Egypt, 2002

I

would like to begin by extending our sincere

congratulations to you, Sir, both personally and as a

representative of the Czech Republic, on your election

as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-

seventh session. I am confident that, at this important

juncture of developing collective global action, you

will steer the work of this session with your recognized

ability and wisdom, stemming from your country's

long experience in confronting aggression and the

horrors it brings.

I would also like to take this opportunity to pay

tribute to your predecessor, our friend Han Seung-soo,

and to his country, the Republic of Korea, whose

positive and effective role led to results that we aspire

to consolidate.

I cannot fail to express our deep appreciation to

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who for the past six

years has contributed his experience, wisdom and

perseverance to reasserting the standing of the

Organization and the effectiveness of its role, and to

strengthening the principles upon which the Charter

was founded. He did all of that despite the inherent

obstacles that were placed before him, either

deliberately or unwittingly, by those ignorant of the

key role of the United Nations in providing victors and

vanquished alike an opportunity to benefit from the

developments of the age and to achieve the hopes and

aspiration of their peoples to a world that is safer and

more just for all. I wish to pay further tribute to the

Secretary-General for the very courageous statement he

made yesterday before the Assembly, a statement in

which he set out his very clear vision in addressing and

resolving the world's problems.

On behalf of Egypt, I would also like to welcome

Switzerland as the most recent member of the United

Nations family. We look forward to its active

participation in the work of the Organization, along

with that of Timor-Leste, which will soon accede to

membership.

The current session has been convened one year

after the horrific tragedy that befell the United Sates on

11 September 2001. We reiterate our condolences to

the United States. We also emphasize the sense of loss

we share with the families of the victims, and we wish

the injured a speedy recovery. We hope that this strong

nation will overcome its ordeal and look towards a

future of cooperation with the rest of the world, a

future forged by all of us for the benefit of all the

inhabitants of the planet, regardless of their race or

religion, without discrimination, intolerance or bias.

Egypt has stood by the United States throughout this

difficult ordeal, whose target was not only a friendly

country but also the values and principles to which we

all adhere and which relate to respect for humankind

and its right to life and to choosing to build rather than

to destroy as the basis for joint action. In that regard, I

would like to briefly make the following points.

First, notwithstanding the gravity of the tragic

events that took place on that sad day, the world neither

began nor ended on 11 September. Many peoples have

known terrorism before. They have suffered from it

and have resisted it sometimes alone in the face

of hardship and even unjustified criticism. What is new

is that the heinous crime of 11 September has

generated an unprecedented wave of constructive

international solidarity. It has confirmed what we have

been stating all along: that terrorism is a global

phenomenon and that it is not associated with any

particular country, continent, race or religion. It is an

expression of a propensity for evil that remains

dormant until the opportunity presents itself, either

from within or due to prevailing circumstances, for it

to awaken and wreak havoc. Thus, it is important to

repeat the call that President Mubarak has been making

for a number of years; for the convening of an

international conference in which participating nations

would shoulder their responsibility to confront

terrorism. That would lend authority to the

overwhelming wave of solidarity extended to the

United States in its hour of grief and agony.

Secondly, the fight against terrorism should not

be the lens through which the world views every issue

and every problem. Terrorism is one of the evil

phenomena of the world, but it should not cause us to

forget the evils of poverty, disease, occupation, the

denial of individual and national rights or the

humiliation of human beings and the destruction of

their livelihood by means of bombs or any other

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similarly harmful means. Terrorism has roots and

causes, but not justifications. I believe that, in most

cases, a viable remedy for terrorism can be found only

if we drain the tributaries of hopelessness, anger and

frustration that feed the river of evil; otherwise their

confluence can become explosive.

Thirdly, it is both necessary and fair that we not

confuse those who are unjust with those who are

unjustly treated. The international community should

not confuse terrorism which we reject, condemn and

fight with the legitimate right of self-defence in

conformity with norms compatible with our values: the

right to defend oneself against aggression, occupation,

the usurpation of rights or attempts to erase cultural

identity. That right was exercised by the resistance that

liberated the United States more than two centuries ago

and by that which liberated Europe from the Nazi

tyranny that initiated the Holocaust but ended by

perishing in its fire. Humanity and right were thus

victorious.

I would like here to reiterate what everybody

knows: no religion Islam, Christianity, Judaism or

Buddhism preaches terrorism. Those are all

religions that proclaim lofty values and ideals. It is

inappropriate to blame them for the sins of a few of

their followers who have gone astray. Our fight against

terrorism should proceed from our collective solidarity

in cherishing life, and not from hatred, which is neither

a solution nor a refuge.

The world is at an extremely delicate juncture in

its history. We are at a crossroads in international

relations. The enhancement of the Organization's

capacity to respond to the hopes and aspirations that

arose after the end of the cold war and its divisions

coincided with a trend towards neglecting that very

capacity, a deepening of new divisions and a resort to

unilateral decisions. Such a trend can lead only to

deadlock and prevent us from addressing issues that

may determine the fate of humanity and its ability to

reconcile itself with nature and with advanced

technology and to take the opportunities that they

provide for the achievement of a better life free from

poverty, want, disease, oppression and fear a life in

which justice and solidarity prevail.

We must therefore break this deadlock, which is

of benefit to no party or cause, by renewing our

commitment to the Charter and reaffirming our

determination to work together to strengthen the United

Nations, enhance its effectiveness, promote its

principles and champion its purposes in confronting

both the old and the new dangers that face our world.

One of these dangers is the persistence of hotbeds of

conflict and violence in the world, including the

conflict from which we in the Middle East are

suffering.

I would like to read out the statement made

yesterday by the President of Egypt, Mr. Hosni

Mubarak. He said:

I listened attentively to the statement made

by President Bush to the General Assembly, and I

would like to welcome the positive elements in

that statement. First, I welcome the affirmation

by the President of the United States that the

United States is committed to the establishment

of an independent Palestinian State, side by side

with Israel, and that all the parties must assume

their responsibilities in order to achieve that goal.

We hope that the peace process will receive a

strong impetus through effective participation by

the United States, leading to a return of stability

to the area and to a just and comprehensive peace

as early as possible.

Secondly, with regard to Iraq, I welcome

the fact that the United States has opened the

door to the pivotal role that must be played by the

United Nations, in particular the Security

Council, on the question of Iraq. Such a course of

action will break the deadlock and prevent any

negative effects resulting from the escalation of

the situation, thus maintaining the sovereignty

and territorial integrity of Iraq.

In view of this, I am calling on the Iraqi

leadership to make use of this opportunity to

implement all the relevant Security Council

resolutions and accept the return of the inspectors

immediately so that we can prevent an escalation

of the situation and the dangerous consequences

that would have a very negative impact on the

security and safety of the brotherly Iraqi people

and of the Middle East as a whole.'

The Palestinian people continue to suffer under

an oppressive occupation that rejects the judgement of

history, embodied by the Charter, that the age of

colonialism has long gone. It is an occupation that

clings to policies reminiscent of those of the era of

darkness and chaos and may even bring us back to that

7

era. The Arabs have extended their hand to Israel with

a unanimously adopted initiative that reflects their

genuine belief in a peace that guarantees without

exceptions or double standards the rights of all. If

Israel genuinely desires peace, it must abandon its

greed and illusions, put a stop to its practices and

aggressive acts against the Palestinian people and their

legitimate leadership and agree to withdraw from all

Arab territories occupied in 1967 in Palestine, Syria

and Lebanon. An independent Palestinian State, with

East Jerusalem as its capital, can then be established

and can join all the Arab States that have demonstrated

their readiness to establish normal relations with Israel

and live with it in peace and security.

Justice, right, mutual respect and the restoration

to people of their rights were the building blocks on

which peace between Egypt and Israel was established,

securing safe borders and normal relations during the

past 25 years. The other model, however, which Israel

has espoused with respect to our brethren in Palestine,

has achieved neither peace nor security; rather, it has

resulted in victims on both sides, who fall each day,

paying the price for an attempt to obstruct the natural

course of events.

The international community must assume its

responsibility in this regard without prejudice,

striving only for what is right; unswerving, moving

only towards justice; and without ambition, except for

a peace that will allow the peoples of the region to

forge a better future. It must reaffirm the necessity of

abiding by the Charter, United Nations resolutions and

the agreements that have been signed, and must reject

any attempt to abandon them.

The debate on security and stability in the Middle

East relates also to the situation in Iraq a situation

that must be dealt with in accordance with the

provisions of the Charter and relevant resolutions,

which all parties must respect, steering away from a

course of military action. Egypt reaffirms its rejection

of military strikes against Iraq, whose unity and

territorial integrity must be respected and which, for its

part, must respect the legitimate international will.

We must do everything in our power to put an end

to the extreme suffering of the people of Iraq. We must

end the embargo, which has inflicted great harm upon

Iraq, negatively affecting and the livelihood of its

citizens and damaging future generations.

Any discussion of the United Nations, its

achievements and its future would be incomplete

without recalling the tangible contributions of the

Organization to focusing attention on the major issues

of our times and forging an international consensus on

some of them. This contribution has been realized

through a series of conferences convened during the

last decade of the twentieth century and the first years

of this century on the environment, human rights,

population, social development, women, financing for

development and sustainable development. It has been

achieved also through the recommendations of the

Millennium Summit of the General Assembly, which

attempted to shape a conceptual framework for the

Organization's work, based on peace and security for

nations and individuals, economic and social

development in its comprehensive sense, equality

among States and respect for the cultural diversity of

nations and societies.

In this regard, I would like to reaffirm the

importance of the faithful implementation, in both

letter and spirit, of the outcomes of those conferences.

It is also important that no attempt is made to evade or

circumvent those mutual obligations. Ultimately, the

judgement of history will be based not on the

intentions or objectives contained in political

declarations and final documents, but rather on the

extent of our success in implementing them. their

implementation.

Any just consideration of the international

economic situation must conclude that it is

unacceptable to continue the present disparities in the

distribution of wealth among the peoples of the Earth,

the lack of democracy in international economic

decision-making and the persistence of arbitrary trade

practices and monetary policies against the interests of

developing countries, which have often led to

successive financial crises and resulted in the economic

collapse of many developing countries and the

destruction, in a matter of days, of the development

gains made over decades of arduous national effort.

Our African continent and its issues occupy a

special place in the international community's efforts

aimed at achieving economic and social development

and maintaining international peace and security in

accordance with the collective responsibilities we all

assume under the Charter. These efforts proceed from a

firm conviction that the United Nations, the Security

Council in particular, has primary responsibility for the

8

maintenance of peace and security in that continent.

They also proceed from our conviction that we, as

African States, are indispensable partners that bear a

special responsibility to resolve the conflicts that

fragment our continent and to formulate the

programmes that would extricate our peoples from the

anguish of poverty to join the course of progress and

prosperity.

Our continent has demonstrated its seriousness by

launching the New Partnership for Africa's

Development (NEPAD), which was endorsed by

African heads of State at the Lusaka Summit of the

Organization of African Unity in 2001, and the African

Union, which was inaugurated at the Summit held in

Durban in July 2002. If by embracing these two

initiatives African States have adopted an approach to

building their future on the basis of the highest ideals

reflecting the noblest human thinking, then the

international community for its part should support that

approach in order to provide a better life for Africa's

peoples, open markets for its products, inject foreign

investment into its economies and assist it to solve its

problems.

The persistence of volatile conflicts and the

danger of the possession by States, organizations or

individuals of weapons of mass destruction make it

incumbent upon us to be more diligent on disarmament

issues. At the regional level, Egypt has repeatedly

called for serious engagement to rid the Middle East of

all weapons of mass destruction, first and foremost

nuclear weapons, and to place all nuclear facilities in

the region, without exception, under international

supervision.

Peace and security cannot be established in the

Middle East while a grave disparity persists in the

rights and obligations of the States of the region, which

upsets its balance of power. Regional stability will be

achieved only when Israel accedes to the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), because

it is the only State in the region that has not yet done

so. Such stability will also be attained through progress

towards the implementation of President Mubarak's

initiative to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass

destruction and their delivery systems.

In addition, the world confronts other ills that

represent both a challenge and an opportunity for us to

demonstrate our ability to work together for the good

of all. Efforts to combat endemic diseases have fallen

short. Countries around the world suffer from the

spread of HIV/AIDS, which threatens their stability;

owing to their lack of capacity and resources they are

unable to contain the pandemic, thus necessitating

assistance for those countries in dealing with the crisis.

The world also confronts numerous

environmental challenges such as those related to

biodiversity, climate change, drought and

desertification, all of which require the redoubling of

international efforts to address them in order to

safeguard the right of future generations to a secure

life. Scarcity of water threatens the eruption of

conflicts in several regions of the world. The

international community must therefore maximize the

benefit from, and the proper management of, available

water resources while respecting and protecting the

acquired rights of States and the international

agreements that govern the rights to utilize those

resources.

The sheer size, complexity and scope of all these

problems may lead some to yield to pessimism and

frustration, but we are confident that the forces of good

in the world, armed with the noble principles of the

Charter to which we come here every year to

reiterate our commitment will remain resolute in

their determination to fashion a better tomorrow. We

are confident that humankind will overcome the

propensity for evil so that together we can forge ahead

towards frontiers made possible by unprecedented

technological progress at the outset of the twenty-first

century, progress which God has commanded us to

dedicate to our collective well-being so that the world

can live in peace, security, prosperity and harmony.

This will allow the young to flourish, potential to

emerge, hope to overcome fear and pain, light to

prevail over darkness and humankind to triumph over

all that hinders its happiness, freedom and

advancement.