Benin, 2012

On behalf of the

African continent and as Chair of the African Union, I

would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly

at its sixty-seventh session, and at the same time

congratulate the Secretary-General for his leadership

role for the peace and prosperity of our people.

In our world, shaken by so many multifaceted crises,

the Assembly’s general debate offers us the opportunity

to transcend our national interests to contemplate

together the ways and means to ensure international

peace and security and to improve global governance

for healthy economic growth, which is the guarantor

of sustainable human development. In that regard, I

welcome the relevance of the theme of this session,

on the settlement of international disputes by peaceful

means. It is a logical follow-up to that of the previous

session, which focused on mediation in the settlement of

disputes, and amply demonstrates the importance that

the United Nations accords to international peace and

security, the foundation of a better world characterized

by stability, equity, solidarity among nations, justice,

respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

and international cooperation.

With regard to the conflicts and other wars that

shake our world, the African continent faces many

challenges which it cannot straighten out by itself. We

hope that the General Assembly’s attention, focused

since its previous session on the thorny question of

conflicts and how to settle them peacefully, will help

Africa to find appropriate solutions so that it can

dedicate its resources and energies to the sustainable

development of its States and to the well-being of its

populations.

The major constraints on Africa’s economic

development and social progress are at once sundry and

variable. They include, inter alia, the illicit and massive

circulation of small arms and light weapons, which

feeds chronic insecurity and transnational organized

crime in States and regions of the continent heretofore

havens of peace and prosperity. There is an upsurge in

terrorist acts in the Sahelo-Saharan area and activities

related to transnational crime, such as abductions

and illegal trafficking of all kinds, in particular of

humans, and trafficking in narcotics and counterfeit

medications. Piracy and armed robbery at sea confront

the States of the Gulf of Guinea and the Horn of Africa.

We see ongoing unemployment and underemployment,

lack of food in some regions and chronic malnutrition in many countries. Soil degradation and erosion

increase, and natural disasters, the consequences of

climate upheavals and change recur. Poor governance

in international economic relations engenders an

economic and financial crisis.

In spite of the difficulties and shortfalls noted in

their operation, the different elections that have taken

place in many African States in 2011 and 2012 show

the determination of the African peoples and their

adherence to the process of implanting democracy and

the rule of law in our dear continent.

I take this opportunity to focus particularly on the

efforts underway in the Economic Community of West

African States (ECOWAS), supported by the African

Union, to deal with the grave security and institutional

crises that have taken place in particular in Mali and

Guinea-Bissau.

In Mali a very disturbing situation is developing

which has to do with the occupation of the north of the

country by terrorist cells that threaten to destabilize

the entire West African subregion and could threaten

security on the continent and throughout the world.

The terrorist cells share the same intolerance that is

destabilizing the democratic Government of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria. The international community

has a duty to act decisively against that terrorist and

fundamentalist threat and ensure that human rights are

respected. I would like to reiterate from this rostrum

my pressing appeal for the international community to

commit itself, along with ECOWAS and the African

Union, to eliminate that serious threat to peace and

security in the subregion and to prevent large-scale

humanitarian disasters.

I am not forgetting the situation in Guinea-Bissau,

which continues to hold the attention of ECOWAS and

of the African Union in spite of progress made through

mediation between the different the parties concerned,

including ECOWAS, the African Union, the Community

of Portuguese-speaking Countries, the United Nations

and the bilateral and multilateral partners. I hope that

the initiatives will continue to help to bring about a

coordinated approach to the crisis in order to reach an

international and national consensus on the situation in

that country.

I welcome the different efforts by the African

Union and the international community in pursuit

of peace with regard to the various other hotbeds of

tension on the continent, namely, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, the Sudan, South

Sudan, Madagascar, et cetera. We must strengthen the

strategic partnership established between the United

Nations Security Council and the Peace and Security

Council of the African Union with regard to conflict

prevention, mediation, peacekeeping, peacebuilding

and the promotion of human rights and humanitarian

law for the certain benefit of our people. We must also

think more deeply on ways to ensure predictable and

sustainable financing for African Union peacekeeping

operations, including the African Standby Force.

As shown by the crises that are shaking our planet,

the system of global governance that has prevailed up to

now is suffering from serious disfunctions. It is therefore

high time to accelerate the process of reforming the

international system in order to democratize the mode

of operation of its institutions and mechanisms that

regulate and promote cooperation among States.

Since the 2005 World Summit, various measures

having to do with rationalizing the United Nations

system have been taken and have resulted in particular

in the establishment of new bodies that have proven

very useful. The Peacebuilding Commission, created

to break the cycle of violence in countries emerging

from conflict, has contributed to their stabilization by

providing them targeted support to confront troubling

situations. Similarly, the Human Rights Council is

contributing to improving global governance with

regard to the protection and promotion of human rights,

humanitarian law and fundamental freedoms.

In the same spirit, negotiations to reform the

Security Council must be intensified to achieve in the

near term the establishment of an inclusive Council,

one that would repair the historical injustice done to

Africa with respect to its presence in that organ, which

heads the collective security system established by the

Charter of the United Nations.

Completing Security Council reform would, I am

sure, result in more serenity in the handling of the world’s

current major problems in the area of international peace

and security. It would confer greater legitimacy upon

the actions of our common Organization and would

allow it to renew its original vocation as an instrument

of conflict prevention and resolution. It would also

allow it to shed the inconsistencies that limit it to the

incongruous role of an observer of carnage taking

place before its very eyes. Those laudable reforms must

be complemented by a system offering the youth and women an opportunity to get more involved in the life

of the United Nations.

Peace in the world is possible. We cannot ignore the

situation in the Middle East. Today the United Nations

has the means to find a fair and sustainable solution to

the Palestinian problem, and under no pretext should

it shirk its duty and historical responsibility. We are

talking about security, stability and peace, not only

in the Middle East, but for the entire world. Africa is

fully in favour of the “one land, two States” solution to

restore lasting peace in the Middle East, because in the

end the two peoples — Palestinians and Israelis — must

be able to live in love, friendship, peace and prosperity.

As the Assembly knows, the world economy still

suffers from the financial and economic crisis that

was unleashed in 2008. In spite of the macroeconomic

policies established by both developed and developing

countries, with the support of the national and

international financial institutions, the economic

slowdown that began in 2008 has persisted, with the

corollary of weak and fragile economic growth and

more than 75 million unemployed people throughout

the world, with very high unemployment rates in the

developing countries.

The prices of raw materials, which are the major

source of export earnings for developing countries,

have become very volatile, as have the prices of food

commodities. Flows of private capital meant for foreign

direct investment cannot escape the negative impact of

the crisis. At the same time, we see a tangible reduction

of aid for development and other forms of official f lows

from countries of the North to those of the South.

With regard to food security, almost 16 million

people in Sahel countries face problems of famine and

nutrition, in spite of the many efforts made individually

by our States and the collective initiatives in the

African Union through the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development and through the Comprehensive Africa

Agriculture Development Programme. In fact, of 40

countries facing a food shortage throughout the world,

34 still are in Africa, even though about twenty of them

have allocated at least 20 per cent of their budget to

agriculture. That is why the nineteenth ordinary session

of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of

the African Union adopted a decision declaring 2014

the Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa to

mark the tenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa

Agriculture Development Programme. The forecasted increase in food commodity prices, according to recent

estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization of

the United Nations, and the already high costs of energy

are certainly additional burdens for already vulnerable

populations.

We also welcome the positive initiative of the

New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition taken

by President Barack Obama on the margins of the

Group of Eight Summit, held on 18 and 19 May at

Camp David, which calls for bringing together donors,

partner countries and the private sector for a common

cause aimed at pulling 50 million people out of poverty

in the next ten years. We hope that this will allow us

to mobilize more assistance for African countries in

order to improve food security and nutrition in order

to accelerate their progress towards achieving the

Millenium Development Goals.

It is also important not to disappoint the hopes raised

by the conclusions of the United Nations Conference

on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which adopted

more than 700 official commitments and promises of

gifts totaling more than $500 billion. The impact of

those conferences will be measured by the fulfilment

of the decisions and commitments.

Africa hopes that the results of the work of the

high-level group of eminent persons selected by the

Secretary-General to advise him on the post-2015

development programme and the working group to

define sustainable development goals will be able

to achieve convergence in their efforts to suggest a

vision of sustainable human development, capable

of mobilizing the international community so as to

achieve equity and attain a prosperity shared by all.

Africa, the cradle of humankind, is also a continent

of the future, of hope and hopefulness. Indeed, thanks

to the incalculable potential of its subsoil and to the

youthfulness of its population — which in 2050 will

number 2 billion, 60 per cent of whom will be less than

35 years old — Africa could become the driving force

for growth of the global economy, if that youth becomes

professionalized.

That is why we raised to cardinal principles

the values of unity, stability, peace, security, good

governance and the struggle against any impediments

to our development, particularly corruption, impuntiy,

the loss of accountability, fratricidal wars, political

and institutional instability and brutal challenges to

the constitutional order. We have affirmed all of those values through the African Charter on Democracy,

Elections and Governance, the African charter on

public service and the African peace and security

mechanisms, et cetera.

Africa has decided to establish a free trade

zone throughout the continent and is in the

process of accelerating its economic integration

through its ambitious programme of developing

infrastructure — namely, energy, railroad networks,

airports and ports. That feeds the hope that we will

have support for private-public partnerships to finance

those wide-ranging infrastructure programmes.

In our implacable fight against poverty, Africa

has no choice but to persevere in its efforts to ensure

progress in the areas of food, nutrition, health, water

provisioning, sanitation, primary, technical and

professional education for all, and the independence of

women and children.

The fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and

malaria is a top priority for the continent, and we

will not be idle as long as we have not achieved the

objectives that we set in Abuja. In that regard, we

welcome the decision adopted by the Assembly of

Heads of State and Government of the African Union

asking the Commission of the Union to develop a road

map for the African Union for shared responsibility and

global solidarity in combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis

and malaria in Africa for the period of 2012 to 2015.

A high-level coordinating meeting on the subject will

take place tomorrow, 26 September 2012, at United

Nations Headquarters. I call on the spirit of solidarity of developed

countries and of countries of the South that are

experiencing considerable economic expansion to set

up, according to their historic responsibility and their

abilities, opportunities to assist the efforts of African

countries, as was agreed during the fourth Ministerial

Conference of the Least Developed Countries, held

in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2011, as well as at the

Group of 20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, in June.

The recommendations of those bodies reflect well

our common ambition to transition of half of the least

developed countries to the category of middle-income

countries by 2020 — an ambition that has been fully

integrated into the Rio+20 vision.

My fervent wish is that the current difficulties of

development partners of the North, due to the sovereign

debt and bank crises, and the austerity measures that

they are rightly imposing on themselves do not def lect

them from their commitments to a significant increase

in development aid. In that regard, I am pleased by the

reaffirmation at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable

Development of the resolve of heads of State and

Government to spare no effort to more promptly achieve

internationally agreed development goals, including

attaining the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,

while bearing in mind the concerns linked to the risks

that current production and consumption methods pose

to the planet in terms of the accelerated depletion of

resources and the challenges for future generations.

I am convinced that a new world is possible. It

presupposes inclusive governance in international

political, financial and economic bodies. Moreover,

the continuing challenges facing humanity make us

fully aware of our interdependence and the need for an

agreed system of governance in managing international

relations rather than withdrawal and resort to

unilateralism and coercive domination.

I remain convinced that a new world characterized

by peace, stability, security and the shared prosperity

of our planet and our peoples will emerge only by the

international community sharing its technology and

financial resources, together with the wealth of the

African continent. May God bless our planet.