Ethiopia, 2010

Allow me, Sir, at the

outset, to extend to you my delegation’s warm

congratulations on your election to the presidency of

the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. I would

like to assure you of my delegation’s full cooperation

in the discharge of your high responsibilities. My

delegation would like to register our appreciation to the

outgoing President, Mr. Ali Treki, for his able

leadership during the sixty-fourth session. We would

also like to take this opportunity to express our

appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for

his tireless efforts to ensure that the Organization lives

up to the purposes and principles set out in its Charter.

Allow me to begin my statement today by

reviewing some salient aspects of the political and

economic transformation in Ethiopia.

Such a review should of necessity begin with the

democratization process in Ethiopia, which is now

almost completing its second decade. In the political

transformation in Ethiopia over the past two decades,

our single-minded focus has been on building

institutions of democracy, good governance and the

rule of law. The essence of all our endeavours in that

regard has been the devolution of power to the people.

Our federal democratic order, built on the basis of

unity in diversity, has laid the foundation for lasting

peace and security. The democratization process that

Ethiopia has embarked on is irreversible and is taking

deep root at the level of the State and the society at

large.

Still, a democratization process in any country is

not an end in itself. The whole purpose is to create an

environment conducive to bringing about a better life

for the people. That inevitably leads me to our

economic policy and strategy. Today in our country

accelerated development is in full swing, while a

democratic culture and its institutional underpinnings

are developing at the grass-roots level.

The successful results achieved during the last

seven years and the challenges and experience gained

in the process of implementing the previous five-year

economic plan have helped in the formulation of the

next five-year plan — officially called the Growth and

Transformation Plan — covering the period of 2011 to

2015. The objective of that plan is to lay the necessary

basis for nation-building by creating and strengthening

a stable, democratic, developmental State and to

achieve the economic and social goals in the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At the end of the five-year period the net result of

all our efforts will be that poverty in our country has

been made history. We are confident that by that time

our people will celebrate, together with the

international community, the end of an era of food

insecurity and dependency on food aid. That historic

event will give us an opportunity to extend our deep

gratitude to all our partners for their assistance in our

difficult times. We pledge to redouble our efforts and

utilize their assistance for rapid development of our

country that will extricate us from food insecurity once

and for all.

As regards the Millennium Development Goals,

the High-level Plenary Meeting of the sixty-fifth

session of the General Assembly, held here in New

York just last week, was timely. The outcome

document of that forum (resolution 65/1) should not be

just an appeal but a new pact, binding on stakeholders

with respect to renewed commitment to ensure that the

collective promises made at the dawn of the new

millennium are kept. The action agenda designed to

achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015

must ensure the mutual responsibility and

accountability of all stakeholders.

We in Ethiopia have made substantial progress on

all fronts towards achieving the Millennium

Development Goals. We have taken full charge of our

destiny, devised our own strategy and maximized the

mobilization of our domestic resources to achieve the

MDGs. The results so far have been very encouraging.

Over the past seven years, the Ethiopian economy has

performed well, having achieved an annual average

growth rate of 11.6 per cent. The robust economic

growth we have achieved has created the basis for

similarly robust growth in social indicators, and hence

on progress in achieving the Millennium Development

Goals.

Assessing the state of the MDGs today would not

be complete without some reflections on Africa from

the perspective of economic and social development

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and its organic link to the MDGs. In that connection, I

can do no better than to refer to what Mr. Zoellick,

President of the World Bank, said at the High-level

Plenary Meeting on the MDGs (see A/65/PV.3). The

most important point he made was that he believed in

Africa and that Africa can be a global pole of growth

and attract investment on African terms. That is what

we have been saying all along. He also said that one

needs to work with developing countries as clients, not

as development models from textbooks, and to help

them to solve problems, not to test theories. We in

Africa know what we can do; we want to know what

the rest of the world will do to help us achieve our

goals.

The issue of climate change remains among the

most critical challenges facing humankind today. Much

has been said, from Rio to Kyoto to Copenhagen. What

has been promised has thus far resulted in far less than

the urgency of the matter merits. We believe that time

is running out, and we are concerned that national

agendas of zero-sum preferences are overshadowing

the real urgency of addressing the matter in an

accelerated and coordinated manner. The upcoming

Cancún meeting on climate change should be different

from its predecessors. It should come up with a legally

binding commitment, coupled with the political will, to

allocate the necessary resources for adaptation and

mitigation efforts, especially for the most vulnerable

and exposed countries.

On energy and development, it has always been

self-evident that access to energy is key to fighting

poverty. It is central to development. Yet, 1.4 billion

people worldwide are without electricity, 80 per cent of

whom live in rural areas. Given the urgency of this dire

situation, we fully support the goal of universal energy

access by 2030, as set by the United Nations.

As the prevalence of conflicts around the world

clearly indicates, international cooperation is of

paramount importance to complement the efforts of the

United Nations in the area of peace and security. In

that regard, Ethiopia, as a founding Member of the

United Nations, has always been at the forefront in

discharging its responsibilities in the area of peace and

security. Since the early 1950s, Ethiopia has been an

active participant in United Nations peacekeeping

operations. At the moment, Ethiopia is among the

major troop-contributing countries to United Nations

peacekeeping missions.

Among the challenges that the international

community faces in the area of peace and security is

the scourge of terrorism. Like many other countries, we

have been at the receiving end of this problem. We

believe that unreserved international cooperation is the

only viable way to combat terrorism. Ethiopia will

continue to do its level best in that regard.

Any discussion of peace and security on the

international scene today will inevitably have to take

up the situation in the Horn of Africa. It is regrettable

that we still cannot talk about the situation in Somalia

with a great deal of optimism. On one hand, the threat

of extremism continues unabated in Somalia, as does

the danger posed by international terrorist networks

and their sponsors to Somalia, and beyond. On the

other hand, it is clear that there is little chance for

making progress in Somalia until there is harmony and

greater seriousness of purpose at the highest level

within the Transitional Federal Institutions of Somalia.

The Council of Ministers of the

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),

which met here in New York on 22 September

preceding the mini-summit on Somalia convened by

the Secretary-General on 23 September, expressed its

regret with regard to differences within the leadership

of the Transitional Federal Government. It called upon

them to strengthen their cohesion and work together to

address the multiple challenges facing the country.

Furthermore, the Council of Ministers reaffirmed the

Djibouti process as the sole basis for peace and

reconciliation in Somalia, expressed concern about the

proliferation of initiatives and urged the United

Nations and other stakeholders to engage within the

region and with IGAD.

With regard to the situation in the Sudan,

Ethiopia is of the firm view that conceivably there is

no other conflict on the continent today comparable to

that of the Sudan. Hence, we believe that success in the

Sudan will mean significant success for Africa as a

whole. By the same token, failure may entail a serious

catastrophe for Africa. That is why the African Union

has given its unreserved attention to the issue, as

illustrated by the effort of the High-Level

Implementation Panel led by former President Thabo

Mbeki. We would like to express our appreciation to

the Secretary-General for holding a timely high-level

meeting on the Sudan here on 24 September. The

outcome of the meeting has been encouraging.

13 10-55396

It goes without saying that the referendums in

Southern Sudan and Abyei should be held on time and

strictly in conformity with the terms of the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement. However, we

believe that, irrespective of the outcome of the

referendums and without in any way detracting from

the historic significance of that date, the parties should

not fix their minds solely on 9 January 2011. The

parties ought to recognize that here are several

commonalities, interests, bonds and values between the

peoples of the Sudan, north and south, that transcend

the decision to be taken in January 2011. That is why it

is of paramount importance that negotiations on post-

referendum issues should be conducted in earnest and

with the seriousness of purpose that the issues deserve.

When we talk of security in the Horn of Africa

region and the southern Red Sea, we cannot avoid

raising our concern once again about the destructive

role that the Government of Eritrea has continued to

play since independence. We in the IGAD region have

time and time again warned the United Nations, as well

as the international community, that the Eritrean

regime is the principal destabilizer in our subregion,

with its utter contempt for international law and the

norms of international behaviour.

It is indeed regrettable that the Security Council

is not taking the necessary steps to compel Eritrea to

live up to what is expected of it under Council

resolution 1907 (2009). Despite the sanctions, Eritrea

is still the principal architect of the complicated

situation in Somalia, through its training, arming and

nurturing of extremist elements such as Al-Shabaab

and Hizb al-Islam, who are causing havoc in that

country today.

That reprehensible conduct on the part of the

regime has been by no means isolated or confined to

our subregion. On the contrary, it has been standard

behaviour for the Eritrean regime, extending far

beyond the subregion, to other parts of the continent

and sometimes even outside it.

Consistent with its innate character, the regime

committed acts of aggression against practically all its

neighbours in the space of only a few years after its

independence. That is unprecedented for any newly

independent State, giving Eritrea the dubious

distinction of being an international pariah in the

family of nations. Therefore, if we are to achieve a

breakthrough in Somalia, the time is long overdue for

the Security Council to take resolute action and see to

it that its decisions are complied with.

Since its founding more than six decades ago, the

United Nations, as the principal global player on the

international scene with multifarious responsibilities,

has, under the circumstances, lived up to the vision set

for it in the Charter. There is no gainsaying the fact

that if the United Nations did not exist, we would have

had to create it. It is an indispensable Organization,

particularly for us in the developing world. However,

while underscoring its importance, we should not lose

sight of the need for its reform, which is an ongoing

process. That is how we can ensure the Organization’s

viability. Ethiopia will always be ready to give

whatever support is necessary to that end.

When we talk of the United Nations as a global

actor, the importance of cooperation between the

United Nations and our continental organization, the

African Union, need hardly be emphasized. Of

particular significance is the ongoing cooperation and

consultation between the United Nations Security

Council and the African Union Peace and Security

Council, in line with the provisions of Chapter VIII of

the Charter of the United Nations. We should continue

that cooperation, and Ethiopia will do whatever is

necessary in that regard.

In conclusion, let me reiterate, as a founding

Member, Ethiopia’s enduring commitment to the ideals

of our Organization and the fulfilment of its objectives,

as set out in the Charter, which remains a living

document and a source of inspiration for the

international community.