Eritrea, 2009

Let me begin by

congratulating our sisterly country the Libyan Arab

Jamahiriya and you personally, Mr. President, on your

assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly

at its sixty-fourth session. I express our confidence that

your long-standing diplomatic skills and leadership

will lead us to a successful conclusion of the session. I

wish to assure you of the full support of the delegation

of the State of Eritrea in the realization of this mission.

Permit me also to seize this opportunity to pay a

well-deserved tribute to the President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session, Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, for the very able

and effective manner in which he led the affairs of the

Assembly.

Likewise, we commend Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon for his continuous efforts to administer

the affairs of the United Nations, and especially for

convening the Summit on Climate Change last week.

The General Assembly is holding its annual

general debate for 2009 at a very critical juncture. One

year after the world financial and economic crisis

began, this gathering provides us with another

opportunity for reflection.

The Hall in which we meet today and the lofty

purposes for which it was built have both outlived their

time. This body was conceived in another era to

address the challenges of the world order prevailing

after the First and Second World Wars. Therefore, it

cannot realistically cope with the demands of the

twenty-first century. From an objective point of view,

the United Nations should have embarked on a process

of transformation 20 years ago, in concurrence with the

end of the cold war. By now, it should have been

replaced by a reformed Organization fit to address the

challenges of the century we live in and beyond.

The calls to re-engineer this renewed

Organization have not been few. Two decades have

passed without any meaningful results in the direction

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of substantive reform. The financial and economic

crisis and the global awareness that it has spawned are

mere symptoms of the consequences of inaction at the

cost of reform.

The prevailing world order has not succeeded in

guaranteeing the peace and security of our planet, in

spite of all the intentions that brought forth its creation

and of the harsh lessons learned from the two World

Wars. On the contrary, this ageing world order has been

hijacked to serve the interests of the few, opening the

door to a myriad of ramifications.

Financial institutions have been left to operate

unrestrained by restrictions or regulations. Economic

structures that pillage the resources and wealth of

peoples and nations have been consolidated.

Illegitimate military and coercive blunders have been

allowed to fester unchecked. The exploitation of war

and those who help spread it have been honed in a

purposeful manner. The number of people suffering

from poverty and hunger has not been reduced; it has

rather multiplied many times over. Violent extremism

has not received the attention it deserves; rather, it has

been further fuelled and manipulated as a pretext and

excuse for ulterior motives. A culture of the politics of

fear and management by crisis has been nurtured,

exploited and established as a norm. Indeed, world

peace and security have been imperilled beyond

measure. The United Nations itself has been one of the

victims of this world order. Evidence to this effect is

known to us all and is well documented.

Reform and change are long overdue. Despite

fervent calls for reform by the international

community, the few who control our outdated world

order are unfortunately not attuned to the notion of

change. They have instead regarded crises and

suffering as ordinary historical imperatives. To this

end, they have resisted all attempts to introduce change

and, through their clout, influence and advantages,

have been able to block it. Thus, no real reform has

occurred so far.

In this global maelstrom, where even the peoples

of the developed countries have been adversely

affected, none have been more exposed to harm than

the marginalized in Africa. We, the peoples of Africa,

have been victims of poverty and hunger, models of

backwardness, and metaphors for diseases and

epidemics. And the continent has become a breeding

ground for crises and conflicts.

In this regard, the most urgent concern is the fact

that special-interest groups have rendered Africans

paralysed. Hence, instead of resolving our own

problems, we find ourselves mired in poverty, hunger

and disease rather than actively striving to achieve

development and growth. Similarly, when it comes to

the resolution of crises and conflicts, Africans find

themselves dependent on the goodwill of others.

However, criticism cannot be reserved only for

the special-interest groups that steer the prevailing

world order; it must also be apportioned to those

groups that serve as their instruments and partners.

Indeed, the role of Africa in this body, as well as in

other international organizations, can best be described

as inconsequential. The evidence for this unfortunate

situation is also well documented.

If world peace and security are to be preserved,

justice and human rights respected, hunger eradicated,

and economic development and growth made to benefit

the majority in a sustainable fashion, the implementation

of fundamental change in this Organization and other

international bodies should not be left to the goodwill

of the few. The change needed to transform this

outdated world order into a new one must not be

limited to reform; it should be solid, genuine and

capable of bringing peace, security and prosperity to

coming generations. Reform should not be limited to

increasing the number of seats in the Security Council.

It should, rather, steer our world away from its

dangerous downhill path, controlled by a powerful few,

and redirect it towards one that ensures the safety of

all.

Though this is the ideal to which the world’s

peoples aspire and strive for, the African continent, for

obvious and particular reasons, needs to expend more

effort to achieve it. But beyond all the good wishes, the

fundamental reform we are waiting for requires

collective commitment. On this auspicious occasion, it

would not do simply to dwell on various current events

or those consequences spawned by the fundamental

flaws of the world order. Doing so would only confuse

and distort the bigger picture. I have therefore chosen

not to address important issues concerning the Horn of

Africa and Eritrea’s specific problem of the illegal

occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory, which is

already in the records of the United Nations awaiting

responsible and urgent action.