Burkina Faso, 2025

The Assembly will hear and address by His Excellency Reem Tal Bar, son Emmanuel Ouidra-Ogul, Prime Minister and Head of Government of Burkina Faso. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly. Madam President, Secretary General of the United Nations, Heads of Delegation, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my great honor and privilege to address you on behalf of President Ibrahim Traore, President of Burkina Faso, Head of State, during this session to convey the voice of the dignified, honest people of Burkina Faso. I would therefore like to convey fraternal greetings to you, to all citizens of the world committed to peace and freedom. Madam President, On behalf of Burkina Faso, I would like warmly to congratulate you upon your election to the presidency of this, the 80th session. Your election bears witness to the trust of the international community in your leadership, your ability to listen to other views and to dialogue. In Burkina Faso, you will find a sincere, constructive and committed partner. I would also like to express my gratitude to your predecessor, Mr. Philemon Yang. My gratitude for the high quality and rigor of the work he undertook during the previous session. Madam President, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, Burkina Faso fully aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Alliance of Sahel States by the Republic of Mali. Together with Niger as well, we belong to a community of aspirations in a forum of renaissance and breaking with the past. Secretary General, Burkina Faso would like to pay tribute to the work of the UN system and its partners in this common quest for stability and prosperity. The present meeting, which is being held 80 years after the adoption of the United Nations Charter, is a suitable opportunity for us to take stock, candidly, of what our organization has achieved. And that is what the topic for this meeting suggests that we do, better together, 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights. This is fully relevant in light of our mutual commitments to bring about a world that is more just and to build more effective multilateralism. It is therefore part of this approach that should guide every nation, every sub-regional and international group. This is the oak anniversary after 80 years that should really lead for us to carry out an introspective assessment of what we have achieved. Rather than being a cause for celebration, this anniversary is in fact akin to looking at an embarrassing fiasco, a collective disappointment and a structural failure. Because we have to be honest with ourselves, we should humbly recognize that even though globally there have been some achievements, there is rather a negative backdrop as a result of eight decades of optimism that have been sorely put to the test, eight decades of disappointment, eight decades of shattered dreams, eight decades of failure to meet the moment in a nutshell. It is unfortunately the bleak picture of a UN that many of our forefathers from 1945, if they were still alive, would have struggled to accept. It is therefore difficult to celebrate given such a mixed backdrop to this anniversary. How can we understand the fact that Africa, the cradle of humanity and where there are so many conflicts and which represents more than one billion human beings, remains excluded from the Security Council's decision-making bodies? How can we accept the fact that peacekeeping missions, financed to the tunes of billions of dollars, are leaving our countries in the lurch and are leaving behind frustration and suffering rather than tangible results? The causes of this collective failure are well known to all, notably the Member States themselves, who, after eight decades, have, within this General Assembly, devoted their energies to defend noble causes and to propose realistic reforms without being successful in this quest. What can we do if the decisions of the General Assembly, which are not binding, are simply making it irredeemably inaudible and ineffective? Could we expect the Security Council to be more successful when it is tarnished by politicization and when it is powerless as a result of its inconsistencies and ineffective because of its permanent divisions? What is even worse is that this Council, whose role today is misused, is in fact a troublemaker as a result of the tacit underhand and sometimes active complicity of some of its permanent members, who are themselves major actors and financers of the crises of our time. That is what the Security Council has become. It has become a pernicious body which, as a result of the predatory behavior of some of its permanent members, can decide which country will be on the Council's agenda, in which other country peacekeeping operations can be sent, as if to better legitimize their role. We are therefore powerless in the face of the failure of initiatives which are nevertheless good ideas as a result of the rivalries between states and the unresolved crises that are so numerous, the most emblematic of which is the conflict between Israel and Palestine, which has lasted too long, the sinful inaction of the international community in the face of a lack of trust and the authority of states which have been undermined by terrorists. It is time for an awakening and for bold reforms, without which the Security Council will remain an anachronistic institution and will not be able to meet the moment. Ladies and gentlemen, in a world that is changing rapidly as a result of rapid digital change and the persistence of geopolitical tensions, it is critical that we reconsider our economic development strategies. International trade can no longer be conceived through rigid schemas and imbalanced models that have been imposed upon us. Rather, it should be focused on strengthening economic autonomy, local use of resources and promoting genuine social justice. It has been recognized today that lasting prosperity involves proactive industrialization policies, maximizing the value of raw materials and creating decent jobs, notably for young people. That is why we urgently need to break with the cycle of dependence on the export of raw materials. This is a model that increases our vulnerability and is a permanent brake on our emergence. In Burkina Faso, presidential initiatives bear witness to this determination to build a productive, inclusive and resilient economy which can bring new horizons for our citizens. That is why my country reaffirms its commitment to building a fairer multilateral trade system based on international solidarity and making the most of scientific progress, technological advancement and innovation, which are genuine levers for shared, lasting development. Madam President, like other nations in the Sahel, my country is going through one of the most testing times in its history. For more, for almost a decade now, Burkina Faso has been attacked by terrorists supported by dark forces. These groups are coveting our resources. They are trying to shatter our sovereignty and impose the law of chaos. But rather than resigning ourselves to this fate, we have chosen to stand up with dignity and resistance. Under the leadership of our President, Captain Ibrahim Chowdhury, we decided to take our destiny in our own hands by mobilizing our defense and security forces supported by volunteers for defending the fatherland, who are genuine heroes, by building up the Patriotic Support Fund, which is fueled by our citizens' voluntary contributions and contributions from our diaspora and friends of our country throughout the world. Since 2023, this fund has collected more than 413 billion CFA francs, which is startling proof of the patriotic spirit and unity of our people by carrying out historic reforms to achieve food sovereignty, to restore our lands, and to relaunch our agricultural production and to reduce our dependence on imports. These efforts that our determined people have undertaken are now bearing fruit. More than 72% of our territory has been recovered. Thousands of internally displaced people are going back home, schools are reopening, and social services are now resuming. Burkina Faso is thus showing that a united people can overcome even the toughest challenges. Burkina Faso hereby wishes to reaffirm fully responsibly that its priorities are non-negotiable and that its choices must be respected more than ever before. Ladies and gentlemen, our activities are aligned with the virtues of solidarity and unity. We are deeply convinced that a people brought together around a common ideal can achieve great things. The efforts undertaken by our fellow citizens within the country and in the diaspora, as well as their enthusiastic commitment to the momentum we've created, reaffirm that we've made the right choice, and this under the leadership of Comrade President of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Tarare. The enthusiasm carried by the Patriotic Support Fund and the Presidential Initiative Faso MEBO is an excellent illustration of this. Established in 2023 in support of the Action Plan for Stabilization and Development, the Patriotic Support Fund aims to mobilize additional national resources, endogenous resources, so as to build our defense and strategic investment capacity. This fund has secured large-scale backing both within the country and in the diaspora. Madam President, the methodical pursuit of our reforms has meant that today we've made significant headway on economic governance. We have better control over public spending. We've optimized management of the state's human resources. We've streamlined institutional spending, and our debt levels are viable. These efforts can also be seen in a more equitable distribution of our national wealth, ensuring that the vast resources we have in Burkina Faso fully benefit our citizens, benefit our prosperity, instead of flowing to external interests or the representatives they're on within the country. Despite the difficulties inherent in the security and humanitarian crisis, the government has taken action across all sectors of socioeconomic development, and this has brought noteworthy successes. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we are astonished by the condescending stance of certain UN agencies, who feel it within their rights to meddle in our national debate using biased narratives, narratives which are divorced from the reality on the ground. We unequivocally reject the report entitled Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso, which is peppered with counter-truths, and the very title of which demonstrates semantic manipulation. I would like to use this opportunity to commend the courage of our combatants and to pay tribute to military and civilian martyrs who honorably gave their lives in defense of our sovereignty. Madam President, we've always stated that terrorism is being used as a pretext, a convenient pretext for certain states to pillage African resources. Thus, our countries are being confronted with terrorism, these terrorists being the troops of predatory foreign armies. Some states are no longer hiding this fact. They are publicly proclaiming their support provided to these criminals. A case in point is France. The Macron regime's public media, in addition to the daily disinformation it offers, has become a mouthpiece for the communication of these criminals, perpetrators of cowardly, barbaric attacks committed against our peaceable citizens. On this note, we'd like to reiterate our call for a response to be given to the request submitted on the 20th of August 2024 by the member states of the Confederation of Sahel States. This was addressed to the Security Council. To this day, this request has gone unanswered. This ongoing silence further discredits this institution, leaving doubts about its implicit connivance. What's even more concerning is the fact that some members of the Security Council are continuing to trample over Resolution 1373, which is actually binding. This resolution imposes the suppression of terrorism financing, strengthening border controls and enhanced international cooperation. In the Sahel, we've taken note of this reality. As a result, we've adapted our security arrangements to the reality on the ground, in addition to revising our modalities of cooperation with certain countries. Madam President, we remain convinced that the United Nations should be the framework for dialogue and cooperation. But what we're calling for is a renewed partnership, underpinned by mutual respect, equality and genuine solidarity. Ladies and gentlemen, confronted with common threats and external interference, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have pulled our forces so as to establish the Confederation of Sahel States. The ASS is not a retreat, it's not a way of turning inwards, not at all. It is us asserting that we have the right to determine what happens to us, to pinpoint our own priorities and to craft regional cooperation that exclusively serves our people. This choice is a matter of dignity. We are refusing a system whereby our countries were all too often used as a territory for the maneuvering by foreign players in pursuit of foreign agendas. It is our willingness to be the agents of our history, to write ourselves the future our children will live out. The ASS is in keeping with the fight of Pan-African figures such as Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah. Today a new generation of leaders is taking up the baton. Firmly convinced, and this conviction brimming with inspiration, the inspiration given by the father of the August 1983 revolution, the idea that only struggle liberates. Madam President, Africa, for 80 years now, has sought to claim its legitimate place on the Security Council. It is high time to deeply reform our organization. Specifically, what we need is to introduce a bold Security Council reform, granting Africa a permanent seat on the Council. We must also improve resource management to make the United Nations more effective, to bring it closer to the people it claims to serve. We must also staunchly address the structural causes of international injustice, whether that be terrorism that's been instrumentalized by some, the embargo on Cuba, sanctions against Venezuela, Russia-Nicaragua inter alia, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the impasse that surrounds it. There's also the role to be played by China in our future. There's also the specific case of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We'd like to reiterate our unswerving support to the Venezuelan people, which for decades has suffered campaigns of isolation, illegal sanctions, and constant provocations. Faced with this flagrant interference in the sovereign affairs of this nation, and this economic attack which has disastrous humanitarian consequences, we'd like to express our solidarity with this country, Venezuela, which is resisting with dignity so as to maintain its right to craft its own destiny, free from ultimatums and foreign diktats. We appeal to reason and to diplomacy to end all hostile actions directed against Venezuela. Mr. Secretary General, I would now like to address you. It is high time for our organization to change paradigms, because today the United Nations finds itself in the same situation as the defunct League of Nations. The UN isn't able to make its voice heard, to ensure that its own principles are upheld. It's not capable of ensuring compliance with its decisions and resolutions by the powers that be. It's incapable of ensuring respect for international law, of settling many conflicts, or ensuring that it lives up to the task of addressing current challenges. Mr. Secretary General, you have an excellent opportunity to go down in history by shouldering your responsibilities to enact an in-depth transformation of the United Nations, on which so many hopes were pinned when it was established. You have the support of millions of people the world over to turn the organization into a genuine guarantor of peace and security in our world, instead of an instrument of domination in the hands of whoever is currently the mightiest. Despite the various pressure, despite all the power plays, we know that you have the ingenuity to liberate the organization and to ensure it is up to the task of our common ambition. Madam President, turning to development issues, Burkina Faso applauds the holding of the fourth international conference on financing for development. It is our hope that the conclusions drawn in Seville will contribute to the advent of a financial architecture that is more equitable, which respects the sovereignty of states and supports genuine transformation of developing countries. In a similar vein, it is absolutely vital to address the factors which serve as a brake on the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are supposed to enact positive transformation in our world under the auspices of the United Nations. Ladies and gentlemen, 80 years after the penning of the UN Charter, our organization has not fulfilled the hopes penned on it in 1945. Far from it. 80 years on, our world brims with injustice and suffering. There are risks of yet another large-scale conflict that are becoming increasingly palpable. This is a source of concern for the future. But it is not too late to give new impetus to our common home, the impetus it currently lacks. The African Faso, true to its Pan-Africanist heritage, would like to reiterate its faith in renewed, fair and equitable multilateralism. We will resolutely defend our sovereignty and our dignity. However, we will also stretch out our hands to all nations enamoured of justice, freedom and solidarity. Long live the United Nations organization, a reformed organization, a credible organization. Long live the Confederation of Sahel States. Long live Burkina Faso, a dignified, sovereign country standing firmly on our own two feet. Motherland or death, we shall prevail. I thank you. On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Head of Government of Burkina Faso.