Central African Republic, 1994

The delegation of the new Central African Republic,

which is attending a session of the General Assembly for

the first time, is pleased to be here and expresses to you,

Mr. President, and all other representatives, its warmest

greetings and the best wishes of the Government and

people of the Central African Republic.

It is with pride that my delegation sees you,

Mr. President, guiding the General Assembly’s

proceedings at its forty-ninth session. Your well-deserved

election, which honours all of Africa, is a tribute to your

country, Côte d’Ivoire, with which the Central African

Republic enjoys excellent relations of friendship,

fraternity and cooperation.

Since 1994 has been called the year of Africa, my

delegation and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the

memory of the late President Houphouët-Boigny.

We welcome the presence in this Hall of the sister

Republic of South Africa, and we congratulate it on the

arrival of democracy there.

It is with genuine pleasure that my Government

congratulates the President of the General Assembly at its

forty-eighth session, Mr. Samuel Rudolph Insanally, and

commends him for the competent and intelligent way in

which he discharged his mandate.

We also congratulate the Secretary-General, a worthy

son of Africa, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who, as head of

the Organization, made the preparations for the year of

Africa. His admirable dynamism, realism, patience and

wisdom have effectively helped to contain many

international problems, despite meagre resources. We wish

to reiterate our firm support for him and our best wishes for

every success in his multifaceted initiatives for peace,

security and development.

In the wake of the Second World War the United

Nations was created as a successor to the League of

Nations. It set itself the objective of, inter alia, settling of

disputes in order to promote the economic, social and

cultural development of nations.

What has happened since that time? The world was

divided into two camps — one capitalist, the other

communist — while in between the two the third-world

countries described as non-aligned gradually achieved

international sovereignty. This situation led to the advent

of regimes born of military coups d’état in almost all the

countries of the third world, especially in Africa. Those

military regimes, which were anti-democratic because they

were not elected, seized power and held freedom hostage,

thereby curtailing the economic, social and cultural

development of our nations. They plunged their

populations into unprecedented impoverishment.

While the international community and the wealthy

countries indulged and fostered this policy of domination,

waste, corruption and mismanagement, the colonized and

dominated populations fought unceasingly for access to

democracy, the basis of all development. At last, near the

end of 1990, the populations’ cries of alarm were heard by

the international community, which then quickly facilitated

the third world’s access to democracy.

A new era dawned, starting in the East, where

communism crumbled. The wind from the East blew

through the African continent, where exhausted and

traumatized populations accepted unprecedented sacrifices

and waged a ruthless battle against the military regimes in

power.

Certain African countries opted for the formula of

sovereign national conferences, while others chose free,

democratic and transparent elections. The Central African

people resolutely chose the latter path, at all cost.

In this context, the Central African Republic, which I

represent today at the forty-ninth session of the General

Assembly, elected me President, Head of State of the

Republic, in a setting of serenity and transparency, and

over eight other candidates who enjoyed broad support

from abroad. This was a victory not only for me and my

Party but also for the entire Central African people. It

was a victory won through change in favour of a new and

truly democratic Republic.

I take this opportunity to thank earnestly, once again,

the friendly countries and international institutions that

participated unfailingly in the process of democratizing

the Central African Republic. I would like to mention in

particular France, the United States of America, Germany,

Japan, the Republic of China in Taiwan, the European

Union, the World Bank and the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP).

The Central African Republic would like to base its

hopes on the concrete decisions that the General

Assembly will be taking to eradicate the last remaining

hotbeds of tension in the world at large and in Africa in

particular.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola,

Liberia and other countries must find peace again, as did

South Africa — and we welcome the presence here of

South Africa’s hero: the illustrious, democratically

elected President, His Excellency Mr. Nelson Mandela,

beacon of the struggle against apartheid and for a new,

multi-racial and fraternal South Africa.

In this context, firmly convinced of the importance

of humanitarian action in Rwanda, we supported

unhesitatingly the helpful intervention of France, whose

courage and determination we extol. That intervention

curbed human suffering and restored peace to Rwanda.

I also take this opportunity to extend, on behalf of

my country, congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Bill

Clinton, President of the United States of America, and to

the American people for their intervention in Haiti aimed

at restoring democracy and returning the democratically

elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to office.

At its forty-ninth session the General Assembly must

take concrete and urgent measures to prevent and contain

conflicts by establishing and strengthening legal

instruments. For weapons have never provided any

lasting solutions. It is only if these legal instruments are

established that the so-called poor countries will be able

to begin to lay the foundations of their economic, social

and cultural development in peace and tranquillity and

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that the intervention of the international community and the

wealthy countries will be only complementary.

As to the Central African Republic, since my election

on 27 September 1993, we have endeavoured to lay the

groundwork for real democracy by giving priority to

dialogue and concord between all the sectors of the Central

African nation.

A truly democratic constitution, which reflects the

profound aspirations of my people, is being drafted and will

soon be submitted to a referendum, in December 1994.

This constitution, which is the result of a broad consensus,

places great emphasis on justice, on fundamental freedoms,

and on social and family well-being achieved through work.

It applies the mechanism of decentralization, along

with its corollary, regionalization in order, on the one hand,

to bring the people closer while, on the other, to mobilize

all available local resources for the agro-industrial

processing of raw materials and mineral resources, for our

subsoil is very rich, so as to improve the standard of living

in the countryside and the provinces.

How will the Central African Republic, a land-locked

country, accomplish such a programme if its neighbours,

the countries of its subregion, are not at peace? A good

portion of our exported and imported goods pass through

neighbouring countries such as Cameroon and Congo.

Furthermore, at the domestic level, the work of our

peaceful peasants is systematically undermined by a

phenomenon known as “zaraguinas”, or those who block

the road. These “zaraguinas” are simply a reflection of the

political and military situation of our neighbours.

The General Assembly will understand why the

Central African Republic agreed to act as mediator between

the Government of Chad and a politico-military group with

a view to restoring peace to that fraternal country in its

northern sector. This is because peace in Chad, in

Cameroon, in Congo, in Sudan and in Zaire will allow the

Central African Republic to develop harmoniously,

promoting a dynamic and fruitful policy of good-

neighbourliness and of the complementarity we require.

My country has embarked on the path of mediation

between the parties in Chad because it believes in the

virtues of dialogue and harmony in a spirit of tolerance and

unity within a diversity of political opinions.

Today, the agreement reached between the

Government of Chad and the National Salvation Council for

Peace and Democracy in Chad (CSNPDT) of Moise Kette

Nodji is entering the stage of implementation in the field,

thanks to the follow-up committee of Bangui II, since this

Kette movement, which in the past was a politico-military

movement, has now basically become a political party of

a conventional type, which is officially recognized.

The Government of Chad, on the initiative of the

mediator, has just announced an amnesty for the

combatants of the CSNPDT in order to rebuild confidence

among all Chadians and to create conditions conducive to

genuine reconciliation within Chad before the forthcoming

elections in the country.

We are also prepared to make our contribution to the

settlement of internal conflicts in those neighbouring

countries that have appealed to us for assistance.

I have elaborated on the major problems of concern

to my country, the Central African Republic, and also

those of neighbouring countries as concerns lasting peace

in Central Africa and in the world at large, and the

Assembly will understand that I am deeply committed to

respect for human rights and for the rule of law. I am a

free man, and I say what I believe. I tell the truth,

because the truth makes one free. I am a biologist, and

I know that a good metabolism requires both

macro-elements and oligo-elements.

Therefore, it is impossible to claim respect for

human rights and for the rights of nations if, in one way

or another, we promote discrimination for whatever

reason.

In the past, it was discrimination between the East

and West blocs, whose consequences, in the form of the

cold war, plunged a large part of mankind into a

catastrophic situation. In the past, it was discrimination

between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation

Organization. In the past, it was racial discrimination in

South Africa. Today, we still see discrimination:

between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic

of China in Taiwan.

And yet, the Berlin Wall has fallen, as did the walls

of Jericho in days gone by, marking the end of the East-

West bloc system. The conflict between Israelis and

Palestinians has yielded to coexistence between the State

of Israel and the State of Palestine. The criminal

foundations of apartheid have crumbled and given way to

a new, democratic South Africa with a human face.

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Why not today help the two Chinas to overcome their

temporary divergences, which arise out of past history, in

order that China might be reconciled with itself in the

higher interests of the Chinese people and of the peoples

that are friends of the two Chinas? Why exclude the

Republic of China in Taiwan from the great family of the

international community? Why reject a State that has

21 million inhabitants? Where is our respect for them?

Why encourage the conflict between the Chinas, when we

know that the two exchange technologies and complement

each other?

For my part, and on behalf of the Central African

Republic, I reaffirm that we intend to maintain diplomatic,

economic, cultural and social relations with the two Chinese

States without restriction. The choice resides solely with

the People’s Republic of China or the Republic of China in

Taiwan.

The same applies to the two Koreas, because we want

to benefit from the technology of all these friendly

countries for our development. Towards this end, we base

ourselves on the fundamental principle of the United

Nations Charter: there are no large nations; there are no

small nations.

That is why my country, a co-sponsor of the draft

resolution on the “Consideration of the exceptional situation

of the Republic of China in Taiwan in the international

context, based on the principle of universality and in

accordance with the established model of parallel

representation of divided countries at the United Nations”,

deeply regrets that this item was not placed on the agenda

of the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly. The

race towards the great market of the People’s Republic of

China should not obscure the problems of discrimination

that exist between the Chinese peoples. I am still

convinced that patience and wisdom will prevail one day,

as they have recently in many of the countries we

mentioned earlier.

Our Organization will soon celebrate its fiftieth

anniversary. It is appropriate at this time to draw up the

balance-sheet for this half-century and conduct a real

assessment in order to set general policy guidelines for the

years to come. Loyal to our policy of decentralization in

Central Africa, we would also propose that the Assembly

be decentralized at the level of each continent, and that it

hold its sessions in New York only every two or three

years, in accordance with a mechanism to be established

after a study by experts. In this way, the other bodies of

the United Nations system would also be brought closer

to the peoples of the different continents.

As regards the Security Council, Africa has achieved

maturity, and, with one third of the world’s population, is

entitled to a permanent seat and also to the right of veto.

This is the proposal for adaptation to present circumstance

that we draw to the Assembly’s attention.

Before concluding my statement, I should like to

remind to General Assembly that the late Barthélemy

Boganda, founding President of the Central African

Republic, had a prophetic vision of the development of

the African continent. He proposed regrouping States into

political and economic entities, with a view to launching

the economy of the African countries at the subregional

and regional levels. The guiding idea was to establish the

United States of Africa. Unfortunately, those ideas,

which were put forward at such an early date by the late

Barthélemy Boganda, were not well understood by his

peers and therefore were systematically fought and

discarded. The individual countries, out of national

chauvinism and egoism, chose to make their own way.

Today, Africa has regressed. It is absent at the

international level as regards trade and industrial and

agro-industrial development. And yet Africa has a wealth

of all kinds of raw materials. Why have our economies

become so fragile? Why have our education and training

systems not attained their objectives — true technical,

scientific and socio-professional instruction, the essential

basis for a real policy of reconstruction in our countries,

which are in an unprecedented state of dilapidation? Why

do our health-care systems no longer meet the aspirations

of our populations? Why are our roads in such a state of

disrepair that it is virtually impossible to travel freely

from one country to another? In a word, why must we

start all over?

All this has happened because of different

ideologies, based on the selfish interests of individual

nations. It is also due to a lack of active solidarity

among African nations.

Contrary to other regions of the world, where there

are clear signs of the resumption of economic growth, the

persistence of poor economic results in Africa remains a

source of concern and of constant disquiet. In fact, at the

present time, Africa accounts for under 2 per cent of

international trade transactions. It is being crushed under

the weight of debt, and various programmes for structural

adjustment have done nothing to change the worsening

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standard of living of the entire continent, which does,

however, have an enormous potential in its peoples and its

nature.

The trend towards a decline in the prices of raw

materials and commodities is continuing inexorably, and the

transfer of technology is proceeding in an unsatisfactory

manner, placing Africa on the sidelines. What we need to

save the continent is a real Marshall Plan, because at the

present time multilateral and bilateral assistance remain

insufficient to promote sustained and lasting growth.

Without this growth, which is necessary to raise the

African people’s standard of living, lasting peace can be

only an illusion. In a word, the Central African Republic

appeals for international solidarity in favour of the poorest

countries, with a view to the relaunching of their

development.

In this context, my country expresses the hope that

this session will mark a new stage in effective cooperation

for progress and peace in the entire international

community.

The Central African Republic believes that tolerance

and peace for development must henceforward be the motto

of the United Nations.

Long live the General Assembly!