Ivory Coast, 1997

The illustrious election of the President of the

General Assembly of the United Nations at its fifty-

second session is not only a well-deserved tribute to his

country, Ukraine, in recognition of its important role on

the international scene, but an acknowledgement of his

own human and professional qualities and, above all, his

rich experience in international relations and in the United

Nations system. Furthermore, as his former colleague

when I was Permanent Representative of my own country

here for many years, I am personally delighted at this

well-deserved demonstration of the confidence the

international community has in him. It is therefore a

pleasure for me, on behalf of the delegation of Côte

d’Ivoire, to address to him and to the other members of

the Bureau our sincere congratulations and to assure him

of our full support in the accomplishment of his mission.

21

I also extend my heartfelt thanks to his predecessor,

Ambassador Razali Ismail, for his remarkable efforts to

give decisive impetus to the process of the reform of our

Organization.

Finally, I should like to extend my warmest

congratulations to Mr. Kofi Annan, a worthy son of Africa,

on his illustrious election as Secretary-General of the

United Nations, and I pay heartfelt tribute to him for the

great competence that he has unfailingly demonstrated at

the head of the United Nations. In less than a year he has

been able to instil our Organization with a new dynamism

through actions that bear witness to his firm will to

strengthen the effectiveness and credibility of the United

Nations and to improve its operations in facing the many

complex demands of the world at the dawn of a new

millennium. We assure him of the support of the delegation

of Côte d’Ivoire in his noble and exhilarating task.

I also take this opportunity to extend my warm

congratulations to Mrs. Mary Robinson on her appointment

to the post of United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights. We consider her strong personality to be a

guarantee of success in the delicate and important mission

with which she has been entrusted. We assure her of our

complete support in the exercise of her new functions.

Today, regardless of what our assessment of the work

of the United Nations may be, it is necessary to recognize

that it remains a unique and irreplaceable tool for dialogue

among nations at the service of international peace and

security.

Clearly, it is unanimously held that the United Nations

is useful and that it must exist; with equal unanimity we

call for its revitalization. The question of the reform of the

United Nations is thus at the heart of this session, which

strikingly demonstrates how necessary and urgent it is. The

Secretary-General rightly proclaimed this session the

session of reform.

Adapting the United Nations to make it better able to

enter the next millennium seems to be the great challenge

of the reform to which we all aspire.

But before expressing my delegation’s observations on

the Secretary-General’s proposals for reform, I should like

to share some of our major concerns, which I believe must

be taken into account if the continent to which my country

belongs is to experience real development commensurate

with its immense potential. I wish to speak about conflict

management in Africa and international cooperation for

the economic and social development of Africa.

One cannot fail to note that over 60 per cent of the

agenda of the Security Council is devoted to situations in

Africa, and that of the 48 least developed countries, 35

are in Africa.

In respect of conflicts in Africa, our continent has

taken charge of its own destiny. To this end, it established

legal instruments at the Organization of African Unity

(OAU) summit in Cairo in 1993, in the form of the

Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and

Resolution. If this venture is going to work Africa needs

above all the support of the international community in

the framework of a partnership with the United Nations,

in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter.

Thus in Liberia, at the end of a seven-year fratricidal

war which devastated that fraternal country and caused

enormous damage to neighbouring countries such as

Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire that had to deal with massive

flows of refugees and displaced persons, the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was able

to broker a peace process which led to the election of

Mr. Charles G. Taylor as President of the Republic on 19

July 1997 in elections that the OAU and the United

Nations recognized as just and democratic.

In the context of the meeting to support the

reconstruction of Liberia which will take place tomorrow,

I would like to make an urgent appeal to donor countries

and international and non-governmental organizations to

be generous, because a reconstructed and prosperous

Liberia can only benefit our entire subregion.

While we are delighted at the positive development

of the situation in Liberia, a military coup d’état on 25

May 1997 put an end to the constitutional order in Sierra

Leone by overthrowing a democratically elected President,

Mr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Côte d’Ivoire immediately

condemned the coup d’état, which belongs to a bygone

era.

The thirty-third meeting of heads of State and

Government of the OAU, held in Harare from 2 to 4 June

1997, by its decision 356 also condemned the coup d’état,

as did the Secretary-General of the United Nations and

the Presidents of the Security Council on 27 May, 11 July

and 6 August 1997, who all demanded the immediate and

unconditional restoration of constitutional order.

22

Unfortunately, the negotiations initiated by the group

of five States mandated by ECOWAS with the

representatives of the junta in power in Freetown have so

far not succeeded in achieving the objectives of the

international community. Therefore, the heads of State,

during the last ECOWAS summit, in Abuja on 28 and 29

August 1997, were obliged to take a certain number of

measures which we hope will be endorsed by the Security

Council to allow the Committee of Five to resume, with the

complete support of the international community, new

negotiations for a return to constitutional order in Sierra

Leone, a country whose instability remains a serious threat

to the fledgling Liberian democracy and the entire

subregion.

In the view of the OAU, ECOWAS and the Security

Council, the Abidjan peace agreement of 30 November

1996, signed by President Kabbah and the leader of the

Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Mr. Foday Sankoh,

remains the best framework for finding a definitive solution

to the crisis in Sierra Leone. Once constitutional order is

restored, Côte d’Ivoire is prepared to organize, together

with the other guarantors of this agreement and the parties

concerned, a conference aimed at reactivating the many

organs of that agreement in order to find a lasting solution

to this crisis.

In Central Africa, we remain profoundly concerned by

the fratricidal battles now taking place in the Congo. In this

respect, we wish to express our sincere appreciation to

Mr. Omar Bongo, President of the Gabonese Republic, for

his patient and courageous mediation in the inter-Congolese

conflict. While urging him to continue his noble efforts, we

regret the deterioration of the situation and above all the

fact that no cease-fire has been accepted by the warring

parties, which has prevented the establishment of an

African interposition force.

In the Central African Republic, we welcome the role

of the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation

of the Bangui Agreements (MISAB), which has helped

stabilize the situation.

In respect of the crisis in the Comoros, we urgently

appeal to all parties to give priority to dialogue and to

respond favourably to the OAU initiative with a view to

holding a conference in Addis Ababa to find a solution. We

invite the international community to support the efforts of

the OAU and to give the Comoros all the economic and

financial assistance it needs to confront the difficulties it is

facing, which are the root cause of the crisis.

With regard to Angola, we take note of the recent

Security Council resolution 1130 (1997), which was

adopted unanimously. While we welcome the recent

measures taken by UNITA in response to the Council’s

appeal, we hope that it will persevere in that direction in

order to meet all its obligations pursuant to the Lusaka

Protocol.

Finally, in respect of the question of Western Sahara,

we applaud the progress made during the series of

meetings under the auspices of the Special Envoy of the

Secretary-General of the United Nations for Western

Sahara, Mr. James Baker III, with a view to holding a

referendum on self-determination.

Given the renewed upsurge of instability and conflict

in many parts of Africa, we fervently appeal to the United

Nations to organize a regional conference in collaboration

with the OAU and ECOWAS to deal with the illicit

circulation of small arms in the West African subregion,

in accordance with General Assembly resolution 51/45.

In the same context, we are delighted with the

results of the Oslo conference on anti-personnel

landmines, and in view of the human disasters that this

type of weapon continues to cause in Africa and the

world over, we urge all States to adhere to the results and

respect the terms.

My delegation believes that the present state of our

continent requires a concerted policy of international

security and implementation of preventive strategies, and

Côte d’Ivoire intends to be actively involved. This is why,

in defining recently new missions for Côte d’Ivoire’s

armed forces, President Henri Konan Bédié specified that

they can henceforth participate in peacekeeping operations

and that they stand ready to carry out possible protection

and security missions which might be conferred upon

them by the international community.

More specifically, it seems to us increasingly

necessary to have a standing African interposition force.

In western Africa, for example, ECOWAS, drawing from

the experience of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group

(ECOMOG) in the settlement of the Liberian conflict,

could envisage the reorganization of this force in order to

make it a genuine subregional force. In this context,

consultations for the establishment of a peacekeeping

force are under way in the framework of the Agreement

on Non-Aggression and Assistance in Matters of Defense

(ANAD) which includes Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina

Faso, Benin, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Togo.

23

The elements of the ANAD peacekeeping force would

be coordinated in predetermined tactical or logistical

modules in a state of operational readiness on their

respective territories and could be sent into action at short

notice. These stand-by elements could be regrouped at the

request of ECOWAS, the OAU or the United Nations.

However effective our rapid-reaction capacity may be,

we will have to seek, above all, to strengthen the effective

rule of democracy and the rule of law in each of our

countries in order to avoid crises turning into armed

conflict.

Above all, every country must seek to achieve political

stability and to promote social progress by establishing

reliable democratic institutions based on freedom and

justice and which guarantee the protection of the citizen and

individual rights. We must develop the elements of good

governance and promote the emergence of responsible

society.

For its part, Côte d’Ivoire under the leadership of

President Henri Konan Bédié, is endeavouring day by day

to strengthen democracy and the rule of law by resolute

action towards a peaceful democracy.

Recent measures in this connection have been

announced, including the forthcoming opening of the

Government to the opposition, the granting of status to the

leaders of the opposition parties represented in Parliament;

the creation of a Senate whose President will be acting

Head of State in the event of a power vacuum; and the

creation of a National Commission for monitoring and

arbitration of elections. It will be presided over by a judge

and made up of personalities and representatives of the

leading political parties, along with international observers

from the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the United

Nations, the Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS), the European Union and the Canadian

Electoral Committee. All of those elements are contributing

to speeding the progress of democracy in Côte d’Ivoire.

Lastly, our people remain profoundly committed to the

culture of peace, and it is to that commitment that Côte

d’Ivoire owes its unquestioned political stability, based on

the constancy of social dialogue and on the desire for

shared progress that strengthens social unity. That is why

my delegation, along with a number of co-sponsors, intends

to submit to this session of the General Assembly, as it did

at the summer session of the Economic and Social Council

held last July at Geneva, a draft resolution proclaiming the

year 2000 as the international year for the culture of peace.

My second subject of concern relates to the effects

of globalization on African economies with respect to

access to foreign markets, the volume of official

development assistance and favourable treatment for

foreign debt.

With regard to access to foreign markets,

globalization, carried out in the name of liberalization and

competitiveness, has led to the erosion and even the

eradication of preferences that allow the goods of our

countries to gain access to the markets of developed

countries. We must be given time to adapt, or be

compensated in some other way, if our countries are to

participate in international trade to their full potential. We

commend the recent United States initiative, “Growth and

opportunity in Africa”, which is aimed, inter alia, at

promoting the access of African goods to the American

market.

With regard to the effect of globalization on the

volume of official development assistance, we note that

for all the enthusiasm for the development of the private

sector — development which we welcome, recognizing

that private investment is the driving force of economic

growth — a trend towards a decline in official

development assistance, despite its importance in the fight

against poverty in our countries. That trend concerns us,

because official development assistance is essential in

supporting our domestic efforts, above all in sectors

related to the development of human resources. We

therefore urge the donor countries to redouble their efforts

to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of their gross

domestic product.

Lastly, with regard to the question of foreign debt,

there is now broad agreement that without favourable

treatment for the stock of African debt, particularly in the

most heavily indebted countries, no economic recovery

programme can produce the desired long-term positive

effects. We must therefore insist that serious consideration

be given to measures in this regard. We welcome the

measures recently taken in favour of Uganda, Bolivia and

Burkina Faso within the framework of the debt-alleviation

Initiative of the International Monetary Fund, the World

Bank and the Paris Club. I am delighted to learn that my

own country, Côte d’Ivoire, along with Mozambique and

Guyana, will be the next to benefit from that Initiative. I

would also note that my country is involved in a

satisfactory dialogue with the London Club with a view

to a significant restructuring of our commercial debt.

24

Turning to the question of United Nations reform,

which lies at the heart of this session, we must distinguish

between two aspects that dovetail to form a single coherent

and logical unit. We have on the one hand the reforms

being set in motion by Member States and on the other the

programme of reforms proposed by the Secretary-General

in his report (A/51/950) of 14 July 1997.

With regard to the reforms being driven by Member

States, I would refer to the activities of various open-ended

Working Groups of the General Assembly. Having

personally been privileged to conduct the consultations that

led to the establishment of three of those Groups during my

own term of office as President of the forty-ninth session,

I am pleased to note the relatively positive results of two of

them: the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on An

Agenda for Development and the Open-ended High-Level

Working Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations

System. The States participating in those Groups have

shown a magnificent spirit of solidarity.

The Agenda for Development, adopted last June by

the General Assembly, is an important stage in the dialogue

between nations on international cooperation for

development. It establishes the consensus framework within

which developed and developing countries can work to

establish on a more solid basis a renewed and strengthened

partnership for development based on mutual advantage.

The Open-ended High-Level Working Group on the

Strengthening of the United Nations System, which has had

to deal mainly with the revitalization of the General

Assembly and the Secretariat, has produced

recommendations that are part of the dynamics of the

reforms proposed by the Secretary-General, inter alia, to

rationalize the work of the General Assembly and its

subsidiary bodies. My delegation is pleased with those

positive results.

With regard to the High-Level Open-ended Working

Group on the Financial Situation of the United Nations and

the Open-ended Working Group on the reform of the

Security Council, we cannot help but feel frustrated that

they are apparently bogged down and have not made the

expected progress.

We are all aware of the crucial importance of the

financial situation of the United Nations. The success of the

entire reform process depends on a solution to that

question. We should like to reaffirm here the need for all

Member States to fulfil their obligations under Article 19 of

the Charter, namely, to honour their financial obligations

towards the United Nations fully, on time and without

conditions. Similarly, we express our complete support for

the principle of capacity to pay as a basis for the scale of

assessments. We believe it is necessary to deal with those

questions courageously and responsibly in order to

provide our Organization with a viable, sound and solid

financial base.

Turning to the important question of Security

Council reform, our position is that of the African Group

as defined at the recent Summit Meeting of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) at Harare, which

stressed that the new configuration of the Security

Council must reflect the realities of today’s world through

a geographically equitable representation of all the regions

of the world. In that connection, my delegation, while in

favour of the admission of Germany and Japan as

permanent members of the Security Council, is of the

opinion that Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, as

well as Asia, should also be represented as permanent

members of the Security Council.

The new permanent members should have the same

prerogatives as the present permanent members, in

particular as regards the right of the veto, which, if not

done away with entirely, should be restricted to the

conditions set forth in Chapter VII of the Charter.

Turning to the reforms proposed by the Secretary-

General, I want to express my delegation’s sincere

congratulations on the work accomplished. These reforms

are the broadest and most profound that we have ever

seen. My delegation therefore supports them

enthusiastically.

It is our expectation that this reform process will

lead to the promotion of the economic and social

development of less developed Member States, the

strengthening of multilateralism and an increase in the

United Nations effectiveness and credibility.T o

accomplish that, we must see to it that the reform

exercise is not confined to an obsessive desire purely and

simply to reduce costs.

The measures aimed at increasing the Secretary-

General’s guidance and management capacity seem to us

amply justified. In fact, the presence of a Deputy

Secretary-General, a Senior Management Group and a

Strategic Planning Unit will provide the Secretary-General

with an internal support mechanism that will considerably

strengthen his authority and his overall control system-

wide.

25

The new configuration of the Secretariat organizational

chart is attractive in its concision and coherence, but above

all in its objective of effectiveness. Nonetheless, the

comprehensive measures aimed at regrouping 12 entities

and administrative units into five services should not result

in either a decline in the programme level of operational

activities for development or in a decrease in the quality of

technical cooperation services due to a reduction of staff.

In the same context, the establishment of a

Development Group composed mainly of the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United

Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations

Population Fund (UNFPA) should not affect the dynamic

nature of their activities in the field.

Lastly, the proposals of the Secretary-General to

refocus the work of the General Assembly on high-priority

questions and to reduce the duration of its sessions reflect

a concern for rationalization that we fully support.

We agree with the Secretary-General’s statement that

reform is a continuous process and not a one-time event. In

fact, this reform is the result of an entire series of

reflections that began in the 1970s within and outside the

United Nations system to adapt it to the changes that have

taken place since 1945. I have in mind the report of the

Ford Foundation, the Bertrand report, the work of the

Carlsson group and the work of many universities in the

United States and in Europe, whose research clarified many

aspects of our debates, especially during the work of the

working groups on the different aspects of reform.

Nonetheless, any reform is above all part of a certain

logic aimed at achieving an objective. But its success in the

final analysis will depend on the quality of the individuals

who are going to implement it, and above all on the

political will of the States that will be called upon to work

together to respect the spirit of compromise that made it

possible to arrive at the package.

For its part, Côte d’Ivoire is prepared to participate

actively with other delegations when the time comes in the

constructive consideration of the Secretary-General’s

proposals for reform. Their consequences involve all of us.