Botswana, 1997

Allow me, Sir, to express

to you and to your delegation our sincere congratulations on

your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at

its fifty-second session. As you are an experienced United

Nations diplomat, we entertain great expectations of your

tenure of office as President of the Assembly.

We wish also to pay tribute to the outgoing

President, His Excellency Ambassador Razali Ismail of

Malaysia, whose stewardship of the fifty-first session will

forever be remembered for its creativity and dynamism.

We wish him well and thank him and his country,

Malaysia, for a job well done.

The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, deserves in

ample measure our gratitude for the professionalism he

has demonstrated thus far in his leadership of the United

Nations. His reports on the work of the Organization and

on the wide-ranging reform of the United Nations system

renew the confidence and trust we reposed in him when

we elected him only nine months ago.

We live in a rapidly changing world. The past few

years have witnessed an unprecedented expansion of

world trade and commerce, and the trend continues

unabated. National boundaries are being transcended with

ease in the interaction of national economies through a

process which has been christened globalization. In the

international political arena, there is increasing unanimity

amongst the community of nations and other global actors

that narrow national interests should be superseded by

universal interests.

These complex changes in the world outlook call for

an enhanced role for the United Nations in international

affairs lest change become brutal, especially for the

developing countries. The United Nations has gained new

international stature in recent years, thanks to the

extirpation of the politics of paralysis of the cold-war era.

“Blue Helmets” are today being deployed in situations

formerly considered to be outside the range of the

responsibility of the United Nations for the maintenance

of international peace and security.

The United Nations has also built international

consensus through a series of conferences and meetings

on areas and issues as diverse as women and

development, youth, the environment, human rights,

ageing, population, social development and human

settlements, education and health, the outcome of which

will guide the thinking and actions of the international

community into the next millennium. Furthermore, the

United Nations has proved its capability to deal

effectively with the serious threats posed by nuclear,

chemical and biological weapons, a capability which is

often frustrated by a lack of political will and

commitment on the part of Member States.

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In short, in the present-day reality, no one country, big

or small, rich or poor, weak or powerful, can exist in

isolation or act unilaterally without suffering the

consequences of its actions. Terrorism, drug trafficking,

cross-border crime, the depletion of the ozone layer, acid

rain, receding rain forests, advancing deserts, diminishing

fresh-water reserves, poverty, disease and many more

recognize no national boundaries; only collective action by

the States Members of the Organization can arrest and

reverse their advance.

The United Nations is the mother of genuine

multilateralism, and it should occupy centre stage in our

thinking about international relations. The heavy

responsibilities reposed in the world body by present-day

international realities demand that the United Nations

system should undergo substantial reform if it is to respond

more efficiently and effectively to the needs and concerns

of its Member States and their peoples, now and in the

future. The United Nations system needs to be streamlined

to remove administrative bottlenecks, weed out corruption

and other malpractices and eliminate duplication in the

activities of its organs, agencies, programmes, funds and

offices.

It is in that spirit that Botswana welcomes the recent

reform initiatives of the Secretary-General as the basis for

further discussion and debate on the reform process. My

delegation will have occasion to pronounce itself on the

various elements of the reform package in due course. At

this juncture, I can only observe that Botswana is disposed

to a holistic consideration of the package by the General

Assembly. The reform proposals constitute a single unit,

and its constituent parts should be discussed with that

understanding in mind.

This means, therefore, that those elements of the

package — the greatest number, we would hope — which

are acceptable to the majority of delegations, or on which

general consensus is attained, should be implemented

forthwith. True, many of the proposals are indeed

revolutionary, as the Secretary-General himself concedes,

and, if approved, they would in a positive sense change

permanently the way the Organization operates. The reform

package is the broadest and most extensive in the history of

the United Nations and, in my view, is an appropriate

response to the magnitude of the clamour for reform which

has echoed through the halls of this Organization and which

for some time now has even threatened its very existence.

It would have been the height of absurdity for my

delegation to have expected the whole reform package to be

agreeable or acceptable to every delegation in this Hall,

but I find the arguments and complaints from some

quarters that the package does not go far enough

preposterous to say the least. Reform, as the Secretary-

General rightly reminds us, is not an event but a process.

Reform should not and must not be apocalyptic. It cannot

and must not become synonymous with the downsizing of

the Organization to the extent that it would deprive it of

the requisite human and material resources to render

services to Member States, especially the developing

countries.

Such reform would be inimical to the efficacy of the

United Nations. Reform should lead to a more efficient,

more effective and more relevant United Nations, that is

a United Nations with a capacity to foresee and respond

adequately and expeditiously to imminent disaster

situations around the world and to other needs and

concerns of humankind today.

The Secretary-General’s reform proposals have

signalled the direction to take in the reform process; it is

the collaborative response of the Member States which is

awaited. I believe we are all very serious about reform of

the United Nations; now is the time to approve and

implement those reform proposals on which there is

general consensus. Our commitment, seriousness and

sincerity about United Nations reform would increasingly

be called into doubt if by the beginning of the fifty-third

session of the Assembly we had not implemented any of

the reform proposals contained in the Secretary-General’s

reform package.

No one country, region or group of countries can

arrogate to itself the right to dictate the reform agenda.

What should be established is a balanced, equitable and

non-discriminatory reform agenda in which the common

wishes and interests of every Member State can find

expression. This is the guiding principle my delegation

will follow in its contribution to the ongoing reform

process.

The Secretary-General’s reform package is not the

only momentous issue in the United Nations reform

process. Close to four years have elapsed, and the debate

on Security Council reform continues without an end in

sight. It is obvious that, unless we can suddenly acquire

Solomonic wisdom, we are unlikely to come to a

successful conclusion of this debate in another four years

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or even much longer. Yet there has emerged a body of

thought which favours an increase in the membership of the

Security Council, in both the permanent and non-permanent

member categories, to reflect the configuration of today’s

international political realities.

Botswana was a member of the Security Council until

the end of last year, and we are convinced more than ever

before that the composition of the membership of the

Security Council, as well as its working methods and

procedures, needs reform. It is time for the debate on

Security Council reform to be brought to a successful

conclusion, so that all geographical regions can be equitably

represented in the Council. We should not allow the debate

to become sterile or degenerate into a dialogue between the

deaf and the dumb.

The financial health of the Organization is another

issue which remains a source of deep concern and anguish

to my delegation. The United Nations cannot be expected

to deliver the goods without the necessary financial

lifeblood. In other words, the United Nations cannot operate

on the basis of a shoestring budget and be expected to carry

out the heavy responsibilities imposed on it every day by

Member States. It is therefore imperative that each and

every Member State should meet its financial obligations to

this Organization on time, in full and without any

conditionalities, and clear all its arrears as a matter of

urgency.

The international community has made considerable

progress in the struggle for democracy around the world

since the end of the cold war. Today, peoples and nations

across the spectrum of the African continent live in relative

peace and tranquillity and are engaged in the reconstruction

of their national economies, thanks to the emergence of a

democratic culture. In spite of these positive developments,

the reality is that Africa is still bedeviled by deadly

conflicts.

However, we are happy to acknowledge that fighting

has ceased in Liberia. The Liberian people have at long last

freely chosen their leaders, and their verdict was respected.

The long-suffering and economically plundered

Democratic Republic of the Congo today enjoys relative

peace and security after a short but devastating crisis that

ended with the overthrow of a 32-year dictatorship. The

people of the Democratic Republic of Congo need the

understanding and sympathy of the international community

as they grapple with the reconstruction of their country.

The final settlement of the conflict in Angola

continues to elude the international community, but, thank

God, there has been no resumption of hostilities so far.

Progress is painfully slow, due to the failure by UNITA

to honour its obligations under the Lusaka Protocol, and

especially its refusal to disarm and demobilize its forces.

The United Nations should monitor the situation in

Angola very closely to ensure that the present slow

progress does not assume a state of permanence or lead

to a reversal of the gains made so far under the Lusaka

process.

The international community should continue to pay

closer attention to the situation in Somalia and help the

Somali parties hold a peace conference through which

they can settle, once and for all, their long-running

fratricidal conflict.

There is a renewed sense of expectation that the

efforts deployed to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara

will bear fruit. It is our hope and wish that the Secretary-

General, through his Personal Envoy, Mr. James Baker,

will achieve a breakthrough which will lead to the final

settlement of the Western Sahara conflict in the very near

future.

The situation in Sierra Leone is troubling. The

overthrow of a democratically elected Government in

Sierra Leone five months ago was a most unfortunate

reversal of the political gains that had been achieved in

that country. The international community has taken the

correct line in making it clear that it will no longer

tolerate any military dictatorships. The rejection and

isolation of the military junta in Sierra Leone should

serve as a warning to military leaders with similar designs

that military rule is unacceptable, whatever the

justification. The ballot, and not the bullet, should be the

only way through which political leadership can change

hands.

While the situation in the Balkans remains generally

tense, there is a light at the end of the tunnel signalling

the arrival of a new era of national reconciliation in the

constituent States of the former Yugoslavia. The time has

come for the various ethnic groups in the former

Yugoslavia to realize that none of their countries can exist

as an ethnically pure State without causing political

tensions and reawakening centuries-old hatreds. Their

future and destinies are, fortunately or unfortunately,

inextricably intertwined by reason of geography and

history. They should accept their fate for what it is.

Conflict and war have failed to resolve the ethnic

10

composition of these States in the past, and are unlikely to

resolve them in the future.

We salute the Secretary-General for his recent

initiative which brought together the leaders of the two

sides in the Cyprus conflict in New York for talks. We

encourage him to continue his good offices until the parties

reach a final solution to this decades old conflict.

Botswana supports the Middle East peace process.

Experience has shown that peace in that complex cauldron

of conflict cannot be achieved through war and bloodshed.

Only painstaking and rigorous negotiations conducted in an

atmosphere of give and take can lead to the desired result:

the peace that everyone is yearning for in the Middle East.

We hope that the State of Israel will realize the

insensitivity of the construction of new settlements on

Palestinian lands. This has contributed in no small measure

to the current crisis in the Middle East peace process. No

effort should be spared to put the Middle East peace

process back on track so that the hopes and aspirations of

the ordinary peoples of that region to live together in peace

as good neighbours may be realized.

We welcome the ongoing talks between the two

Koreas, in which China and the United States are also

participants. It is our ardent hope that the talks will lead to

a decrease in political tensions in the Korean peninsula, and

that the two Koreas will henceforth establish some common

ground which will assist in the eventual reunification of

their divided country.

I wish to welcome the recent conclusion of the

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on

Their Destruction. I wish the Convention enjoyed the

support of all nations. Anti-personnel mines are diabolical

and cowardly instruments of warfare which indiscriminately

kill and maim their unsuspecting victims. They should have

been banned a long time ago, before they claimed more

lives and maimed many people. It is our fervent desire that

the Convention will soon enjoy the support of all Member

States. It is hoped that the experience gained in the

campaign for the elaboration and conclusion of this

Convention will be extended to all weapons of mass

destruction.

Several developing countries are still wrestling with

daunting economic and social problems. The number of

countries whose people still live in abject poverty and lack

basic nourishment is on the rise, especially in Africa.

Regrettably, multilateral assistance is declining rapidly in

relation to the rising poverty in the developing countries.

Only a handful of developed countries meet the agreed

goal of 0.7 per cent of gross national product to official

development assistance. At the same time, private capital

flows have been directed to only a few countries. The

United Nations funds and programmes are also unable to

implement their respective mandates due to lack of

resources. It is important that this trend be not only

arrested but reversed through strengthened international

cooperation for development.

For meaningful development to take root in the

developing countries, an enabling international

environment should be established which can address

such issues as macroeconomic stability, more open trade

regimes in developed countries, stable financial systems,

reasonable debt initiatives, such as those proposed under

the World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt

Initiative, and greater financial flows from developed

countries to the developing countries. The international

community must also make concerted efforts to support

the development programmes of the developing countries

in capacity-building, infrastructure and manpower

development.

Obviously, there will be an absolute need for a

turnaround in the political and economic orientation of the

developed countries in favour of global prosperity if these

objectives are to be realized. It is such enlightened

thinking, which promises economic and political rewards

to the greatest number of the Member States of the

United Nations, which is absent in the development

bureaucracies of many developed countries.

As always, our faith in the United Nations as a

repository of the hopes and aspirations of humankind is

genuine, deep-rooted and unassailable. We are a young

and developing country in a troubled world — a world

caught between the extremes of rampant globalization and

resurgent isolationism. Our survival rests with this global

Organization and its Charter, to which we pledge our

unstinting commitment and loyalty.