Ivory Coast, 2003

I

have the great honour of conveying to the General

Assembly at its fifty-eighth session the greetings of the

people of Côte d’Ivoire, President Laurent Gbagbo,

Prime Minister Seydou Elimane Diarra and the

Government.

The delegation of Côte d’Ivoire has the pleasure

of warmly congratulating the President of the General

Assembly on his election. We wish him every success

as he carries out the lofty and important tasks entrusted

to him by the Member States of the Organization. His

election is a testament to the international community’s

recognition of the vibrancy and diplomacy of Saint

Lucia — the President’s very beautiful country — in

working for the ideals of the United Nations. His

election is also a tribute to his skills as a diplomat, and

an illustration of the fact that all countries are treated

equally at the United Nations, which I welcome and I

assure the President of the cooperation of my

delegation.

I am also pleased to convey the gratitude of the

delegation of Côte d’Ivoire to Mr. Jan Kavan, President

of the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session,

for the skill and mastery with which he guided the

Assembly’s work.

I take this opportunity to once again express to

the Secretary-General, the United Nations and the

bereaved families the sincere condolences of the people

of Côte d’Ivoire on the tragic death of Mr. Sergio

Vieira de Mello, the Secretary-General’s Special

Representative for Iraq, other United Nations staff

members and all other persons killed or wounded in the

fight for peace and justice.

I also take this opportunity to reaffirm the

appreciation of the people and Government of Côte

d’Ivoire for the work of Secretary-General Kofi Annan,

who works tirelessly for peace in the world and in

Africa and who makes every effort to lend his personal

support, as well as that of the Organization, to the

restoration of peace in Côte d’Ivoire.

Côte d’Ivoire was once a model of stability and a

haven of peace that enjoyed relative economic

prosperity. However, for almost a decade it experienced

a hidden crisis that led to the coup d’état of

24 December 1999, followed on 19 September 2002 by

another attempted coup d’état that quickly became an

armed rebellion. It was backed by foreign elements

whose aim was to undermine our republican

institutions and the democratically elected

Government. That crisis did enormous harm to the

population of Côte d’Ivoire and to all who had chosen

to live in our country and to freely carry out their

activities there.

A round table, held upon the initiative of France,

brought together the various political forces of Côte

d’Ivoire, leading to what is now known as the Linas-

Marcoussis Agreement. The Agreement — to which

the United Nations gave formal international

recognition through Security Council resolution 1464

(2003), after it had been endorsed by heads of State

and leaders of international institutions meeting at the

Kléber conference centre in Paris — provides for,

among other things, the establishment of a Government

of national reconciliation headed by a consensus Prime

Minister with the necessary executive powers to

implement the Agreement.

The Government of National Reconciliation,

established on 13 March 2003, has made significant

progress, including the 3 May 2003 signing of a

comprehensive ceasefire agreement between the Forces

armées nationales de Côte d’Ivoire (FANCI) and the

Forces nouvelles — the former armed rebellion; the

establishment of a consensus national disarmament,

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demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme;

the normalization of relations between Côte d’Ivoire

and its neighbours, including the reopening of rail

service from Abidjan to Ouagadougou; the 4 July 2003

joint declaration by the two parties of an end to

hostilities; and, above all, the passing of an amnesty

law on 6 August 2003. It should be pointed out that

that law does not provide amnesty for common crimes

and offences, including crimes related to violations of

human rights, which must be investigated.

With regard to human rights, Côte d’Ivoire,

despite the severe crisis it is experiencing, has

constantly placed respect for the human person at the

centre of its concerns. In addition, despite its meagre

financial capacity, it has been tireless in pursuing its

original policy of welcoming refugees, whose numbers

have increased due to the crisis in neighbouring

Liberia. Increased financial support from the

international community is needed to share that heavy

burden. My country must simultaneously guarantee the

repatriation of the many Ivorian refugees in a number

of neighbouring countries.

Here, I am pleased to mention that Côte d’Ivoire

has ratified all instruments relative to the protection

and promotion of human rights and, on 5 August

2002 — even before the crisis had occurred — created

a Ministry devoted exclusively to human rights.

Moreover, in view of massive human rights violations,

Côte d’Ivoire formally requested on 5 November 2002

that an impartial United Nations fact-finding mission

be sent to verify such violations throughout its territory

in order to combat impunity.

Thus, after having at the same time consulted the

African Commission on Human and People’s Rights —

whose first high-level fact-finding mission had already

visited Côte d’Ivoire in April 2003, following the

United Nations mission dispatched by the Secretary-

General at the request of the President of the

Republic — Côte d’Ivoire, in order to demonstrate its

full cooperation with the various mechanisms of the

Commission on Human and People’s Rights, hastened

to ensure positive follow-up with proposed dates for

visits by the following: the Special Rapporteur of the

United Nations Secretary-General on Internally

Displaced Persons and by the Special Rapporteurs of

the Commission on Human Rights on Contemporary

Forms of Racism and Racial Discrimination; on

Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; on the Right to

Freedom of Opinion; on the Human Rights of

Migrants; and, recently, on the Use of Mercenaries.

The fact that it is temporarily impossible for our

Administration and for the Special Rapporteurs to

travel throughout the territory to verify the facts —

together with the cries of distress of the people in those

areas — is a challenge to the international community.

I must commend the international community’s firm

commitment and immense efforts to extricate Côte

d’Ivoire from this crisis.

Coming back to the progress achieved on the path

to peace, I am pleased to note the 12 September 2003

appointment, after long and difficult negotiations, of

the Ministers of Defence and of Security, which paves

the way for implementation of the national programme

of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration

(DDR) established by the Government of National

Reconciliation. To that end, a disarmament committee

and another committee responsible for reunification

have been established. In those ways, the Government

intends to show its resolve to work for a return to

peace.

However, despite such encouraging results, we

must acknowledge that the path of peace is fraught

with pitfalls. The current difficulties prove that the

process of peace and national reconciliation remains

fragile. Still, the inter-Ivorian dialogue is continuing,

and all of the forces recognize that the Linas-

Marcoussis Agreement is the only solution providing a

way out of the Ivorian crisis.

In that connection, Côte d’Ivoire welcomes the

firm commitment of the United States to Liberia in

supporting the efforts of the Economic Community of

West African States (ECOWAS) to help that fraternal

country exorcise the demons of war and division. In

Côte d’Ivoire, as in Liberia, the DDR programme

remains of paramount importance to that end. Indeed,

the Government attaches particular importance to the

DDR programme, which, by re-establishing security

and restoring territorial integrity, will enable Côte

d’Ivoire to organize transparent and fair elections in

2005, under international supervision.

On behalf of the Ivorian Government, I should

like to take advantage of this rostrum once again to

thank the international community — particularly the

heads of State of the ECOWAS countries and the

President and the Government of France — for its

unwavering support for the peace effort in Côte

d’Ivoire.

22

Côte d’Ivoire remains concerned about the

international situation and the problems afflicting it,

including the current pandemics of HIV/AIDS, malaria

and tuberculosis; armed conflicts; disarmament;

terrorism; and comprehensive human development.

Indeed, we note that, although HIV/AIDS affects 20

million people in Africa — two thirds of those infected

worldwide — malaria continues to have at least an

equal effect on the continent’s mortality rate. To make

matters even worse, tuberculosis is showing signs of a

disturbing resurgence.

The establishment of the United Nations Global

Fund to fight these three pandemics — amounting to

$10.4 million — therefore provides genuine grounds

for encouragement and hope for affected populations,

particularly in countries of the third world. However,

we hope that the Fund’s endowment will increase and

that it will swiftly become operational and more easily

accessible to countries that are already hard hit by

these scourges and that — ironically enough — are

also the chief theatres of armed conflicts.

It is paradoxical to note that such conflicts are

increasing in number, frequency and intensity —

particularly in Africa — even as the modes and

modalities for their management by the United Nations

and by regional and subregional organizations are

being strengthened, diversified and improved. Côte

d’Ivoire therefore congratulates the Organization and

its dedicated Secretary-General, as well as regional

countries and organizations, on the results already

achieved in Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Côte

d’Ivoire, Liberia and the Great Lakes region, to cite

just the most recent cases. Those results encourage all

the parties concerned to persevere in the effort to re-

establish and consolidate peace in all these war-torn

areas.

Concerning the situations in Iraq and in

Afghanistan, my country hopes for a swift return to

peace and security so that their respective peoples —

who have suffered much over the past decade — will

be able to devote their efforts to economic and social

progress.

In the Middle East, Côte d’Ivoire appeals for

moderation on both sides and for compliance with the

road map, which is the way back to peace in that part

of the world.

In any event, law must always prevail over

violence, and dialogue — under the aegis of the

international community — must always be the

favoured tool for resolving disputes.

Conflicts are the work of, inter alia, armed gangs,

the unemployed, the marginalized and deserters who

feed the flourishing market for mercenaries in Africa in

general and in our subregion in particular.

Mercenarism, together with the proliferation of and

illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, is a

dangerous threat to the peace and stability of our

countries. Those scourges — along with terrorism,

which sadly continues to claim its victims — demand

special attention from the international community.

The Assembly must undertake concrete measures

in the fight against these destabilizing factors in the

world, particularly in Africa. The implementation of

the Programme of Action of the United Nations

Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and

Light Weapons in All Its Aspects — whose review last

July revealed an increasing universal awareness of the

danger of proliferation and the need to take coordinated

actions to control it — will be an important step

forward if we have the necessary political will. The

measures undertaken at the regional and subregional

levels — particularly the ECOWAS Moratorium and

the assistance provided by the Programme for

Coordination and Assistance for Security and

Development in Africa and by other entities — are

elements leading in the right direction.

Likewise, the Assembly should activate and give

fresh impetus to regional and international convention

and encourage the standardization of legislation to

effectively fight the phenomenon of mercenarism. Côte

d’Ivoire endorses the proposal to draw up and establish

— within the framework of ECOWAS — a general

plan for stabilization in the subregion, which, I am

convinced, would contribute to a return to lasting peace

and stability in West Africa.

Preventive action must also be taken at several

levels. At the political and diplomatic level, the

international community should devote greater

attention to preventive diplomacy, because it is

essential that the outbreak of conflict be prevented

through an early-warning system. At the economic and

social level, the fight against poverty must be

continued, particularly by integrating the unemployed

and other marginalized people into economic

structures.

23

At the cultural level, education for peace,

expanding sporting and cultural exchanges, meetings

among groups of women and young people, at the level

of each State and among the various countries, can

promote tolerance and mutual understanding among

peoples in the context of a dialogue among

civilizations.

The globalization of the economy may be a factor

for progress by favouring competitiveness, bringing to

the market the best products at the most competitive

prices. Sadly, such globalization could also impede the

development of poor countries, which suffer from

fluctuations in the price of their products on the

international market and, moreover, must cope with

unfair competition imposed by States that subsidize

their export items.

Given these mixed results, the recent Ministerial

Conference of the World Trade Organization in Cancún

helped to gauge the magnitude of the ruinous

consequences for African farmers of the subsidies

given to producers in the North. By breaking the rules

of free competition, the industrialized countries have

enabled the richest producers to thrive while

impoverishing those that are struggling for survival.

This dire situation should cause us to examine our

conscience so that together we may seek ways and

means to redress this injustice.

There is also an urgent need to take action to

stabilize commodity prices at a profitable rate.

If poor countries are to escape the vicious circle

of poverty, there must be fair remuneration for the

work of their farmers, complemented by an increase in

official development assistance, which should reach 0.7

per cent of the gross national product of industrialized

countries, and by debt cancellation.

Let us take the opportunity of the present session

to reflect together on ways to strengthen North-South

cooperation in the framework of the New Partnership

for Africa’s Development. In the framework of South-

South cooperation, the most advanced countries should

plan to increase trade and technology transfers to

benefit less advantaged countries, in support of their

own efforts.

We are concerned about the coordinated follow-

up to the outcome of the major international

conferences held under United Nations auspices. The

fight against poverty cannot be won unless the

recommendations adopted in the framework of those

summits are implemented. It is no good expanding the

forums for discussion if the conclusions concerning

financing for development or technology transfer, in

particular, cannot be implemented and used on the

ground in a new spirit of genuine solidarity.

My country, Côte d’Ivoire, fervently wishes to

see the advent of the new spirit of solidarity called for

by globalization and the interdependence of our States,

and also supports reform of the United Nations to make

it democratic and efficient.

May we all have the wisdom to ensure that our

resources and intelligence are put to the service of the

building of a better world, where peace, solidarity and

justice reign — a world that reflects the ideals of the

Charter of the United Nations.