Guinea, 1995

It is a great pleasure and, indeed, an honour for

me, to convey to the General Assembly the fond greetings

of the people of Guinea, its Government and its President,

General Lansana Conté, at the opening of this session,

which so fortuitously coincides with the celebration of the

fiftieth anniversary of our Organization.

The President returned to the Chair.

I am very pleased to extend to you, Mr. President,

my warm congratulations on your brilliant election to the

presidency of the fiftieth session of the General

Assembly. Your election and the outstanding efforts by

your country, Portugal, within this great family of nations,

are a cause of satisfaction to my delegation. I believe that

with your experience and your abilities as a great

diplomat, you will guide our deliberations with great

success.

I would join other delegations in paying a well-

deserved tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Amara Essy of

the sister Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, whose dynamism and

great qualities as a sophisticated diplomat helped us move

forward as our Organization sought answers to the

challenges facing our world today.

Also, I would here extend my Government’s

appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, for the enormous amount of work he has

done and for the resolve and wisdom that he demonstrates

in seeking solutions to all the fundamental issues,

16

particularly those relating to peace, security, development

and democracy throughout the world.

I should like to congratulate the people of Palau on

their admission to membership in the United Nations as the

185th Member State. The presence of their delegation here

with us confirms once more the universality of our

Organization.

It is clear that the last few years of this century are

being played out against a background of crisis and

conflict, creating an impression of uncertainty as to the

future of the human race. But we must recognize that the

international community has made considerable efforts in

preparing global strategies for peace and security

throughout the world, taking into account the environment,

sustainable development, the emancipation of women and

the protection of children.

Despite these efforts, many parts of the world, sorely

tried by poverty and backwardness, do not yet have

sufficient food or enough drinking water, education or

medical care. Civil war and natural disaster continue to

endanger the economies of those same areas, which are

already afflicted by a widespread world crisis.

Entire nations, such as my own, the Republic of

Guinea, pay a heavy price because of their geographical

location. More than 600,000 refugees and displaced persons

from Liberia and Sierra Leone are now living in our

country. The Republic of Guinea will never abandon its

humanitarian duty to its Liberian and Sierra Leonean

brothers, and continues to suffer the consequences of a

fratricidal war which has lasted for six years in one of

those neighbours and three years in the other.

It is true that relative calm, showing a clearer desire

for peace in Liberia, has been noted since the agreements

between the factions were signed on 19 August 1995 at

Abuja.

In the view of my delegation, this new choice of peace

in Liberia also requires a clear-cut effort on the part of the

international community. In this connection, one has to

ensure better control of weapons flows in the region. The

Government of the Republic of Guinea is resolved to take

action to that end.

Clearly, peace in Liberia will help to unblock the

crisis in Sierra Leone and to establish in our subregion of

West Africa an atmosphere of peace, security and lasting

stability, which are all essential to our programme for

economic integration.

My Government also welcomes the Lusaka

Agreements and we support all the efforts being made to

implement those Agreements with a view to ending the

crisis in Angola. It is our belief that if the political will

shown on both sides is sustained, then the people of

Angola will come to know the peace and stability they

have yearned for so long and will be able to work for

national reconstruction and economic and social

development.

Here we would pay tribute to the joint efforts made

by the United Nations and the Organization of African

Unity (OAU) and by the international community for

peace and reconciliation in that brother country.

On the question of Somalia, my delegation deplores

the current blockage in the peace process. We would urge

all parties to the conflict to demonstrate wisdom and

mutual understanding with a view to finding a peaceful

settlement to the crisis.

Turning to Rwanda and Burundi, my delegation

believes that to encourage major efforts by the

international community, those involved in those societies

must triumph over hatred, cultivate a spirit of forgiveness

and promote love and dialogue.

Today, the conflict in the Middle East is on a

positive footing. In this regard, the advent of Palestinian

autonomy in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, continuing

negotiations for extending that autonomy to territories still

under occupation, the Jordanian-Israeli agreement on

borders and the Israeli-Syrian talks on the Golan are all

significant advances that augur well for a comprehensive,

just and lasting settlement of the question.

United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,

on recognition of the border between Iraq and Kuwait and

on the situation in Afghanistan should, we believe, benefit

from mutual understanding between those involved. The

same holds true for the question of Western Sahara.

In the Korean peninsula, we are pleased to see an

easing of tension. My delegation would encourage the

North and the South to pursue their efforts towards the

independent and peaceful reunification of their country

into a confederated republic in keeping with the principle

of one State, one nation, two regimes and two

Governments. Moreover, my Government is pleased that

17

the talks between the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea and the United States of America have led to a

negotiated solution of the nuclear issue on the peninsula

and to an improvement in the relations between those two

countries.

In the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,

the multicultural and ancient civilization, born of the

contributions of diverse peoples throughout the Balkans, is

being jeopardized by human fury. My delegation believes

that what is happening there, and indeed everywhere,

should remind the international community of its

responsibilities for peace and reconciliation among the

peoples and their component groups.

All the wars that are ravaging entire regions of the

world today share, along with their countless dead, the

phenomenon of an endless flow of displaced persons

seeking, over mountains and through valleys, a place of

refuge. Despite the international community’s spirit of

solidarity, refugees and displaced persons experience the

very worst deprivations. These days, their problem has

grown to unprecedented proportions of gravity and

complexity. Their numbers have increased from year to

year, making it ever more difficult to manage the problem

appropriately. In my delegation’s view, the crises that

spawn refugees constitute genuine threats to regional

stability and world peace.

Guinea, which is participating in the United Nations

security mission in the Rwandese refugee camps in Zaire,

in keeping with a framework agreement signed with the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees, and taking account of its own experience with

Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, believes that no

effort should be spared to calm extremism everywhere. That

is why my Government supports all initiatives to strengthen

the intervention capacities of the High Commissioner for

Refugees. Guinea also supports the drafting of an agenda

for humanitarian action along the lines of “An Agenda for

Peace” and “An Agenda for Development”.

Despite the end of the East-West conflict, nuclear

weapons remain the greatest threat to international peace

and security, in spite of the remarkable progress made in

bilateral and multilateral disarmament negotiations. Many

dangers still threaten our efforts to achieve a collective

security that would include the related issues of

development, environment and human rights.

In certain key areas, there is an evident and growing

trend in the trafficking and use of chemical and fissionable

materials in conflicts, as well as the hidden or overt

desire of some countries to possess nuclear weapons.

These facts represent dangers that increase the

responsibilities of the United Nations, which is called

upon to take rigorous verification measures.

That is why the Republic of Guinea welcomes the

positive outcome of the New York Conference which led

to the indefinite and unconditional extension of the Treaty

on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. This was

undeniably an important step towards nuclear

disarmament and confirmed the special responsibility of

the nuclear Powers. However, if it is to be effective, this

achievement must be complemented by the immediate

conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. All

nuclear tests must be prohibited.

It is obvious that this quick overview of the major

concerns of our age — those relating to international

security — amply demonstrate the importance today of

United Nations peace-keeping operations. My Government

therefore welcomes the special attention given by the

United Nations to the settlement of conflicts in the world.

We support the relevant views expressed by the

Secretary-General in his Agenda for Peace.

None the less, while welcoming United Nations

involvement in various theatres of operation throughout

the world, we must also recognize that over the past few

years the peace-keeping operations have, for the most

part, yielded somewhat meagre results. This requires

today, in the light of our experience, a reformulation of

the entire issue of such operations.

If they are to be effective, peacemaking and peace-

keeping operations must be the subject of broader

agreement and dialogue among all the States Members of

the United Nations, without discrimination. It is in that

context that Guinea welcomes the establishment and work

of the mechanism of the Organization of African Unity

for the prevention, management and settlement of

conflicts in Africa. We urge the United Nations and the

international community to give it all the necessary

assistance.

Economic and social development is a prerequisite

of lasting peace and security. In developing countries,

particularly in Africa, a sense of insecurity arises out of

uncertainty in the future. It can thus be easily understood

why we often see a collapse of political and social

balances, leading to civil disorder and ethnic and religious

conflicts.

18

Despite United Nations efforts in the economic and

social field, the results remain meagre in some regions of

the world, particularly Africa, which is still deeply affected

by inequality, poverty and other serious problems that often

weaken the social fabric and undermine the foundations of

our States.

Recent trends in the world economy have helped to

worsen this already precarious situation. Thus, the debt

burden remains the main obstacle to development in poor

countries, forcing them to devote a major share of their

scarce resources to it. The collapse of the prices of

commodities, which are their main contribution to the world

market, has added to their poverty.

On top of these harsh conditions come the effects of

the implementation, by some of our States, of structural

adjustment programmes that are sometimes poorly prepared

and often poorly implemented. If all of these various

reforms undertaken by our countries are to bear fruit, all of

the partners, national and foreign alike, will have to support

Africa’s development efforts in an effective way. If they

are to be mutually beneficial, the proceeds of all public and

private assistance will simply have to take account of

everyone’s respective requirements for well-being.

Within the framework of the Uruguay Round of the

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Guinea welcomes

the Marrakesh Agreements that gave rise to the World

Trade Organization. Those Agreements will be viable,

however, only if they take genuine account of the need to

promote the integration of the African economy into the

world economy by developing its capacities and making it

more dynamic. In this connection we strongly support the

idea of setting up a commodities diversification fund.

My delegation greatly appreciates the special attention

given to Africa at the summer session of the Economic and

Social Council in Geneva, which considered the conditions

for implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for

the Development of Africa in the 1990s.

Bilateral initiatives must be supported in order to

strengthen South-South cooperation on the one hand and to

continue the North-South dialogue on the other hand.

Moreover the Agenda for Development must focus

primarily on Africa, where much of the population lives in

poverty. Implementation of that Agenda, complementing the

Agenda for Peace, will make it possible once again to

measure the new political will that has emerged at recent

international conferences on social development,

population and development, and women.

The Secretary-General’s Agenda for Development

offers an appropriate framework for North-South dialogue

and it must also enable the United Nations to provide

better coordination for, and to make more operational, the

policies and programmes implemented by its specialized

agencies and institutions, which have had a very limited

positive impact on the economies of developing countries

so far.

In this connection my Government notes with real

interest and much hope that the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations will be organizing a

world summit on food security in November 1996. That

world-wide meeting will make it possible we believe to

formulate specific and appropriate solutions to the serious

economic problems facing developing countries.

Of course, all these hopes will be in vain if the

States of the world are unable to crush drug-trafficking

and abuse.

While reconfirming our support for Agenda 21 and

all the agreements on sustainable development, we believe

that it is only greater political will that will make it

possible to translate into action the decisions that emerge

from these various meetings.

At the Halifax Summit, held from 15 to 17 June last,

the Group of Seven quite rightly recognized that

sustainable development was one of the major challenges

of the twenty-first century. At that meeting it was also

said that better quality of life for all was the objective of

sustainable development, the foundations of which are

democracy, human rights, transparent and responsible

management of public affairs, investment in the human

individual and protection of the environment. Guinea

welcomes the commitments entered into by the Group of

Seven to support national efforts in this area.

Protecting fundamental human rights, meeting human

needs, achieving social justice and human development

are still the focus of concern of the Government of

Guinea in its ambitious economic and social reform

programme, which has been under way since 1984.

Guinea is party to several international conventions

relating to human rights because it is firmly committed to

promoting and protecting these fundamental rights and

freedoms.

19

Today I am happy to be able to tell the international

community that my country completed instituting its

democratic republican institutions in June this year when

we organized our multiparty legislative and municipal

elections.

The successful completion of this process of

democratization, the establishment of a State of law, and

the liberalization of the economy in the Republic of Guinea

all benefited from the support and understanding of the

international community as a whole and I should like to

thank you all for this.

The United Nations and its specialized agencies, as the

paramount instrument for cooperation and multilateral

agreement, see their responsibilities increased today more

than ever before. Today this universal Organization has

certainly acquired a certain prestige. Its help is requested in

every area.

To strengthen its effectiveness on this fiftieth

anniversary of its founding, the United Nations must

restructure and revitalize its principal organs in the light of

the changes that have taken place in the international arena

and taking account of the challenges facing mankind in the

forthcoming millennium.

The reforms must be based on the principle of equality

among Member States at the level of decision-making

bodies and also within the various organs.

It is only in this way that our common heritage, this

irreplaceable tool, this United Nations, will be able

successfully to discharge its mission of preserving

international peace and security and promoting a fairer

world, more equitable and more prosperous world.

The success of this institution does depend of course

on an improvement in its financial situation at a time when

its responsibilities are constantly increasing in this ever-

changing international situation.

The United Nations has existed for half a century now.

The solemn celebration of its first 50 years coincides with

the twilight of the twentieth century and it offers its 185

Members an opportunity to try to revitalize its activities and

to agree on equitable representation within its principal

organs. In Guinea commemoration of this historic event is

taking place with the full support of our Government.

May the decades to come bring greater

understanding among people and among nations so as to

ensure the greater happiness of mankind.