Benin, 1994

I

should like first of all, Mr. President, to tell you how

pleased the Benin delegation is to see you presiding over

this session of the General Assembly. This is an honour

for all of Africa, and especially your country, with which

Benin has age-old ties of friendship and, still more, of

fraternity.

At a time when, more than ever before, the United

Nations is called upon to act in the interests of peace and

the well-being of mankind, this election is

acknowledgement by the international community not only

of the dedication of Côte d’Ivoire to the cause of peace and

prosperity but also of your personal qualities as a seasoned

diplomat.

Benin is proud to see a distinguished representative of

a country from the subregion of West Africa assume this

important responsibility, and can assure you, Sir, of the

cooperation and support of its delegation - and here we

wish also to congratulate the other members of the General

Committee.

I would be remiss if I did not align myself, with great

emotion and pleasure, with what His Excellency Mr. Konan

Bédié, President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire said, that

in your election we can already see that Africa is resisting

marginalization.

I should also like to pay tribute to your eminent

predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally of

Guyana, who assumed with such great competence and skill

the presidency of our Assembly at its forty-eighth session.

He has left an indelible mark on this world Organization

through his personal contribution to our efforts at

revitalizing the General Assembly, restructuring the

Security Council and resuming development.

On behalf of the people and the Government of Benin,

I should like to pay a most deserved tribute to the United

Nations and its Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-

Ghali, for the intensive activities they have been carrying

out for peace and development for all peoples, especially at

this time when armed conflict, ethnic clashes and tribal

warfare distort the basic values of mankind.

I should also like to welcome the granting to the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta of Observer status at the

United Nations.

Since our last session, positive developments have

taken place in the settlement of internal, local and regional

conflicts that have caused upheavals in the international

arena. I would mention, among others, the emergence of

a new South Africa, one that is united, democratic and

non-racial, where each person can at last enjoy full

citizenship.

Benin hails once again the courage and

determination of the South African people - courage and

determination that have enabled all humanity to win this

historic victory, one of dialogue over confrontation and of

peace over violence.

Our Organization, which is proud of its contribution,

must see to it the consolidation of the policy of unity and

national reconciliation and reconstruction pursued by

President Nelson Mandela, whose wisdom and clear-

sightedness are equalled only by the historic dimensions

of the man himself.

In Mozambique, our most cherished wish is for a

continuation of the process of reconciliation currently

under way until the final holding in October of free and

democratic elections in that country, stricken by so many

years of civil war.

Similarly, we express the hope that in Angola the

negotiations under way between the Angolan Government

and UNITA might lead to an effective cease-fire and to

the establishment of a lasting peace, which are absolute

prerequisites for reconciliation and national reconstruction.

With regard to the question of Palestine, we

welcome the positive and irreversible developments

towards a just and lasting settlement since the historic

signing, between the Palestine Liberation Organization

and Israel, of the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian

autonomy in Gaza and Jericho. In the same context, the

Benin delegation would encourage Israel and the Arab

States to continue to improve their relations through

cooperation and mutual understanding for the

establishment of lasting peace in the Middle East.

As regards the situation between Kuwait and Iraq, it

is important, in the interest of security and stability in the

Gulf, that Iraq confirm clearly, and without ambiguity, its

recognition of the sovereignty, independence, territorial

integrity and the international borders of Kuwait by

agreeing, among other things, to Security Council

resolution 833 (1993).

Other conflicts are now in the process of being

settled elsewhere, for example in Cambodia and Central

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America, where praiseworthy efforts are under way with a

view to the gradual and definitive normalization of the

political situation.

In spite of these encouraging facts, we regret to note

that the persistent activities of forces for fragmentation and

disintegration are hindering the achievement of peace in

certain parts of the world.

In this context, we should point out, inter alia, the

very alarming situation in Somalia, where military

intransigence and political intolerance are to no avail

prolonging human suffering, jeopardizing the lives of the

staff of United Nations peace-keeping and peacemaking

operations, and provoking some irritation within the

international community, whose valuable contribution to a

peaceful and lasting settlement is absolutely necessary. It

is time for the protagonists, on whom an acceptable

solution to their conflicts depends, to show good will and

flexibility.

We deplore the fact that in Liberia, in spite of the

considerable efforts made by the Economic Community of

West African States (ECOWAS), supported by the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) and by the United

Nations, the implementation of the Cotonou agreement has

been carried out only begrudgingly. Six months after

taking office on 7 March 1994, the National Transitional

Government has not yet managed effectively to extend its

authority to the entire country, whereas the disarmament

and demobilization process is practically suspended.

Since a return to normalcy in Liberia is absolutely

necessary for the continuation of the programme of

economic integration of the subregion of West Africa, my

country urges the Liberian parties to abide by the Cotonou

agreement so as to speed the return of the country to

normalcy. Once again Benin encourages the international

community to maintain and increase financial assistance so

as to enable the ECOWAS Military Observer Group,

expanded by troops from Uganda and Tanzania, to fully

discharge its mandate.

With regard to Rwanda, ravaged by a war reminiscent

of another age, Benin joins in the indignation expressed by

the international community by condemning most

vigorously the massive and systematic violations of human

rights and of international humanitarian law. We welcome

the humanitarian activities and good offices of the United

Nations, of the OAU, of France, of the United States of

America, of the African countries, and particularly those of

the subregion, as well as those of non-governmental

organizations in coming to the assistance of refugees and

helping to initiate a dialogue among Rwandans. The

delegation of Benin is convinced that any lasting national

reconciliation in Rwanda must be based on the Arusha

agreement of 4 August 1993 in order to maximize the

opportunities to rebuild the country.

But in order to avoid a repetition of the Rwandan

holocaust elsewhere, we should support efforts to identify

those guilty of abuses, whoever they may be, so that they

might answer for their crimes against humanity.

In neighbouring Burundi, most recently torn by

armed clashes, the return to a precarious calm and the

agreement for a government that was recently signed by

the parties to the conflict bear witness to a new awareness

on the part of that fraternal people, the fate of whom had

been of great concern to all peace- and freedom-loving

men and women throughout the world. We urge them

most earnestly to continue along this path so as to

consolidate their unity and cohesion.

Furthermore, the international community has

followed very closely recent developments in the situation

in Haiti. In fact, on the basis of Security Council 940

(1994), the United States Government showed firmness

and intelligence by forcing the Port-au-Prince dictators to

agree to give up the power they seized three years ago.

Benin exhorts the United Nations, the Organization

of American States and the United States of America to

unite their efforts to bring about the effective

reinstatement of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the

peaceful restoration of democracy in Haiti. The Republic

of Benin is prepared, within its modest resources, to make

its contribution to the triumph of peace and democracy in

Haiti.

In Europe - specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina -

it is to be regretted that the Serbs have rejected the latest

peace plan of the Contact Group, which offered them

49 per cent of the Bosnian territory. We will welcome

the agreement by the Belgrade authorities to deploy

United Nations forces along their country’s borders and

to enforce the international arms embargo.

Faced with the intransigence of the Bosnian Serbs,

the international community should take over the

protection and defence of the sovereignty and territorial

integrity of Bosnia, so as to avoid any spread of this

interminable conflict, which has already been exacerbated

by the hateful practice of "ethnic cleansing".

32

Following the collapse of ideologies, the role of the

United Nations in world affairs is and remains essential.

We should avoid any weakening of its ability effectively

and efficiently to promote peace, as this would do great

harm to its credibility. The revitalization, restructuring and

democratization of the United Nations must continue in

order to increase its efficiency in carrying out the work it

has undertaken.

This, for example, should be the case for the Security

Council, which has the responsibility of acting on behalf of

Member States for the maintenance of international peace

and security. Its legitimacy, its credibility and its

effectiveness will be strengthened if we are able to take

steps to enlarge it and change the composition of its

membership so as to reflect the increase in the number of

States Members of this world Organization.

Aware of the fact that, in this new context, the

Security Council cannot remain as it was designed and

created a half-century ago, the delegation of Benin is in

favour of a patient search for consensus on all issues

pertaining to its reform.

The production, international transfer and

accumulation of arms are a threat to peace and stability the

world over. This is why the international community’s

commitment to peace requires the firm determination to

make real progress in the process of general and complete

disarmament under international control.

In the area of conflict prevention and crisis

management, we must strengthen the capabilities of the

United Nations and support the idea of good offices and of

preventive diplomacy as advocated by the Secretary-General

in the Agenda for Peace.

Respect for the principle of the sovereignty of States

could hinder the implementation of this approach. Indeed,

crises or conflicts today are for the most part internal in

nature - civil wars, territorial partitions, ethnic clashes,

religious or tribal struggles, and so forth. But these crises

and conflicts can also threaten international peace and

security. Hence there is a balance to be struck between

intervention and respect for the sovereignty of States.

In this context, we shall continue to encourage close

cooperation with regional organizations, pursuant to Chapter

VIII of the United Nations Charter. Within Africa, there is

already in place a mechanism for preventing, managing and

settling conflicts which makes the development and

strengthening of such cooperation possible.

I would also mention, as part of regional

contributions to global efforts for peace, the conclusions

reached by the Third Ministerial Meeting of the Zone of

Peace and Cooperation in the South Atlantic, held in

Brasilia on 21 and 22 September 1994.

We can never emphasize enough the close

relationship between peace, democracy, human rights and

sustainable development. And we should be pleased that

our Organization offers a proper framework for the

achievement of consensus on this relationship. The

Declaration and Programme of Action of the important

World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in

1993 prove that the international community is

determined to face up to these non-military threats to

peace and security the world over.

Economic and social issues are of concern today to

the entire world and raise moral issues among politicians,

Governments and representatives of civilian society. The

end of the cold war, far from ironing out difficulties, has

further widened the gap between the developed and the

developing countries. The developed and the developing

countries must work together and understand one another

if there is to be progress and, especially, peace for all.

There are many social and economic problems

facing the world, and we must attack these ills at their

very roots. The preparations for the commemoration of

the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the United

Nations, and the major conferences it has organized since

1994, provide us with an opportunity to better deal with

the major problems that are undermining and marring

today’s world.

Above and beyond general political declarations,

promises unkept and wishes unfulfilled, all the actors in

the international community must by common agreement

draw up concrete, effective and immediate solutions that

will allow us to avoid chaos in the developing countries,

in particular in Africa and in the least developed

countries. Otherwise, our expectations for the beginning

of the twenty-first century will not be met.

None the less, there is room for hope when we

remember that the Assembly, in resolution 47/181 of 22

December 1992, asked the Secretary-General to submit to

it a report on an agenda for development, after consulting

with Member States. The drafting of this agenda, to be

adopted during the commemoration of the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations, will be a clear

declaration of the right to development and a reorientation

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of the objectives and priorities of the United Nations system

towards socio-economic activities and programmes designed

first and foremost to eliminate poverty and then to develop

human resources through education, training, the creation of

productive employment, and social integration.

It is thus possible to change the current situation and

to reverse the process of impoverishment, aggravated by

economic stagnation. The agenda for development will

usefully complement Agenda 21 and the Agenda for Peace

in the quest for sustainable development.

Our vision of the twenty-first century and our

prospects for the future should be illuminated and

strengthened by the effective implementation of the various

programmes and plans of action adopted since the

beginning of this decade within the framework of the

United Nations system. I would like to cite, as examples,

the Plan of Action for children, the Programme of Action

for the least developed countries in the 1990s, and the

United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa

in the 1990s (UN-NADAF). While the implementation of

the first two programmes has already begun and we will

already be able to take stock of them a mid-term review in

1995, UN-NADAF is still in its infancy. Indeed, there has

been no concrete action, no funding for projects and no

commitment of financial resources since the adoption of the

new programme in December 1991 by the General

Assembly.

Furthermore, the planned resumed session to continue

and complete negotiations on the draft resolution to create

a diversification fund for African commodities has

remained wishful thinking - for want, we are told, of a

president to lead the debates and to conclude the work -

and all this, in spite of the efforts made by the President of

last year’s General Assembly session.

None the less, we welcome the conclusions and

recommendations of the second part of the thirty-fourth

session of the Committee for Programme and Coordination

on a revised, system-wide plan of action for economic

recovery and development in Africa.

But we need not limit ourselves to establishing a

closer relationship between a system-wide plan and UN-

NADAF or to determining the priority sectors to be the

focal points of action carried out thanks to the cooperation

of United Nations bodies for the remaining period of the

plan’s implementation. In addition to the present resources,

we must mobilize supplementary resources for the effective

implementation of the activities and programmes involved.

The economic and social crises that today are

causing upheaval in Africa have highlighted the

challenges to be taken up by that continent in order to

make progress along the path of development. To cope

with these crises, most of our countries have undertaken

far-reaching political and economic reforms.

In Benin, we are continuing our march forward to

make sure that our democratic process - begun almost

five years ago - takes root and that our national economy

is consolidated. In spite of substantial efforts and

sacrifices, our political and economic structures remain

fragile and vulnerable.

Furthermore, taking up the challenges of the 1990s

in Africa necessarily means finding rapid and lasting

solutions to problems linked to foreign indebtedness,

seeking an inflow of new financial and other resources to

meet the growing development needs, ensuring the

transfer of new and appropriate technology; and

promoting a truly open and equitable system of

international trade, as well as encouraging the

diversification and modernization of African economies.

As regards external debt, the developed countries

will have to exert clear and resolute political

determination by pursuing a policy of cancelling outright

the official debt of the African and least developed

countries; by deciding, in the managing boards of the

multilateral financial institutions, to reduce by 50 per cent

the multilateral debt of the developing countries,

particularly of the African and least developed countries;

and by negotiating with the banking institutions a

rescheduling of commercial debt. We remain convinced

that these initiatives are within the scope of the

Governments of the developed countries and can be

implemented in a demonstration that the world is

changing.

With regard to international trade, the mixed results

for Africa of the negotiations of the Uruguay Round give

us little hope that, within the framework of international

trade, our countries will soon emerge from the

marginalization in which they have existed since the late

1980s. As in all previous rounds of the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the Uruguay Round led

to the elimination of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.

But the common estimates of the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

show that the overall result of this eighth round of

negotiations will only benefit the industrial countries. For

34

Africa, for example, the OECD studies predict losses of

over $2 billion by the year 2002, not to mention the fact

that the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific

that are linked to the European Union by the Lomé

Convention risk losing certain advantages they have

enjoyed until now.

Furthermore, the results of the negotiations of the

Uruguay Round are making the developing countries,

particularly those of Africa, dependent on food products

imported from developed countries, whereas the objective

of the current strategies is to ensure food security in Africa.

In such circumstances, Benin earnestly hopes that the first

action taken by the World Trade Organization will be to

close the loopholes of the negotiated text by making bold

decisions and recommendations on behalf of Africa and

thereby correcting drawbacks foreseen from the outset.

The decisions and recommendations of the Earth

Summit will, as they are implemented, gradually become

solid landmarks for current and future generations in the

building of a society that, thanks to the achievement of

sustainable development, will not run the risk of self-

destruction.

In this framework, Benin welcomes the adoption on 6

May 1994 in Barbados of the Programme of Action for the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States. Benin also welcomes the conclusion in Paris on 17

June of the International Convention to Combat

Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious

Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa. We

hope that this Convention and the regional Annex for

implementation in Africa will serve as a basis for a new

contract between Governments, donors and local

populations in their efforts to combat desertification and

mitigate the effects of drought. This new contract must be

reflected in firm and precise commitments of financial

resources and the transfer of ecologically sound technology.

If it is not, we will find ourselves in the same unfortunate

situation that led, because of a lack of sufficient resources

and the poor management of those allocated, to the

non-implementation of the results of the United Nations

Conference on Desertification held in Nairobi in 1977.

Benin therefore appeals to all States to attend the signing

ceremony for the Convention on 14 and 15 October in

Paris.

The curtain has barely dropped on the Cairo

International Conference on Population and Development,

which marks the birth of a new process for population and

development strategies. The intensity of debate during the

Conference was commensurate with the importance of the

issue. In order to meet the challenge of the development

to which countries throughout the world aspire, we must

set our children and women, who represent the majority

of the populations of our countries, along the road to

progress, which requires information, education and

training.

The work of the preparatory committees for

important United Nations conferences being organized at

the moment - especially the World Summit for Social

Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women,

the second United Nations Conference on Human

Settlements (Habitat II) and the entry into force on 16

November 1994 of the United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea, completed last July with the agreement

on Part XI - will strengthen the positive trend clearly

expressed during earlier negotiations. Nevertheless, the

life-giving flame fed by the spirit of Rio de Janeiro might

go out if intellectual efforts are not complemented by a

mobilization of new and addition financial resources to

carry out all the activities planned.

The World Summit for Social Development will

bring together for the first time Heads of State or

Government in order to take decisions on social

development. Benin believes that the declaration and

programme of action to be adopted in Copenhagen in

March 1995 should not be limited to acknowledging and

accepting the fact that Africa is the continent facing the

greatest number of social problems. These two

documents should be a reference point that clearly defines

concrete measures, an implementation schedule and the

estimated costs of activities aimed at eliminating poverty

and creating productive employment and social

integration.

Benin suggests that the Copenhagen Summit

recommend the proclamation of an international decade

for the eradication of poverty, which would be the

continuation of the International Year for the Eradication

of Poverty adopted under General Assembly resolution

48/183.

The new international situation calls for

strengthening, democratizing and rationalizing the

activities of the United Nations, and it is up to us the

Member States to make an outstanding contribution in the

pursuit of the noble objectives of peace, justice and

development. We feel that this is possible if all Member

States respect the obligations incumbent upon them under

the Charter.

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The delegation of Benin is convinced that our current

deliberations will be guided by a common determination to

take concerted and concrete steps best suited to the

necessity of maintaining peace and promoting prosperity

throughout the world. In particular, this will require a

rejection of indecisiveness and self-absorption.