Central African Republic, 2004

Allow me at the outset to extend my warm

congratulations upon your election to the presidency of

the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly. That

election is a resounding tribute by the international

community to Gabon, that brother country, for its

singular leadership role in Africa, and for the personal

commitment of President Omar Bongo Ondimba that

has enabled Central Africans to be reconciled today,

for which we are most grateful. Your great experience

and ability as a diplomat and a statesman assure us of

the success of our work.

His Excellency François Bozizé, President of the

Republic and Head of State of my country, whose faith

in the ideals of this Organization are unwavering,

wishes you all success. As you might expect, my

delegation will be fully with you in your endeavours. I

would like to recall the competence with which your

18

predecessor, Mr. Julian Hunte of Saint Lucia,

conducted the work of the fifty-eighth session.

Allow me to extend to Secretary-General Kofi

Annan the appreciation of the Central African Republic

for his endeavours to strengthen peace wherever it is

threatened and his resolve to find ways and means to

preserve the authority and credibility of the United

Nations, which has been so sorely tried in recent years.

Before making its contribution and offering its

thoughts on the state of the world, my delegation

would like to join with all those who have expressed

their sympathy to the populations that have fallen

victim to natural disasters taking place in parts of the

Pacific and on the American continent, which have left

a woeful train of destruction in their path.

The major issues of the world today —

international peace and security, combating poverty,

development, the defence and promotion of human

rights, protection of the environment and health —

cannot find a lasting solution save through the common

efforts of the international community through United

Nations. To echo the expressive words of the

Secretary-General in his 2002 report entitled

Strengthening of the United Nations: an agenda for

further change, “The challenge ahead is to strengthen

our capacity for collective action and thus forge a

common destiny in a time of accelerating global

change (A/57/387, para. 2)”.

In that context, multilateralism, which is the main

guarantee of the participation of all nations in

international affairs, must be safeguarded and

strengthened at all costs. The spread of crisis

flashpoints, the radicalization of international terrorism

and organized crime, growing poverty and the spread

of endemic diseases — all of those things should

convince us that only active international solidarity is

capable of ensuring stability and security for our

world.

The tenacity with which terrorism is defying the

international community in so many different ways is

indeed disturbing. That scourge knows no borders,

race, or religion. The attacks of 11 September 2001 in

New York and Washington, 11 March 2004 in Spain

and 2 September 2004 in Russia are only its latest

expressions. Given the complexity of that

phenomenon, we must arrive at a collective response to

what has become a common menace. However,

because our countries lack adequate means to combat

that scourge, the essential problem of cooperation by

the richer countries arises in order to obtain better

equipment for detection, identification, surveillance

and control on our land, sea and air borders. Similarly

the fight against transnational organized crime also

calls for large-scale cooperation under the aegis of the

special fund for cooperation provided for by United

Nations conventions.

The difficult present international economic

context has negatively affected the developing

economies in general and African economies in

particular. Stiff international trade competition,

intensified protectionist practices, fluctuating

currencies, the burden of debt — all these are

handicaps that are slowing the development of our

countries.

In Cancun last year, members of the World Trade

Organization (WTO) tried to relaunch efforts towards

the liberalization of trade. We must continue to seek

solutions to overcome the failure of Cancun and ensure

the success of the Doha round of trade negotiations.

The 2004 WTO meeting in Geneva is proof that we

must not stand idly by when faced with the policy of

agricultural subsidies. The Millennium Declaration, the

outcome of the Johannesburg Summit and the

Monterrey Consensus have laid out the path to be

followed and the goals to be pursued in order to

establish a true world partnership for development.

Since the last General Assembly session, the

world has undergone a series of changes exacerbating

an already deteriorated situation as a result of threats to

peace and security and a growing number of points of

conflict and tension. An example is the situation in the

Middle East, which is a source of deep concern.

Indeed, despite the transfer of powers to the new Iraqi

authorities on 29 June, the spiral of violence continues

uncontrollably, fuelling the Iraqi people’s resentment

of the international community. The recent

appointment of a Special Representative of the

Secretary-General in Iraq means that the United

Nations has a central role to play in the political

reconstruction process there. However, the Central

African Republic ardently hopes for the

implementation of proposals already made by France,

in cooperation with the Russian Federation, for an

international conference on Iraq, within the framework

of the United Nations.

19

In Israel, the international community must

continue to support the action of the Quartet to restore

peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

There is no alternative to the road map, which calls for

parallel advances in the three areas of security, politics

and economics. In Africa, despite certain successes

such as the return to peace in Angola, Sierra Leone

and — little by little — in Liberia, the African

continent is still a source of deep concern. The surge in

armed conflicts, the tensions and the instabilities are

becoming a recurrent phenomenon. While the third

Accra meeting favourably restarted the peace process

in Côte d’Ivoire and gave rise to new hope, other

sources of conflict are surfacing here and there.

The Darfur crisis in the Sudan continues to

mobilize the international community’s attention due to

the large movements of populations towards the

borders with Chad and the insecurity that persists

there. My Government is following with particular

interest the developments in the situation in Darfur due

to the humanitarian and security implications for the

Central African Republic, which borders on the Sudan

and Chad.

In the Central African Republic, we support the

initiatives taken, since the Chadian mediation, through

international forums, which have taken over from it in

the framework of the African Union and the United

Nations. We encourage the Sudanese Government —

which has proved its readiness — and the parties

involved to follow the path of wisdom based on the

dialogue established by President Olusegun Obasanjo,

President of the African Union, and thus spare the

brotherly Sudanese people more suffering, since

Security Council sanctions would only worsen their

suffering.

The massacre of 160 refugees in Gatumba on

14 August 2004 on the border between the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and Burundi sparked

widespread indignation and exacerbated an already

delicate situation in that part of the Great Lakes region.

However, our conviction is that despite the setbacks,

the various agreements between Rwanda and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo on the one hand,

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda

on the other, as well as the historic agreements of Sun

City, have finally made progress towards peace

irreversible in the Great Lakes region.

That, in any case, is the purpose of our active

participation in the preparatory process for the

international conference on peace, security and

development of the Great Lakes region and our

contribution to the stability pact that will emerge from

it. This is within the framework of the global,

integrated and concerted approach sought by the

United Nations, which has the advantage of pursuing

regional solutions that will reach beyond the

geographical borders of the six countries of the Great

Lakes region.

I would like to touch on the situation in my own

country, the Central African Republic. Proclaimed

independent on 13 August 1960, my country has gone

through relatively brief periods of political and social

progress, linked by long periods of economic

stagnation and even retreat, justifying the opinions of

Afro-pessimists about its chaotic development. As with

many other African States, a series of coups marked

our political development. Some of these were palace

coups and others involved a true popular revolution

characterized by both the crystallization of social

aspirations they unleashed and the political changes

they brought about, such as the Carnation Revolution

of Portugal in 1974. The changes of 15 March 2003

were of that type. They were popular movements

carried forward by social forces that were as different

from each other as were the involved political parties,

labour unions, religious bodies, non-governmental

organizations and the army.

I am pleased once again to pay tribute to the

resolute action of our Organization and that of the

whole international community, which spared no effort

before 15 March 2003 to find a happy solution to the

Central African crisis, mobilizing the Security Council;

the French-speaking world; the central organ of the

former Organization of African Unity (OAU) for the

prevention, management and settlement of conflicts;

the heads of State of the Central African Economic and

Monetary Community, especially President El Hadj

Omar Bongo Ondimba; the Economic Community of

Central African States; and the Community of Sahelo-

Saharan States.

For more than a year, the Central African people

have been trying to rebuild their broken unity, while

the Government pursues the restoration of security

throughout its territory. Confidence is growing with

both our bilateral and multilateral foreign partners.

Constitutional legality will be established at the end of

20

free and transparent elections to take place in early

2005. These are the main points of the timetable that

the consensual transitional administration set up in

June 2003 and that it has been pursuing ever since, in

keeping with its commitments.

Indeed, the national transitional council, a

provisional parliament established in July 2003, is

representative of all of the socio-political forces of the

nation and fulfils a legislative function, including the

adoption of legislation and the oversight of

governmental activities.

The timetable for the transition also provided for

the organization of a national dialogue. For nearly two

months, from September to October 2003, all of the

active forces of the nation came together in this forum

to search together for the deep causes of what has

divided us for so long. From these meetings emerged

recommendations, the main points of which underlie

the activities of our Government today and the

fundamental law of our country, on which our people

are preparing to vote through a referendum. An organ

that was specifically created to oversee the application

of these recommendations, the national dialogue

follow-up committee, is now pursuing its mission.

An independent joint electoral commission, made

up of representatives of political parties, civil society

and the administration, was also set up, which has just

published the timetable for a future referendum and

elections as follows: 30 November 2004, constitutional

referendum; 30 January 2005, legislative and

presidential elections, first round; 27 February 2005,

second round; 14 March 2005, announcement of

results.

The mission of the present transitional

Government is to bring about conditions permitting a

return to normal democratic life in the Central African

Republic. However, the grave financial difficulties

faced by my country do not enable it to face alone the

costs of these various elections. Of the 5.5 billion CFA

francs necessary to finance these elections, we thus far

have only 3.5 billion. I would address an appeal for

assistance to enable us to organize the elections under

proper conditions and thus bring about a rapid return to

constitutional order.

As of now, my Government sincerely thanks the

brother countries and international organizations that

have so generously contributed to financing this

process, especially France, the People’s Republic of

China, the European Union and the Central African

Economic and Monetary Community. The support that

the international community will provide to this very

difficult and delicate phase in the history of the Central

African Republic will be necessary to conclude this

consensual transition. Our common dedication to

democracy prompts me to believe that this appeal by

the people and Government of my country will be

heeded.

The challenges to be overcome in fulfilling the

great hopes inspired by the changes of 15 March 2003

are many and pressing. These same challenges

prompted the establishment of an agenda — a road

map — that is focused on three major points: first,

consensual governance for a rapid return to

constitutional order; secondly, restoration of security

and an effective return to peace; and, thirdly,

combating poverty. The measures adopted by the new

authorities, as they are outlined above, will lead to the

restoration of peace and national reconciliation and

were endorsed by the Central African people and

rightly welcomed by the international community.

Today, thanks to the re-establishment and

restructuring of our security and defence forces, the

presence of the multinational force from the Central

African Economic and Monetary Community, with

France providing logistical support, and assistance

from friendly countries, in particular France, Libya, the

Sudan, the People’s Republic of China and Morocco,

as well as the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States, we

can say that the process of making the whole Central

African territory secure has made significant progress.

Efforts are still needed to ensure full security before

the elections take place. But the relief felt by the

population and the hopes inspired by the changes of

March 2003 will be gravely compromised if the

commitments undertaken in this regard by the

international community since May 2000 are not

realized.

It is also essential that we attack the economic

and financial problems as part of the struggle against

poverty. From that perspective, the Central African

Republic offers its full support to the Declaration on

Action against Hunger and Poverty, adopted in New

York on 20 September 2004 as a result of a joint

initiative by President Chirac and President Ignacio

Lula da Silva.

21

The post-conflict programme that my

Government, working with the international financial

institutions, has just drawn up provides a sound basis

for the reforms that are necessary if my country is to

have greater opportunities for success in the field of

reconstruction.

The considerable efforts made at the national

level and the steadfast support of the friends of the

Central African Republic, including France, the

People’s Republic of China and the countries members

of the Central African Economic and Monetary

Community, have helped to lift the burden that salary

arrears imposed on the transition process, with the

result that the people of the Central African Republic

will emerge stronger and more united.

I could not conclude without touching upon a

subject with regard to which all those who have spoken

have been unanimous: if we are to make progress in

this era, the United Nations must undertake a rational

reform — a reform that is necessary if the Organization

is to strengthen its role and enhance its effectiveness.

That reform effort must begin by reconfiguring

the Security Council — the central organ entrusted

with the major task of dealing with issues of peace and

security. From the perspective of the delegation of the

Central African Republic, the initiative of France and

Germany calling for a permanent seat for Germany,

and the similar appeal in favour of such seats for

Japan, Africa and Latin America, should be given

serious consideration.

Furthermore, the proposal of the Chairman-in-

Office of the Economic Community of Central African

States, President Denis Nguesso, calling for a political

presence in the United Nations in the person of a

representative of the Secretary-General for Central

Africa, is also worth consideration.

The Central African Republic will support

proposals for reform submitted by the Secretary-

General insofar as they strengthen the role of the

Organization in the maintenance of international peace

and security and the resolution of international issues

on the basis of the principles of dialogue and

multilateral cooperation.