Comoros, 1992

I have the

particularly agreeable duty, on behalf of the people and Government of the

Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros, of conveying to Mr. Ganev warm and

sincere congratulations on his well-deserved election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its forth-seventh session. We have every confidence in

his ability, as a distinguished diplomat, to ensure complete success for our

work.

I should like to take this opportunity also to express to

Mr. Samir Shihabi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia our total satisfaction with,

and our profound admiration of, the effective way in which he conducted the

work of the General Assembly at its last session.

May I also take this agreeable opportunity to wish the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, every success in the discharge of the noble and

lofty mission that we have entrusted to him. I assure my dear brother and

friend that in his efforts to ensure that the United Nations plays the part it

is intended to play he will have the unflagging support of my country, the

Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros. His election is a matter of pride for

Africa and for the Arab world. Likewise, it reflects the standing and the

dynamic role of his great country, Egypt, on the international scene. His

determination to breathe new life into our Organization, to strengthen its

role and its effectiveness, gives us grounds for great hope for its future.

The Secretary-General's "Agenda for Peace" a document that was drawn up

after the summit meeting of the Security Council last January contains

concrete proposals that demand the attention of Member States. In this

context, I should like to voice our complete satisfaction with the very

pertinent ideas that the Secretary-General was able to set forth in such a

short period. In our view, his proposals deserve the international

community's very careful scrutiny to ensure that the greatest possible benefit

is derived from them.

The delegation of Comoros joins those Members that have already extended

a warm welcome to the States that have recently been admitted to membership of

the Organization.

The forty-seventh session of the General Assembly is being held at a time

when the world is beginning a new chapter in its history. The profound and

far-reaching transformations that our planet has undergone during the past

four years are very encouraging. General ideological confrontation is rapidly

disappearing, and dictatorial and authoritarian Governments are falling one

after another. We are witnessing a renewal of freedom, equality and respect

for the dignity of man.

The cold war has ended, and the world has heaved a sigh of relief. Our

Organization has an unprecedented opportunity to discharge the mandate

entrusted to it by the Charter. Unfortunately, just as we were rejoicing at

the end of the cold war, with its inherent threat of nuclear destruction - at

a time when we were entitled to hope for a more peaceful world, in which

priority would be given to the eradication of starvation and sickness other

scourges arose, and they have made the current trends in international affairs

more fragile.

A plethora of conflicts, of which no one could previously have conceived,

have appeared on the scene; each of them has its special features and must be

settled in a very precise manner.

In the political area, old conflicts such as those of the Middle East, of

Palestine and of apartheid are still going on and to these have been added new

crises such as those of Somalia and of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and if these

are not resolved in time, they may well prove to be a threat to international

peace and security.

As regards the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, my country believes

that this is by no means a civil war but rather an act of aggression

perpetrated against a young State by the forces of Serbia and Montenegro. We

therefore join the international community in condemning unreservedly this

ignoble act, which constitutes a violation of the fundamental rights of the

people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a violation of the principles underlying

our Charter.

For that reason we support all the United Nations resolutions and the

decisions of the recent London Conference on this matter. We also subscribe

to the decision of the General Assembly to deny the Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia automatic succession to the seat of the former Yugoslavia, and we

support the initiative to have the airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared

a no-fly zone.

It is our hope that further steps will be taken to restore peace and

stability to that part of the Balkans. We urge the Security Council, which is

the main body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, to

reconsider this matter in full detail with a view to putting an end to this

aggression, as spelt out in Article 42 of the United Nations Charter.

However, we are aware of the diffidence of the Security Council to use

the means spelt out in Article 42 of the Charter to put a stop to this

aggression. We therefore encourage the Council to lift the arms embargo

imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina so that the people, with the help of

friendly countries, can exercise their legitimate right to self-defence in

accordance with Article 51 of the Charter.

We are equally concerned at the armed conflict among the various Somali

factions, which has led to flight and to famine. The persistence of this

armed conflict, in addition to the natural disasters that have struck the

country, has only increased the suffering of the Somali people, with extremely

unfortunate consequences, particularly the loss of thousands of human lives.

The proposal made at Jakarta by the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries

last September, namely that a conference for national reconciliation be

convened to forge the unity of Somalia, seems to us to be the only way to

achieve a final resolution of this regrettable conflict. My Government makes

an earnest appeal to the entire international community to channel more

assistance to this people, which is facing such tremendous difficulties.

In southern Africa there have been encouraging signs. Thus, the

Government of the Comoros welcomes the free and democratic elections that have

taken place in Angola. It is our hope that that country will finally achieve

lasting peace after so many years of civil war.

Furthermore, it is our hope that after the peace negotiations in Rome and

the recent agreement concluded in Botswana between RENAMO and the Maputo

government, common ground can promptly be found so that our friends and

neighbours from Mozambique may also be able to regain their peace and

stability.

In South Africa the changes that have occurred since the release of

Nelson Mandela had given us every reason to believe that the country was

irrevocably committed to a democratization of its political, social and

economic life. Unfortunately, the events of Boipatong and the recent Ciskei

massacres have dashed our hopes that there would shortly come into being a

truly united, democratic and non-racial society in South Africa.

On the subject of this same country, I should like to voice the great

hope that we place in the recent Mandela-De Klerk meeting. Our most earnest

hope is that the negotiations for the establishment of a representative

government can be resumed as soon as possible and that democracy and law will

finally win the day.

The developments in Western Sahara give us reason to believe that a

solution to this problem can be found in the near future. We welcome the

climate that prevails at present and which proves the readiness of the parties

to the conflict to contribute to finding a solution by peaceful means. We

also commend the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in

this matter and encourage him in his efforts to bring about a rapid solution

to the problem.

One of the greatest threats to international peace and security has been

the Middle East crisis, at the heart of which is the problem of Palestine.

This problem is indeed a major challenge and one which our Organization must

meet in order to strengthen its credibility and enhance its standing on the

international scene.

In the light of the principles set forth in the Charter and the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights it is indeed intolerable that the Palestinian

people, in their legitimate struggle to claim their inalienable right to a

homeland, should continue to be subjected to brutalities inflicted by the

Israeli authorities.

With the hope that there will be a settlement of the Palestinian crisis,

the international community places great hope in the international Conference

for peace in that region. That is, quite clearly, the only means that can

produce a viable solution to the problem by peaceful means.

Thus the new spirit characterizing international relations and the

readiness that has been evinced at present by the parties concerned permit us

to hope that the peace process begun last October in Madrid will continue and

will lead to a happy outcome of this situation. The Government of the

Comoros, whose support for the struggle of the Palestinian people has been

unflagging, continues to believe that the solution of the Palestinian problem

necessarily implies taking into account the just claim of that people, that

is, their right to have a homeland.

The Gulf region will not be able to heal the wounds opened up by the

aggression against, and occupation of, Kuwait by Iraq as long as Iraq fails to

relinquish its unjustified claims against the State of Kuwait and as long as

Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq are not returned to their country in safety and

honour. For the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros the necessary

conditions for the restoration of peace in this region are entirely the

responsibility of Iraq.

Turning to a different area, we note with pleasure the improvement in the

situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula as a result of the joint efforts

being made by the north and south of that country to find a swift solution to

the problem. The Korean people have long suffered from the division of their

country and it is high time for the international community to render its

support with a view to bringing about its reunification.

In this connection, my Government welcomes the coming into force of the

Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation

between the two parties as well as the Joint Declaration of the

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Similarly, the situation in Cambodia today is looking more promising as

regards a final solution to the problem. The United Nations and the entire

international community are aware that restoring peace in this country

necessarily implies a comprehensive political solution resulting from genuine

negotiations and has always emphasized this way of proceeding. We welcome the

efforts which have been made by our Organization and by the world community

which resulted in the agreements signed between the Cambodian parties

concerned. The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros finally hopes that

following free and democratic elections Cambodia will regain its peace and

stability.

In view of the rate at which authoritarian regimes are disappearing, I

think we have every reason to believe that shortly there will no longer be any

question of dictatorship in the world; freedom, dialogue and multiparty

systems will have finally won the day, where force and violence triumphed in

the past.

How then can we not be optimistic in view of the fact that, similarly,

the thousands of voices raised in favour of recognizing the most essential

human rights will finally be heeded as a result of the World Conference on

Human Rights which is scheduled for 1993?

Turning to the area of economic and social development, it is regrettable

to note that the very positive changes which are occurring internationally in

the political field have not been accompanied by any economic progress. Thus,

the problems of external indebtedness, in addition to the deterioration of the

terms of trade and the decrease in development aid, continue to widen the gap

that exists between the developed and the developing countries. The case of

Africa, which comprises more than 20 of the least-developed countries,

deserves careful attention.

The adoption of the United Nations Programme of Action for African

Economic Recovery and Development has aroused great hope in us. We therefore

appeal to the international community to live up to the commitments it made

when this Programme was adopted and to lend its assistance to African

development efforts. Similarly, since we are desirous of a flourishing

economy for our countries, Comoros supports the decision of the Government of

Japan to convene an international conference on the development of Africa in

1993.

Further, the current trend in world economics is directed more and more

towards the creation of more open and more sound economic and trade blocs. It

is for that reason that the process of regional integration has now been

recognized as being an indispensable factor in promoting economic development,

particularly the development of the developing countries.

Thus, the Comoros have become a member of the Indian Ocean Commission and

have pledged to ratify the Treaty creating the African Economic Community as

soon as the country has a national assembly.

In order to revamp its own economy and to initiate the process of

harmonious development, the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros has just

signed, with the international financial institutions of Bretton Woods, a

programme of structural adjustment. But as the Assembly is aware, the

implementation of the measures set forth in such a programme necessarily and

always entail consequences which are very difficult for the most disadvantaged

strata of the population to bear.

What can we say at this stage about the Rio de Janeiro summit? Despite

the unhappy realities of the depletion of the ozone layer and the continued

degradation of the ecological environment, let us recognize one thing at

least: the meeting in Rio de Janeiro had the merit of taking account of our

concerns and projections with respect to environmental problems. Now that the

relationship between the environment and development is unquestionable, we are

resolved no longer to divorce one from the other. In order to ensure the

viability of the strategy and programmes adopted by our various development

meetings, it is essential to pay particular attention to the environment.

Thus, the cooperation of the countries of the North in financing Agenda 21 is

absolutely necessary.

Democratic transition is a phenomenon which differs according to the

specific features of each country. The Comoros itself is of course no

exception to this rule. This is regarded as a period of transition which is

needed to harmonize the democratic process in all its aspects.

Consequently, the Comorian Government, despite a very disturbing

financial and economic situation which has produced considerable social

tension, has during this transitional stage adopted a posture favourable to

dialogue, convinced that confrontation should in all circumstances give way to

dialogue. Because of this attitude we are completely in control of the

situation. Thus, stability has at no time been jeopardized, as is proved by

the fact that we foiled the attempted coup d'etat of 26 September last.

This attempt failed because the Comorian people, aware of its

Government's efforts to set up the necessary democratic institutions and to

create the circumstances which would promote its social development, did not

respond to an appeal, the purpose of which was to compromise the chances of

creating a real State of law. In order to realize these noble ambitions, the

Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros is once more turning to the

international community, to the United Nations, and to its great family in

particular, to remind them that now, more than ever, it has need of their

unflagging support to save this embryonic democracy and to place it on a solid

basis.

I cannot conclude my remarks before the Assembly without referring to the

question of the Comorian island of Mayotte, which has appeared on successive

agendas of sessions of the General Assembly since we acceded to international

sovereignty. This unfortunate problem has been going on for 17 years now and

to our great regret pits us against France, a country with which we have very

close ties of friendship and cooperation. We will not go into the facts which

underlie this problem here since the question is to be the subject of a

special debate in a few days. I should simply like to recall that the Islamic

Federal Republic of the Comoros has always favoured dialogue and has always

abided by the rule of law in its attempts to find a peaceful solution to the

question.

Nevertheless, the Comorian Government notes with some bitterness that no

decision has as yet been taken on the French side which would show evidence on

the part of the French authorities of a desire to find a solution to the

problem.

Since his accession to the High Court, President Said Mohamed Djohar,

with the support of his government, has reaffirmed his desire and resolve to

persevere in seeking a solution to the problem of Mayotte, while respecting

the law.

As they are convinced of the correctness of their claims, the people and

the Government of Comoros continue to believe that Mayotte is part of Comorian

territory and nothing can undermine their will to work for the reintegration

of this land into the Comoros. Hence the Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros hopes that it will always be able to rely on the valuable support of

the international community to find a prompt solution to this dispute.

This assistance is essential if the Federal Islamic Republic of the

Comoros is to regain its territorial integrity and its unity, which are based

on ethnogeographical, linguistic, religious, cultural and economic givens,

even though ours is an island country.

Over and above the policy of economic and financial recovery that has

been implemented in the Comoros, my country has resolutely embarked on a

process of democratization that has culminated in the adoption of a new

Constitution on 7 June this year. In a month's time, the Comorian people is

to elect the representatives to the national assembly and to the regional

councils and the governors of the islands. Need I recall that the twofold

effort of Said Mohamed Djohar and his Government to ensure, firstly, economic

and financial recovery and, secondly, to establish democracy, is a major

undertaking that requires the necessary conditions to be met for it to

succeed. I therefore appeal to the international community to lend its most

valuable support to our young democracy.

When the San Francisco Charter was adopted, the principal goal of the

prime movers of our Organization was to seek ways and means to build, for all

nations, a future of peace, progress and justice. Today, this vision of the

founding fathers, given the new international relations scene, has the ideal

framework for it to be made reality.

We therefore must give the United Nations our support, and give it the

necessary means, to enable it properly to carry out the mission that has been

assigned to it.

In conclusion, I reiterate that the Comoros is confident that our

Organization can resolve all the problems, of whatever kind, that afflict our

world. What is needed here is that States should have the will to contribute

to achieving this noble goal.