Burkina Faso, 2002

As is the case every year, Burkina Faso is

very pleased to take part in the regular session of the

General Assembly, this great meeting of peoples united

by the same destiny and motivated by the same ideal:

to build a world of justice, love and peace. I am

convinced, Mr. President, that the choice of a person of

your great ability to preside over this fifty-seventh

session will help us greatly. As we congratulate you

and the members of the Bureau on that special honour,

my delegation and I want to assure you of our full

availability and cooperation for the success of your

mission. We also want to express again our profound

recognition of your predecessor, Mr. Han Seung-soo,

for the competence with which he presided over the

fifty-sixth session.

The quest for peace and security and the

promotion of cooperation and development are the

essential values that presided over the creation of the

United Nations. Today, more than ever before, with the

tragic events of 11 September 2001 — whose first

anniversary we have just commemorated — those

objectives have assumed a more immediate and urgent

character, because world peace finds itself seriously

threatened, in particular by international terrorism. We

must all convince ourselves that the best response to

international terrorism must proceed from collective

action — in other words, from action by the entire

international community.

As a member of that community, Burkina Faso —

which has made the quest for peace a creed —

reaffirms most solemnly, vigorously and

unambiguously its condemnation of terrorism in all its

forms, whatever the motivations. Our determination to

fight alongside the United Nations against that danger

is unwavering, and our implementation of Security

Council resolution 1373 (2001) was the subject of a

report submitted to the Committee established pursuant

to that resolution.

If the fight against terrorism henceforth occupies

the spotlight, that must not obscure the imperative

necessity of finding just and lasting solutions to

international crises, particularly regional conflicts that

so often feed and maintain that scourge. In this

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connection, Burkina Faso welcomes the laudable

initiatives of the United Nations to restore peace to

many regions of the world, particularly Africa, where

United Nations interventions — coupled with the

initiatives of the Organization of African Unity, which

has become the African Union, and those of the

African subregional organizations — have made it

possible to pacify many areas of tension and conflict

that were ravaging parts of our continent.

We also welcome the gradual return to peace in

Sierra Leone, in Angola, in the Great Lakes region,

between Ethiopia and Eritrea and in Sudan, even if in

the latter case we must regret the suspension of the

agreement between the Government of that country and

the armed rebellion.

In Western Africa, the hopes that arose at the end

of the war in Sierra Leone unfortunately seem

unfulfilled with the resumption of combat in

neighbouring Liberia.

We cannot remain passive in the face of civil war

in that sister country. Supported by others of goodwill

and working within the framework of the process of the

Economic Community of West African States, Burkina

Faso convened a meeting in Ouagadougou from 8 to 11

July between a number of Liberian political parties,

civil society organizations, associations and

movements with a view to renewing the inter-Liberian

dialogue. By agreeing to host that important meeting,

my country, Burkina Faso, hoped to provide a further

chance for dialogue, which the Liberians themselves

desired. The initiative was supportive of efforts that

had already been agreed upon in the context of the

Rabat process and the Mano River Union.

This year has been particularly bloody in the

Middle East. We cannot forget the excesses committed

in Jenin and the harassment of President Arafat at

Ramallah. The atrocities perpetrated every day against

the unarmed Palestinian civilian population are a great

cause for concern. Dialogue and negotiation must

prevail over confrontation and violence. Burkina Faso

reaffirms its support for the creation of an independent

Palestinian State, existing side by side with Israel, and

we strongly urge the Security Council to ensure that its

relevant resolutions are implemented.

With regard to Iraq, Burkina Faso welcomes the

fact that reason has prevailed. We remain convinced

that unilateral preventive action that is not authorized

by the Security Council would have dire consequences

for world peace. In that connection, we would like to

pay tribute to the courageous decision of the Iraqi

Government, which has just agreed to the return to

Baghdad of United Nations weapons inspectors. We

earnestly hope that that approach will ultimately lead to

a definitive resolution of the crisis, especially since the

sanctions imposed on that country are unjust and have

made martyrs of the Iraqi people.

Burkina Faso has always made it clear that, apart

from their unjust character, sanctions cannot properly

resolve substantive problems but are

counterproductive. We therefore request the lifting of

all sanctions against Iraq, Cuba and Iran, as well as

those imposed on Libya in connection with the

Lockerbie question.

With regard to that latter question, Burkina Faso

believes that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has fully

discharged its obligations to the Security Council and

that the sanctions imposed on it should now be lifted.

As a result of the demands of globalization,

protecting the right to development has become the

most important obligation for our countries. We

therefore place great hope in the New Partnership for

Africa's Development (NEPAD), to which the

Assembly has just devoted a special debate. We should

recall that that new initiative shows how determined

African leaders are to work tirelessly to rid the

continent of poverty and marginalization.

During a recent forum that took place in

Ouagadougou on the role of the private sector in the

implementation of NEPAD, President Blaise Compaore

stressed two major responsibilities that are incumbent

upon the international community. The first relates to

the enhancement and structural reform of official

development assistance so as to adapt it to the needs of

its beneficiaries and to improve its effect on their

standard of living. The second relates to the problem of

the access of African goods to the markets of the

industrialized countries and the need to put an end to

anti-competitive subsidies that run counter to the rules

of the World Trade Organization.

More generally, the various meetings on

development that have taken place this year, in

particular the International Conference on Financing

for Development, held at Monterrey, and the World

Summit on Sustainable Development, held at

Johannesburg, as well as the commitments set out in

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the Millennium Declaration, open up new and

encouraging prospects for developing countries.

It remains true, however, that the best form of

development is that which takes into account the

requirements of democracy and human rights. In this

connection, I would like to assure the Assembly that

my country will be resolute in ensuring that democracy

becomes rooted in our political and institutional life,

and we are taking significant and concrete actions to

that end. The people of Burkina Faso have thus just

renewed, for a third consecutive time and for a further

five years, the mandate of the National Assembly. That

election, in which all the political parties took part,

took place in a calm, transparent and fair manner and

has seated members of 13 political parties to legislate

on questions of interest to the people of Burkina Faso.

The Government has also created a Ministry for

the Promotion of Human Rights to ensure respect for

and the implementation of human rights in all their

aspects. That is why my Government welcomes the

election of Burkina Faso to the United Nations

Commission on Human Rights, which will enable us to

make a positive and active contribution to the work and

the deliberations of that international body, which

monitors the implementation of human rights

throughout the world. Furthermore, our Government is

determined to greatly enhance the status of women and

children in line with the recommendations of the

special session of the General Assembly on children.

It is thus clear that the credibility and

effectiveness of the United Nations is increasing on a

daily basis, whether with regard to the promotion of

peace and security, to economic cooperation or to

activities in the social and humanitarian sphere.

The recent admission of Switzerland to the

United Nations and the forthcoming admission of

Timor-Leste further confirm the irreplaceable role of

the United Nations as an means of ensuring

international stability. It is precisely because of that

universality that Burkina Faso is able to call upon the

international community to consider the return of the

Republic of China to this world Organization. Taiwan

has clearly shown that it is a free, independent,

democratic nation that enjoys all the attributes of a

State under international law and that would thus be

able to make a truly useful contribution to the building

of a better future for humankind. The credibility of the

United Nations is at stake in this respect.

In conclusion, I should like, on behalf of my

country, to pay tribute to Mr. Kofi Annan for his

assured leadership of this Organization, as well as to

the staff of the United Nations for their tireless

contribution to the quest for peace.