Burkina Faso, 2013

Sociopolitical crises, armed conflicts, the degradation

of ecosystems, pandemics like HIV/AIDS, religious

extremism, terrorism, cross-border crime and

development problems are today the vital questions that

call upon the conscience of individuals, summoning

their responsibility for building the present and the

future. I am convinced of the need to enhance our

spirit of sharing and solidarity in order to meet the

challenges of promoting peace, stability and security

and to provide humankind with all the tools needed for

better mastery of its evolution.

Before continuing, I would like to congratulate the

President on his election to preside over the General

Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. In addition, I would

like to express our recognition for the remarkable way

in which his predecessor, Mr. Vuk Jeremi., presided

over the work of the sixty-seventh session. Allow

me also to repeat to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban

Ki-moon, the expression of the esteem and recognition

of the Government of Burkina Faso for his availability

and staunch commitment to peace and development.

The current session is taking place in an

international context characterized by relentless

economic difficulties and growing threats to peace

and security on a global scale. I take this opportunity

to express to the people of Kenya the compassion and

solidarity of the people of Burkina Faso following

the terrorist attacks that were recently perpetrated in

Nairobi.

The West African subregion continues to be marked

by the stigma of multidimensional crises that have

taken place over the past two decades. Our subregion,

and particularly the Sahelo-Saharan zone, has became a

hideout for drug traffickers and terrorists whose desire

to destabilize the region represents a real threat to the

peace and security of our States.

I would like to welcome the gradual improvement of

the situation in Mali since the deployment of the United

Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization

Mission in Mali and the holding of presidential elections,

which supports the re-established constitutional order.

I would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate my

thanks to all those players who have helped to resolve

the crisis in Mali. To the Malian authorities and people,

I express my warmest congratulations on the success

of the recent presidential elections. The implementation

of the United Nations integrated strategy for the Sahel

will contribute, I am convinced, to enhancing stability

in that country and in the entire Sahelo-Saharan region.

Burkina Faso is determined to play a role alongside the

international community to achieve the objectives of

that strategy.

Dialogue is the favoured way to ensure

understanding among and within peoples. Furthermore,

the Government of Burkina Faso supports strengthening

social cohesion, broadening spaces for freedom and

dialogue, and seeking together solutions to conflicts. It

is in that spirit that my country has been participating

for two decades in peacekeeping operations conducted

by the United Nations, the African Union and the

Economic Community of West African States, with

contingents of about 2,000 men and women who are

deployed in various theatres of operation. I pay tribute

to the efforts of all those who work tirelessly to build a

world of peace and freedom.

Beyond the resolution of sociopolitical and military

crises in West Africa, Burkina Faso strongly supports

the initiatives of the international community that

seek to restore lasting stability in the Central African

Republic, the Democratic People’s Republic of the

Congo, the Great Lakes region, Somalia and the Sudan.

With regard to Western Sahara, my country

supports the search for a political solution acceptable

to all parties and reaffirms its support to the Moroccan

initiative for an autonomous status for the Saharan

region as a credible and realistic alternative in resolving

that dispute.

Beyond the African continent, the situation in the

Syrian Arab Republic urgently requires an immediate

end to the hostilities and a search for political

solutions to the crisis. Therefore we encourage the

implementation of the American-Russian agreement of

14 September aimed at control and dismantlement of

chemical weapons stockpiles.

With regard to the situation in the Middle East,

we welcome the relaunching of direct negotiations

between Israel and Palestine and strongly encourage

the different parties to work towards a peaceful solution

to the conflict in order to reach a fair and equitable

solution based on the recognition of a Palestinian State

living in perfect harmony with Israel.

The climate of dialogue and détente that

characterizes relations between the Republic of China

on Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China should

be welcomed and encouraged. In that spirit, we must

welcome the Republic of China on Taiwan in the

United Nations specialized agencies, particularly the

International Civil Aviation Organization and the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

We also welcome Taiwan’s incalculable contribution

in support of the achievement by developing countries

such as Burkina Faso of the Millennium Development

Goals.

Peace in Africa requires pertinant socioeconomic

development programmes to generate effective

responses to the uncertainties created by the

international economic situation and to strengthen

trust between the people and the leaders. A landlocked

country of the Sahel without great natural resources,

Burkina Faso is committed to implementing strong

policies in the context of its Strategy of Accelerated

Growth and Sustainable Development, with a view to

promoting development and to significantly improving

in the quality of life of the people of Burkina Faso.

As we approach the deadline for achieving the

Millennium Development Goals, the theme of the

current session, “The post-2015 development agenda:

setting the stage”, raises in a pertinant way the issue of

the dialectical relationship between development, peace

and security. It therefore offers us an opportunity to

focus our thinking on a new vision in order to achieve

comprehensive progress, based on strong international

solidarity, towards sustainable development. That

is why it is important that we redouble our efforts

to regulate environmental issues on the basis of

the outcome of the United Nations Conference on

Sustainable Development (resolution 66/288, annex),

held in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.

Peace and stability appear as still-distant goals,

given the number of centres of conflict throughout

the world. That situation demands that we further

strengthen multilateralism, rigorously apply the

principles enshrined in the Charter of our Organization,

strengthen the instruments for promoting those ideals

and carry out the reform of United Nations bodies, in

particular the Security Council. It is my hope that the

General Assembly’s work at this session will contribute

to achieving those noble objectives for a more fulfilled

and united humankind.