Ethiopia, 2003

It gives me great pleasure

to extend to Julian Hunte warm congratulations on his

election as President of the fifty-eighth session of the

General Assembly. I wish also to take this opportunity

to commend his predecessor for his invaluable

contribution to the success of the fifty-seventh session

of the Assembly. Allow me also to extend my sincere

appreciation to our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

for the great effort he has been making to maintain the

integrity of the United Nations in this difficult period

in the history of the Organization. I wish also to

commend the Secretary-General for his invaluable

contribution in enhancing humanitarian assistance,

fostering development cooperation and strengthening

our esteemed Organization.

I wish to preface my brief statement with sincere

appreciation for all those who have responded with

generous support to assist the people of Ethiopia to

overcome the consequences of a devastating and

extended drought, which put at risk more than a dozen

million of our compatriots. The responses from the

United Nations, the United States, the European Union

and many others were indeed as timely, as they were

generous. The people of Ethiopia are grateful for this

demonstration of solidarity.

We in Ethiopia are the first to realize that this

state of affairs in our country cannot continue. Our

people cannot be allowed to be vulnerable to famine

every other year because of drought. It is a must for us,

and a matter of national survival and dignity, to ensure

food security for our people in the shortest time

possible. But this can be done only when our people

are given respite for peace and are able to fully

concentrate on economic development.

We have come to be convinced that, for our

strategy on economic development and good

governance to succeed, we need to enhance our

capacity in human resources development and

institution-building. It is imperative for us to focus on

capacity-building and to make it a priority.

It has also been found critical that we expand

further our decentralization exercise, with a view to

empowering our people at the grass-roots level.

We have embarked on a fundamental shift in the

country’s foreign and national security policy, focusing

on the internal needs of our country and on ensuring its

viability, which can be realized only through rapid

economic development and the nurturing of democratic

governance.

Like many countries in our continent, and

perhaps more than most, Ethiopia has suffered at length

as the result of conflict and war and its consequences.

The internal causes of the absence of peace and

tranquillity in our country were removed, once and for

all, when the military dictatorship came to an end and

when we embarked upon laying the foundations for a

democratic and just society 12 years ago.

Until 1998, Ethiopia made great progress that, if

continued, would certainly have made us far more

prepared to withstand the consequences of the extended

drought last year and the year before. But the

Assembly recalls what befell Ethiopia in 1998. The

strong momentum we had managed to create for rapid

economic development was pushed off track by the

aggression we suffered in May 1998, which took us

two years to reverse. Having reversed the aggression,

Ethiopia showed its unflinching respect for the

principles of international law by taking the lead in

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ensuring the signing of the Algiers Agreement. With

little hesitation, Ethiopia withdrew from territory that it

had seized in a counteroffensive to expel the invading

army from its territory and to make room for the

Temporary Security Zone, to which the United Nations

Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was

subsequently deployed.

We have now come to the point at which the

United Nations will have to take greater interest to

ensure that the hopes and promises engendered by the

Algiers Agreement are fulfilled. The Agreement was

designed to lead to durable peace between Ethiopia and

Eritrea. It was not meant to punish the victim of

aggression. This is why Ethiopia has felt it necessary to

call on the Security Council to help us achieve the

hopes implicit in the Algiers Agreement.

Ethiopia is committed always to being a peaceful

country. We have always been second to none in our

commitment to the principles of international law. This

will remain one of our people’s distinguishing features.

This is a tradition we will continue to maintain and

foster. This is also how we intend to tackle the present

complications in the implementation of the Algiers

Agreement.

Few regions of the world have suffered as a result

of conflict as much as the Horn of Africa. We in

Ethiopia are committed, along with others in our

subregion, to change this existing reality. With the

progress that continues to be made in the peace process

to resolve the conflict in Somalia, we are today more

hopeful than ever that the long saga of the Somali

people might be about to end.

I wish to seize this opportunity to thank the

European Union, the United Nations and others for the

invaluable assistance that they have continued to give

to ensure the success of the peace process in Somalia.

Little progress could have been made without that

support. The frontline countries of the

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)

will need even greater support for the success of the

peace process in Somalia, which is now entering into

its most critical phase.

We are also deeply encouraged by the peace

process aimed at resolving the conflict in the Sudan,

which has also entered into a very delicate phase. The

parties deserve to be commended for the great resolve

they are demonstrating in addressing the common

challenges they are facing. The Framework Agreement

on Security Arrangements for the Interim Period,

signed on 25 September between the two parties,

represents a major breakthrough, which will no doubt

help lay the foundation for more progress in other

areas. We would like to thank all those, the United

States Government in particular, who have made

contributions to the progress that has been made in the

peace process in the Sudan.

These developments show that the situation in the

Horn of Africa is not hopeless. The challenges we are

facing are nonetheless formidable. We in Ethiopia are

determined to contribute more than our share to assist

in the regeneration of our subregion, which has also

been the target of international terrorism. The

achievement of peace and national reconciliation in

Somalia is extremely critical in the fight against this

scourge as well. That is why all those who are willing

to join in the fight against international terrorism

should be automatically supportive of the peace effort

by IGAD in Somalia.

As a country from a region that has lost much and

has stayed far behind in development because of the

absence of peace, Ethiopia feels solidarity with all the

peoples of the Middle East who yearn for peace,

security and justice. As a people very close to the

Middle East, Ethiopia has close affinity with the people

of Palestine and with the people of Israel. It is our hope

that the suffering of both will end soon and that the

hope held up by the road map will be realized.

The hope we have for economic development and

the prospect we see for peace in our subregion can

hardly be made a reality without international

conditions that are conducive to countries such as

Ethiopia to make progress.

In this respect, the general situation is not very

promising. Under the circumstances, without greater

commitment by the developed world to the rapid

economic development of Africa, countries such as

Ethiopia will hardly be in a position to meet the

Millennium Development Goals.

There is, without any doubt, an urgent need for

increasing the quality and the level of assistance by the

developed world to Africa. There is a critical need for

addressing the problems surrounding issues related to

subsidies and the access of products from African

countries to developed countries’ markets.

International solidarity and the promotion of our

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mutual interests make it imperative that a lasting

solution is found to the debt burden.

Africa is passing through a very difficult and

critical period. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is wreaking

havoc in the continent. As is now widely

acknowledged, this is not simply a health crisis. The

pandemic is also an economic, security and social

crisis with broad and potentially devastating

implications. Hence, this is a challenge not only for

Africa, but also for the entire world.

But Africa is not asking to be rescued by the

international community without discharging its own

responsibilities. What Africa is asking is to be given a

break, as many have been given in the past at some

point in their history. In fact, what is involved here are

mutual obligations. This is the overriding principle

upon which the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development (NEPAD) is based. It is Ethiopia’s hope

that NEPAD will be taken more seriously as a

framework for expanding the cooperation between

Africa and the developed countries in the interest of

ensuring success in Africa’s fight for prosperity and

development, and for a safe, peaceful and truly

globalized world.

The United Nations is facing today one of the

most difficult periods in its close to 60 years of history.

Its legitimacy and credibility is being increasingly

questioned. Many have also questioned its

effectiveness. Not a few have also wondered on many

occasions whether they have always been assisted by

the Organization in nurturing and fostering peace. My

own country has also been disappointed in the past. But

we have never abandoned hope in the United Nations

or in multilateralism, because we know, at the end of

the day, that the United Nations is indispensable. That

is why Ethiopia will always be committed to the United

Nations and its ideals.

It is our hope that all Member States, big and

small, will be fully committed to the United Nations

and its ideals and carry out the long overdue reform of

the Organization with a view to making it more

effective.