Comoros, 2002

A

year has gone by since the entire world mourned the

victims of the World Trade Center tragedy and

condemned the barbaric acts most formally. Today,

from this rostrum, on behalf of the Union of the

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Comoros and the Comorian people, I wish to evoke the

memory of all those who in the United States and

elsewhere have suffered injustice at the hands of those

who have acted outside faith or law. We condemn

terrorism in all its forms.

Allow me to congratulate President Kavan

warmly on behalf of the delegation of the Union of the

Comoros, which I have the honour to head. I also wish

to convey the trust and confidence that we have in him

to lead the work of this session, based on his

experience, personal qualities and diplomatic expertise.

Permit me also to convey to His Excellency Mr. Han

Seung-soo our great pleasure and admiration by

recognizing the outstanding work he did as President of

the previous session. I wish to convey a strong tribute

to His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, our Secretary-

General, for his constant devotion in the service of our

Organization.

The Union of the Comoros heartily welcomes

Switzerland and Timor-Leste as new Members of our

Organization. The United Nations is an organization

whose duty it is to assure humankind the conditions of

living in peace, dignity and prosperity. This is an

enormous and large-scale task that surely poses certain

daunting difficulties that we will need to overcome.

This must be so, because in no way must we or should

we shrink away from obstacles and challenges. This

institution must be the true guarantor of the hopes of

present and future generations.

This requires a true awareness of its universality,

which calls for reforming its main organs. These

organs must be in a position to reflect and adapt to the

reality of the present world.

Furthermore, and in a different context, this new

political framework must go hand in hand with

development, a development that takes into account the

inequalities, but also the specificities of each place.

There are many evils gnawing at our planet, but they

affect us in different degrees. The advances of the

technological world of the North contrast with the

fierce struggle of the South, even now in the twenty-

first century, to achieve the most basic living

conditions. The extreme poverty of the South, AIDS,

tuberculosis and malaria are all offensive to human

dignity. The South's struggle for survival is meaningful

only if it finds some response in the North. This

presupposes recognition of the equality of rights and of

inequality of means to guarantee these rights.

In Africa, initiatives such as the New Partnership

for Africa's Development (NEPAD) have been devised

to address and remedy a socio-economic situation that

has led to the most atrocious effects. But we must

recognize that NEPAD's viability also depends on the

North's good will to contribute to finding an

appropriate solution to the main problems of the

African continent.

Our countries, on the other hand, place their

hopes in the recommendations of the World Summit on

Sustainable Development recently held in

Johannesburg. This world forum took into account the

human being and all the dimensions of life and

survival. In other words, we hope that, by the year

2015, we will actually see a reduction in poverty by

half, so that we may address priorities other than

hunger, disease and war, among others.

The time has come for our countries to save our

peoples from the many agonies of war and from

traumatic effects on our children and to put an end to

the unprecedented losses suffered by our economies

due to the exorbitant cost of weapons that harm our

lives and those of our children. It is time to become

aware of our heavy responsibility to ensure that future

generations are not sacrificed to history.

From another standpoint, war seeks only to prove

one's force to another, and prove one's capacity to

destroy. From that perspective, it can only be nefarious.

This has led Comorians to banish any attempt to do

anything that would lead us to confrontation. We

reinforce our internal forces, which, together with our

wisdom and the culture of the Comoros, lead us to

forgive. We base this on our religion, Islam, which

advocates tolerance, peace and love of neighbour.

Guided by these sacred principles, the people of

Comoros, after four years of upheaval in its socio-

political sphere, finally found itself, found

reconciliation and decided to heal its old wounds.

Thus, on the initiative of President Azali, the various

parties of the Comoros came to an agreement of

national reconciliation, with the support of the

Organization of African Unity and the International

Organization of la Francophonie.

Following this agreement and after establishing a

Transitional Government of national unity, pluralistic,

transparent and democratic presidential elections for

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the Union of the Comoros and for the islands took

place. The contest was run in a legitimate way and the

winner was the outgoing President, Colonel Azali

Assoumani. Following the elections, every island was

given its own president, with full responsibility for

self-management. Toward the end of this year, we will

hold legislative elections intended to establish national

institutions and to provide the country with a

parliament. This next stage is also of crucial

importance. In fact, with the establishment of the

parliaments, we will be able to address and settle many

outstanding issues not settled by the constitutions of

the islands and the Constitution of the Union. These

constitutions have often referred to organic laws, which

must be enacted by the parliaments.

We must recognize that this silence, this absence

of legislation, may have led to misunderstanding, but

this has not interfered with the regular functioning of

the administration. Furthermore, commissions have

been established to review modalities that are to enable

the progressive transfer of powers to the authorities of

the autonomous islands subject to the provisions of the

various constitutions. It is obvious that beginnings are

often difficult. In these circumstances, this transfer, as

well as the procedures for the distribution of State

property, have sometimes met with disagreement from

one quarter or another. This is understandable in a

country that had formerly been managed under a

different system.

This situation can be explained, in our view, by

the absence of organic laws that would determine

details of essential aspects currently subject to protest

by various parties. We trust that with the establishment

of the Parliament, these misunderstandings will be

allayed and will yield to the harmony needed to

manage the political life of the autonomous islands and

of the Union.

I wish to convey the deep appreciation of the

people and the Government of the Comoros to all the

brotherly and friendly countries and all the regional

and international institutions which have to date

supported us in every respect. Their cooperation has

been indispensable, and, together with the wisdom of

the people of the Comoros, has enabled us to avoid the

worst in a small country where we are all one family.

We pay enthusiastic tribute to their actions. Equally, it

is our wish that crises in other parts of the world will

have a satisfactory conclusion. We appeal to all

partners of the Comoros to continue supporting our

country as it pursues its socio-economic development.

Without minimizing the question of the Comorian

island of Mayotte, I wish to refer to that subject last of

all. This is a matter of great concern to the people and

the Government of my country. In fact, this is a matter

of sovereignty, and thus of dignity and patriotic

conscience, which we cannot abandon, because by

doing so we would be abandoning our identity, our

culture, our civilization, our history and our geography.

In our quest for a solution to this problem, a single

principle guides us and a single will moves us to

resolve this painful dispute with respect for

international law and in accordance with the relevant

resolutions of the United Nations, while at the same

time preserving the benefits we enjoy within the

framework of our relations with France. In that respect,

speaking on behalf of the Government of the Union of

the Comoros, I fervently appeal to France to ensure

that a dialogue begins.

The strategy we advocate has the advantage of

insuring that the Comorian Island of Mayotte will not

remain in isolation, that it will be incorporated into a

regional framework which will bring it closer to its

sister islands as well as to its neighbours in the

subregion. We therefore hope the same considerations

will prevail on the French side so that together we can

reach an agreement which will guarantee greater calm

and better understanding within our long-standing

relationship.

Whenever I address this question I recall the great

Tunisian poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi, who invites us

not to despair and to rely on reason.

If people ever want life

Then time must respond,

Night must dissipate and shackles

Must be shattered.'