The fact that I can be on this rostrum to congratulate you in person on your election is a sign of progress in how we are dealing with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We have not yet won the battle against the SARS- CoV-2 virus, but we must note that we are overcoming the fears, uncertainties and the feeling of powerlessness of a year ago, and that we are gradually returning to normal life, with all the necessary precautions and sense of responsibility required of all of us.
The fight against COVID-19 and its new and frightening variants goes on, and our combined efforts, without distinction between rich and poor or based on other types of social categories, are the only way forward for us to fight this pandemic with outcomes that meet our peoples’ expectations of a full return to normal life. We have seen a growing belief around the world that achieving that goal is a real possibility, as vaccines have been developed and introduced by the international scientific community with admirable and commendable speed, and with the larger purpose of preserving the human species, which is threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is therefore urgent that we establish, in practical terms, a general understanding that solidarity and streamlined procedures for access to vaccines are the only way to lead the world to victory in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, by ensuring the broadest possible immunization of the inhabitants of our planet. It is shocking to see the disparity between some nations and others where the availability of vaccines is concerned. Those disparities allow for third doses to be given in some cases, while in others, as in Africa, the vast majority have not received even the first dose. The United Nations must discuss and adopt decisions designed to encourage the release of vaccine production patents so that they can be produced for increasing numbers of countries, making them more accessible to all. The pandemic that we face is global, which accentuates the links and interdependence among nations. For that reason, the COVID-19 vaccine must be recognized as a good for all of humankind, with universal and open access to enable wider production and equitable distribution on a global scale.
The negative effects and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic also had a strong impact on economic and social life in Angola. Nonetheless, we were able to act quickly, aggressively and decisively to contain its spread on a scale that enabled us to keep the contagion levels within the limits of our health structures’ capacity to respond. However, the results of the assessment of the losses that the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted on our national economy are distressing, and we are now seeking solutions to help mitigate and relieve our people’s suffering. We have had support and efforts that we appreciate enormously, as they have given us some measure of relief in terms of our financial responsibilities to our creditors. That has enabled us to maintain some capacity to tend to our enormous and multiple needs. With the people’s living conditions and our economic and social fabric deteriorating significantly, we will have to work hard to find long-lasting solutions that can serve as a basis for rebuilding our economy, which this worldwide health crisis has severely damaged.
Angola has made major efforts to contribute to peace and stability in Central Africa, the Great Lakes region and other parts of our continent. Our sensitivity with respect to issues of peace and war is the result of our long internal conflict, which lasted for several decades and has given us a clear perspective on the importance of resolving disputes through dialogue and understanding between the conflicting parties. We have sought to share our experience with other nations in the belief that if our efforts are well understood, they will surely lead to success in ending conflicts and re-establishing peace in some of the countries affected by strife. A number of conflicts continue in various parts of the world, and some seem to have no end in sight, not just because of the complexity of their causes but above all because of an unwillingness to comply with the norms that govern international relations and the principles of peaceful coexistence among peoples
and nations. We must continue to believe in the mechanisms that are available to the United Nations to build a framework of multilateralism if we are to achieve solutions ensuring solid and long-lasting world peace and security.
We are particularly concerned about the changes in the institutional order in African countries that frequently result from the use of military force. Those unconstitutional acts, as we have seen in Mali and more recently in Guinea, have not evoked an appropriate or sufficient reaction from the international community that would discourage such actions, which are entirely reprehensible. We therefore believe it essential that the international community act with resolve rather than simply make statements of condemnation, in order to force those actors to relinquish power to the countries’ legitimately established institutions. We cannot continue to allow recent examples such as those in Guinea and others to succeed in Africa and on other continents. We have a great opportunity for the Heads of State and Government gathered here to demand with one voice the immediate and unconditional release of President Alpha Conde of Guinea.
We are concerned about the threats to world peace and security from extremist groups in the Sahel, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and other parts of the world, which require the international community to constantly mobilize to strengthen our capacity to respond to such dangerous assaults on social and economic stability. We are unfortunately seeing a return to the use of mercenaries, professionals without armies recruited from anywhere in the world who are paid to kill, destabilize countries and oust democratically elected but troublesome politicians and regimes. This problem was once strongly condemned and fought but unfortunately is now being encouraged and fuelled by powerful forces hiding behind anonymity. The United Nations, the African Union and the international community in general must urge the Ethiopian authorities to find better ways to end the conflict in the Tigray region and counter the threat of a humanitarian catastrophe before it is more serious and too late.
Climate change is on today’s agenda, as we see from the grave consequences that humankind is facing on every continent. The frequency and ferocity of the hurricanes, floods, forest fires, landslides, volcano eruptions and earthquakes that devastate entire cities and population centres in rural areas, sometimes with significant numbers of deaths, should focus the attention of everyone — Governments, non-governmental organizations, academia, scientists and civil society — on the need for concerted efforts to protect planet Earth, our common home, which has been sending increasingly clear signals that it is not happy with how we treat it, and is defending itself in the most violent manner possible.