I feel highly honoured to
address the Assembly once again. I would like to start
by congratulating Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki on his
assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-fourth session and to assure him of my
delegation’s support and cooperation as he performs
the demanding task of presiding over our deliberations.
Through him, I would also like to convey my sincere
gratitude to His Excellency Monsignor Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann for the efficient and effective
manner in which he conducted the previous session. In
addition, my appreciation goes to the Secretary-
General for his comprehensive account of the work of
the Organization and his analysis of the challenges
facing the global community.
The theme for this year’s session is apt and
timely. It is only through dialogue among the various
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civilizations of the world represented in this
deliberative body and the strengthening of the
institutions and architecture responsible for promoting
such dialogue that we can effectively meet the
challenges posed by the current global crisis. Dialogue
promotes understanding; understanding enhances
cooperation; and cooperation gives vitality and
legitimacy to the institutions and mechanisms that have
been structured to meet our common challenges and
goals.
Civilizations began as magnificent blueprints for
meeting challenges that were specific to particular
regions of the world, but advances in technology and
communications have made problems no longer
specific to particular regions. Climate change; the
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and swine flu pandemics; the
food and fuel crises, including the present global
economic meltdown; terrorism; nuclear proliferation;
and drug trafficking are all beyond the capacity of any
of the world’s civilizations to tackle without
international cooperation. While the major causes of
those challenges may arise from particular regions,
their impacts are global and affect the lives and
fortunes of peoples of all civilizations. Dialogue
among civilizations will create the synergies required
to tackle the causes and impacts of the global crises.
My Government fully subscribes to and supports
the promotion of dialogue, as well as the facilitation of
mechanisms that will help to ameliorate the impact of
the global crises. Among some population groups, that
impact may be on the size of their bonuses; among
others, it may be on whether they acquire a second car
or not. But for the vast number of people —
particularly in Africa — the impact of the crises is
creating life-threatening situations.
Years of conflict had increased the number of
poor and vulnerable people in my country. However,
stable economic growth, remittances and international
financial and security support were increasing
prospects for ameliorating the situation, but the present
global crisis has suddenly decreased those prospects,
pushing greater numbers of our people into extreme
poverty.
We in Sierra Leone are saddled with the effects of
trade imbalances in international commerce. Our
economy continues to be vigorously challenged by the
falling prices of our exports in the international market.
This includes diamonds and cash crops. The effect of
this intractable problem is that we are not able to
garner enough foreign exchange to meet the basic
import requirements for our sustenance. We are on the
threshold of the tenth year of the implementation of the
Millennium Declaration and yet the prospects for
achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015
remain dismal for Africa.
Many countries in Africa, including mine, have in
the last few years registered important improvements
in the essential areas of governance and economic and
social indicators. My country, Sierra Leone, is putting
in place mechanisms to ensure a stable democratic
regime. Worldwide indicators show that we have made
extremely fast progress in political stability. Our
economic growth remains strong at 6 to 9 per cent. My
Government has firmed up the aspirations of our
people in an Agenda for Change that sets out four clear
priority areas: agriculture, energy, infrastructure and
reforms to improve delivery of health and education
services. We are already delivering results in our
priority areas. Key roads are under construction, we
have completed a hydroelectric project that is
supplying clean, affordable power to Freetown for the
first time, and our reforms have ensured that we are the
best performer among neighbouring countries
according to the Doing Business Index.
My Government could not sustain these results
without multilateral support. On 18 and 19 November
of this year, we are organizing a Consultative Group
Meeting on Sierra Leone in London to dialogue with
investors, donors and other partners, and to mobilize
support for our efforts in tackling the many challenges
facing our country. We see the Sierra Leone conference
as a problem-solving dialogue; we aspire to a
conference that will build an action-oriented
multilateral framework for meeting the challenges we
face. My country believes in multilateralism; we
believe in dialogue among nations as the most effective
means of tackling our problems. We call upon all
countries to ensure that the current financial crisis does
not deny the many African nations only recently
removed from violent conflict the security and prospect
of prosperity that we have all worked so hard to
achieve.
I would like to address another issue my
delegation takes very seriously, one that is interwoven
with the financial crisis, poverty and development —
the serious threat that climate change poses to human
development in general and African nations in
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particular. Despite the scientific consensus that the
earth is warming at an alarming rate, progress in
reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and limiting global
warming to below an increase of 2 degrees Celsius
per year has proved elusive. Today, the poorest nations,
which contribute the least to the phenomenon, are the
most vulnerable. The recent torrential rainfall in
Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, left scores of
people dead, homeless or seriously injured. Drought,
hurricanes, floods, changing rainfall patterns, rising sea
levels and low crop yields rank high among the key
challenges facing the world’s poor. Unfortunately,
those nations with the least resources are the most
unprepared for such challenges.
It is our obligation to reverse the alarming rate of
environmental destruction and depletion of our natural
resources. It is in this regard that I wish to reiterate
Africa’s common position on climate change, which,
among other things, urges developed countries to cut
greenhouse-gas emissions by 40 per cent. This is
certainly not an ambitious goal. It is the least that we,
the most vulnerable, deserve.
We believe that in addition to the necessity of
investing in clean development mechanisms, the
world’s developed countries must take a leadership
role, providing adequate and predictable financial and
technical support for less developed countries to foster
effective adaptation as well as mitigation measures. We
share the Secretary-General’s vision that the Climate
Change Summit in Copenhagen represents a unique
and powerful opportunity at a critical moment in
human history to steer humankind towards a safer,
more stable and more sustainable future.
A final threat critical to the future stability of
nations around the world is the increasing proliferation
of small arms and light weapons, which, as former
Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently emphasized,
are tantamount to weapons of mass destruction in slow
motion, capable of destabilizing countries and entire
regions. Given that many African countries routinely
face political instability and violent threats, we need to
strengthen the national, regional and subregional
conflict-resolution mechanisms through which it
becomes possible for Africa to control small weapons.
Peace and development can be achieved in Africa, in
part, by exploration of the peace and security
architecture evolving within the African Union, the
Economic Community of West African States, the
Southern African Development Community and the
Peacebuilding Commission.
Against this background, I wish to reiterate that
collaborative efforts among members of the
international community are crucial to addressing our
global problems, and that international support remains
critical for the consolidation of hard-won gains by
nations emerging from war. It is our hope that the
United Nations and our development partners will
continue to be our steadfast allies in our ongoing
struggle for economic progress and development. In
this regard, I urge that we continue to forge enhanced
cooperation between the United Nations and the
African Union, as well as subregional organizations,
cooperation that goes beyond rhetoric and translates
into concrete efforts.
As I intimated before the Assembly at the sixty-
third session, we have come a long way, thanks to
multilateral and bilateral efforts in favour of our
survival as a nation. The ongoing peacebuilding
efforts, spearheaded by the United Nations
Peacebuilding Commission, continue to strengthen the
peace-consolidation process in the country. I am
pleased to announce that, in return and in a spirit of
reciprocity, Sierra Leone has joined the ranks of the
troop-contributing countries of United Nations
peacekeeping operations.
Multilateralism is vital for international
cooperation and for responding to global crises. In the
bid to promote effective multilateralism, my
Government has continued to urge the international
community to effect various reforms aimed at
strengthening our intergovernmental organizations,
including the Bretton Woods institutions, with a view
to making them more inclusive, transparent and
democratic in their decision-making processes.
An effective, legitimate and democratic United
Nations cannot be achieved without a true reform of
the Security Council. The ongoing intergovernmental
negotiations on the question of equitable representation
on, and increase in the membership of, the Security
Council and other matters relating to the Council have
progressed through three informal plenary rounds at
the last session of the General Assembly. We in Africa
have consistently demanded that the historical injustice
that is rooted in our underrepresentation and
non-representation in the non-permanent and
permanent categories of the Council be addressed
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without any further delay. It is in this respect that we
have continued to negotiate in good faith and mutual
trust. I am hopeful that the outcome of these
negotiations will lead to a meaningful reform of this,
the principal decision-making organ of the United
Nations in the maintenance of international peace and
security. We in Africa stand ready, willing and
prepared, as always, to resume negotiations during this
session.
Let us promote multilateralism and strengthen our
collaborative efforts to contain the rising threats to our
planet.