Benin, 2002

On behalf of

the delegation of the Republic of Benin, allow me to

convey to Mr. Jan Kavan our heartfelt congratulations

on his well-deserved election to the presidency of the

fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. His

skills, his extensive experience in international affairs

and his dedication to the lofty causes championed by

the United Nations guarantee the success of our work.

I wish to assure him of my delegation's full

cooperation and support in ensuring the full success of

the work of this session.

I should like to take this opportunity also to

congratulate and to thank his predecessor, Mr. Han

Seung-soo of the Republic of Korea, who presided so

ably and with such dedication over the work of the

fifty-sixth session of the Assembly.

I wish also to pay tribute to our Secretary-

General, Kofi Annan, whose devotion and skills have

enhanced the prestige of our Organization.

The message that I bring the Assembly from

Benin is a message of peace, which our people are

experiencing, and a message of the preservation of

peace in all its aspects, in keeping with the Charter of

our Organization and with the Millennium Declaration,

in which we pledged to build for future generations a

world free from fear, hunger and ignorance.

24

The barbaric acts perpetrated a year ago, on 11

September 2001 here in New York and in other places,

are still vivid in our memory, making ever more urgent

the need to make greater strides in our common

endeavour of civilization. The sincere and spontaneous

compassion and sympathy of the peoples of the world

for the victims of the terrible attacks of 11 September

prove that more than ever before we are bound by a

common destiny.

It is therefore vital to give real meaning to this

solidarity and this shared responsibility. The United

Nations must continue to play a dynamic role in the

promotion of international cooperation in order to

prevent and punish acts of terrorism.

For Benin, nothing — no pretext whatsoever —

could justify such barbaric acts, and the terrifying

images that I am loath to recall today will remain

etched in our collective memory throughout the

twenty-first century. Benin's firm commitment to

combating terrorism is unambiguous, and we intend to

fight this scourge with resolve.

Thus, pursuant to Security Council resolution

1373 (2001), adopted on 28 September 2001, Benin

submitted a report on the measures we have taken to

prevent and punish acts of terrorism. A constructive

and effective dialogue is under way with the Security

Council Committee regarding proposed measures to

prevent and suppress the financing of acts of terrorism.

However, the anti-terrorist campaign will be more

effective and more comprehensive if it is organized on

the basis of strict respect for the purposes and

principles of the United Nations. We believe that there

is an urgent need for a clear, precise, legal definition of

international terrorism in order to prevent the

haphazard character of our individual or collective

initiatives from jeopardizing the effectiveness of the

global coalition against the terrorist threat.

By placing Africa at the centre of its concerns for

the new millennium, the United Nations has rightly

focused the attention of the international community on

that continent, which, despite its commendable efforts,

is having difficulty finding its way towards

development. The persistence of war and conflict,

which repeatedly lead to great bloodshed in that part of

the world, is one of the main reasons for that situation.

Aware that, as it faces new challenges, our

continent is at a critical stage in its development and

that it is for Africa to shoulder its own responsibilities,

African leaders have taken a number of political

initiatives aimed at resolving conflict, rising to the

great challenge of endowing Africa with new forums

for dialogue and action. This African renaissance, by

means of which Africa is determined to take control of

its own destiny and find solutions to its ills, should be

encouraged through support for the African Union,

which was launched in Durban, South Africa, in July

this year. The African Union espouses the vision of the

founding fathers of the African nations and of the

former Organization of African Unity. The African

Union is different from the Organization of African

Unity because it stresses the need for the economic

integration of the continent and affirms that peace,

security and stability are indispensable conditions for

the creation of an environment conducive to

development and that good governance must be the

norm for our States.

I wish to reaffirm what many earlier speakers

have said: Africa is beginning to play its proper role. It

looks forward to a concrete demonstration of the

goodwill so often expressed by the international

community. It looks forward to real action in the form

of deeds. We expect this for the New Partnership for

Africa's Development (NEPAD), for example.

Under the wise guidance of the President of the

General Assembly, we spent an entire day debating that

African Union programme. Relevant remarks were

uttered, commitments undertaken and forceful

statements made from this very rostrum, and I do not

need to dwell further on that subject. Now is the time

for action, and time is of the essence.

Globalization must become synonymous with a

better life for all the peoples of the world. The world

cannot just stand by and watch the spectacle of an

Africa that has been marginalized and ravaged by wars

and disease. Africa must not be an object of

condescension, as if the world did not have sufficient

resources to avert catastrophe. I am sure that our

collective awareness is real and sincere.

That is why I welcome the timely initiative of the

Security Council to establish an Ad Hoc Working

Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa.

We hope that that initiative will demonstrate a genuine,

ongoing commitment on the part of the Security

Council to act to put an end to the cycle of violence in

Africa, thereby according equal treatment to all

humanitarian crises without exception.

25

In the context of collective efforts to consider and

deal with the question of conflict prevention and

resolution through a comprehensive, integrated

approach that takes into account political, economic

and social dimensions, my delegation recommends

reinforced interaction between the Security Council

and the Economic and Social Council, in particular by

developing close consultations with the Ad Hoc

Advisory Group of the Economic and Social Council

on African countries emerging from conflict.

One of the most encouraging signs for Africa in

recent years — indeed in recent months — is the firm

determination finally to put an end to fratricidal

warfare. We must support such efforts everywhere,

including in Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo, Eritrea and

Ethiopia.

I want to comment in particular on Sierra Leone,

which has successfully emerged from a risky and

dangerous electoral process. I would like to take this

opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to the United

Nations and to the countries which, at the bilateral

level, have been helping Sierra Leone to reintegrate

itself into the community of nations. I hope that the

positive evolution of the situation in that country will

have a ripple effect within the Mano River Union.

I welcome the outstanding progress that has been

made in the process towards the restoration of peace

and security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In that respect, I would like to pay a well-deserved

tribute to President Thabo Mbeki and to the facilitator,

Sir Ketumile Masire, for their commitment and

perseverance.

We welcome the fact that the guns have now been

silenced in Angola after so many years of suffering,

destruction and privation. It is crucial to strengthen and

consolidate the peace process that is under way in that

country. That is why I urgently appeal to the

international community to provide support that is

commensurate with the enormous reconstruction needs

of Angola. Only thus will conditions be right for the

establishment of lasting peace and sustainable

development.

I am pleased to note, among the initiatives to

promote peace in Africa, the success of negotiations on

an agreement on the demarcation of the border between

Ethiopia and Eritrea and the continuing dialogue to

restore peace in Burundi and the Sudan.

In January this year, 49 of the poorest countries

of the world chose my country, Benin, to hold the

chairmanship of the coordinating office for the least

developed countries. When we accepted that

prestigious post, my Government was well aware of the

heavy responsibilities that we were assuming.

The most important item on mankind's agenda

today is sustainable development. Any progress — or

any regression — must be assessed by the group of

countries that Benin is now coordinating. The

international community itself recognizes that many

problems remain. The Third United Nations

Conference on the Least Developed Countries noted

with regret that previous goals had not been achieved,

and it clearly identified the main obstacles to the

development of the least developed countries. These

include the continuing decrease in official development

assistance, the debt burden, the difficulty of gaining

access to the markets of the developed countries and

the lack of foreign investment. By adopting a

Programme of Action and a Political Declaration at

Brussels, the international community renewed its

commitment to helping the least developed countries

resolutely to deal with mechanisms whose operations

increase poverty.

Mindful of the need to mobilize energy and

increase capacity in order thoroughly to implement the

Brussels Programme of Action, the least developed

countries took the initiative of meeting at Cotonou,

from 5 to 7 August 2002, in order to consider ways and

means of ensuring the implementation of the

Programme.

The Cotonou conference formulated guidelines

and made recommendations, contained in the important

Cotonou Declaration. At the national level, the

Declaration recommends the establishment of an

implementation and follow-up mechanism to monitor

integration of the Programme of Action into national

development programmes and to promote the creation

of a national forum for dialogue. It also recommends

that the least developed countries design their strategic

development priorities in keeping with local contexts.

That is an important factor for guaranteeing rationality

and national ownership of policies. At the international

level, United Nations and other international agencies

are called on to incorporate the Programme of Action

into their work programmes and Government

processes.

26

I believe it important to call attention to the

dangerous dwindling of resources available to the

operational institutions of the United Nations

system — particularly the United Nations Development

Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the

United Nations Capital Development Fund, the United

Nations Children's Fund and the World Health

Organization — and to stress the crucial need to find

ways and means of increasing those resources in order

to strengthen these agencies' valuable efforts to combat

poverty in our countries.

The Cotonou ministerial meeting also

recommended the establishment of a synoptic table to

be used by the Economic and Social Council when it

reviews and follows up the implementation of the

Programme of Action by the least developed countries

and their development partners.

I wish at this point to reiterate our gratification

and thanks to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the

celerity with which he implemented the decision taken

by the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session to

establish the Office of the High Representative for the

Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing

Countries and Small Island Developing States. The

Secretary-General nominated Ambassador Chowdhury

of Bangladesh to that important post, which he has

already assumed. In nominating Ambassador

Chowdhury, the Secretary-General could not have

made a more fortunate choice. We all know

Ambassador Chowdhury and his great experience,

resolve and dedication. His country, Bangladesh, has

served the group of least developed countries with

distinction for 20 years. I salute that work today. The

Secretary-General and each one of us must now offer

every assistance to Ambassador Chowdhury and his

Office in becoming fully operational and in carrying

out his important mission of obtaining the resources

necessary for action.

To that end, it is important that every Member of

the United Nations, even the poorest, make some

effort, for example, by contributing to the Trust Fund

to support the implementation of the Brussels

Programme of Action. The Government of Benin will

assume all its responsibilities in that respect in due

course.

In Johannesburg recently, at the World Summit on

Sustainable Development, the international community

acknowledged its responsibility to the poor, the

vulnerable and the marginalized as members of the

great human family. It also recognized the need to

conclude a world alliance for sustainable development,

by which the developed countries would make the

essential effort of solidarity with the poorest. A giant

step forward was taken there, but action is now

required. We fervently hope today that all the measures

advocated in Johannesburg will become a reality. If

they do not, there will be no reduction, but an increase

in poverty. We can stave off that danger, which is

deadly for all of us.