maintaining international peace and security and addressing development issues. My delegation would like, at the outset, to welcome the delegation of South Africa in our midst. Its readmission into the community of nations signifies victory in its long and difficult struggle for justice and equality. For the African continent, it marks the closing chapter in the total decolonization of the continent; and for the United Nations, it concludes an extraordinary collective struggle against the policy of apartheid. In this context, I must add that the recent decision by the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency to redesignate South Africa as Africa’s representative on the Agency’s board was indeed appropriate and welcome. However, in welcoming South Africa back to our international Organization, we should also heed the words of President Nelson Mandela - uttered from this rostrum only a week ago - that his country needs massive financial and material aid to cope with the problem of the millions of poor and unemployed people in his country. While the triumph of democratic forces in South Africa is cause for celebration, the tragic situation in Angola continues to be a source of major concern to my delegation. We are gravely concerned at the continued conflict in that country. If the peace accord negotiated in Lusaka is not signed by the end of October, the Security Council should immediately impose economic sanctions on UNITA, as agreed in resolution 864 (1993). We cannot continue delaying and postponing action while waiting for a peace that does not come. However, if the peace accord is signed, the United Nations, for its part, should stand ready to deploy a greatly increased peace-keeping force to supervise the cease-fire. In Mozambique, despite delays in the implementation of the General Peace Agreement, we are hopeful that peace and stability will soon be realized. The forthcoming national elections, planned for 27 and 28 October, should produce results acceptable to all Mozambicans so that they can live in peace and harmony. The international community and the United Nations should continue to provide the material assistance that is needed to realize that peace in Mozambique. Members are aware of the crisis situation that had been developing in the Kingdom of Lesotho since the beginning of the year, which culminated in the attempted unseating of the democratically elected Government. We have just heard a statement by the Prime Minister of Lesotho himself, Mr. Mokhehle, describing to us the events that took place in his country. Consistent with the Organization of African Unity mechanism for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) charged Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe with undertaking a regional initiative to resolve the crisis in Lesotho. We are happy to report that this joint mediation has resulted in the restoration of constitutionality and constitutional Government in that country. Prime Minister Mokhehle has adequately described that situation, and I need add nothing more. In Rwanda, the horrendous acts of genocide we have witnessed will surely haunt every one of us for a long time to come, both those among us who had the means to act but did not do so and the many who, while desiring to help, lacked the means. We call for the strengthening of the United Nations presence under the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), as an essential confidence-building measure to provide the displaced people of Rwanda with tangible assurances that they can safely return to their homes. A few days ago we heard a statement by the President of Rwanda, Mr. Pasteur Bizimungu, inviting an increase in the size of UNAMIR in order to achieve precisely what we are asking for: confidence-building. In both Rwanda and Burundi, the tensions are still too close to the surface for anyone’s comfort. In Somalia, the deterioration of the security situation and the resurgence of inter-clan fighting, banditry and lawlessness are still a source of great concern to my delegation. The people of Somalia should take full advantage of United Nations peace-keeping efforts and of the OAU mediation effort led by President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, and forge a political settlement based on sharing the power among the Somali nation as a whole. Zimbabwe has contributed two battalions to peace-keeping in Somalia. As we start gradually withdrawing those battalions, we hope they will not be called back to a Somalia where law and order have broken down again. We are glad that the Identification Commission of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), has begun its work, and we urge both parties speedily to resolve any outstanding impediments to the holding of the referendum in that country - and we know from debates in this Hall that there have been many impediments. The quest for self-determination in Western Sahara has taken too long, and has remained on our international agenda for a long time. It should therefore not be delayed any further. My delegation also welcomes the recent major developments in the Middle East peace process which have brought the people of Palestine closer to their inalienable right to self-determination. While we fully support that peace process, we believe that it should proceed on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1975), and that the international community should continue to monitor developments in that region closely so as to generate and maintain the momentum for change. The people of Palestine still need and deserve our continued support until they reach the goal of nationhood in a Palestinian State with its capital in Jerusalem. We from the African region are particularly mindful of the inextricable link between peace, security and stability on the one hand and socio-economic development on the other. There can be no economic development without peace and stability. Central to these fundamental concerns about peace and stability are the basic issues of protecting human rights and democratic governance. We believe that high priority must be given to these issues in our national policies. Consequently, dictatorial and non-democratic regimes should be shunned and isolated by all of us and by the international community at large, as well as by regional organizations. The curtailment of people’s participation in decision-making processes undermines the capacity of countries to provide all their people with even the basic necessities of life including food, water and shelter and basic social services such as education and health. Zimbabwe believes that international efforts to promote peace, stability and security where these do not exist or are threatened can largely be facilitated through regional organizations and good neighbours. We in Africa have taken concrete measures in this regard by establishing a permanent mechanism of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) for the prevention, management and resolution of conflict. It is in keeping with the spirit of regional arrangements that the countries belonging to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) joined hands in addressing the situation in Liberia - work that still continues - and that we in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) took the initiative in Lesotho to which I have already referred. In our view, such arrangements could also be devised to address situations elsewhere in our continent, for example in Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia. What we are urging is the involvement of regional organizations, subregional organizations and neighbourly countries in conflict resolution and conflict management, because they know the problems and they know the issues. For such regional arrangements to become sustainable it is essential that other regional organizations and the United Nations extend a helping hand by 8 providing financial and other material assistance. For indeed, what are initially regarded as internal or local conflicts have the potential, if left unattended, to grow into trouble spots threatening international peace and security itself. This is an auspicious time for the family of nations to further the goal and achieve the objective that the founding fathers of our Organization had foremost in their minds: - that of disarmament. In this context, my delegation is of the view that the extension and review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) scheduled to be held in March 1995 is a unique opportunity for practical steps to be taken to ensure the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Clearly, the treaty itself is discriminatory and the nuclear-weapon States have not fully implemented their obligations under article VI of the Treaty. Several speakers today have referred to the inadequacies of the Treaty. We will not support any indefinite and unconditional extension of the NPT in its present form. The nuclear-weapon States must undertake to reduce and eliminate their nuclear arsenals within an established and binding timetable. As a demonstration of their good faith they must also stop impeding the early conclusion of a comprehensive test-ban treaty. Only then will a nuclear non-proliferation regime be meaningful. Last year the Non-Aligned Movement submitted a draft resolution asking the Assembly to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. This was in pursuance of a long-standing position of the Non-Aligned Movement favouring complete disarmament. Regrettably, that draft resolution was not brought to the vote. We are, however, glad that the Non-Aligned Movement has this year decided to submit the draft resolution once more, and to press it to the vote in the Assembly. This initiative is deserving of the strongest support of all members. In recent years nuclear disarmament has become a bilateral issue; yet the international community has a right to play a central role in ensuring that the nuclear threat, which affects all mankind, is removed forever. If the Assembly were to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, nuclear disarmament would be brought back into the multilateral forum where it belongs, so critical issues related to nuclear proliferation and nuclear controls could be discussed openly and commented upon in the General Assembly. It would also be consistent with the Secretary- General’s recommendation on resort to International Court of Justice advisory opinions in his report entitled "An Agenda for Peace" and would give impetus to the process of nuclear disarmament, which has begun to flag in the post-cold-war era. The Non-Aligned Movement is to be congratulated for having taken this initiative this year; we hope it will gain the support of the Assembly. We all agree that there have been so many changes on the international scene that the present Charter and methods of operation of the United Nations should be revised to meet the challenges and aspirations of a new and changing world order. In this regard, my delegation has already put forward some very specific proposals, which I will not recapitulate in any detail here. Those proposals are now part of the African common position paper which refers to the powers of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the relationship of those bodies to the Bretton Woods institutions and to the specialized agencies. This subject has been referred to by a number of speakers from this rostrum; indeed, the speakers from Africa have repeated the African common position. It is quite clear that the present arrangement, where Africa and the Latin American region are not represented at all amongst the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, should not be allowed to continue. The underrepresentation of these two regions is both undemocratic and unfair, and I hope that the matter will be addressed at the appropriate time in terms of the African common position. Furthermore, any exercise in the revitalization of the United Nations should envisage coordination of the activities of the Bretton Woods institutions to which I have already referred. We are pleased that world-wide socio-economic problems of equitable utilization and distribution of resources are going to be fully addressed at the Far Social Development World Summit in Copenhagen next year. Several important conferences have recently been held within the framework of the United Nations: the Rio Conference on Environment and Development and the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in Cairo. We are now looking forward to the World Summit for Social Development, to be held in Copenhagen next year, and the Fourth World Conference on Women, to take place in Beijing later next year. These conferences all address matters that are vital to the South and/or to the third-world countries as a whole, and we hope that the social development Summit 9 will focus on growing poverty in the world and how to attack it. The rapid development of science and technology is taking place in the middle of increasing poverty and disease amongst large population groups, especially in the third world. It is time we took enormous steps to eradicate world poverty and to create full employment. We hope that the combined efforts of the environment and population Conferences, to which I have already referred, and the social development Summit and the Beijing Conference will mobilize the international community for a final and sustained attack on world poverty. Zimbabwe believes that at the national level it is imperative that development put people first by promoting social development through employment-creation opportunities and other poverty- eradication programmes. In our view, the provision of adequate food, water and shelter as well as such basic social services as education, training and health is an absolute imperative. In the promotion of opportunities for increased popular participation, the enhancement of the role and status of women requires paramount attention.Employment creation requires greater private initiative and increased investment. Thus domestic policies have to be pursued with the aim of creating a favourable environment for investment. The critical economic situation in Africa - the least developed and most marginalized of all the regions of the world - has to be addressed if global economic growth and interdependence are to have any meaning at all. With 90 per cent of all poverty stricken people in developing countries, the eradication of poverty remains a major concern at both the national and the international levels. Yet neither the economic reform measures which we are carrying out nor our efforts to alleviate and eradicate poverty can be expected to succeed without the provision of adequate financial resources on a predictable, assured and continuous basis, and we appeal to those countries that have surplus resources to increase their support and aid to the developing countries. For most developing countries the issue of resource flows cannot be dissociated from that of the external debt problem, a problem that has also been addressed in many statements to the Assembly. Figures available clearly indicate that the overall debt of the developing countries is still on the increase - from some $800 billion in 1982 to $l.4 trillion in 1992 - and it continues to rise. Combined with the interest rates, the figures are constantly growing, indeed becoming staggering. We believe that new, comprehensive and coordinated approaches to the debt and debt- servicing problems have to be adopted, including outright cancellation or at least the application of the measures proposed under the Trinidad terms for low- income developing countries. Zimbabwe believes that the expansion of international trade is essential to economic growth and is indeed an integral part of development. We therefore consider the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations to be an important achievement which deserves to be welcomed by developing and developed countries alike. We also welcome the landmark agreement to create the new World Trade Organization, which we hope will reinforce the multilateral trading system. We welcome the meetings that have been arranged both in Africa and elsewhere to study the impact of the Uruguay Round agreement and the World Trade Organization on our economies. We reiterate the hope that these developments will improve the access of developing countries’ exports to markets in developed countries, and that the new conditionalities or new forms of protectionism under the guise of social or environmental clauses will be avoided. Particular attention has also to be paid to the critical need for the diversification of the African economies. In that regard, we once again reiterate the need for the international community to support our proposal for the creation of a diversification facility for the development of the African commodity sector. Finally we would urge the big Powers - and especially the United States - to adopt a policy of dialogue rather than confrontation in resolving disputes with smaller Powers around the globe. In particular, we would urge full-scale discussion and dialogue with Cuba aimed at normalizing relations with a small neighbouring country in the American region, dialogue with Libya in order to get a fair and just trial for those suspected of causing the Lockerbie air disaster, and the continuation of the meetings with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in order to resolve the issues related to nuclear- weapons development and, hopefully, pave the way for the reunification or North and South Korea. With the end of the cold war, global peace - so much coveted -is now within our reach. A concerted effort by regional organizations and the international community can get us to the promised land of international peace. We should try and try again, but the attainment of peace is not the task of international organizations alone: it is also the task of national Governments and national leaders. 10 In this context we would like to appeal to the leaders in the Gulf to pursue the path of peace that has been charted for them by the United Nations in several resolutions, and to assure them that any attempt at occupying other countries in the Gulf, such as the one we witnessed in 1991, will not be accepted by the Assembly or by the international community as a whole.