Cameroon, 1993

In extending to you, Sir, the warmest congratulations of the

delegation of Cameroon on your election to the presidency

of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly, I am

not merely obeying protocol. I do so as well out of my wish

to pay a tribute to your outstanding qualities and to welcome

the significant contribution your country, Guyana, has made

to the building of a more just and more united world.

Your predecessor, our colleague Mr. Ganev of Bulgaria,

carried out his mandate very well. We are grateful to him

and express all our appreciation to him.

For two years now our Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, has devoted unusual energy to the

management of the Organization, management that has been

made difficult by the increase in the number of United

Nations missions, the complexity of the challenges to be

met, and the acute financial crisis that is hindering the

successful carrying out of his activities. Cameroon wishes

to commend him for his wisdom and to assure him of its

support.

The Organization’s universality has been enhanced by

the admission of six new Member States. It is a pleasure for

me to welcome them among us and to assure them of

Cameroon’s readiness to maintain and develop relations of

cooperation and friendship with them.

The especially significant and unexpected changes that

have marked the end of this century confirm our feeling that

we must never despair of the human being and that,

whatever the circumstances may be, we must keep faith in

mankind’s future.

Indeed, the forty-eighth session of the General

Assembly is being held at a time when the image of that

historic handshake between Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin and

President Yasser Arafat is still bright in our minds, a

handshake that sealed the mutual recognition between Israel

and the Palestine Liberation Organization and consecrated

the agreement on autonomy for Gaza and Jericho. Never

before have conditions been as conducive to the building of

a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Forty-eighth session - 8 October l993 7

That historic event, a sign of the times, was followed

by the adoption by the Parliament of South Africa, which is

still composed exclusively of whites and coloureds, of the

agreement to establish a Transitional Executive Council,

conferring upon the black majority a right to participate in

the management of that country’s affairs with an eye to the

April 1994 elections, which should usher in a united,

democratic and non-racial South Africa.

Those are undeniably two major events of exceptional

significance, events that demonstrate the extent of the

upheaval in the world we are now witnessing.

Allow me, therefore, to salute the courage and great

vision demonstrated by the Israeli Government and the

leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Certainly,

the peace in the Middle East that had seemed elusive is now

within reach. Cameroon had always hoped for this, and we

are therefore gratified at the progress made and wish to pay

a tribute to the various protagonists who contributed to it.

And with regard to this situation, has the time not come

to update the Organization’s documents dealing with the

situation in the Middle East? Cameroon intends to

contribute to the consideration of this question the

circumstances call for. The tone and provisions of

resolutions concerning South Africa also need to be brought

into line with the changes taking place in that country.

Cameroon supported the appeal made from this rostrum

by President Nelson Mandela for the lifting of the economic

sanctions against South Africa. We salute that outstanding

son of Africa, and we include in this commendation

President De Klerk, whose open-minded attitude has earned

our admiration.

The democratic transition in South Africa is at once

fragile and promising for the whole of the African continent.

It demands the support of the international community,

which must work to put an end to violence and the

destabilizing actions of the forces in the country that are

opposed to change.

Unfortunately, this remarkable improvement in the

situations in the Middle East and South Africa cannot mask

the threats to international peace and security caused by the

persistence of armed conflicts in various parts of the world

arising out of ethnic claims, the resurgence of nationalistic

feelings, religious intolerance, the desire for power, poverty

and underdevelopment.

At the very heart of Europe, a frightful war continues

in the Balkans, a war the more frightful because the ideology

underlying it is an affront to the conscience of mankind.

The indignation it has aroused throughout the world demands

that the weapons be silenced to enable the virtues of

dialogue to prevail over the logic of exclusion and conquest.

That war is also sorely testing the international community’s

ability to defend the principles and values of civilization in

our era.

It is equally untenable that in Angola innocent people,

caught up in an increasingly senseless war, continue to be

massacred. It must be obvious to everyone that a solution

to the Angolan problem cannot be imposed by force of arms.

It resides in concertation, dialogue and negotiation. We

therefore urge the parties concerned to seize this most recent

opportunity to achieve peace afforded them by strict

implementation of the Abidjan Agreements and the relevant

resolutions of the Security Council.

The imperatives of peace are also pressing upon our

Liberian, Somali and Mozambican brothers and sisters, who

have legitimate aspirations to the stability needed to

reconstruct their countries.

As regards Haiti, it is also important, if legality is to

triumph, that everything possible be done for the

implementation of the Governors Island Agreement.

In Western Sahara, we have not lost hope that,

following the negotiations now under way, the obstacles to

a referendum on the future status of the territory will be

removed.

In other parts of the world where hotbeds of tension

persist the spirit of confrontation must yield to the search for

negotiated solutions. In this context, Cameroon welcomes

the decisive contribution of the United Nations to the

restoration of peace in Cambodia. In paying tribute to the

memory of all those who have paid for peace in Cambodia

with their lives, I include Captain Ndi Ncho Abrahams of

the Cameroonian contingent of military observers of the

United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia

(UNTAC), who fell on the field of honour in Phnom Penh

on 7 September 1993.

I also wish to extend here our warm congratulations to

His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk on his restoration to

the throne of Cambodia. We are convinced that his lofty

stature, eminent qualities and long experience will help his

country to set out again on the path to progress and the

reconciliation of its children.

8 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

Meeting the challenge of peace, involves not only the

silencing of weapons, but also ensuring the reconstruction of

countries ravaged by war. We therefore appeal that, as

measures are taken to settle certain regional conflicts, the

necessary resources be mobilized to meet, as well as

humanitarian needs, the reconstruction needs of African

countries that have been torn by armed conflicts.

This would bolster the willingness of the African Heads

of State to assume greater responsibility in the prevention,

management and settlement of conflicts in their region. The

mechanism created for that purpose at the twenty-ninth

Summit of the Organization of African Unity deserves the

support of the international community, as it is involved in

the implementation of the agenda for peace adopted by the

Security Council. Furthermore, the adoption in Libreville in

September 1993 of a non-aggression pact between the 11

States members of the Economic Community of Central

African States is part of this trend. Concluded in the

framework of the Standing Advisory Committee on Security

Questions in Central Africa, created last year by the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, this agreement is

an essential link in the chain of confidence-building

measures aimed at the progressive reduction of the armed

forces and military budgets of the States of the subregion.

Our States are thereby determined to create an area of peace,

security and solidarity. We are thus entitled to expect the

continued support of the international community for this

initiative, sponsored by the United Nations.

In a more general context, the progress achieved in the

field of disarmament and arms limitation should continue.

We call on the major Powers to redouble their efforts to

accelerate the disarmament process, especially in the field of

nuclear weapons. The conclusion of a treaty banning

nuclear tests would meet the expectations of the international

community, just as the indefinite extension of the Non-

Proliferation Treaty would help reassure the non-nuclear-

weapon States. In this respect, we praise the dialogue being

pursued by the parties concerned to find a negotiated

solution to the differences between North Korea, on the one

hand and the International Atomic Energy Agency and the

Government of the United States of America on the other.

Lastly, the progressive establishment of the structures

of the Organization’s executive secretariat for the control of

chemical weapons strengthens our conviction that general

and complete disarmament is not just a dream. It is a

fervent aspiration of mankind that could be achieved if

greater political will were focused on that goal.

At the recent World Conference on Human Rights, held

in Vienna, our common vision of the values underlying

mankind’s shared aspiration to the effective enjoyment of

human rights made the longstanding dispute about a possible

hierarchy as between civil and political rights and economic,

social and cultural rights outdated. Now enshrined as

indivisible and interdependent, all these rights have one

objective alone: the promotion and protection of human

dignity, regardless of considerations of race, colour, sex or

religion. Recognition of that objective has contributed to the

rebirth of the idea of the universality of human rights and

has given those rights the moral and legal force of a

categorical imperative with unassailable legitimacy.

This development encourages the Government of

Cameroon, with the impetus given by His Excellency

President Paul Biya, to continue updating the legal and

institutional frameworks to promote the effective enjoyment

of human rights by our citizens. Our resolute march towards

democracy can be gauged by the incomparable freedom of

expression burgeoning throughout our national media, the

flourishing of political parties, the vitality of popular

participation in public life and the establishment, in the wake

of the State’s gradual disengagement, of new and vast areas

for the development of private initiative.

The National Committee on Human Rights and

Freedoms, whose activities enhance its credibility, is helping

enormously to make public opinion aware of the importance

of human rights and to alert our authorities to any possible

violation. The recent organization in Yaoundé by the United

Nations Centre for Human Rights of a training seminar for

members of that Committee highlights the role of

international cooperation in the promotion of human rights,

particularly in developing countries.

This cooperation suggests a new approach, necessitating

a reversal of the tendency to turn human rights into political

tools. This tendency often leads to a selective awareness of

human rights violations and discrimination in the application

of sanctions. Cooperation also suggests a new type of

partnership, allowing the highly publicized activism on

human rights to be replaced by calm and constructive

dialogue between the various parties in charge of promoting

and protecting human rights - States, national institutions,

non-governmental organizations and multilateral institutions.

In this context, the proposal to establish a post of high

commissioner for human rights has its merits. None the

less, it gives rise to some questions, the importance of which

requires that it be considered attentively and in depth.

Forty-eighth session - 8 October l993 9

The universality of human rights, which everyone must

henceforth respect, requires the democratization of

international economic relations. It would be unrealistic to

circumscribe the exercise of democracy within national

boundaries, when there are also flagrant injustices in

international economic relations that constitute grave

violations of human dignity.

A victim of such injustices, Africa, more than any other

developing region, has the characteristics of a continent

adrift. It is toiling under an intolerable debt burden in a

situation exacerbated by an overall trend towards

disinvestment, a decline in official development assistance

and a steady deterioration in the terms of trade as a result of

the continuing fall in commodity prices.

In these circumstances, is it acceptable that net financial

flows should continue from the impoverished African

countries to the rich countries? As we have already pointed

out, this situation cannot be considered in economic terms

alone. It is an ethical problem involving the conscience of

our Northern partners and of international financial

institutions.

Need we recall that despite the seriousness of the

economic crisis they are facing the African States, like the

countries of the East, have undertaken courageous reforms

towards liberalizing their economies and democratizing their

political systems?

While we are pleased at the mobilization of resources

aimed at accompanying reform in the countries of the East,

we must deplore the fact that no similar effort has been

made for the benefit of the African countries that are also in

a state of transition. Structural adjustment plans are the only

alternative solution proposed to them. Because they are

becoming increasingly exorbitant and difficult to bear, their

social costs need to be given more attention by our partners

so that the already fragile foundations of our young States

will not crumble.

The very recent International Conference, on African

Development, held in Tokyo, will give us an opportunity to

draw the attention of the international community to the

distress of the African continent.

The failure of the United Nations Programme of Action

for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-

1990 and the disappointing progress of the United Nations

New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s

underscore, if need be, the urgent need to establish for that

continent a consistent set of measures to stimulate recovery

including, in particular, debt alleviation and the enhancement

of human resources, the transfer of technology, support for

the diversification of production and the improvement of

conditions for access of our products to international

markets.

We must set our sights on establishing a fund for

financing African development. The imperatives of

international solidarity are not consistent with

compartmentalization on the basis of racial or geographical

considerations. Hence, we cannot leave the African

countries at the mercy of market forces, which are devoid of

all legitimacy owing to speculation. The international

community must therefore undertake to construct a more

legitimate new world order that is in keeping with full

respect for law and justice.

The world partnership for sustainable development

enshrined in Rio de Janeiro responds to this aspiration.

While we are pleased at the establishment of the

Commission for Sustainable Development, the release of

resources required for the financing of Agenda 21 has not

yet been accomplished.

In the social sphere, activities conducted throughout the

United Nations system with a view to fighting against the

AIDS pandemic and to repressing the illicit traffic in

narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances deserve high

priority in the agenda of our Organization.

Similar importance should be attached to the integration

of women in the process of development and to the

protection of vulnerable groups of society.

The International Conference on Population and

Development planned for Cairo in 1994, the World Summit

for Social Development, to be held in 1995 in Copenhagen,

and the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held

also in 1995, in Beijing, will offer opportunities to review all

of these issues at the highest level. These gatherings will

make it possible for us to refine our understanding of these

problems in order better to integrate them in our

development policies.

Guaranteeing international peace and security and

promoting the economic and social development of its

Members are the tasks that the United Nations has been

called upon to perform since its establishment. The changes

generated by the end of East-West rivalry have created

conditions more conducive to the attainment of these

objectives. Our Organization should therefore rethink its

structures and its working methods in order to increase their

10 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

effectiveness, the better to respond to the ever-growing

expectations of the international community.

The restructuring process under way is of course part

of this trend. We are pleased at the prevailing spirit of

consensus in the search for solutions to this problem - a

problem made complex and delicate because of the need to

reconcile the need for effectiveness and the imperative of

democratization which alone can safeguard the plurality of

approaches that underlies the universality of our

Organization.

In this context, the reform of the Security Council

should not be confined to a mere broadening of its

composition. It should above all make it possible to revive

the spirit behind the decision to confer upon the members of

the Council broad powers regarding the maintenance of

international peace and security. These powers should

therefore be exercised in the interest of all, and not on the

basis of other considerations.

The General Assembly should, along the same lines,

remain a global forum where the positions of States are

expressed and harmonized. We are therefore in favour of a

strong Secretariat endowed with adequate structures and with

a highly qualified staff that reflects the diversity and the

excellence of the peoples of the United Nations. This means

that throughout the system and within our Organization, the

ongoing process of restructuring should be consistent with

the spirit of the Charter.

Mankind has always cherished the utopian dream of a

world in which man would no longer be a danger to his

fellow man, and in which peace, justice and equity would

prevail. The sudden acceleration of history at the turn of

this century gives this utopian hope an impetus that enhances

our shared perception of the need to establish a new and

more united world order. This "promise of history" being

shaped will be an expression of the convergence of our will

to free mankind of the consequences of a past that we hope

is forever behind us. The universal conscience cannot put

up with the horrors of war and of flagrant violations of

human rights, nor should it at the dawning of the third

millennium tolerate the persistence of poverty and hardship

that trample underfoot the intrinsic values of our shared

humanity.

Thus the United Nations must meet the challenge of

renewal in order fully to play its central role in the building

of a world consistent with the ideals of its founding fathers.

In the final analysis, history condemns us to be hopeful - in

the midst of violence, does man not persevere in his utopian

dream of peace?