Comoros, 2005

Taking

the floor for the first time before this Assembly, it is

my genuine pleasure warmly to congratulate you, Sir,

on your election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixtieth session. Your election was a

personal honour to you and a recognition of the

diplomatic skills that we all acknowledge. It also

enhances the prestigious image of your country. Please

rest assured of the support of the Union of the

Comoros as you complete your exalted mission.

Your predecessor, Mr. Jean Ping, deserves our full

admiration and congratulations on the effectiveness and

devotion with which he led the work of the fifty-ninth

session.

I also wish to reiterate our confidence in

Secretary-General Kofi Annan and above all to express

our gratitude for his tireless commitment to establishing

a more just, peaceful and prosperous world.

Our world faces challenges and threats that

jeopardize our security and prosperity. And yet, we

have also seen unprecedented technological and

scientific development. That disparity highlights the

stark reversal of our human values and of the basic

principles of promoting peace, respect for human

dignity and international solidarity.

Is there any need to list the modern scourges that

have engulfed every region of the world: extremism,

terrorism, ethnic cleansing and others? In addition to

that stark assessment of the state of the world — a

result of the failure of the human conscience — we

have also been struck by natural disasters, including

floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,

tidal waves and, sadly, many others.

To cite just the most recent example, Hurricane

Katrina, which devastated Louisiana, is a striking

illustration of that phenomenon. Through me, the

Government of the Union of the Comoros offers its

deep sympathy to the United States of America

authorities and the entire American people.

Like the victims of natural disasters, the victims

of violence and human injustice have no recourse other

than this Organization, entrusted with the most noble

mission of defending and preserving their dignity. But

the Organization will need a new impetus to spur

international action worthy of the expectations of our

peoples.

We must therefore redefine our vision of world

security. We must keep the human being at the heart of

our considerations and take every parameter of human

security into account. Indeed, there can be no lasting

peace while poverty, disease, despair, war and

oppression persist. In a word, there can be no peace if

we are insecure about our daily lives and the future.

There is an ineluctable link between peace and the

development to which we all aspire. We must therefore

set ourselves a code of good behaviour and create a life

in which the law reigns supreme.

We must reinvigorate and re-energize the United

Nations in order effectively to prepare it to face the

problems of the modern world. At the same time, the

composition of its bodies should be as representative as

possible so as to enshrine and embody its universality

and safeguard the sovereign equality of States,

especially the smallest among them. As the supreme

global institution, the United Nations should also

operate on the basis of rules and norms recognized and

approved by all, which will strengthen its credibility.

Only thus will we will truly be able to solve the

problems of terrorism, addressing them at their roots,

and express our sympathy for and solidarity with those

who have devoted their entire lives to fighting

exclusion and injustice.

At this very moment, I have a deeply considered

thought for all those who have fought for noble causes

throughout the world. The brotherly people of

Palestine offers a perfect illustration thereof. Indeed,

the aspirations of the Palestinian people are those of a

nation reclaiming its dignity and security. In the

interests of all the peoples of the Middle East, the

peace process must continue, because building and

maintaining peace is essential to our world. It is critical

that a Palestinian State be established and allowed to

live in peace, security and stability with the State of

Israel and its other neighbours.

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My country welcomes Israel’s withdrawal from

the Gaza Strip, a decisive step in the quest for a timely,

just and equitable solution to that long drawn-out

problem. We are convinced that this gesture augurs

well for the region and peoples concerned.

As for Iraq, adequate conditions must be

established to promote genuine progress towards

peace, which will guarantee the stability necessary to

the country’s socio-economic development.

The situation in Asia also deserves the focused

attention of the international community. The stalemate

in the issue of the Chinese province of Taiwan, to cite

just one instance, is not conducive to the promotion of

stability in that part of the world. That is why, in its

concern for the ongoing prevalence of law in

international relations, and in order to guarantee

respect for the national unity of countries, the Union of

the Comoros urges the General Assembly to heed the

legitimate claims of the Government of the People’s

Republic of China over the Chinese province of

Taiwan.

With regard to Africa, we welcome the imminent

settlement of certain crises, including in the Republic

of the Sudan, where current developments are opening

the prospects for effective national reconciliation. The

Government of the Union of the Comoros encourages

the Sudanese parties to persevere along that path.

As to other crises that remain unresolved, we

urge the international community to play a lead role in

finding solutions. Indeed, stability remains a

paramount condition for the success of Africa’s

economic development efforts through the New

Partnership for Africa’s Development and other

regional and international initiatives seeking the same

goal. Likewise, those efforts will remain inconclusive

so long as HIV/AIDS, malaria, drepanocytosis and

other diseases continue to rage in our countries. Other

threats include drought, famine, locust infestations,

extreme poverty and the debt burden stifling the

economies of our countries. We therefore commend the

initiative of convening a summit to assess the

Millennium Development Goals, which should allow

for the adoption of new arrangements for the

achievement of the Goals by 2015.

Environmental problems affect all States and are

a source of genuine concern to us all. Unbridled

pollution, the destruction of the ozone layer,

deforestation, rising sea levels — in a word, the

ceaseless deterioration of the environment — require

us all to heighten our awareness of those global threats.

And yet, while such problems may affect any

number of States, we should recall that some — the

small island developing States in particular — have

specific characteristics that must be taken into

consideration and addressed with greater attention. The

Union of the Comoros itself recently suffered a

volcanic eruption that severely damaged our

environment. Such continuous threats to our countries

call for the timely establishment of mechanisms to

prevent and manage natural disasters.

We welcome regional initiatives, including those

undertaken by the Indian Ocean Commission, to better

manage such situations and we urge the international

community also to provide us with its invaluable

assistance. I take this opportunity to thank the

Government of France, the United Nations

Development Programme, and all other friendly

countries and specialized agencies of the United

Nations that have greatly helped us to grapple with and

manage that disaster.

I spoke earlier of the inequalities prevalent in our

world. They are manifest at many levels, to be sure, but

the socio-economic aspect is the most glaring. Long

marginalized in world decision-making, our countries

of the South continue to suffer the consequences of our

economic fragility. The rules of the game in world

trade exclude us de facto from the playing field.

Moreover, the paucity of new information and

communications technologies in the South is a striking

reminder of the vast abyss in that field between our

countries and those of the North.

Debt continues to burden many countries of the

South, despite the fact that, thanks to a sudden surge of

generosity and, above all, responsibility on the part of

the wealthy countries, some saw their situation

revisited and improved by the cancellation of their

debt. That only highlights the urgency of the need to

assess the economic and financial situation of the

countries of the South in order for them to be

genuinely integrated into the dynamic of globalization.

If the disparities in and slow pace of the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in

general are to be redressed, a world partnership is

needed. In that context, special attention must be paid

to the least privileged social strata, including by

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providing access to financial services through the

promotion of microfinancing and microcredit.

Furthermore, we must address and objectively

analyse the issue of debt. We must prioritize the

cancellation of the public debt of the heavily indebted

poor countries, the least developed countries, and the

low- and medium-income developing countries.

Finally, international action should promote a fair,

regulated, open and non-discriminatory trading system,

notably by facilitating the developing countries’

accession to the World Trade Organization.

The United Nations is an irreplaceable forum. As

the crucible of our warning cries and our hopes for a

better world, it remains the perfect framework for

discussing the world situation and for opening a

window on the situation in each of our countries.

With respect to the Union of the Comoros, I am

pleased to announce from this rostrum that we have

completed our establishment of new institutions, which

are now operational. We thank everyone for their

important contributions to that end. We now have the

two-fold duty to consolidate the valuable achievements

of national reconciliation and to promote our country’s

socio-economic development.

With our development partners, we are therefore

striving to reinvigorate our cooperation and redirect it

towards the well-being of our people. In the same vein,

the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

is a priority of the Government of the Union of the

Comoros.

Furthermore, my country completed a staff-

monitored programme of the International Monetary

Fund in January 2005 and is working to streamline its

public finances with a view to concluding a Facility for

Poverty Reduction and Growth programme with the

Bretton Woods institutions so as to mobilize the

financial resources necessary to implementing its

development priorities.

In that respect, the Comoros authorities are also

attempting to implement a recommendation from the

international community to convene a donors

conference on our behalf. I therefore have the pleasure

of informing the Assembly that such a meeting, critical

to my country’s economic and social future, will be

held on 8 December in the Republic of Mauritius under

the auspices of the African Union. On behalf of my

country, I call on the international community to help

us to ensure the gathering’s success.

I also take this pleasant opportunity warmly to

thank the Republic of Mauritius for its generous offer

to host that important conference. In particular, we thank

Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam for

his readiness to co-preside the conference.

In the same vein, on behalf of the Government of

the Union of the Comoros, I pay a well-deserved

tribute to the Republic of South Africa for its ongoing

support for the Comoros and for having successfully

coordinated the efforts of the African Union and of

regional countries to achieve national reconciliation in

my country. The people of the Comoros sincerely and

happily welcome the tireless interest of Mr. Thabo

Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa, in

the future of our country and his willingness to co-

preside the donors conference.

I cannot conclude without raising here the issue

of the Comorian island of Mayotte. Following a series

of consultations held between French and Comorian

authorities in their common concern to find a solution

that will preserve the friendship and cooperation

between the two countries, safeguard the interests of

both States and satisfy the aspirations of the entire

population of the archipelago, a new process has been

launched. It will promote direct dialogue between the

two parties with a view to finding a solution that

protects everyone’s interests in accordance with the

law.

The Comorian Government has invested a great

deal of hope in the new dynamic. It believes that it can

trust the French Republic to strive for a joint and

honourable resolution of the situation. I therefore take

this opportunity to reaffirm my sincere thanks to all the

friends of the Comoros, who have never failed in their

support, their encouragement and their solidarity with

my country in the quest for a solution to the issue in

line with the law. I also wish to assure them, on behalf

of the Government of the Union of the Comoros, that

they will always be kept up-to-date on developments in

the issue and, whenever necessary, involved in the

process.

Working for peace means fighting all that fuels

extremism and every source of frustration. Working for

peace also means investing all necessary resources in

development, without which humankind has no dignity.

The health of our world depends on our Organization.

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Let us strive for its renewal, for more peace, for

happiness and for greater human dignity. Let us strive

for equal opportunity for all.