Benin, 1993

On behalf of the delegation of Benin and on behalf of the

Government and the people of Benin, I should like to extend

my warm congratulations to Ambassador Insanally on his

well-deserved election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at this session. His unanimous election as leader

of our deliberations testifies to his abilities; it is also

represents an honour for his country and draws attention to

the role played by Caribbean countries in the international

arena.

I take this opportunity to extend my sincere

congratulations to his predecessor, Mr. Stoyan Ganev, who

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 43

ably presided over the work of the General Assembly at its

forty-seventh session.

It is also a great pleasure and a privilege for me to pay

a well-deserved tribute to Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali,

Secretary-General of the United Nations, who effectively and

successfully heads this global Organization and who is

working intensively to restore peace and security to the

various hotbeds of tension throughout the world.

The delegation of Benin solemnly welcomes the new

States that have joined the world community to make their

contribution to respect for the common basic values of the

new society which together, we, the people of the world, are

endeavouring to build. I welcome the Czech Republic, the

Slovak Republic, Eritrea, the Principality of Monaco and the

Principality of Andorra, whose admission enhances the

universality of this Organization.

We are meeting here, as we do each year under similar

circumstances, to consider together ways and means of

promoting peace and prosperity for all our peoples.

Since the last session of the General Assembly, we

have witnessed many important events that have given the

international community as a whole new prospects and new

challenges in its quest for peace.

We welcome the fact that the confrontation between the

two blocs, which for so long had created political tension,

has today been replaced by the universal values of

democracy and equality in international relations. These

values are interdependent with economic and social

development and with the security of all States.

It is also encouraging to see that renewed confidence in

the effectiveness of the United Nations in settling conflicts

has strengthened the credibility and the capacity to act of the

Organization, opening up new areas in which it is able to

encourage the settlement of a vast range of problems that

afflict humankind.

In just five years, the tasks of the Organization in the

area of maintaining peace have increased and widened

considerably.

Despite positive developments, changes currently under

way that were designed to provide for greater freedom and

encourage the establishment of more just and more dynamic

societies have unfortunately also become the source of new

challenges and even greater uncertainty in international

relations. Each day, in one place or another on our planet,

civil wars, territorial partition, ethnic confrontations and

tribal or religious struggles demand the urgent intervention

of the United Nations.

We can see, therefore, how difficult is the task of the

Organization, which is obliged to respect a fragile balance

between the sovereignty of States and the duty to intervene.

In Europe, the political picture has changed

dramatically in just a few years. The hopes born of the

disappearance of the Berlin Wall have been virtually dashed

by another, anachronistic war in the former Yugoslavia and

by the situation in some of the States that emerged from the

disintegration of the Soviet Union, thus threatening stability

and security on the old continent.

In Africa, major civil wars continue to rage. These

wars are responsible for the untold suffering and destruction

which are hampering efforts at socio-economic development

and recovery in our continent.

Africa needs peace and security. Without them the

courageous and far-reaching reforms undertaken at the

political and economic levels cannot be successful.

The twenty-ninth summit of the Organization of African

Unity (OAU) held in Cairo in June of this year provided us

with an opportunity to adopt a mechanism for the

prevention, management and settlement of conflicts. That

mechanism is an important step forward in the acceptance of

the imperative of peace, which is so essential to

development. Indeed, conflict management remains a major

concern for our countries, as the massive movements of

refugees that result from conflicts distract us, to our sorrow,

from the paramount task of development.

West Africa, which until now has been a peaceful land

of asylum, welcoming refugees from the rest of the continent

and even beyond, is now living through a particularly

difficult time, with an unprecedented increase in emergency

situations and in the number of refugees, which in less than

four years has risen from 20,000 to 1.2 million.

Here, I would pay a tribute to the humanitarian

activities and the considerable efforts of the United Nations

to settle conflicts in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

Because of the support of the United Nations, the

Liberian conflict today offers encouraging prospects for a

peaceful and lasting settlement. The major protagonists in

44 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

the Liberian tragedy now seem disposed towards dialogue

and agreement. They met in Geneva from 10 to

17 July 1993, with the help of representatives of the

Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity and

the Executive Secretariat of the Economic Community of

West African States (ECOWAS) and of the Acting President

of that Community, to seek ways and means of silencing the

weapons of war and restoring peace to their country. Those

present at the Geneva meeting successfully prepared a

comprehensive agreement that takes account of all aspects of

the Liberian tragedy.

In Cotonou on 25 July 1993, representatives of the

various factions and of the interim Government of Liberia

signed that peace agreement, thanks to the mediation of Mr.

Nicéphore Soglo, President of the Republic of Benin, and

Acting President of ECOWAS. Benin is pleased by the

willingness of our Liberian brothers to enter into this

agreement and by their spirit of constructive and fraternal

dialogue, without which nothing positive could have been

achieved. Benin continues to believe that dialogue is the

only way of restoring peace to this war-torn country.

We welcome the positive results thus far achieved in

the implementation of the agreement, most notably the

observation of the cease-fire by all the warring factions and

the cessation of hostilities.

In particular, the delegation of Benin welcomes the

unanimous adoption by the Security Council of resolution

856 (1993), which supports the efforts of ECOWAS and

approves the deployment in Liberia of an advance team of

30 military observers to participate in the work of the Joint

Cease-fire Monitoring Committee. We also welcome

resolution 866 (1993), which establishes the United Nations

Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL).

This Mission can be made possible only by a

mobilization of the international community to support the

efforts of ECOWAS by, inter alia, contributing to the

special trust fund, which would facilitate the dispatch of

reinforcements to ECOMOG by the African States and help

provide for the upkeep of the contingents made available to

ECOMOG by the participating States, as well as by helping

in carrying out the work of removing mines, providing

humanitarian and developmental assistance and promoting

the healthy evolution of the electoral process.

The three signatories of the 25 July 1993 peace

agreement met in Cotonou from 15 to 18 August 1993 to set

up the Council of State, the transitional executive body. The

25 July peace agreement promises finally to put an end to

the very long, devastating war in Liberia.

From this rostrum, I would like to make an appeal to

all the parties who signed that agreement, urging them to

continue to abide by the commitments entered into during

the Cotonou talks and to work with ECOWAS and the

United Nations for the proper and swift implementation of

those commitments, in order to put an end to the suffering

of the Liberian people and ensure that the national

reconciliation process will proceed to its successful

completion.

Along the lines of the solution under way in Liberia,

we should work to ensure that peace returns to Somalia,

Angola, the Sudan and Mozambique.

In Angola, for example, despite the great hopes and

expectations aroused by the agreements reached in Estoril,

Portugal, we are seriously disturbed and deeply saddened by

the resumption of hostilities following the refusal of UNITA

to recognize the results of the free elections of 29 and

30 September 1992.

Benin welcomes the change in the position taken by the

United States Government, which has now granted

diplomatic recognition to the legal Government of Angola.

This action by the Clinton Administration strengthens the

position of the international community in support of the

verdict of the ballot box rather than the compulsion of the

gun.

In South Africa, developments are encouraging. The

multipartite talks made it possible to reach an agreement on,

inter alia, the establishment of a transitional executive

council and the holding of the first democratic and

non-racial elections in the history of South Africa, scheduled

for 27 April 1994.

The Government of Benin supports the courageous and

responsible appeal by the Chairman of the African National

Congress, Mr. Nelson Mandela, before the Special

Committee against Apartheid in this prestigious Hall of the

General Assembly on 24 September 1993. He invited the

international community to lift all economic sanctions

against South Africa, except for the arms embargo. Given

the positive development that will lead this country, which

is undergoing a process of reform, to implement the

principle of "one man, one vote", the time has come for all

Members of our universal Organization to support the

peaceful transformation of South Africa.

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 45

Benin wishes to see the African continent free itself of

all fratricidal and internal wars, of all conflicts that impede

its development. It is my firm hope that the logic of war

will now progressively yield to the logic of peace and

development in Africa.

Turning to the Middle East, 26 years after Israel’s

occupation of the Arab territories, Benin cannot but greet

with joy the historic agreement between the Israeli

Government and the Palestine Liberation Organization

granting autonomy to Gaza and Jericho.

That agreement marks the beginning of a just and

lasting peace that will allow every State in the region,

including Palestine and Israel, to live within secure and

internationally recognized borders guaranteed by the

international community. Our duty is thus to encourage the

two essential parties, as well as all parties involved, to

undertake or to continue the dialogue necessary for a

comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

In the Persian Gulf region the full restoration of the

sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait helped to

reaffirm the fundamental principles governing inter-State

relations. In this connection we sincerely hope that Security

Council resolution 833 (1993), on the demarcation of the

international border between Iraq and Kuwait, will be

respected by all States. Pending issues such as that of the

Kuwaiti prisoners of war must be settled so as to open the

way to fraternity, cooperation and solidarity in that

subregion.

The atmosphere of relaxation of tension which began

with the end of the cold war and which has made possible

a new spirit of consensus, inter alia in the Security Council,

is still rather uncertain for much remains to be done to

consolidate peace.

We must recognize today that the idea of peace can no

longer be based on a build-up of weapons; it must be based,

rather, on concerted efforts on their reduction and complete

elimination. The balance of terror is now yielding to a

meeting of the minds, the hearts and the actions of man.

That is why the signing of the United Nations

Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,

Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and

on Their Destruction, in Paris on 13-15 January 1993, not

only helps to strengthen international peace and security but

also offers prospects for international cooperation in the area

of using the chemicals industry for peaceful purposes.

Benin, which is dedicated to peace and economic and

social progress, urges the international community to refrain

from any military use of science so that science can be

devoted to development, and international peace and

security.

The decision by Russia, the United States of America,

the United Kingdom and France to extend their moratorium

on nuclear testing until September 1994 proves that the

Governments of those nuclear Powers are increasingly

interested in measures that will make it possible to use

scientific and technical developments exclusively for

peaceful purposes.

My country joins the rest of the international

community in congratulating the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea on the reversal of its decision to

withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons (NPT), for that withdrawal from the

Treaty would only have weakened it, given that its strength

lies in its universality.

The determination shown by Member States to move

towards the solution of regional conflicts and the new sense

of urgency over new threats to the well-being of the planet

create a historic opportunity for us to tackle the economic

problems facing all of our countries.

Indeed, this forty-eighth session of the General

Assembly is taking place against a background of general

economic crisis. In the new economic order which is

characterized by increased trade between three dominant

groups - Western Europe, North America and the Pacific-

Asia zone - Africa is virtually left out.

The developed North seems to have less and less need

of Africa’s products and Africa for its part no longer has the

means to buy the goods and services of the North. What is

more, the international community does not seem very

anxious to find a better way of dealing with the African

countries’ debt burden.

This situation cannot but lead to a slowing down in

trade on the world market and directly affect African

economies which are already suffering.

In these circumstances our survival necessarily requires

sustained regional integration so that we can be in a better

position to deal with the vicissitudes of the international

economic environment and take up the challenge of how to

develop our own continent.

46 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

In his "An Agenda for Peace" the Secretary-General

emphasized the role of regional organizations in establishing

peace and preventive diplomacy. This role naturally extends

to development too. We cannot overemphasize the

importance of integration for development.

In the case of Africa such integration is a means of

encouraging trade, investment, and research and development

cooperation among African countries.

That is why the Heads of State or Government of the

members of the Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS), meeting in Cotonou from 22 to

24 July 1993, adopted and signed a revised Treaty of the

Economic Community of West African States and reaffirmed

their determination to bring a new dynamism to the process

of regional integration.

If the development of Africa is primarily the

responsibility of the Africans themselves, it is no less

important for the international community to recognize the

principle of shared responsibility and full partnership with

Africa.

In this connection we should note that the

implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the

Development of Africa in the 1990s is not living up to all

the hopes that the African countries placed in it. It is

necessary further to strengthen national capacities and to

create a climate that is favourable to development.

While Benin welcomes the study on the need and the

feasibility of the establishment of a fund to diversify African

commodities, we strongly hope that bolder action will be

taken with a view to implementing the new programme and

ensuring the input of the major financial contributions which

are necessary for the establishment of the fund in 1994.

Hence we must increase the quality and the quantity of

assistance to Africa.

In this spirit Benin will in a few days be participating

in the Tokyo International Conference on African

Development. This Conference, to be held against the

backdrop of the new world economic and political order of

the post-cold-war era, will provide the international

community with a new framework for discussing how to

reaffirm the question of Africa’s economic development as

one of the major concerns of the world today.

Our hope, widely shared by African countries, is that

the Conference, apart from adopting a declaration, will

actually lead to specific actions and commitments in support

of Africa.

The African countries also hope that the Tokyo

Declaration of 9 July 1993 of the Group of Seven

industrialized countries - which was designed to replace the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank

Structural Adjustment Programme with another mechanism

that would be better adapted to the conditions and realities

of developing countries - will soon take effect.

If this new mechanism is to have some hope of

succeeding, it will have to be drawn up following

consultations with the countries that are actually

experiencing the harsh social consequences of the Structural

Adjustment Programme.

If we are to win this wager for development, to which

Africa aspires, we have to involve women and children, who

represent the majority of the populations of our countries,

and so, above all, we have to educate and train young people

and adults.

In this connection, the Government of the Republic of

Benin is actively preparing for the International Year of the

Family in 1994. We shall also be participating with great

interest in the International Conference on Population and

Development, to be held in Cairo from 5 to

13 September 1994. In addition, we wish to make a real

contribution to the preparatory work for the World

Conference on Women, which will be held in Beijing in

1995.

The fact that these various conferences are to be held

shows that matters relating to social development are

eliciting unprecedented interest in the world. This can also

be seen from the decision to convene a World Summit for

Social Development in 1995. This renewal of interest is

motivated by the profound changes in the social and political

situation in the world, and the shifting of priorities at the

State level.

Democracy cannot become stronger unless there is at

least a minimum level of prosperity for peoples. One

obstacle to this strengthening of democracy and thus the full

development of human rights is poverty, the poverty in

which the majority of our populations live.

The right to development has been ignored for too long.

It must now be regarded as a priority right, a sacred right.

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 47

This right to development is the right to dignity, to personal

development, and is not compatible with the subhuman

status afflicting millions of human beings, particularly in

Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The right to development is a human right and a

national right, and that is why we welcome the conclusions

of the World Conference on Human Rights, which was held

in Vienna from 14 to 25 June 1993. That Conference

certainly marked the beginning of a new era which, we trust,

will witness the gradual elimination of the current

international economic order, in which two thirds of

mankind cannot meet their basic needs and in which

600 million human beings are living in almost absolute

poverty. The elimination of such poverty is one of the basic

objectives of Agenda 21. The establishment of an

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the first of

which will be celebrated on 17 October next, is one step in

this direction.

We can never say often enough that the major

ecological problems facing our countries today have a

planetary dimension that requires a world-wide approach.

This is why the United Nations Conference on Environment

and Development, held in Rio in June 1992, made

sustainable development one of the major concerns of the

international community.

That Conference marked a turning-point in the way that

we look at our future. It must now be approached in an

integrated manner as we work on our development policies.

Agenda 21, the basic document that emerged from that

Conference, is an enormous programme of action for the late

twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It requires

Governments to adopt national strategies focused on

sustainable development, in close cooperation with the

private and public sectors.

Here I am happy to draw attention to the major

importance my country attaches to follow-up of the decisions

and recommendations of Rio. Benin welcomes the

establishment of the Commission on Sustainable

Development, which held its first session here in New York

from 14 to 25 June 1993, and we welcome the work of the

Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the elaboration

of an international convention to combat desertification in

those countries experiencing serious drought and/or

desertification, particularly in Africa. That Committee has

already met, from 24 May to 3 June 1993 in Nairobi and

from 13 to 24 September 1993 in Geneva.

Pursuant to the Rio recommendations, on 9 to

13 August 1993 Benin held a national seminar on follow-up

strategies to implement the results of the United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development, including

consideration of chapter 12 of Agenda 21, on how to combat

desertification and the impact of drought. The seminar was

held at a time when the international community and the

development partners of the third world countries were fully

involved in thinking about what strategies should be used to

make this concept of sustainable development operational.

This seminar was proof of the political will of the

Government of Benin to abide by the commitments we

entered into at Rio.

The Cotonou seminar recommended, inter alia, the

establishment of a national commission on sustainable

development. A drafting committee for a national Agenda

21, the major guidelines for which were decided on by the

seminar, has been set up. It should finish its work by the

end of this year.

In two years, we shall be celebrating the fiftieth

anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

The years that have passed since 1945 have been

marked by ongoing, fundamental change and by a

considerable increase in the membership of the Organization

as well as by a significant widening of the Organization’s

area of activity.

It is thus obvious that the Organization needs to be

restructured to meet our world’s current requirements. This

is why Benin supports the efforts under way to restructure

and revitalize the United Nations in its economic and social

sectors and related areas.

In the view of the delegation of Benin, the reform

should be designed to ensure better coordination of the

activities of the United Nations and wiser utilization of its

human and financial resources.

Benin, while still open to dialogue in negotiations,

endorses the view of the Group of 77, particularly on the

question of how to allocate seats on the governing bodies of

bodies such as the United Nations Development Programme,

the United Nations Fund for Population Activities and the

United Nations Children’s Fund.

In the political area, my country is willing to consider

all proposals that take account of the concerns and interests

of all the various actors, large and small, in the international

political arena at the end of this second millennium.

48 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

Reform of the Security Council is a matter of particular

importance to all Member States. Benin will follow closely

any proposal for reform that might strengthen the

effectiveness of the Council and avoid transforming it into

a forum for sterile debate or logjams or into an instrument

that benefits only a privileged few.

Before I conclude my statement, I should like to recall

that if we wish to approach the next millennium in

tranquillity, if we wish to draw satisfaction from the efforts

made so far along the tortuous and difficult path towards

development, we must do everything possible to give more

sustained attention to the principle of world-wide partnership

and the duty to show solidarity which is necessarily implied

by the new international order that now governs the

international community.

It is Benin’s wish that mankind, when it draws up its

first balance sheet of this new era, should see a drop in the

number of ills that continue to undermine the twentieth

century, namely poverty, famine, endemic diseases such as

malaria, the AIDS pandemic and its devastating human,

social and economic consequences, illiteracy, environmental

degradation, underdevelopment, and all those other ills that

beset us.

In an increasingly interdependent world, and faced with

this challenge, nations must agree to yield part - only part -

of their national sovereignty to our universal human values,

and to show greater determination to coexist despite cultural,

political, social and economic differences. Only in that way

can the world of the twenty-first century be a more

hospitable one for people, wherever they may live and

whoever they may be.