Benin, 1992

Nigeria and Pakistan

are mourning today. I should like to extend to the Governments and the

peoples of these two friendly countries the compassion of the people of Benin

who understand their sorrow and share their grief.

I should like to join those who preceded me at this rostrum in

congratulating Mr. Ganev warmly, on behalf of the Republic of Benin, on his

outstanding election to the presidency of the General Assembly at this

session. This is a well-deserved tribute to his country, Bulgaria, and to him

personally.

I should also like to congratulate his predecessor,

Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia, who presided over the forty-sixth

session of the General Assembly so ably and efficiently.

I wish also to pay a well-deserved tribute to the Secretary-General of

the United Nations for his courage, his dedication and his readiness in the

service of the ideals of the Organization. Less than a year after his

election, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali has already demonstrated his effectiveness

and his diplomatic experience, to the admiration of the international

community as a whole. His tireless efforts to restore peace to the various

hotbeds of tension throughout the world deserve the active support of all the

Members of the United Nations. His recent detailed and well-written report to

the membership is eloquent testimony of his endeavours.

My delegation would like once again to pay a tribute to his predecessor,

Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, for his invaluable work at the service of our

universal Organization, whose membership has continued to expand over the

years.

Benin welcomes the new Members of the United Nations: Armenia,

Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

the Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and

Uzbekistan.

At the last session of the General Assembly, we unanimously welcomed the

end of an era of confrontation and the advent of an era of international

cooperation based on a spirit of solidarity and fraternity among the nations

of the world.

In that context, Benin also welcomed the advent and the admission to

membership in the United Nations of the independent States that emerged from

the former Soviet Union following the signing of the Minsk Agreements.

The first ever meeting of the Security Council at the level of Heads of

State or Government, held on 31 January 1992, marked the end of the cold war;

at that meeting, they urged the advent of a new, more stable and more

prosperous world order, for which the United Nations would provide the

framework.

Unfortunately, we have to say that this session of the Assembly is

beginning at a time when there is an unprecedented reappearance of hotbeds of

tension throughout the world, resulting in a situation in which peace-keeping

activities have become the primary concern of the United Nations over the last

10 months. These hotbeds of tension demonstrate the fragility of peace and of

international security, at an important turning-point in our history.

May I point out here that the Security Council, in its statement of

31 January 1992, indicated that the development of the democratic movement and

the promotion of respect for human rights would help make the world more

stable and more prosperous.

My delegation would like to reaffirm that the international community,

while welcoming the emergence of new nations as a result of the affirmation of

the unbreakable will of peoples to regain freedom, dignity and justice through

respect for their own cultural and political values, must promote the search

for consensus and the spirit of tolerance and dialogue which can still today

provide the basis for a peaceful transition.

Negotiation prevailing over the use of force, trade over exploitation,

freedom over constraints: those are the approaches that should guide each of

our countries so that the capacity of the Organization in the areas of

preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping can be enhanced.

We often say that our planet is sick. It is sick because of delayed

development resulting from financial, technological, scientific and ecological

imbalances between the northern and southern hemispheres. It is sick because

of social injustice and because of extreme poverty that dehumanize so many

peoples that are referred to as "developing peoples".

To all these ills, aggravated today by the resurgence of nationalism, we

must add new kinds of illnesses that are decimating our peoples throughout the

world. It is therefore essential that States regain control and contribute

individually and collectively to the strengthening of international peace and

security.

Against this backdrop, the Secretary-General's report, "An Agenda for

Peace", submitted pursuant to the statement agreed by the summit meeting of

the Security Council on 31 January 1992, offers us food for thought serious

thought and it opens up new prospects. We must all contribute to fleshing

out that report so that our dream of a better world can become a reality in

the years ahead.

As for Africa, our continent has suffered too much for us not to try

today, together, hand in hand, to join forces and use all that we have in the

way of intelligence, courage, strength and resources, to lessen suffering,

alleviate poverty and establish a coherent strategy for sustainable

development.

It is Benin's hope that all of Africa will be free of fratricidal and

internal wars and all other conflicts that hinder our development. It is

enough to look around us to see the tragedy of our brothers in Liberia,

Somalia and Sudan, just to mention a few.

From now on Africa can prove, if need be, that it can resolve its own

conflicts when foreign interference does not complicate matters. To eliminate

instability and insecurity in Africa, the international community must offer

its firm support for the efforts now under way to restore peace to Liberia and

Somalia.

My country, which currently holds the chairmanship of the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has been making intensive efforts

since August to bring those involved in the Liberian tragedy to silence their

weapons so that we can move towards national reconciliation. Benin's only

interest in Liberia is peace. President Soglo's efforts deserve the support

of Africans first and foremost and then of all the major Powers and all other

Members of the United Nations.

Benin hopes that recent appeals from the Conference of Heads of State and

Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), held from 28 June to

2 July 1992 in Dakar, to those involved in the tragedy in Somalia and Sudan

will be heard so that hostilities can cease and negotiations can begin, with a

view to national reconciliation. That, we believe, is a prerequisite for

preserving the unity and integrity of those two countries, which are also

ravaged by famine.

It is important to emphasize the hope inspired by the humanitarian

actions of the United Nations to save the people of Somalia from famine. Here

I should also like to hail the work done by all the countries and humanitarian

organizations that have taken action in that part of the world, despite the

threats they are exposed to in the field by the various parties to the

conflict. In particular, we hail the efforts of Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to

whom we are indebted for heightening awareness of that tragedy and its

horrors. In addition, his Special Representative, Ambassador Sahnoun of

Algeria, deserves our fraternal commendation and admiration.

Just a few months ago, the international community welcomed the positive

changes taking place in the situation in South Africa, changes that were

expected to crown with success the tireless struggle of the black people of

South Africa against a system that for more than 50 years had reduced them to

slavery. Here I should like to reaffirm my country's unequivocal position on

the problem of apartheid. That odious and inhuman system must be dismantled,

in deeds and in law, to allow for the emergence of a democratic and

multiracial South Africa, where the principle of one man, one vote, will

become a political reality.

Recent developments, both political and social in that country, notably

the resumption of violence, which has already claimed hundreds of innocent

victims, shows, unfortunately, that many difficulties and obstacles still

have to be dealt with before apartheid can be totally dismantled. In the

interest of international peace and security, we must encourage dialogue among

those involved in the political situation in South Africa, who still have to

overcome very deep political differences, while continuing at the same time to

keep the pressure on the South African regime so that the reform processes

that have been initiated can be continued and speeded up.

That is how Benin understands the Security Council's adoption of

resolution 765 (1992) on the question of South Africa, the appointment by the

Secretary-General of a Special Representative and the sending of United

Nations observers to that country.

We are happy to see that the peace process in Angola, which began with

the signing of the cease-fire agreement at Estoril, Portugal, on 31 May 1991,

is on course. The Members of the United Nations must continue to support that

country, which has been riven by 15 years of fratricidal war, in its efforts

for democratization, one important stage of which will be the free elections

scheduled for 29 and 30 September 1992, that is, tomorrow and the day after.

The delegation of Benin welcomes the fact that the peace talks which have

begun between the Maputo Government and RENAMO leaders have led to the signing

at Rome on 7 August 1992 of a peace agreement between the two parties. May

peace truly and definitively come to Mozambique so that all the sons and

daughters of that country can tackle the job of national reconstruction.

The Madrid Conference on peace in the Middle East portended a reasonable

arrangement between Arabs and Israelis with a hope for lasting peace. Recent

political changes in Israel may enable the current negotiations to evolve in a

satisfactory manner that would be acceptable to all parties to the conflict.

!t is our duty to encourage that needed dialogue, with a view to achieving a

lasting peace that would guarantee the existence of the Hebrew State and a

Palestinian State within secure borders recognized by all.

That, of course, would presuppose our listening to both parties. It is

in that spirit that Benin this year resumed diplomatic relations with the

State of Israel. We are guided by our firm resolve to use our pivotal

position as a traditional friend of the Arab States and a new partner of the

State of Israel as a point of departure to help bring the two parties together

as best we can. My country wholeheartedly hopes for success at the peace

process that began in Madrid.

A solution to the Middle East Problem also involves the consistent and

effective implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and

338 (1973), emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory

through war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace, enabling each

State in the region to live in safety within boundaries that are

internationally recognized and guaranteed by the international community,

including Palestine and Israel.

My country is distressed at the killing and the flagrant violations of

human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina stemming from the disintegration of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The continuing tragedy of the peoples of that country threatens

international peace and security and constitutes a new challenge to our

Organization. In my Government's opinion, there are three factors that could

have a favourable influence on efforts undertaken by the European States and

the United Nations to restore peace in the former Yugoslavia. These are an

immediate cessation of hostilities; respect for the territorial integrity of

the various States that have emerged from the disintegration of the former

Federation; and the protection of minorities.

I would add to this our unequivocal condemnation of the intolerable

practice of "ethnic cleansing", a practice unworthy of humankind and one of

which each and every human being should be ashamed today. Given the

universality of our Organization, however, my country hopes that the request

for admission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro

will encounter no obstacles and that the admission of that country might even

be a catalyst for a just and lasting peace in the Balkans.

The new spirit of consensus particularly among the permanent members of

the Security Council and the end of the cold war have encouraged the present

atmosphere of detente in the international political arena. In that context,

general and complete disarmament must remain the international community's

ultimate goal at the end of the twentieth century.

The Republic of Benin would like to see the enormous resources devoted to

the manufacture and purchase of weaponry shifted towards satisfying the more

urgent need for development of the third world countries. We believe that a

major step in that direction would be the acceptance by the international

community particularly the arms-producing countries of the

Secretary-General's proposal on taxing arms sales in order to offset the

budgetary deficit of the United Nations and provide it with the resources it

needs to carry out the work entrusted to it. My country therefore supports

this proposal by Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Moreover, Benin supports all

United Nations resolutions related to the reduction, limitation, and

non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

It is often being said that the international community is today at a

turning-point. The will expressed by Member States to move towards the

solution of regional conflicts and the new feeling of urgency in the face of

global threats to the well-being of the planet give us an historic opportunity

to tackle the real problems we all face.

Of course, the world economy has developed in a rather remarkable way in

the past few years, as demonstrated, inter alia, by the extension of the

market economy and the emergence of major economic groupings in Western Europe

and North America. However, the international cooperation necessary to the

creation of a new world order is not really getting under way. The imbalances

between North and South are being exacerbated. If the current trends persist

until the year 2000, the citizens of the richest nations of the world will

have an average annual income of more than $13,600 while those from the least

developed African countries will have an average per capita income of only

$217 that is, $12 less than in 1985. This sharp decrease has already been

seen in many countries.

We must therefore acknowledge that the problem of the economic liberation

of Africa is one that still faces us most acutely. All the efforts made to

wipe out and reverse this trend towards deterioration in the economies of our

countries have been in vain. Africa's economic horizon is darkening daily-

Here, I should like to broach the question of debt, and more specifically

in sub-Saharan African. In one report on the debt crisis, the

Secretary-General stressed that the heavy obligations imposed by debt

servicing have given rise to serious budgetary problems. Public investment

and social expenditures have suffered the results of this, and the most

vulnerable social sectors have therefore been the most seriously affected.

Today, our continent groans under the crushing burden of debt, which now

amounts to more than $270 billion. In 1990, our States had to pay out

$23 billion to service this debt. Confronted by these increasingly harsh

resource problems, most of our States have committed themselves to structural

adjustment programmes. These programmes do not yet have the resources that

are truly necessary to the development of our devastated economies. That is

why Benin appeals to the international community to take concrete, urgent

action to reduce the debt burden of the African countries and increase

financial flows for their development.

Measures to ease or cancel debt in some cases debt that our countries

find so difficult to bear should be accompanied by detailed and explicit

programmes on the conditions for financing structural adjustment programmes

and repaying the debt owed by our States.

On another level, the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly,

following consideration and final evaluation of the implementation of the

United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and

Development 1986-1990 adopted the New Agenda for the Development of Africa in

the 1990s. That was an opportunity to refocus the international community's

interest in the socio-economic difficulties facing the countries of Africa.

To reach the objectives of the New Agenda, it is now time for the

international community to translate into real action the commitments that

have been entered into and renewed so many times to support the efforts made

by the African countries themselves to achieve autonomous growth and

socio-economic development. Indeed, the Secretary-General has said that

Africa is one of the five United Nations priorities for the 1990s. As to the

other four priorities the environment, peace-keeping, the fight against drug

abuse, and humanitarian assistance we have to say that no actual decision

has been taken to translate this priority into action.

My delegation feels serious concern about the situation that still

prevails one year after the adoption of resolution 46/151 on the United

Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. First, the

Secretary-General's programme has not yet really been launched. Secondly, the

follow-up mechanisms, for example, the high-level consultative group, the

inter-agency committee and the steering committee, have not yet been set up.

Thirdly, the study on the need for and the feasibility of establishing a

diversification fund for African commodities has not yet been carried out,

even though it is supposed to be the subject of a report by the

Secretary-General to the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session.

Lastly, the setting up of adequate financial resources is still hypothetical.

I would like to express the ardent hope that no effort will be spared to

ensure that by December 1992, or at the latest by January 1993, the New Agenda

for the Development of Africa in the 1990s will emerge from its present

lethargy and enter a truly active and dynamic phase that will live up to our

hopes.

To a certain extent, the Programme of Action for the Least Developed

Countries for the 1990s is experiencing the same difficulties as the New

Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. This will hardly help to

improve the living and working conditions of the most vulnerable groups in the

least developed countries.

It is essential to continue and support efforts aimed at ensuring that

the number of least developed countries, particularly in Africa, can be cut in

half by the end of the twentieth century. We must thus reverse the tendency

towards increasing the number of least developed countries, a trend that has

been noted since the adoption of the Programme of Action in September 1990 and

the adoption of the new criteria for classification in 1991.

My Government feels that the International Conference on Financing

Development could provide responses to the difficulties facing the various

programmes and plans of action for the development of the countries of the

South.

For that reason, we sincerely hope that the General Assembly will, during

this session, adopt a resolution to convene the Conference, which will be

prepared as part of the process of intergovernmental negotiations with the

participation of all States. The holding of such a Conference will be an

important element in the process of strengthening the role of the United

Nations in promoting international economic cooperation. We welcome the

Japanese initiative to organize in 1993 an international conference on the

development of Africa. The work of that conference should be a good

preparatory exercise for the Conference on Financing Development.

Benin believes that economic integration is also a response to the

marginalization of Africa. It is essential today for our States that the

regional economic groupings we have created in order to ensure South-South

cooperation should be strengthened.

Africa, determined to continue with vigour the policy it has been

following in this sphere for effective regional and subregional economic

cooperation and integration, is thus particularly committed to the creation of

the African Economic Community, whose Constitution was signed by the Heads of

State and Government on 3 June 1991 at Abuja.

Success for this project presupposes, I believe, a commitment by each of

our States to promote integration in the various activity sectors of our

economies and to ensure the development and maintenance of reliable networks

of agricultural, road and industrial infrastructures on the continent.

Despite the economic situation of our countries, many specific actions

have been taken to help children as part of the follow-up of the World Summit

for Children.

On 16 June 1992 Benin celebrated the Day of the African Child, as we had

in 1991. Although my country had already scored some successes, the

celebrations on that day enabled us to place even more emphasis on improving

the health of mothers and children through the expanded vaccination programme,

the struggle to combat malnutrition and other widespread diseases of children,

the provision of drinking water to rural areas, the gradual reduction of

illiteracy and the securing of access to education for all children.

Africa aspires to development of the whole person, and to that end, we

must be sure to involve women and children. They are, after all, the majority

of the people of our countries on the path of progress, which can be achieved

primarily through the education and training of young people and adults.

Benin welcomes the action already taken by the Organization of African

Unity (OAU), together with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), with a

view to the holding of the International Conference on Assistance for the

African Child, to be held at Dakar from 25 to 27 November 1992.

Parallel with its actions in behalf of children, my Government is also

preparing actively to mark the International Year of the Family in 1994. In

addition, we stand ready to make a worthwhile contribution to the preparatory

work for the World Conference on Women, to be held at Beijing in 1995.

A few years ago each of our States, particularly the richer ones among

us, was content to act alone at the national level in order to stop

environmental degradation.

Today we have to recognize that the major ecological problems we face are

planetary in dimension and require an international approach.

In that context, Benin welcomes the conclusions of the United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held from 3 to 14 June 1992

at Rio de Janeiro.

While that historic conference, in which my country took an active part,

did not fully live up to the hopes placed in it, it did enshrine the concept

of sustainable development and a recognition of the undeniable link that

exists between environmental protection and economic development.

Benin, convinced that dealing with environmental and development problems

requires the coordination of activities, initiatives and programmes, welcomes

the agreement reached at Rio on institutional mechanisms for following up

UNCED decisions, particularly the establishment of a high-level commission on

sustainable development.

In our opinion, that commission will play an essential role in the

implementation and follow-up of Agenda 21, adopted at Rio by the Conference.

With a strong and competent secretariat, which could be headquartered at

Geneva, the commission on sustainable development should make it possible, we

believe, to coordinate, facilitate and orient intergovernmental action within

the United Nations system in the area of environment.

The members of the commission, to be elected by the General Assembly,

should represent all the regional groups in the United Nations and all types

of development.

As well as supporting the establishment of a high-level commission on

sustainable development, which will be the subject of a draft resolution at

this session, Benin stresses the great importance we attach to following up

all the decisions and recommendations of the Rio Conference. We welcome in

advance the resolutions the Assembly will adopt in this connection, including

that by which the Assembly will establish an intergovernmental negotiating

committee to draft by June 1994 an international convention to combat

desertification, particularly in Africa. We also look forward to a resolution

on the financing of Agenda 21, whose implementation by developing countries

will require new, additional funds.

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development does not reflect all

the concerns expressed during the preparatory process for the Conference; the

General Assembly must therefore adopt a resolution with a view to preparing an

Earth charter to be adopted during the fiftieth anniversary of the United

Nations in 1995, as proposed by the Secretary-General of the Conference,

Mr. Maurice Strong.

While cruel at times, our age can now be proud of having witnessed the

emergence of a universal human-rights movement. An awareness of democracy is

spreading throughout the world, a world where men and women used to be reduced

to silence and wretchedness. Democracy is slowly becoming a reality that it

will be difficult to ignore.

The credo of Benin, henceforth to be a State where the rule of law is

paramount, is respect for, and the promotion and defence of, human rights and

the rights of peoples. That is why we support the 1993 convening of a World

Conference on Human Rights and are already participating actively in the

Preparations for that high-level Conference.

It is necessary to promote social development if we are to promote,

protect and defend human rights. To the hungry, human rights can mean little

if nothing is done to improve health care and education, to eliminate hunger

and wretchedness, and to improve housing and the quality of life in short,

to achieve greater well-being. That is why my country welcomes the decision

to convene a world summit for social development in 1995; this will enshrine

the human dimension of development.

I wish on behalf of the Government and the people of Benin to pay tribute

to all nations, large and small, that have shown unswerving support and

friendship for my country, particularly in the past two years, and that have

supported and encouraged democratic renewal in Benin: the political, economic

and moral rebirth of my country.

I pay a special tribute to friendly agencies, bodies and Governments for

their continued cooperation as we ponder, evaluate, organize and take

decisions on all aspects of the lasting economic and social recovery of Benin,

and for all they did to prepare for, coordinate, organize and hold the

round-table meeting of partners in the economic and social development of the

Republic of Benin, which took place at Geneva on 2 and 3 April 1992.

It is my great hope that the forty-seventh session of the General

Assembly will achieve a consensus acceptable to all in the negotiations on the

restructuring of the United Nations system and the strengthening of the

Organization's role in promoting international economic cooperation and

consolidating our achievements in peace-keeping and international security. I

also hope that it will show our peoples that it is still working for

solidarity, partnership for development and hope.