Comoros, 1997

The unanimous election of the President of the

fifty-second session of the General Assembly of the

United Nations was a tribute not only to his outstanding

diplomatic qualities, but also to his country, Ukraine —

with which the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros

fully intends to have good relations of friendship and

cooperation. I would like to associate myself with the

previous speakers in extending to him, on behalf of my

delegation, our warm congratulations and to wish him all

success in carrying out his noble task.

Allow me also to pay a well-deserved tribute to his

predecessor, Mr. Razali Ismail, for the dedication and

skill with which he guided the work and shouldered the

task of President of the fifty-first session of our General

Assembly.

I would also like to take this opportunity to extend

my sincere congratulations to our new Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, on his outstanding election. I would like

to express our deep gratitude to this illustrious advocate

of the ideals of peace, solidarity and justice for his

unswerving dedication to the service of our institution.

His experience in international affairs, together with his

personal qualities, clearly guarantees that the United

Nations will be given new impetus as it faces the new

challenges confronting it.

7

At a time when we are meeting in the General

Assembly to assess — as is our custom — the work carried

out by our Organization in the areas of peacekeeping, the

strengthening of international cooperation, the development

of reforms required if the United Nations is to adapt to the

needs of our time, we are obliged to note that the world

continues to fall prey to numerous types of threats, tensions

and ills of all sorts.

Thus, it is obvious that our Organization must play a

very critical and primary role. However, in this period of

globalization — of the obvious and irrevocable

interdependence of nations, democracy, good governance

and transparency in the management of public affairs —

our Organization remains the target of those who wish to

minimize and limit its role by preventing it from paying

still greater attention to the problems of poor and

disadvantaged countries. It goes without saying that this

concept is not conducive to promoting the atmosphere of

detente in international relations that has been awaited for

so long.

Bearing in mind the noble tasks for which the

Organization was founded, in particular the building of a

just, peaceful and better integrated world society, it would

be wise and reasonable for the major concerns of our

Organization, since the end of the cold war, to be

mobilization for disarmament and the search for solutions

that can encourage the development policies of States,

cooperation and international solidarity.

The trials and tribulations of history have once again

placed my country, the Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros, on the first page of international news. The tragic

events of the last few months are the result of an

unprecedented social and economic crisis which is battering

my country. Indeed, counted among the least developed

countries, over the last few years the Comoran State has

witnessed a deterioration of the markets for its export

products — vanilla, cloves, perfume oils, and so forth —

due to strong international competition.

The poor sales of these products, which are the major

sources of revenue for the State, and therefore for a

majority of the inhabitants of the Comoros, have been

compounded by the devaluation of our currency, without

appropriate accompanying measures. This economic state of

affairs has only served to exacerbate the already poor and

vulnerable condition of a considerable sector of the

population of the Comoros. Here I have in mind the

galloping unemployment and the rising curve of poverty.

In this situation, which is of concern in many ways,

the authorities of the Comoros, together with the Bretton

Woods institutions, decided on a number of measures

aimed at balancing State revenues and expenditures.

These include a reduction in gross salaries; the

privatization of State firms; a reduction of the operational

State budget; and the launching of projects to generate

revenue and permanent jobs.

These new guidelines were put forth on the eve of

the free and democratic elections organized under the

aegis of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the

European Union and the United Nations. On 16 March

1996, these elections carried President Mohamed Taki

Abdoulkarim to the highest post in my country.

Indeed, the catastrophic situation inherited by the

newly elected President required the swiftest possible start

of political, economic and social reforms capable of

meeting the numerous challenges impeding the building

of a democratic, prosperous and united society.

Among the efforts made along these lines by the

new political authorities of the Comoros, we could

mention the regular payment since 1997 of State officials'

salaries.

However, despite this new impetus, the discontent

spawned by a series of crises and tragedies in my

country's recent history finally caught up with the harsh

socio-economic facts of life of the Comorian people.

Expressed in different ways, in line with the

susceptibilities on all sides, the rumblings of this

discontent got out of bounds on the Comorian island of

Anjouan. Indeed, since March 1997, various

movements — both trade union and political — coalesced

into an organization whose activism threatens the very

heart of the Comorian State.

From the illegal occupation of public buildings to

the trampling underfoot of the national flag, these factions

sowing terror on the island of Anjouan used all kinds of

methods to provoke the central power.

These outrageous actions, which have been

unanimously condemned by the international community,

were exacerbated by the proclamation of a pseudo-

independence of the island of Anjouan.

Despite all these acts of provocation, the President

of the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros,

8

determined to preserve peace and national unity, opted for

the path of dialogue and agreed action. Within this

framework, the Government of the Comoros requested the

mediation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) with

a view to achieving a peaceful settlement of this domestic

crisis.

As a result of the discussions initiated by the OAU

mission, certain decisions, accepted by all sides, were taken

designed to facilitate a return to normalcy — in particular,

the withdrawal of military reinforcements, the provision to

the island of vitally necessary foodstuffs, the organization

of examinations at the end of the school year, and so on.

The response to this spirit of reconciliation by the

separatists was the continuation of one act of escalation

after another; they occupied the presidential residence at

Hombo, in Anjouan and levied direct and indirect taxes on

the island, having emptied the coffers of the State.

Faced with such an exacerbation of the situation,

which was a violation of the authority of the State, the

Government was obliged to send a military mission to

Anjouan to re-establish public and Republican order.

This mission, which began on the morning of 2

September, had nearly achieved its goal by 4 September,

without bloodshed. But the subsequent turn of events led

the President of the Republic, still determined to preserve

civil order, to take the necessary emergency measures under

article 20 of the Constitution of the Islamic Federal

Republic of the Comoros, dealing with full powers.

This is why, acting under this Article, a State

transition commission was appointed and given the

prerogatives normally given members of the Government:

to carry on the conduct of current affairs of State; to

continue the indispensable negotiations begun with the

OAU, the United Nations, the League of Arab States and

all other bodies involved in the search for a solution to the

crisis afflicting the country; to implement and give concrete

form to solutions agreed on, in consultation with the World

Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF); to

prepare for signature the programme of adjustment with the

Bretton Woods institutions; and to prepare the final

procedures for ultimate signature of the eighth European

Development Fund, in collaboration with the European

Union and the countries of the Asian, Caribbean and Pacific

region.

During this transitional stage it should be possible to

restructure institutions with a view to giving the islands of

the Republic broad management autonomy and more

active participation in the process of development in the

islands of the Comoros as a whole.

At a time when my country's territorial integrity

remains threatened, at a time when arbitrary separatist

actions are again battering my country, I should like from

this rostrum to launch a heartfelt appeal to the entire

international community to assist the Islamic Federal

Republic of the Comoros to eradicate the ills which are

destroying it, namely underdevelopment and

destabilization.

While it is true that we must first and foremost

count on our own strengths, the Islamic Federal Republic

of the Comoros also knows that it can count on the

United Nations, our Organization, with its specialized

agencies, including the United Nations Development

Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the

World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture

Organization.

The Comoros also knows it can count on OAU, the

League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic

Conference, and the European Union.

We can only reiterate here our full confidence in,

and deep gratitude for, the tireless and determined efforts

they have unceasingly made to ensure the economic

development of, and peace and security for, the Islamic

Federal Republic of the Comoros.

After this broad overview of the terrible events

which my country is enduring, we are obliged to note

that, today, more than ever before, the question of

underdevelopment remains the major source of threats to

peace and international security.

While we recognize that on the threshold of the third

millennium our Organization remains the guarantor of the

emancipation of peoples and the progressive elimination

of poverty, it is also incontestable that the daily struggle

with hunger, malnutrition and illiteracy and the problem

of ensuring good health for everyone are challenges to

our collective conscience.

What can more significantly illustrate the will of our

institution to eradicate these scourges than the series of

conferences which have been held throughout the past

decade? I have in mind the New York World Summit for

Children, the Rio Conference on Environment and

Development, the Vienna World Conference on Human

9

Rights, the Cairo International Conference on Population

and Development, the Copenhagen World Summit for

Social Development, the Beijing Fourth World Conference

on Women, the Istanbul Conference on Human Settlements,

and the Rome World Food Summit. All these conferences

aroused great hopes in all of mankind but their effects are

still in an embryonic stage, particularly for the developing,

least developed and island countries.

The hopes born of these international meetings are like

a distant horizon that seems to recede as one gets nearer to

it.

The Government of the Islamic Federal Republic of

the Comoros reaffirms its support for the reforms

recommended for our Organization, in particular those

relating to the enlargement of the Security Council, since

our evolving world has taken on new contours. These

include new forms of violence, and our current means of

dealing with them seems increasingly inadequate and

unsuitable. The strengthening and maintenance of peace

within States is today a new concern of our Organization,

confronted as it is by civil wars, genocide, ethnic cleansing,

terrorism, mercenaries and all forms of transnational crime.

The new international political landscape is, to be sure,

a result of the new forms of tension, which tend to

overshadow some of the conflicts well known to our

Organization.

Since horrors know no limits, the Comoros

Government is still concerned by the resurgence of violence

in the Middle East, which has had a negative effect on the

dynamism that had been set in motion by the signing of the

Oslo agreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Thus the provocations by the new Israeli authorities,

the continuation of the settlement policy, the closing off of

Palestinian territories, the demolition of houses, and the

arbitrary arrests all furnish eloquent proof of the

impediments to the peace process.

The new conflagration in that part of the world

requires the international community to redouble its

vigilance so as to ensure the peoples of the subregion the

right to peaceful coexistence, for which one of the

prerequisites is respect for the right of the Palestinians to a

free and independent State.

Along the same lines, the occupation of part of

Lebanese national territory by foreign troops is a serious

threat that every day delays the national reconciliation of

a long-suffering people that continues to seek stability.

From East to West, from North to South, other

conflicts with various motivations continue to rage and

pose serious threats to international peace and security.

While it is true that it has been possible to find the

beginnings of solutions thanks to the perseverance of our

Organization, it remains no less true that other solutions

which have been advocated have proved of limited value.

The pictures of desolation, exposing the sufferings

endured by countries subject to economic embargoes, lead

us to question the effectiveness of a solution that first and

foremost punishes vulnerable and innocent populations.

Africa unfortunately has not been spared the cycle of

violence, despite the resolution of certain conflicts that

had long plunged this continent into fratricidal wars.

Other hotbeds of tension remain, and Africa therefore

continues to be at the forefront of the international

community’s concerns. In the Great Lakes region, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Somalia

continue to be theatres for bloody and tragic events.

Faced with all these situations of crisis and conflict,

my Government unreservedly supports the initiatives

underway to achieve negotiated settlements.

As for Sierra Leone, the Comorian Republic most

firmly condemns the violent coup against the leaders of

Sierra Leone, whom the people of that country —

wishing to break with the practices of a bygone age —

legally and democratically chose.

As two sides of the same coin, at the international

level, political and economic situations remain closely

linked. Thus this gloomy view of the international

political landscape is made even darker by the

disheartening international economic environment.

Despite the priorities and objectives set forth by the

new development strategies, we are obliged to note that

the results are less than expected. But we venture to hope

that the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on

Africa, which recently became a supplement to the New

Agenda, will provide the impetus to speed up Africa’s

integration into the international system of trade. Under

this system, small States continue to experience reduced

prices for their raw materials, and their burden of debt is

becoming ever more unbearable.

10

The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, a small

island State and one of the least developed States, shares

the plight of those who are excluded from the international

market. For, in addition to limited natural resources and the

high cost of international transportation, it suffers from

other political and structural restraints, which are slowing

down its socio-economic development.

Given the virtually chronic instability that has

characterized the recent history of the Comoros, the

Comorian people are obliged to ask whether they have the

right to peace and the right to life.

The Comorian people remain convinced that the search

for a just and lasting solution enabling it to embark on a

path of harmonious socio-economic development

necessarily hinges on a final settlement to the question of

the Comorian island of Mayotte, which is under French

administration. I reserve the right to speak on this subject

during the debate. For there can be no doubt that the

present events in my country are a corollary to the

incomplete decolonization and to the socio-economic crisis

from which the Comorian people have suffered.

In conclusion, I associate myself with previous

speakers in extending to the brotherly and friendly

Government and people of Indonesia condolences on the

crash of the aircraft that claimed so many lives, as well as

our profound grief at the disaster that their country has

suffered as a result of the fires that are devastating their

forests.