Ghana, 1993

It is with pleasure that, on

behalf of the Ghana delegation, I convey to Mr. Insanally of

Guyana our congratulations on his election, by acclamation,

as President of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth

session. He assumes this high office at a momentous time

in the history of mankind, as we endeavour to establish a

new world order based on freedom and justice. The skills

and experience that he brings to his office assure us of

success during his tenure. The cordial relations that happily

exist between the President’s country and mine increase our

satisfaction, hopes and expectations. We pledge to him and

to the Bureau our full cooperation and support.

Let me place on record also our appreciation of the

effective leadership that the President’s predecessor,

Mr. Stoyan Ganev of Bulgaria, gave to our Organization

during his stewardship. His ability to navigate the General

Assembly through the turbulence of a contradictory context

in international relations was admirable.

Once again, the Secretary-General has shown, through

a display of his remarkable skills as a thinker, an

administrator and an accomplished diplomat, that he is on

top of his job. The credit is no doubt shared by the staff,

whose dedication and commitment have been maintained.

The universality of the General Assembly, which makes

it the most representative organ of the Organization, has

again been reaffirmed with the admission of five new

Member States since August 1992. We take this opportunity

to welcome them and to extend to them the cooperation of

the Ghana delegation.

The search for enduring peace is still the greatest

challenge of the Organization, in spite of the end of the cold

war. The collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics and the accession to independence of its

constituent parts, the freedom and independence of the

Forty-eighth session - 30 September l993 21

countries of Eastern Europe, German reunification, and the

cold-war relics of trouble spots have brought to the fore

"Simmering disputes, violent conflicts, aggression and

foreign occupation, interference in the internal affairs of

States, policies of hegemony and domination, ethnic

strife, religious intolerance, new forms of racism and

narrowly conceived nationalism", (A/47/675, annex,

para. 3)

as the Jakarta Message of 1992 of the Non-Aligned

Movement so aptly stated.

At the same time, our world is faced with an economic

and a social situation similar to that which preceded the two

world wars. All these developments, aggravated by global

recession, threaten to undermine the purposes of the United

Nations.

We must continue to pursue the goal of total

disarmament. We should like the proposed United Nations

Register of Conventional Arms to include nations’

production of arms and all other weapons of mass

destruction.

The goal of complete and total disarmament would

obviously be easier to pursue in an environment of peace

based on mutual confidence. It is in this context that we

welcome the efforts of the United Nations to shoulder the

increasing burden of peace-keeping and peacemaking. In

Cambodia, Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, the former

Yugoslavia, Somalia, the Middle East, Cyprus, and

elsewhere, the efforts of the United Nations have served as

a positive check on the threat to international peace and

security. There are, however, lessons to be drawn for

current and future operations. The holding of elections in

Angola and in Cambodia without the fulfilment of certain

conditions, such as the disarming and cantonment of troops,

was tactically unhelpful, in spite of the circumstances that

led to the elections - a mistake which, thankfully, the United

Nations does not intend to repeat in Mozambique. We

should also remind ourselves that peacemaking may be a

slow and painful process. The need to retain the confidence

of all parties and their support for, and participation in, the

process is fundamental and crucial to the success of such

operations.

We are disappointed at the instability that continues to

engulf the former Yugoslavia. Whilst we still regret the

initial reaction of the international community - in particular,

the regional institutions - to developments there, we wish to

reiterate that unrestrained nationalism that seeks justification

in the much-cherished principle of self- determination is

unacceptable. Furthermore, the expression of such

nationalism in "ethnic cleansing" is as barbaric and revolting

as it is reprehensible and totally at variance with civilized

behaviour. The readiness of the United Nations to act

decisively in Somalia contrasts sharply with the timidity and

hesitation that have marked our presence in the former

Yugoslavia and threaten to erode the credibility of the

Organization. It is for these reasons that we welcome

Security Council resolution 859 (1993), in which the

Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter, calls for

the immediate cease-fire and cessation of hostilities

throughout the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that are

essential if a just and equitable political solution to the

conflict is to be achieved through peaceful negotiations. We

expect the Security Council to monitor the implementation

of the resolution.

My Government warmly welcomes the historic

agreements on limited autonomy for Palestine and on mutual

recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation

Organization. These accords are a tribute to the courage,

foresight, determination and outstanding statesmanship of

Chairman Yasser Arafat and of Prime

Minister Yitzhak Rabin. They usher in the beginning of the

end of decades of war, mistrust, violence, destruction and

wanton killing and suffering that the Arab-Israeli conflict has

brought to the people of the Middle East. They lay a solid

foundation for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the

Middle East. We therefore urge the entire international

community to support them.

From the new dawn of relations in the Middle East

emerges a powerful, compelling and inspiring truth - that

there is no conflict that is not capable of solution. That is

why we consider that the "no war, no peace" situation in

Cyprus should not be permitted to lure this Organization into

complacency. The search for a settlement should be

accelerated. To this end, the recent decision to maintain the

United Nations presence in Cyprus should encourage all the

parties involved.

The situation in Sudan, equally, cries out for a peaceful

solution and for greater United Nations involvement as a

contribution to the search for an enduring settlement to an

essentially political problem that has brought such suffering

to the people and has created an unbearable refugee problem

for neighbouring States.

Our Organization has recorded laudable success in its

implementation of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV)

on the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to

22 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

Colonial Countries and Peoples. The independence of

Namibia is the latest of the success stories of decolonization.

However, the Territories and peoples that remain under

colonial rule demand our active and sustained attention and

render premature any conclusion that the decolonization

process has been completed.

We welcome the progress that has been made in the

negotiations in South Africa. However, the international

community needs to remind itself that apartheid is far from

being completely eradicated. The process of democratization

in that country must be completed so that all its citizens may

be enabled to exercise their voting rights. The world

community has a responsibility to maintain its vigilance

regarding South Africa until the election on 27 April 1994,

which will put in place an acceptable constitutional

programme for a transitional Government based, for the first

time in the history of that country, on universal adult

suffrage.

Of equal concern is the impasse over Western Sahara.

The United Nations peace plan must be allowed to work,

and the timetable set for the holding of elections must be

respected by all. In the light of the call for a more prudent

use of the resources available to the United Nations, it is

imperative that the task of the United Nations Mission for

the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) be

completed rapidly, to the full satisfaction of all concerned,

particularly the Sahraoui people.

The new impetus for peacemaking and peace-keeping

represents a major advance in our collective engagement in

the task of seeking and creating a peaceful and safe world.

In this Assembly it has been suggested that the United

Nations should limit its commitments, that it should not take

on every conflict. But which conflicts must it address, and

which ones should it decline to get involved in? That is the

crucial question. The unity of the purposes of the Charter

and the universality of our Organization compel us to

recognize that a threat to peace anywhere is a threat to peace

everywhere.

But even if the suggestions have merit, either on the

grounds of lack of funds, constraints in logistics or the

United Nations inability to heal all the world’s wounds, my

delegation wants to stress the need for the United Nations to

see all the peace-keeping assignments it is engaged in

through to their logical conclusion. The United Nations

cannot, at this juncture, turn its back on South Africa,

Liberia, Rwanda, Angola, Mozambique, Haiti, Somalia or

the former Yugoslavia. It would be a sad day indeed if all

these laudable initiatives were abandoned on the grounds of

well-reasoned arguments pleading lack of funds or of the

will to help these nations enjoy the peace that has eluded

them for years.

In recognition of the fact that the United Nations cannot

undertake too many initiatives, it should devise mechanisms

for shoring up regional efforts at conflict resolution, such as

in Liberia. We also wish to stress that the internal parties to

the various conflicts which the United Nations is striving so

hard to resolve have a moral responsibility to play their part

in accelerating the process towards peace. Human decency

and the sanctity of human life impose this duty on them. In

this respect, we must encourage the Inkatha Freedom Party

and other right-wing groups to join the process of

negotiations in South Africa, and we should condemn in no

uncertain terms the treachery of UNITA and the attitude of

some of the Somali warlords.

Whatever mistakes the United Nations Operation in

Somalia (UNOSOM) may have made, it is grotesque for any

Somali leader to seek to be a hero by engaging the United

Nations in combat. Such a show of ingratitude may have

long-term damaging consequences in terms of the

willingness of Member States to undertake humanitarian

missions. And what would be the consequences for the

Somali people should the United Nations decide to abort

UNOSOM? Any leader who has the interest of his people at

heart needs to reflect on that.

It is noteworthy that many of the conflicts plaguing us

are in the developing countries. We hope the call for

limiting the peace-keeping role of the United Nations is not

an attempt to shirk the burden of engaging in solving the

political problems in these countries in the same way as the

fundamental economic concerns of these countries have been

marginalized.

As we concern ourselves with the resolution of these

sometimes malignant conflicts, let us not forget to address

the fundamental factors that generate many of them. We

know that a great proportion of these problems can be traced

to economic deprivation and underdevelopment. My

delegation has stressed time and again in this Assembly and

elsewhere that underdevelopment and conflicts have a link.

It is often the poorest countries or countries where economic

decline has been steep that relapse into savage violence. We

have also said that the source of the condition of

underdevelopment can be largely traced to a global economic

system that has been inimical to the interests of developing

and poor countries.

Forty-eighth session - 30 September l993 23

It is time the United Nations, in its effort to construct

peace and keep the peace, addressed some of the

fundamental economic issues that hamper all efforts to

eradicate global poverty. In this connection, the perennial

problems that plague the economies of the South must now

be fully tackled as part of the energetic search for world

peace. We have said in almost all United Nations forums,

including the Assembly, that the debt burden cripples our

economies. We have spoken regularly about the

unacceptable levels of resource flow from the poor nations

to the rich. We have drawn regular attention to the unequal

terms of trade, protectionist barriers and a disastrous global

pricing system that does not pay us adequately for the fruits

of our labour, whether we produce coffee, cocoa or copper.

It is time the United Nations placed development and

the crucial need for restructuring the world economy on its

priority list side-by-side with, if not above, its peace-keeping

and peacemaking agenda. The United Nations must defend

each nation’s right to earn its way by being an equal

participant in the global market place. Many of us have

undertaken structural adjustments. Yet the returns of the

great sacrifices we have made remain low. So many of us

cannot provide adequate social services in the form of

schools, clinics or clean water for our people. In many

instances, bowing to the conditions set for the loans we

contract to expand our export base, we have to lay off

workers and thus consign thousands or even millions of

families to indigence as the small pay check that puts a meal

on the table, buys medicine when the child is sick, or

provides the uniform for the new school-goer in the family,

is no longer forthcoming.

The United Nations has been advised, correctly in our

view, to run efficient peace-keeping operations, to refurbish

itself administratively and to upgrade its skills in all the

spheres of its endeavours. We wish to add that the United

Nations must now also place upon its active agenda the

question of development and tackle it with the seriousness

it deserves. We have striven in this Organization to link the

environment, human rights, democracy and humanitarian

relief with development. It is time we realized that

peace-keeping and peacemaking can be carried out

efficiently, and the problems that generate conflicts can be

resolved, only if we promote the issue of development with

vigour. And this can be done if the United Nations insists

on a more just, equitable and transparent world economic

system that will confer the means for development on all

nations. The task of eradicating global poverty must receive

the same attention, concentration and energetic action as are

given to peace-keeping and peacemaking.

The democratization process, which is part of the effort

to promote and uphold human rights, should not be limited

to the national level. The full implementation of the

principles of democracy within the family of nations should

also be one of our central concerns. It is in this context that

we seek the revitalization of the General Assembly, where

the sovereign equality of Member States finds full

expression. We look forward to the General Assembly’s

playing its full role in the maintenance of international peace

and security as required by the Charter. We also welcome

the initiative of the Security Council to make its work,

including its decision-making process, more transparent.

Such transparency will obviously enhance the legitimacy of

its decisions and, equally importantly, reflect the fact that it

is the Members of the Organization which, under Article 24,

confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the

maintenance of international peace and security, and that in

discharging its functions the Security Council acts on their

behalf.

My delegation sees no need to go over the case, which

has already been well established, for the reform of the

Security Council. Suffice it to say that, whatever the final

form of a restructured Security Council, it is clear that its

reform should be based on the principle of the sovereign

equality of Member States and the clear

24 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

recognition that the Security Council acts on behalf of the

Members of the Organization and should reflect the

universality of our Organization. The Ghana delegation is

ready to participate in the search for a more legitimate and

effective Security Council.

We welcome the commitment made by

President Clinton to ensure the payment of contributions due

from the United States in respect of peace-keeping

operations. It is to be hoped that in the years to come the

United States, which pays a substantial portion of the United

Nations budget, regular and peace-keeping, will continue to

abide by this commitment and also address the question of

outstanding contributions to the regular budget.

It is the hope of Ghana that this session will mark the

beginning of the renaissance of the United Nations, ready to

collectively commit itself to the pursuit of the objectives of

our Organization as reflected in the principles and purposes

of the Charter.