Comoros, 1998

Allow me at the outset, Mr. President, on behalf of the

people and Government of my country, the Islamic Federal

Republic of the Comoros, to extend my sincere condolences

to all the States and peoples who have suffered devastation

from Hurricane Georges, and to the victims of the floods in

the People’s Republic of China and in Bangladesh.

I am pleased to be able to join with the distinguished

and worthy representatives of States and Governments who

have preceded me at this rostrum in extending to you, Sir,

on behalf of the President of the Islamic Federal Republic

of the Comoros, His Excellency El Hadj Mohamed Taki

Abdoulkarim, my warm congratulations on your election to

the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-third

regular session.

I also pay tribute to your predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, as well as to the greatly respected

Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of our Organization,

for the dedication, skill and other outstanding qualities

which they have shown in carrying out their respective functions.

My country, which is located at the north-west

entrance to the Mozambique Channel, half way between the

East African coast and the large island of Madagascar,

small, fragmented and geographically isolated though it is,

was accepted to full membership in the United Nations on

12 November 1975 by resolution 3385 (XXX), as a State

comprising the islands of Anjouan, Grande-Comore —

also known as Ngazidja — Mayotte and Mohéli.

We should also note that from 1889 until the

referendum through which my country acceded to

independence, all the laws and other regulatory texts

applied by the former colonial Power recognized and

sanctioned the territorial unity and integrity of the

archipelago of the Comoros.

Thus for 23 years, at each of the regular sessions of

this Assembly, successive resolutions have been adopted

recalling that the continuation of the legal, administrative

and military hold of the former colonial Power over the

Comorian island of Mayotte is a flagrant violation of

resolution 1514 (XV) and of the fundamental principles

of the United Nations Charter. We therefore hope that the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) Ad Hoc Committee

of Seven on the Question of the Comorian Island of

Mayotte, presided over by His Excellency Mr. Omar

Bongo, President of the Republic of Gabon, will resume

its work and re-establish the dialogue between the

Comoros and France on this question.

Finally, we appeal to the wisdom and goodwill

beyond our continent, so that the Comoros can return

once and for all to the path of peace, security and hope.

I should like solemnly to appeal to this Assembly for

assistance to my country so that a solution to the problem

caused by its dismemberment can be found and my

country can enter the twenty-first century as a reunited

country.

The people, Government and head of State whom I

am honoured and privileged to represent here today would

like to express, through my delegation, their gratitude and

acknowledgement to the Secretary-General of our

universal Organization for the clarity and lucidity of his

analysis of the causes of conflict on the African continent

and for his courageous initiatives in the search for peace

and sustainable development in Africa and throughout the

world. In this context, we urge the United Nations system

and its specialized agencies to do all in their power to

ensure the rapid and complete implementation of all of

the recommendations provided by the Secretary-General

in his report to the Security Council which he presented

last April.

4

My Government urgently appeals to the international

community for cooperation to effectively combat terrorism

in all its forms. Only international determination, with

respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, will

make it possible to put an end to horrendous terrorist acts.

Terrorism spares no part of the world and no stratum of

society. Who can forget the murderous acts committed this

summer in Omagh, Ireland; Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam;

Cape Town, South Africa; and Luxor, Egypt? For our part,

my Government is cooperating openly and fully with the

American authorities to shed light on the suspected

participation of a national of my country in the abhorrent

crimes committed in East Africa.

Since my country is a telling example of the hotbeds

of tension which are now mobilizing the resources of the

international community, I should like to recall that for a

year and a half now the Organization of African Unity has

taken up — in close cooperation with the League of Arab

States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and,

very recently, the Non-Aligned Movement — the separatist

crisis on the Comorian island of Anjouan and the links to

be established with the dismemberment of our archipelago

State by the island of Mayotte’s continuing to be under

foreign administration.

The efforts and commitments of the Secretary-General

of the OAU, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, and his Special

Envoys, Ambassador Pierre Yéré and Mr. Mamoudou Kane,

since the beginning of the crisis, as well as the efforts of

the Governments involved in regional coordination to

resolve the crisis in the Comoros, namely, Kenya, Tanzania,

Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius and the

Seychelles, have been recognized and deserve admiration

and support.

My country’s people, Government and head of State

would like to convey through my delegation to the entire

international community their commitment to peace and

unity and reconciliation between the community of islands

which make up the nation of the Comoros.

Special mention should be made here of the most

respected statesman of our world, President Nelson

Mandela, who, in his dual capacity as head of State

entrusted with regional coordination to resolve the crisis in

the Comoros, mandated by the OAU, and Chairman of the

Non-Aligned Movement, has agreed to bring to bear his full

authority and his personal prestige throughout the world to

call upon the parties in conflict in the Comoros to conclude

a peace of the brave, in which there is neither victor nor

vanquished, peace brought about for the greatest possible

benefit of the inhabitants of our archipelago State.

In the light of the claims and the rights

acknowledged by our institutions, traditions, conventions

and customs in a multi-island society, El Hadj Mohamed

Taki Abdoulkarim, President of the Islamic Federal

Republic of the Comoros, declared after the OAU summit

in Ouagadougo, and again recently in Durban during the

NAM summit, that he was ready to work in a spirit of

openness and reconciliation for greater decentralization

and autonomy for each of the four islands making up our

archipelago State. Thus each of our islands will be able

to elect a governor and a local legislative assembly to

deal with all matters relating to the immediate and

particular concerns of each of our communities of the

islands of the archipelago State. An inter-island

commission will work for the equitable and proportional

distribution of the international community’s resources

and investments.

Here I quote what El Hadj Mohamed Taki

Abdoulkarim has rightly said, as follows:

“This is an issue of bringing the administration

closer to its subjects, promoting the responsibility

within a single citizenry and restoring the federal

bodies of a united State their fundamental roles of

organization, arbitration and the management of

international sovereignty.

“The future of our country will only be ensured

when all opinions and all trends, in an atmosphere

of greater tolerance, are accepted and fulfilled.”

(spoke in Arabic)

“Thus have We made of you

An Unmat justly balanced.

That ye might be witnesses

Over the nations,

And the Messenger a witness

Over yourselves”. (The Holy Koran, II:143)