At the
outset, it is my great pleasure to express to you,
Madam, the heartfelt congratulations of the delegation
of Mali on your outstanding election to the presidency
of the General Assembly at its sixty-first session. Your
election attests to your eminent personal qualities and
is a tribute to your country, Bahrain, with which Mali
06-53005 44
enjoys fruitful cooperation. I assure you and other
Bureau members, whom I also congratulate, of the
support of my delegation.
I should also like to express our satisfaction to
your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his excellent
guidance of the work of the General Assembly at its
sixtieth session. History will recall his spirit of
initiative and his commitment, which were decisive to
the implementation of the outcomes of the September
2005 World Summit.
I should also like to pay tribute to Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, who, throughout his two terms,
has carried out his mission with devotion and
commitment.
Tomorrow, Mali will celebrate the 46th
anniversary of its independence, but Mali is an ancient
country, a country of traditions, a crossroads of
civilization, a land of culture, dialogue and tolerance.
Under the leadership of President Amadou Toumani
Touré, our country continues every day to consolidate
its model of democracy, which has been unanimously
hailed in Africa and throughout the world. A new
Mali — a democratic, united Mali — is on the march.
A symbol of that dynamic was the signing in
Algiers on 4 July of the accord for the restoration of
peace, security and development in the Kidal region.
The Algiers agreement bolsters Mali’s firm resolve to
opt for the peaceful settlement of disputes, fruitful
dialogue and concerted action. The restoration of peace
in the northern part of our country has allowed the
various components of the Malian nation to work
together in building our nation in a spirit of solidarity
focused on the well-being and prosperity of all.
Similarly, our political system is being
strengthened daily in a context of peaceful democracy,
to the great satisfaction of our people, who have made
the irreversible decision that any devolution of power
must occur within a democratic and constitutional
framework. To that end, in the first quarter of 2007 the
people of Mali will be called to the polls — for the
fourth time since the establishment of multiparty
democracy in 1992 — to elect a president and renew
the mandate of the deputies to the National Assembly.
Mali welcomes the choice of theme for the sixty-
first session of the General Assembly on implementing
a global partnership for development. In that respect, it
goes without saying that the 2005 World Summit
represented a decisive moment in the international
community’s determination to ensure a better life for
all the peoples of the world. At that time, our heads of
State and Government reviewed the implementation of
the internationally agreed development objectives, in
particular the Millennium Development Goals, and
reaffirmed their relevance, thereby confirming their
importance at the heart of the development agenda.
In that regard, Mali has made the fight against
poverty a priority of the Government’s actions. In May
2002, my country adopted a strategic framework for
the fight against poverty, which sets priority
development guidelines, particularly in the social
spheres, in order to better meet the basic needs of our
people by creating an environment conducive to
sustained growth, enhanced participatory democracy,
good governance and entrenched rule of law.
With respect to results achieved, the Government
of Mali, with the assistance of its partners, is finalizing
a new so-called second-generation strategic framework
that will encompass, above and beyond the social
sectors, the productive sectors of agriculture, industry
and trade. In the same vein, we recently adopted a law
on agricultural guidelines that makes agriculture the
driving force of the national economy in order to
guarantee food self-sufficiency and to ensure the well-
being of our people.
Mr. Chungong-Ayafor (Cameroon), Vice-President,
took the Chair.
Security cannot be ensured in an environment in
which the movement of small arms and light weapons
continues to destroy human lives, destabilize States
and impede their economic and social development. In
accordance with the United Nations Programme of
Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit
Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects, we are firmly committed to mitigating the
unspeakable suffering caused by those weapons and to
ensuring individual security for all.
In that regard, in West Africa and in the context
of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), we have taken significant measures to
stem the scourge of the proliferation of light weapons.
Indeed, the thirtieth conference of ECOWAS heads of
State and Government, held at Abuja on 14 June,
decided to back up the ECOWAS moratorium on the
import, export and production of small arms and light
weapons with executive power by converting it into a
45 06-53005
binding convention. That new instrument should
contribute to building the capacities of Governments to
exert stricter control over the traffic in small arms and
to improve security arrangements within the
Community.
Similarly, we cannot fail to welcome the
launching, in Bamako on 6 June, of the new ECOWAS
Small Arms Control Programme (ECOSAP). Over the
course of six years, ECOSAP — via the intermediary
of national commissions — will not only provide
member States with technical and financial support, but
will also contribute to building the capacities of a
special unit in the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat.
On the other hand, we can only regret the fact
that the United Nations Conference to review the
implementation of the Programme of Action to
Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in
Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects
failed to draft an agreed text because of the lack of
progress in the priority areas of the bearing of arms by
civilians, the management of stockpiles, references to
human rights and the participation of civil society. As a
result, we have fallen far behind in the Programme, the
provisions of which we were supposed to improve. For
its part, Mali reiterates its readiness to continue to
work with other Member States to make progress on
that important issue.
Rarely have international peace and security been
put to such a harsh test by the resurgence of hotbeds of
tension and conflict and acts of international terrorism.
International terrorism is, as we all know, one of the
most serious threats to international peace and security.
In that respect, the attacks perpetrated worldwide
vividly remind us that no country is safe from that
phenomenon.
In order to create conditions conducive to
responding to terrorism, it is urgent that we build
national and regional capacities. To that end, we must
overcome our differences in drafting a consensus
definition and adopting a comprehensive strategy in
that area. No cause, howsoever just or right, justifies
the deliberate use of violence against innocent
civilians. In that vein, we must promote a dialogue
among civilizations, which remains fully relevant in an
international context marked by a lack of trust among
nations in terms of culture and religion.
The maintenance of international peace and
security is a prerequisite of any development process.
Mali therefore continues to be fully committed to the
ideals of peace and stability, both within and beyond its
borders.
On the African front, I welcome the progress
made towards reconstruction and national
reconciliation in many countries, including Guinea-
Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi and the
Comoros. In Côte d’Ivoire, despite the clear lack of
progress in the implementation of the road map, the
peace process has reached a critical phase. Mali
reaffirms its readiness to assist the Ivorian political
actors in restoring lasting peace in that brotherly
neighbour country.
In the Sudan, the implementation of the Darfur
Peace Agreement, signed on 5 May in Abuja, is a major
concern of the international community. We urge all
parties involved to fulfil their commitments and to
work to restore peace and preserve national unity.
In the same vein, we can only welcome the
successful convening of the first general, free,
multiparty elections to complete the process of
democratic transition in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
The recent outbreak of violence in the Middle
East recalls — as if there were any need to do so — the
necessity for the international community to take
appropriate measures to create conditions conducive to
a lasting, negotiated and peaceful settlement to that
crisis. While reaffirming our active solidarity with the
people of Lebanon and Palestine, we are closely
following developments in that region and will
continue to support relevant United Nations resolutions
on the Middle East and the Palestinian question.
While it is now recognized that trade is a factor
for growth and development, we must also note that
developing countries continue to suffer the
repercussions of an unfair and discriminatory trade
system, particularly given the tariff and non-tariff
obstacles and subsidies for production and export that
distort competition. Given their negative effects, such
measures prevent the development of our agriculture,
deny our producers — Malian cotton growers among
them — a decent income, and keep them in the poverty
that we have committed ourselves to eradicating by
2015.
In that regard, the hopes placed in the Doha
Development Round contrast starkly with the major
06-53005 46
uncertainties arising from the recent failure of the trade
talks on agricultural products. That is a source of
legitimate concern to us. Mali urges all parties to be
flexible and promptly to relaunch the Doha Round to
ensure that trade liberalization serves the development
of all nations without exception, particularly the
poorest, so that we may raise millions of people out of
poverty.
The issue of external debt is of particular
importance to developing countries, especially the least
developed. Indeed, despite the welcome measures to
cancel the multilateral debt of certain countries,
including Mali, the debt burden continues to weigh
heavily on developing countries, undermine their
development efforts and prevent their economic
recovery. Those countries are locked in a cycle of
dependence on outside financing and, if nothing is
done, will fall behind in their efforts to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals.
In such circumstances, we need to explore lasting
solutions for making the debt less burdensome,
including the cancellation of bilateral debt. Those
countries need investment and to strive for the well-
being of their peoples. There must also be accelerated
progress towards a substantial increase in official
development assistance if the ultimate goal of 0.7 per
cent of the gross national income of the developed
countries is to be reached.
The AIDS pandemic has spread so alarmingly
that, beyond its health dimensions and given its vast
reach, it has today become a development problem
throughout the world. Indeed, in Africa it has become a
health emergency, despite our national and
international efforts. In the face of the pandemic, we
need to step up our efforts and strengthen our resolve
fully to implement the 2001 Declaration of
Commitment and the General Assembly’s Political
Declaration issued at the High-level Meeting on
HIV/AIDS in May and June this year. The XVI
International AIDS Conference, held at Toronto in
August 2006, it should be recalled, has highlighted the
seriousness of the situation and the urgent need to take
action.
At the national level, Mali has established a
multisectoral programme for combating HIV/AIDS,
whose implementation has made it possible to provide
free access to antiretroviral treatment for patients and
to carry out an awareness and education prevention
campaign to stem the disease and its disastrous social
effects. In the same vein, the Government has created a
National High Council against AIDS under the direct
authority of the President. I would like to take this
opportunity to stress that the international community
must continue to give the same priority to other
diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and polio,
whose consequences are just as devastating for our
people as AIDS.
As for the situation of the disabled, Mali is
pleased to have been a member of the working group
that prepared the text that was the basis for a draft
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
We welcome the negotiations under way within the Ad
Hoc Committee, and we remain convinced that such a
tool will create the framework for equality and the full
participation of the disabled in efforts to build their
respective societies.
As for the institutional reform of the United
Nations, Mali welcomes the creation of the
Peacebuilding Commission, one of the major results of
the Summit of September 2005. For many years the
management of post-conflict situations has been the
weak link of our Organization. As is known, the
impulse that gives rise to peacekeeping, for both donor
countries and troop contributors, subsides once there is
a semblance of stability. As a result, such situations
quite often result in a resurgence of conflicts less than
five years after they have ended, as we have seen from
experience in this area.
How can we not welcome the creation and
implementation of the Human Rights Council, of
which Mali is a member, the Central Emergency
Response Fund and the adoption of a series of
resolutions on the follow-up to development? All those
measures work together for the attainment of the
wishes of the world’s leaders to address better the
problems and the challenges of our time in order to
bring changes in the priority areas of development,
peace, collective security, human rights and reform of
the Organization.
The progress achieved must not cause us to forget
that much remains to be done, especially the necessary
reform of the Security Council. While that need is
unanimously accepted, it is no less true that not one of
the formulas proposed has so far won consensus.
Mali, drawing on the Ezulwini Consensus and the
Syrte Declaration adopted by the heads of State and
47 06-53005
Government of the African Union, strongly supports
Africa’s claim to two permanent seats and five
non-permanent seats. A Council thus reformed would
better reflect the geopolitical realities of today’s world
and would redress the historical injustice done to
Africa, the only region without a permanent seat on the
Security Council.
I would like to end by recalling that millions of
persons in the world have placed their hopes for peace,
security, development and solidarity in the United
Nations. We have no right to disappoint them. As the
community of nations, we have the obligation and the
means to achieve all that through collective awareness
and protection of our common values. This is what it
will take for us to be in a position to guarantee future
generations sustainable development that will protect
them from the scourge of war.