As you know, Madam President, there is
one African tradition, but its forms are many. That is
why the African continent is the cradle of mankind and
this African tradition universal. We can see this
universal nature here in New York within this forum of
the United Nations where the values of solidarity and
brotherhood symbolize a common desire for peace and
love.
How can we not fail today to recall the vitality
which marked the World Summit which was held in
2005 in this very Hall, following the fifty-ninth
session, which was undoubtedly the longest ever due to
the intensity of the consultations begun by His
Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, President at that session,
with a view to reaching a consensus on questions
related to reform of our Organization, including that of
the Security Council. Those questions divided, and
continue to divide, delegations and regional groups,
and finally overshadowed the discussion of other
items.
But the Summit and the ensuing sixtieth session
nonetheless had the merit of establishing the Human
Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission.
Despite all the differences among United Nations
Members and despite the criticism of some of its
actions, the United Nations remains the international
organization which, due to its universality,
representativity and authority, cannot be ignored. The
Central African Republic, which reiterates its
commitment to the purposes and principles of the
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Charter, would like to reaffirm its ongoing desire to
continue to contribute to all efforts to reform the entire
United Nations system.
Having said that, I should like, on behalf of His
Excellency General François Bozizé, President of the
Republic, head of State, and on behalf of the
Government and the people of the Central African
Republic, to warmly congratulate you, Madam, on your
election as President of the General Assembly at the
present session. I view it as a sign of confidence and a
well-deserved tribute to your beautiful country, the
Kingdom of Bahrain. I am also pleased to express to
your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, my high esteem for
the remarkable way in which he led the work of the
sixtieth session. In addition, I express my warm and
sincere thanks and appreciation to the Secretary-
General, Mr. Kofi Annan, a worthy son of the African
tradition, for his praiseworthy and tireless efforts, in a
particularly difficult international context, to promote
the role of the Organization, to attain its objectives and
to promote peace and security throughout the world.
The theme suggested for the present session is
“Implementing a Global Partnership for Development”.
We should recall that, six years ago, the highest leaders
of the Organization’s Member States made the firm
commitment to unite their efforts to collectively fight
poverty and all the scourges it causes, which pose a
serious threat to international peace and security and a
major obstacle to the development processes in many
countries.
In the Millennium Declaration, which resulted
from that commitment, the 189 signatory countries —
including the Central African Republic — solemnly
pledged to do their utmost to overcome poverty, which
continues to devastate the majority of the world’s
population. To that end, several Goals were defined.
Ms. Blum (Colombia), Vice-President, took the
Chair.
As the Secretary-General has stated, the main
Goals have been implemented to varying degrees:
“Accordingly, we will not enjoy development
without security, we will not enjoy security
without development, and we will not enjoy
either without respect for human rights. Unless
all these causes are advanced, none will succeed”
(A/59/2005, para. 17).
In the case of the Central African Republic, we
must acknowledge that many challenges remain to be
addressed if we are to truly strive to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within the
agreed time frame. Indeed, my country experienced
more than two decades of serious crises, from which
we only recently emerged by holding general elections
and establishing republican institutions and the
Government of National Reconciliation. But we must
still fight the cross-border insecurity raging in the
subregion and push back out of our territory the
aggressors, supported from abroad, who seek to
destroy our democratically established republican
institutions.
The Central African authorities are striving to
restore security throughout the territory. It goes without
saying that no development is possible unless we
eradicate the endemic insecurity maintained by those
who set up roadblocks and by the rebellion raging
mainly in the north-eastern part of the country,
bordering on the Sudan and Chad. The security and
defence forces deployed in the back country face many
difficulties — particularly logistical ones — in
overcoming that phenomenon. The proliferation of
small arms and light weapons in the subregion — due
to the long crisis in Darfur and its effects on the
Central African Republic — are hardly helping to put
an end to that scourge.
The Central African Republic supports the
proposals made by Presidents George Bush and
Jacques Chirac and by the Chairperson of the African
Union, Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, on the positioning
of United Nations troops on the border between the
Central African Republic, Chad and the Sudan.
In addition, since 2003, the Central African
Republic, one of the seven countries in partnership
with the World Bank’s Multi-country Demobilization
and Reintegration Programme, has taken a new
comprehensive, integrated approach that is integrative
and inclusive aimed at resolving the thorny problem of
the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of
former combatants. The results today reflect the
Government’s willingness to succeed in that process.
Moreover, our country has just developed a new
structure to fight the proliferation of small arms and
light weapons, namely, a national commission against
the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons
and for disarmament.
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The deteriorated state of the Central African
economy is hardly likely to encourage the
implementation of the Development Goals in order to
promote a robust fight against poverty, which for us
remains an ongoing threat to peace and stability.
In the area of finance, the Government has taken
energetic measures to restore financial health by
implementing an extensive system to monitor civil
servants and establishing a body to verify their
academic credentials.
The other challenges — just as great — facing
the Central African Republic are those of health care
and education, which are among the main MDGs. With
respect to health care, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and
other diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria, are
sources of concern for our country.
The recent conference on AIDS, held here at
United Nations Headquarters in early June 2006,
highlighted the particularly disturbing characteristics
of that calamity among the most impoverished sectors
of the population: women and children. There is a
health emergency, and thus the Central African
Republic is requesting greater assistance and action
from its development partners.
The education and training sector — covered by
Goal 2 of the MDGs — has undoubtedly been the main
victim of the long period of political and military
crises, whose wounds are gradually healing. The many
empty years of discouragement resulting from the loss
of motivation on the part of the teaching staff, delayed
salary payments, the lack of State resources to build
schools and purchase equipment, and the continued
insecurity in some areas of the country for the past
several years — all of that has led to a decline in the
quality of teaching and a drop in the literacy rate.
However, since the burst of patriotism of
15 March 2003, the Government has been doing its
utmost to ensure that the school year will no longer be
interrupted and to restore the former credibility of the
Central African educational system. Thanks to the
assistance of certain donors — among which we must
mention the International Organization of la
Francophonie — the Central African Republic is
beginning to take up the challenge between now and
2015. Indeed, it will not be possible to ensure that
democracy and a culture of dialogue and tolerance are
firmly established unless the people have access to
quality education and are able to grasp what is truly at
stake, and thus make sound judgements in full
knowledge of the facts.
The United Nations Millennium Development
Goals Report 2005 highlights the need to ensure a
sustainable environment by intelligently exploiting
natural resources and protecting the ecosystems upon
which the survival of humanity depends. Climate
change and global warming owing to the depletion of
the ozone layer are worrisome phenomena for our
country, whose northern region is being increasingly
overtaken by desert. The initiatives set out in the Kyoto
Protocol show that progress is possible if there is
political will on the part of the major consumers.
If we are to prevent and reduce the risks related
to natural disasters and to equip ourselves with better
organization and more effective means to make the
world safer, we must support the transformation of the
United Nations Environmental Programme into a
specialized agency with a broader mandate, as
proposed by France.
Despite delays in the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Central
African Republic is determined to reach them,
especially Goals 3 and 4, relating to the empowerment
of women and the promotion of gender equality and to
the reduction of under-five mortality. Indeed,
considerable progress has been made in terms of
vaccination coverage and also with respect to the free
distribution of mosquito nets to pregnant women and to
children under the age of 5.
The Central African Republic greatly appreciates
the proposals made during the 2005 World Summit by
Presidents Chirac, Lula Da Silva and Hu Jintao
regarding the promotion of peace, security and
development.
However, the results of MDG implementation
will remain mixed until international solidarity fully
plays its part. We live in an interdependent world; the
development of the Central African Republic is closely
linked to that of the rest of the world, because the
United Nations is a community of nations.
May God bless the United Nations. May God
bless the Central African Republic.