Madam
President, I should like at the outset sincerely to
congratulate you on your well-deserved election to
preside over the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session. Your election represents not only a mark of
considerable recognition for the Kingdom of Bahrain,
which has tirelessly worked to promote the purposes
and principles of the United Nations, but also, in
personal terms, the culmination of your long legal and
diplomatic career.
Above and beyond the usual courtesies, I should
like to encourage you, Madam, and to assure you of
our full readiness to cooperate to ensure the success of
your lofty mission.
I should like also to pay tribute to Mr. Jan
Eliasson for the talent, dedication and perseverance
with which he guided our work throughout the sixtieth
session. I should like in particular to acknowledge him
for his determination in leading the negotiations that
achieved considerable progress in implementation of
the decisions and recommendations of the 2005 World
Summit.
Lastly, I should like to convey to the Secretary-
General, Mr. Kofi Annan, our deep admiration for the
wisdom and courage he has consistently shown in
discharging his difficult mandate, and in particular for
the ambitious measures he initiated throughout his two
terms of office to adapt the United Nations to current
realities.
At a time when his tenure as Secretary-General is
coming to an end and many observers will be
reviewing and assessing his accomplishments, I should
like, for may part, to pay a well-deserved tribute to him
for having provided us with a clear vision of the work
of the United Nations in terms of the three pillars of
international peace and security, development and the
promotion of human rights worldwide.
The consensus adoption of the 2005 World
Summit Outcome Document (resolution 60/1) was an
unequivocal recognition by our leaders of the General
Assembly’s central role as the chief deliberative,
policymaking and representative organ of the United
Nations. I welcome the fact that since the Summit,
most of the important recommendations of the
Outcome Document have already been implemented as
part of the United Nations reform process.
Indeed, following the difficult negotiations, the
sixtieth session of the General Assembly established
two important bodies — the Peacebuilding
Commission and the Human Rights Council — both of
which, as we know, have been operational since June.
In addition, the Central Emergency Response Fund was
established, and a number of major resolutions were
adopted. I am thinking in particular about resolution
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60/42, on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on
the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel;
the resolution on development; and, most recently,
resolution 60/288, on the United Nations Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
During the present session, bolstered by that
major progress, we must continue our efforts to
complete the reform process. For example, we must
intensify our efforts to conclude the negotiations aimed
at adopting a comprehensive convention against
international terrorism and at reforming the Secretariat,
the Economic and Social Council and the Security
Council.
The theme you proposed for this year’s general
debate, Madam President, “Implementing a global
partnership for development”, is very timely. That
theme, which echoes Goal 8 of the Millennium
Development Goals, will undoubtedly make it possible
to follow up and implement the decisions emanating
from the Monterrey Consensus and reaffirmed at the
September 2005 World Summit.
It is extremely urgent that all development
partners honour all their commitments. Our appeal to
them takes fully into account the primary responsibility
of all States to plan and carry out their own
development. It also addresses the many constraints
hampering the developing countries, in particular the
impact of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious
diseases on their populations and economies.
Therefore, I cannot fail to welcome the fact that,
in the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (resolution
60/262), adopted on 2 June 2006 at the end of the
High-level Meeting devoted to follow-up on the
implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on
HIV/AIDS, the international community stressed the
special situation of sub-Saharan Africa and recognized
the efforts made by African Governments to fight the
pandemic.
Gabon, for its part, has undertaken ambitious
initiatives ranging from awareness raising to the
implementation of action plans such as the
multisectoral strategic plan to fight AIDS. The
Gabonese head of State and his spouse, Ms. Edith
Lucie Bongo Ondimba, are personally involved in that
initiative.
Aware of the threat that the pandemic poses to
human development and security, we should advocate
more courageous measures aimed in particular at
increasing the contributions to the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, strengthening
prevention methods and improving access to treatment
for infected persons.
However, the many challenges facing African
States are not inevitable. That is the strong conviction
that led African heads of State or Government to
launch the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD), a comprehensive vision in which African
countries have pledged, through good economic and
political governance, to take control of the social,
economic and political destiny of their respective
nations. While NEPAD’s main goal is development, we
are fully aware that there can be no development
without a framework that fosters peace, security and
respect for human dignity.
Our world continues to be characterized by
tension and deep crises that aggravate the prevailing
instability and insecurity. Old and new conflicts
continue to threaten the peace and security of a number
of nations, and their effects have strong repercussions
at the regional and international levels.
The violent conflict that has once again shaken
the Middle East — a conflict that has claimed hundreds
of innocent human lives and caused enormous material
damage — has shown how essential it is to do
everything possible to establish a lasting peace in that
part of the world. With specific regard to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, only collective and sustained
efforts based on the principle of two States, Israel and
Palestine, living side by side in peace and security can
make it possible to achieve a just, lasting and equitable
settlement of that conflict. Gabon, for its part, endorses
the idea of urgently holding an international conference
on the Middle East.
In Africa, many hot spots of tension also remain
worrisome. While we should welcome the Darfur
Peace Agreement, signed at Abuja in May 2006, we
must acknowledge that the overall situation remains
fragile. The persistent divisions between certain parties
to the conflict even threaten to jeopardize the
Agreement, which was reached at considerable effort.
Here, I should like to pay a well-deserved tribute to the
international community, and in particular the African
Union, for their tireless efforts to achieve a peaceful
settlement of the Darfur crisis.
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The situation in Côte d’Ivoire also continues to
be a source of concern for Africa and the rest of the
international community. In the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, a historic and crucial phase has begun
with the holding of general elections in that brotherly
country. Here, I wish to pay tribute to the international
community, particularly the European Union — whose
EUFOR peacekeeping troops are stationed in Gabon —
and to the United Nations. Its support, together with
that of EUFOR, has thus far made it possible to hold
smooth general elections in that country, particularly
the first round of the presidential election, which took
place on 30 July 2006.
It is now essential that all Congolese political
actors continue, in a spirit of patriotic fervour, to
consolidate the gains of the democratic transition
process in an atmosphere of peace and harmony. In
order to do that, they will also need the active support
and sustained commitment of the international
community to ensure that the enormous sacrifices made
by all do not come to naught for lack of follow-up.
In that regard, the establishment of the
Peacebuilding Commission is an appropriate
institutional response to the many needs of countries
emerging from conflict. I take this opportunity to
congratulate Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins of
Angola on his election as Chairman of the
Commission’s Organizational Committee. I welcome
the fact that two African countries, Burundi and Sierra
Leone — which have experienced many years of
war — have been chosen as the first countries to
benefit from the Commission’s attention.
However, if our efforts to strengthen international
peace and security are to be effective, they must also
focus in particular on the area of conflict prevention.
The excellent report of the Secretary-General on the
prevention of armed conflict (A/60/891) offers us a
good foundation for our work as we consider this
important issue.
We achieved a major breakthrough in 2001 with
the adoption of the Programme of Action to Prevent,
Combat and Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms
and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. We regret,
however, that the June and July 2006 review
conference for the Programme of Action ended in
failure. Despite this, we need to pursue the
implementation of the Programme, as well as the
adoption of an international instrument on the marking
and tracing of these weapons. We also need to move
forward with consultations in order to begin
negotiations leading to the adoption of an instrument
on brokering. Similarly, we have the moral duty and
shared responsibility to renew disarmament
negotiations, particularly in the nuclear sphere.
One of the major trials facing our Organization is
the continuation and completion of negotiations on
Security Council reform, in accordance with the
recommendation made by heads of State or
Government at the September 2005 World Summit. We
also need to implement the resolutions regarding the
revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, the
most recent of which was adopted on 8 September
2006 as resolution 60/286. At the same time, major
negotiations in the Assembly over the past two sessions
have demonstrated, if such demonstration were needed,
how crucial a vitalized Assembly is for our
Organization. We also need to take the appropriate
measures to ensure greater transparency and
consistency in the functioning of the United Nations
system, ensuring improved implementation of its
missions.
As you are aware, Madam President, we have a
particularly heavy programme of work. I am certain
that, under your able guidance, the General Assembly
will make progress in the various areas of its agenda.
We will therefore need to continue to work with a
heightened sense of our collective interest. The very
credibility of our Organization depends on it.