Burundi, 2010

Allow me first of all to convey to the Assembly the

warm and fraternal greetings of His Excellency

Mr. Pierre Nkurunziza, who has just been re-elected for

a second term of five years. He had planned to take

part in these meetings himself, but the Unity

International Foundation insisted on awarding him the

Rising Star of Africa prize for his role in building and

promoting peace, and that led him to delegate attending

the High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium

Development Goals and the general debate of the

Assembly’s sixty-fifth session to me.

We wish to congratulate the President of the

Assembly at its sixty-fifth session and to reiterate the

thanks of the Burundi delegation to his predecessor for

his remarkable work. We also pay due tribute to our

Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon,

for his involvement in the follow-up to Assembly

resolutions and for the important guidance that he

continues to give our Organization. His visit to

Burundi on 9 June 2010 is a clear sign of his

commitment to peacebuilding and to strengthening the

democracy regained in our country at great cost.

Burundi is participating in the sixty-fifth session

following the top-to-bottom renewal of national

institutions. For the first time in Burundi’s history, the

democratically elected institutions have completed

their term of office. That powerfully demonstrates the

political maturity and resolve of the people of Burundi

to break with the turbulent past in order to invest in the

peace, stability and reconciliation that are prerequisites

to sustainable development.

We take this opportunity to reiterate the thanks of

the Government and people of Burundi for the role of

the international community, the United Nations, the

European Union, the African Union, the European

Parliament, the East African Community, the ACP-EU

Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the Common Market for

Eastern and Southern Africa, the Economic

Community of Central African States, friendly

countries and various organizations in participating in

the funding and observation of the aforementioned

elections, which were peaceful, transparent and fair

and in accordance with international standards.

For its part, the party that won the elections is

aware of the absolute need to promote national

reconciliation and political tolerance as much as it can.

From the day after the first round of the election and

then in his inaugural speech, the President of the

Republic himself expressed his resolve and that of the

winning party to govern Burundi for and with all the

people of Burundi. Furthermore, Burundi’s

Constitution also provides for political inclusion

mechanisms in managing the State’s affairs.

During the new Parliament, the Government of

Burundi is committed to following its peacebuilding

programme and strengthening security for all, in

particular by completing disarmament of the civilian

population and the socio-economic reinsertion of

demobilized individuals and returnees. Furthermore,

the Government of Burundi will particularly emphasize

regional cooperation and integration, as well as

enhancing security in its geographical area, together

with neighbouring countries.

Promoting good governance in its various

dimensions is also one of the main concerns of

Burundi’s Government. With regard to political

governance, it will continue to promote the rights of

political parties, including by strengthening the spirit

of dialogue between political partners.

With respect to economic governance, there will

be efforts to improve business conditions to encourage

both national and foreign investment. The Government

of Burundi reaffirms its determination and zero-

tolerance commitment to combat financial corruption

and fraud.

In the area of the judiciary, every possible effort

will be made to combat impunity with respect to any

type of crime, and transitional justice will be promoted

during this Parliament.

Concerning socio-economic development, the

Government of Burundi will focus every effort possible

on combating poverty, in particular through

development of priority production sectors, namely,

agriculture and livestock, energy, social infrastructure,

tourism, environmental renewal and new information

and communication technologies. We will give special

attention to developing public-private partnerships with

a view to sustained economic growth.

In the social domain, the Government of Burundi

will concentrate on the education and health sectors to

combat ignorance and disease. To meet crucial needs in

those areas, many schools and clinics will be built

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throughout the country. Furthermore, the services in

these two sectors will also be improved.

Relaunching and promoting the Burundian

economy depends also on consolidating regional

groups and developing projects and programmes that

integrate common interests. In that framework, the

Government of Burundi will play a larger role in the

promotion of regional organizations of which it is a

member, such as the Economic Community of the

Great Lake Countries, the International Conference on

the Great Lakes Region, whose Executive Secretariat

we host, the East African Community, the Common

Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and others.

That ambitious programme requires consistent support

for its implementation. Thus Burundi clearly requires

various forms of support.

To that end, we take the opportunity of this forum

to make a strong appeal to the international

community, to the United Nations system and to the

countries represented here and to charitable

organizations to continue their tireless support to the

Government of Burundi with the ultimate aim of

allowing it to lay the foundations for long-term

development and for solidifying the achievements

made in terms of peace, democracy, stability and

reconciliation.

In the context of international relations and

relations between States, Burundi is convinced that the

issue of global governance in general and economic

governance in particular remains a major concern of

most of our countries. Thus promotion of equity must

become the leitmotif and the warhorse of the

organizations of which our respective States are full

members.

Burundi desires additional efforts to allow

developing countries sufficient representation in the

international financial institutions such as the World

Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others. We

believe that is the way to promote a fairer and more

geographically balanced world.

Burundi is committed to the African Union’s

position on Security Council reform, in particular that

the African continent should have two permanent seats

with all of the privileges held by the five permanent

members.

Today the entire world is confronting a number of

challenges and natural disasters, some of which are

linked to climate change. Developing countries in

general and African countries in particular are the most

harshly affected, because of a lack of resources to deal

with such challenges.

It is high time that countries agree to take more

audacious measures in order to provide the financing

necessary to combat the negative effects of climate

change, by stimulating and promoting in particular

technology transfer and without forgetting capacity-

building in the poorest and thus the most vulnerable

countries. By effectively combating the effects of

climate change, our countries will inevitably resolve in

part the problem of food insecurity, which is also a

significant threat to sustainable development.

In that light, we call upon the wealthy countries

to act in favour of developing countries, particularly

post-conflict countries such as Burundi, through

multiple, ongoing and significant support to key social

and economic sectors. It is urgent that all development

partners respect the promises they have made to

developing countries in general and those countries in

Africa in particular by increasing official development

assistance.

Burundi — whose stability has benefited from the

excellent attention and considerable support of United

Nations entities, the international community and

friendly countries — remains very concerned by the

issue of the maintenance of international peace and

security. It reaffirms its commitment to cooperate with

the United Nations in consolidating the achievements

made with regard to peace and stability and in handling

the finances necessary for its socio-economic

development.

Furthermore, in terms of international solidarity,

all countries must combine efforts to make this world a

harbour of peace. For that reason, Burundi is taking an

active part in the United Nations Operation in Côte

d’Ivoire to bring peace to that country, the United

Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and

Chad, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid

Operation in Darfur and the African Union Mission in

Somalia (AMISOM).

With respect to Somalia, Burundi is committed on

the ground despite the many problems its troops are

encountering. We reiterate our request to the United

Nations with regard to improving the living and

working conditions of the AMISOM forces. We take

this opportunity to recall the promises made in that

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regard by the Secretary-General when he visited

Burundi on 9 June. We also call on other countries to

deploy additional troops so that AMISOM can become

a truly continental mission able to fulfil its mandate.

In closing, Burundi welcomes the determination

and commitment of the United Nations to make our

world one of peace, democracy, tolerance and

development, where individual and collective rights

and freedoms are clearly protected. Therefore, we

encourage everyone to go forward towards that noble

mission. Our wish is that the next session of the

General Assembly may take place in a context where

most of the conflicts currently threatening some

countries and the world as a whole will have been

resolved.