I would like first of all to
thank almighty Allah for granting us yet another
opportunity for a gathering of world leaders. My
delegation would like to thank President Obama, the
Government and people of the United States of
America, and the leadership of the United Nations for
their warm welcome and the facilities placed at our
disposal since our arrival.
Permit me also to congratulate Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann on his inspiring leadership and on
conducting the affairs of the sixty-third session so well.
By the same token, I extend warm felicitations to
Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki on his election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at this important
sixty-fourth session. He has the full support of my
delegation. Our special thanks go to Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon for his stewardship and the commitment
he has shown to the welfare of humanity, particularly
of Africa.
“Effective responses to global crises:
strengthening multilateralism and dialogue among
civilizations for international peace, security and
development”, the theme adopted for this year’s
session, is indeed apt and relevant. It calls on every
nation, big or small, to adopt multilateralism and
dialogue in fostering international partnership on all
matters of common concern surrounding global peace
and development.
The complexities of today’s world are such that
no nation can successfully confront them alone. Some
issues cannot even be resolved by regional groups
acting independently. Much can be achieved only when
we all collaborate and work together within the
framework of multilateralism based on mutual
understanding, respect and, above all, sincerity, strong
commitment and universal justice under the same rule
of law and equity.
Our global body, the United Nations, has indeed
adopted countless resolutions, which, if implemented
to the letter, would have made this world a better place
for all humankind and indeed other creatures on our
planet. Unfortunately, there are some Member States
that block well-meaning resolutions necessary for the
maintenance of world peace and even question or
disregard with impunity resolutions adopted by this
body.
As long as this continues to be the order of the
day, the United Nations will remain united in name
only, unable to achieve in full the fundamental
objectives for which it was established. The modus
operandi of the Organization therefore needs urgent
reforms to ensure that such impunity is eliminated and
that the principle of equality among nation States,
irrespective of their geopolitical size, location,
economic circumstances, race or religion is
safeguarded. Double standards have no place in the
United Nations.
There cannot be peace and security in the absence
of justice for all. There cannot be justice in the face of
abject poverty characterized by hunger, starvation,
disease and a lack of basic social services as a result of
exploitation. There cannot be justice if there is
merciless exploitation, suppression and criminal
invasion of sovereign States. There cannot be peace if
there is no development as a result of marginalization,
injustice and racism. Unfortunately, injustice, racism,
merciless exploitation and marginalization, especially
as inflicted on developing nations by developed
nations, are the order of the day.
Africa and Africans are the poorest of the poor,
despite the fact that the African continent is the world’s
richest in terms of mineral and other natural resources.
The sad truth is that, despite the fact that the African
continent is the source of 90 per cent of the precious
minerals, gemstones and strategic raw materials for the
industrialized North, we Africans are the poorest of the
poor.
It is no fault of ours if we Africans are poor
today. This situation has been brought about by the
perennial invasions of the locusts and their permanent
presence in Africa. They devour 90 per cent of our
useful resources, from agricultural and mineral to flora
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and fauna. These locusts are present in all resource-rich
African countries today. This devastating permanent
invasion is exacerbated by another destructive
phenomenon — the permanent drought that affects all
African countries without exception. We cannot do
anything about these two deadly scourges of the
African continent. In the case of the locusts, they are
protected by a one-sided international treaty imposed
on all third-world countries, not only Africa. As for the
drought, it is even worse, since no irrigation system in
Africa can eradicate it.
The locusts I am talking about are the
multinational Western companies that exploit our
natural resources and agricultural produce, taking
95 per cent of their financial value and leaving us, the
owners of the resources, with 5 per cent or less at most.
Is it not interesting that, with respect to the mining of
African mineral resources, only four African countries
receive more than a 3 per cent royalty from these
multinational mining companies? The rest receive only
a 3 per cent royalty or even less. In the case of
petroleum exploitation, few African countries receive
above a 15 per cent royalty.
There is nothing African countries can do about
this because these locusts have an absolute monopoly
of the technologies used in the extractive industries.
The treaty that makes it impossible for us to do
anything about it is called globalization, which means
the exploitation of poor third-world countries’
resources by the rich first-world countries. With
regards to the drought — that is, the debt burden —
very few rich countries have cancelled the debt owed
them by third-world countries. This excruciating
burden of debt consumes 80 per cent of the 3 to 5 per
cent left by the multinational companies.
Our agricultural produce, such as tea, coffee and
cocoa, is bought at prices fixed by the buyers, in most
cases at an average price of less than $1 per kilo. The
same produce is then sold at more than $15 per kilo
when processed. Thus, for every kilogram of our
agricultural produce worth $15 on the Western market,
we get only $1. How can Africa develop and emerge
from this abject poverty?
African resources have been looted continuously
from the eleventh century to date. Everything in Africa
that the locusts set their eyes on is looted even today.
Even dead bodies have not been spared by the locusts.
Graves were and are being desecrated and human
bodies called mummies have been stolen from Africa.
In such a situation, where even Africans in their graves
are not spared by these rampaging locusts, who in his
right mind could expect us in Africa to develop and
become rich? In Africa, “R.I.P.” on a tombstone, which
normally means “Rest In Peace”, has never been
respected. “R.I.P.” really means “Respected If Poor” —
that is, the body in the tomb will rest only if it was not
buried with any precious jewellery.
The United Nations must come to the rescue of
Africa. Otherwise, we Africans stand ready to liberate
ourselves from this eternal bondage at any cost. From
now on, the African Union will work towards ensuring
that African nations and our farmers receive their
rightful share of our God-given natural and agricultural
resources. We will no longer accept less than 65 per
cent of the proceeds from our natural resources.
We Africans have been suffering for too long at
the hands of Westerners and we will put an end to this.
It is African sweat, blood, tears and natural resources
that have built the North throughout almost five
centuries of merciless and racist exploitation that
continues today. Enough is enough. Instead of being
respected, we are being called all sorts of names and
given all sorts of unsolicited titles — dictators, corrupt
leaders, failed States and even rogue States.
We, the new generation of African leaders, will
seek to put an end to this humiliating, degrading and
racist treatment by any means necessary. The world
will not live in peace and security as long as this
dehumanizing and racist status quo continues to prevail
with regard to the continent of Africa and to Africans.
We have been forced to endure this for far too long and
now we are going to put an end to it, as we have ended
apartheid in South Africa, by force if necessary. We
will defend our humanity, our dignity, our resources,
our interests and our culture from this moment
forward.
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are killer
diseases. While I would like to reiterate my
delegation’s support for the work of the Global Fund in
fighting these diseases, I wish to call for concerted
efforts to mobilize resources to support international
research on traditional medicine and alternative disease
treatment programmes. These traditional systems are in
most instances more cost-effective, yet they have been
abandoned due to the sort of criticism that come from
multinationals threatened that certain traditional
29 09-52425
breakthroughs would be detrimental to their corporate
existence and interests. These multinationals value
their monetary gains more than human life. They
should not be allowed to hold humanity to ransom.
Their insatiable appetite for massive wealth at any cost
has pushed them to the point of blindness, insensitivity
to human suffering and the loss of human life in the
developing world, especially in Africa.
With regard to international peace and security,
my delegation calls once again for stronger and more
honest international cooperation and dialogue in
addressing conflict prevention, the peaceful resolution
of disputes and respect for the cultural values, norms
and ways of life of others. We must respect the fact that
humanity was created to be diverse, just as planet Earth
has different regions, each with its own diverse
climatic and ecological system. Therefore, there is
bound to be diversity in the colour of our skin,
diversity in the way we live and differences in our
beliefs. Diverse as we may be, we are part and parcel
of the one human family created by the one and only
God, Allah. If we accept the principle that we are all
human beings equal before the only God that created
us, and that differences in religion and skin colour do
not make one person less human than another, then we
will all live in perfect peace and harmony in this global
village called the world.
The problem is that some play God and believe
that, by virtue of the colour of their skin, they are
better than the rest of humanity and therefore should
dictate to them how they should live and how they
should worship God. They impose their value systems
on the rest of humanity. This unacceptable dictatorship
is the source of all the world’s major conflicts and a
contributing factor to persistent threats to world peace.
Racism is on the rise. Extremist hate-mongers are
increasing in number and rising in rank. Instead of
being condemned as criminals and terrorists, they are
labelled the far right, neo-Nazis or supremacists, and
tolerated and even encouraged by the same Powers that
would happily bomb them back to the Stone Age if
they were Muslim, black African or Asian. As long as
this status quo persists, peace and security will
continue to be an elusive dream as people, rich or poor,
Muslim or non-Muslim, black or Asian, are bound to
defend their human dignity at any price.
My delegation therefore calls for a united front
against this dictatorship of a few over the rest of
humanity. And in the interest of our collective security,
the United Nations should see to the total elimination
of racism and hatred in all their forms, whatever it
takes, so that we can bequeath to the generations of
humanity yet unborn a very peaceful and prosperous
world devoid of destitution, exploitation and
marginalization.
In this context, my delegation would like to see a
speedy resolution of the plight of the Palestinians. We
call on the State of Israel to accept and respect the
two-State solution that the international community has
so clearly articulated without preconditions. We also
urge the Security Council to ensure that its resolutions
are respected by all States and enforced to the letter
and spirit by the United Nations, and not to allow
certain States to choose not only to ignore these
resolutions, but to violate them with impunity, while
other States face drastic and devastating military action
if such resolutions are adopted against them and they
so much as ask for clarification.
The State of Israel has ignored and violated all
United Nations resolutions and conventions with
regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not only with
impunity, but also with the support and protection of
certain world Powers, while other countries have paid a
very high price merely for not having fully complied
with a Security Council resolution. The Council should
stop employing these unfortunate double standards.
The United Nations must not be turned into an “animal
farm”.
Secondly, there is also the lingering issue of the
Republic of China on Taiwan. My delegation holds the
position that Taiwan should be invited to participate in
all meetings and activities of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the
International Civil Aviation Organization, among other
bodies. Taiwan has a legitimate right to full
membership of all United Nations specialized agencies,
since even non-governmental organizations have either
full membership or observer status in those agencies.
Taiwan, a democratic State with a population of
23 million, is still being denied this fundamental
human right, which the United Nations is supposed to
uphold and protect in the first place.
My delegation also hereby calls on the United
Nations to urge the United States of America to
immediately and unconditionally lift its embargo on
Cuba, in accordance with the wishes of more than
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98 per cent of the membership of this body. That trade
embargo continues to hurt Cuban women and children.
The Cuban children born into those extreme hardships
have committed no crime. The punishment of women
and children because of political differences is a very
serious violation of their rights.
Thirdly, my delegation renews its full support for
the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Kingdom
of Morocco. On the question of the Moroccan Sahara,
we remain convinced that the proposal of the
Moroccan Government to grant substantive autonomy
to the Saharan region on the basis of the negotiations
initiated by the Security Council and conducted and
agreed by the parties would lead to a lasting and
peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Finally, my delegation has been following keenly,
but with deep dismay, the protracted negotiations on
reform of the Security Council and a seeming
connivance to prevent such reform. Africa would like
to see Council reform undertaken, with balanced
representation of all continents in the Council. My
delegation therefore urges the President of the General
Assembly to make more effort on the issue during the
sixty-fourth session and to ensure that the continent of
Africa has at least two permanent seats on the Security
Council with full veto powers; if it does not, any
resolution adopted by the Council will not be binding
on Africa or any African Union member State by the
end of 2010. Africa, a continent 10 times the size of
Europe, does not have a single permanent seat on the
Security Council, while Europe has more than one.
Africa has been subjected to discrimination,
marginalization, exploitation and humiliation for a very
long time. We Africans are no longer going to accept
that status quo. We will put an end to it very soon.
Members should take my words seriously.