Ethiopia, 1996

First of all, I should like to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of the

fifty-first session of the General Assembly. I wish to

assure you the full cooperation of my delegation in the

discharge of this heavy responsibility entrusted to you. I

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should like also to take this opportunity to pay tribute to

your predecessor, Mr. Freitas do Amaral, for the able

manner in which he fulfilled his responsibilities.

Last year we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the

United Nations and reiterated our dedication to the purposes

and principles of the Organization, for the promotion of

which it was established. That occasion also afforded us the

opportunity to take stock of United Nations achievements

and of its yet-unfinished business, as well as of the

continuing challenges faced by both the Organization and

the international community at large.

That stock-taking exercise could not have led us to

underestimate, let alone belittle, what has been achieved by

the United Nations. In any case, in so far as the United

Nations is our universal Organization, its failings can only

be our failings, as its successes are also ours. None the less,

last year’s stock-taking of the performance of the 50-year-

old United Nations must have underlined more than

anything else how complex and daunting the challenges

faced by the Organization and by the international

community are becoming. There are probably no greater

challenges before the international community in this regard

than those of development and of peace and stability —

two concerns that define the very essence of the United

Nations and that constitute the core purposes and objectives

of the Organization.

It is not yet a distant memory that we all rejoiced at

the end of the cold war, believing that it would open up

new vistas of opportunity for addressing the vital issues of

international concern that had been overshadowed for

decades by the arms race, East-West rivalry and other

manifestations of the cold-war era. That positive

development — the end of the cold war — also encouraged

many in the developing world, especially those of us in

Africa, to undertake far-reaching political and economic

reform measures, with a view to laying the foundation for

democratic transformation and meaningful economic growth

and development.

Despite all these manifested hopes and courageous

moves towards economic reform and democracy, the

situation on the African continent remains a source of great

concern. At present, Africa is the only continent where the

level of poverty is increasing dramatically. Needless to say,

this trend could lead to unimaginable consequences unless

it is arrested and reversed as speedily as possible.

Thus, Africa’s genuine fear is that the opportunity created

by the end of the cold war will disappear and that a

historic chance will be squandered forever.

It is by no means accidental that, of all the regions

of the world, Africa is the most affected by conflicts and

lack of stability. Conflicts in our continent have not only

been greater in number, but have also proved to be more

intractable and, more often than not, more deadly and

more destructive, in terms of both human lives and

property.

It may not always be plausible to suggest that all

conflicts in Africa have their roots in economic

difficulties only. But, whatever the constellation of factors

immediately responsible for specific conflict situations in

Africa, the fact remains that in most instances civil strife

and conflicts in the continent have emerged within the

context of deteriorating economic situations. In this

context, the only durable solution for the political crisis

in Africa can be found in the economic regeneration and

development of the continent. Development is therefore

the only reliable preventive means to ensure and maintain

peace and stability in Africa.

The development of Africa will continue to be a

distant dream unless the known obstacles are removed,

among which the debt burden continues to be the major

impediment. In this context, we are encouraged by the

recent Lyon summit of the Group of Seven, which we

were hopeful would go beyond the Naples terms in easing

the debt overhang for countries such as Ethiopia. We also

hope that some progress will be made during the

upcoming annual meeting of the World Bank and the

International Monetary Fund in connection with

multilateral debt. For countries like my own, this is very

crucial indeed.

While durable solutions to conflicts and to the lack

of peace and stability in Africa or anywhere else can

hardly be achieved within the context of economic

dislocation and economic decline, it is also equally true

that development requires peace and stability. This is the

vicious circle we find ourselves in, which makes it

difficult to find speedy resolution of the very many

conflict situations that have led to unspeakable human

suffering, and on some occasions to genocide, in Africa.

In Somalia, where peace and national reconciliation

have eluded the people for close to six years, we are still

far from making any headway in reversing the situation.

Efforts are, however, still continuing to help bring about

national reconciliation in Somalia, and my own Prime

Minister has continued to attach the highest importance to

this endeavour. In all these efforts, the role of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) has been vital;

whether it is in Liberia, Burundi, Somalia or other conflict

situations in Africa, the important contribution that the

OAU Secretary-General has been making is a source of

great satisfaction to us. The Organization of African Unity

has indeed upgraded its capacity for conflict resolution in

our continent since the establishment in 1993 of the OAU

Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and

Resolution. I wish to seize this opportunity to express

appreciation to all those who have continued to help ensure

that the OAU’s role in this area is strengthened and

enhanced.

Conflict situations, whether in Africa or elsewhere,

have negative consequences not only for the countries

directly affected but also for their neighbours and their

regions. The situation in Somalia has not been an exception

to this. The absence of central authority for an extended

period of time in that country has been seen to provide

opportunity for extra-regional elements bent on exporting

terror and on experimenting with plans designed to create

instability and chaos in our region. It is therefore in my

country’s direct national interest that peace be established

and national reconciliation achieved in Somalia as speedily

as possible.

This is also in the interest of our region in general.

Our region, which has had a prolonged period of instability

and which has also recently experienced State-sponsored

terrorism, cannot afford and should not be expected to

tolerate the proliferation and the establishment of centres of

international terrorism by multinational elements in our

midst. The spread of terrorism is not a danger merely to

our region, but to the international community as a whole.

Ethiopia’s conscience is clear in this regard because it has

done its level best to fulfil its responsibilities in the fight

against terrorism, and it will always remain committed to

combating this evil.

At present, the most worrying conflict, with the

potential for a level of human slaughter which we all dread

to see, is the one in Burundi. The parties to the conflict in

Burundi have the responsibility to save their society from

decimation through accommodation based on principles that

suit the specific conditions of their country. Others with a

much more complex societal mix have managed to put in

place democratic mechanisms to reconcile the right of the

majority to govern with sufficient guarantees for the

security and dignity of the minority. This is what

ex-President Mwalimu Nyerere has been striving to assist

the Burundi parties to achieve through the Mwanza peace

process, a process which enjoys the full support of the

United Nations and of the international community. I wish

to take this opportunity to express appreciation for the

resolve and unity that the countries of the region have

demonstrated in an effort to see to it that disaster is

averted in Burundi and that the country achieves national

reconciliation. I wish also to express appreciation to all

those who have continued to support the Mwanza process

and the initiative that was taken by the countries of the

region on 31 July 1996.

My country, which emerged from a very difficult

period of conflicts and severe economic hardships only

five years ago, has made major strides on all fronts

during this brief period of time. We draw immense

satisfaction from the fact that our people have finally

achieved durable peace and stability. Moreover, our

economic reform programmes have started to bear fruit;

we are encouraged by the results achieved, particularly in

agricultural production, over the past few years. That

Ethiopia now has the capacity not only to feed itself, but

also to be an exporter of food grains, is increasingly

becoming a reality.

Ethiopia is striving to enhance its capacity to

become a useful and effective partner in international

economic cooperation. We intend to make our country an

attractive place for investment; all the necessary

foundations have already been laid by my Government to

this end. We are determined to make trade and investment

the major pillars of our economic cooperation with others.

Ethiopia has also endeavoured to contribute its share

to regional and international peace and stability over the

past few years. That is a policy that we intend to expand

further with a view to fulfilling our regional and

international commitments, no matter how small our

contribution might be.

Ethiopia welcomes the recent adoption of the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty by the fiftieth

session of the General Assembly. We believe that it

represents an important step towards the attainment of the

larger objectives of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear

disarmament.

As a founding Member of the United Nations,

Ethiopia attaches the highest importance to the work of

the United Nations and wishes to see the Organization

revitalized and strengthened. In this context, Ethiopia, like

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many other countries, is convinced that the future of the

United Nations lies in its democratization and in the

creation of conditions under which all Member States, big

or small, will feel that the Organization belongs equally to

all of them.

With respect to developments in Africa, in the area of

conflict prevention and in other areas, my Government is

keen to see more effective cooperation between the United

Nations and the Organization of African Unity. No doubt,

much work needs to be done in this area, and we are

confident that the mechanism for consultation already in

place between the two organizations will be utilized more

effectively and with a far greater sense of purpose and

consistency.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my

Government’s appreciation to the Secretary-General for his

very useful and timely initiative on the United Nations

System-wide Special Initiative on Africa. The Special

Initiative is complementary to the United Nations New

Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, and,

through the reallocation of existing resources and the

mobilization of additional ones, will contribute to the

development of Africa. We hope that the Special Initiative

will be implemented as planned and that it will not, like

previous initiatives, remain unfulfilled and be another

source of frustration and an empty promise.

We believe that the United Nations can do more to

promote effectively the purposes and principles enshrined

in its Charter and to galvanize international cooperation to

achieve peace and development. Our world cannot afford to

see the international community divided in two, with one

half remaining poor and becoming even poorer. The

imperatives of interdependence dictate that this trend be

reversed, especially when all that those who are lagging

behind demand is the removal of the obstacles to

development and an opportunity to address their economic

problems on the basis of their own efforts.

Ethiopia is confident that the United Nations will play

an increasingly dynamic role, so that all the nations and

peoples of the world will have an equal stake in the

preservation of global civilization and in enriching human

society.