Guinea, 1997

I extend to the President of the General Assembly at its

fifty-second session the sincere congratulations of the

delegation of the Republic of Guinea on his election. At the

same time, I have the pleasant duty to transmit to him the

warmest greetings of the people and Government of Guinea

and, in particular, of the President of the Republic, General

Lansana Conte.

Mr. Udovenko’s wealth of experience in multilateral

diplomacy, to which he has devoted a major part of his

life, together with his outstanding personal qualities,

ensures the success of our deliberations. As Vice-

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-second

session, and because of the long-standing and excellent

relations of friendship that link my country with his —

Ukraine — I assure him of the full cooperation of my

delegation.

Furthermore, I should like to express the deep

appreciation of my delegation for the effectiveness and

competence shown by his predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Razali Ismail, in conducting the debates of the

General Assembly at its fifty-first session.

I should also like to congratulate the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, on the outstanding work he has

accomplished since the beginning of his term, and on the

submission on 14 July this year of his programme for

reform. I should like to assure him of the confidence and

support of the Republic of Guinea.

In addition, I wish to pay tribute to the former

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who

deserves credit for beginning consideration of the subject.

Some have wished to call this fifty-second session

the Assembly of reform, and we are in agreement. The

document (A/51/950) submitted for debate, “Renewing

The United Nations: A Programme for Reform”, has been

examined extremely carefully by my Government. We

must admit that the United Nations in its current form is

a long way from corresponding to the geopolitical

realities of today’s world. Since its creation 50 years ago,

and in particular since 1989, the world has changed

greatly. We cannot fail to change along with it.

It is true that results in the area of peacekeeping and

international security have been extremely positive. Many

major treaties and conventions have been concluded,

including the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The international

community has also made a firm and prompt commitment

to the Ottawa process on banning anti-personnel

landmines, a process in which the Republic of Guinea

took a particularly active part.

We should also welcome the implementation of

peacekeeping operations in many parts of the world and,

an extremely positive sign, an improvement in public

administration, increased democracy and the strengthening

17

of the ability of nations to promote human rights in the

interests of better governance.

But, in spite of this considerable progress, many

imbalances remain, major challenges are still before us and

the nascent globalization is not, as a spirit of international

solidarity would demand, benefiting developing countries,

which have tended to fall by the wayside on the road to

progress. Many countries are still labouring under the

burden of debt, which is crippling their economies and

thereby compromising their development efforts. In full

view of the international community, thinly disguised

protectionism prevents our products from gaining access to

buoyant markets. When, taking one year with another, some

of our products manage to overcome these barriers, they

often succumb to prices stemming from rules that are

sometimes fixed unilaterally or flouted with impunity. This

is compounded by the harmful effects of the decline in

official development assistance in spite of the Rio

commitments.

So-called small arms are proliferating on our borders

and are posing serious threats to the peace, security and

stability of many countries.

This short list does not nearly cover all the defects we

have to correct.

Courageous and consensual reform of the United

Nations could help us to do away with these ills, which are

compromising, through uncertainty, the future of many

nations represented here. We must reassure our peoples, not

just by drafting new standard-setting instruments that are

legally binding on us all, but, above all, by taking drastic

action, channelling our will and joint efforts to change the

situation on the ground.

The spirit of the Marshall Plan, which the United

Nations should espouse, should not die with the century

that saw its birth.

For all these reasons, the Republic of Guinea approves

the reform proposed by the Secretary-General. For all these

reasons it is also deeply involved in the debate that will

make it a reality. We will not go into all the positive

aspects here; we will simply confine ourselves to a few

points, especially those that directly affect developing

countries.

I begin with the economy, the new cornerstone of the

system after disarmament. Several economic measures go

in the right direction. We support the initiative to create a

United Nations Development Group, an Office of

Development Financing and a new system for multi-year

pledges for development cooperation thanks to savings on

administrative expenses, the first fruits of reform.

The same applies to strengthening the role of the

Economic and Social Council and promoting dialogue

with the technical ministries of our countries to give

impetus to macroeconomic policies. We also set great

store by the proclamation of the International Decade to

Eliminate Poverty and especially in concrete measures to

eradicate the evil of poverty.

The Republic of Guinea puts women and children at

the heart of its development, and welcomes the attention

given to the promotion of women and children.

In the same vein, Guinea supports the

implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for

the Development of Africa in the 1990s and the United

Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa.

My delegation supports other aspects which are

equally important for the restructuring under

consideration, especially the merger of institutions in the

Organization with similar activities, such as the creation

in Vienna of a single Office to combat transnational

crime, drug-trafficking and terrorism, evils we should all

fight against wherever they may rear their head, and the

amalgamation of the Centre for Human Rights with the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights.

The problem of the environment knows no

boundaries. If we are not careful, this may be the greatest

danger we face, since many perils are lurking,

smouldering beneath the surface of the anarchy in this

matter. It should be the sacred duty of the international

community to ensure the lasting health of our planet for

ourselves and for future generations. This is why we

welcome the organization of a special session on the

environment and development.

We have presented the proliferation of small arms as

a subject of concern to African countries. These weapons,

which unfortunately lend themselves to all types of

conflict, large or small, pose a real danger. We therefore

strongly support the idea of creating a Department for

Disarmament and Arms Regulation. If it is to be fully

effective, it should be given adequate resources and

genuine power to monitor the cross-border movement of

these weapons.

18

What is true of the Organization as a whole is even

more true of the Security Council. The times we live in

have made its reform essential. Nevertheless, when we deal

with this important and delicate issue, we should avoid

confrontation between regions and different groups and try

not to resort to useless polemics. On the one hand, we

should perhaps understand that we will not be able to do

everything at once, or else we will stymie the debate. Our

main goal should be significantly to change a status quo

which we all feel has had its day. On the other hand, if we

put ourselves in the shoes of those who are enjoying

permanent seats and the right of veto, we should recognize

that it is difficult, even human, but not impossible, to agree

to give up, without a fight, the considerable advantages won

after the war after a brave struggle.

But, once peace has been achieved, it would be

pointless if time were not able, after half a century, to heal

the wounds of defeat and cast out the memories of war.

Security Council reform must be one of the major proofs of

a reconciliation patiently achieved. This is only one aspect

of the issue.

If the desire to disarm is sincere and universally

shared by all members of the international community, as

decisive progress could lead us to hope is the case, then the

concept of power should no longer be measured by a

country’s mass destruction capabilities.

After the cold war, the end of the arms race and of the

confrontation of ideologies, the struggle — perhaps we

should say “competition” — is shifting to other arenas,

particularly the economic arena and ensuring people’s

happiness. In the process, many countries which not long

ago were considered small because of the size of their

economies are outstripping nations which have seen their

former glory fade.

The formidable progress in communications has

inexorably reduced distances and gulfs separating the levels

of knowledge and development in the different parts of the

world.

Together, let us square up to these new realities, with

justice and democracy as our point of reference but above

all, with a clear view of humanity united on the basis of a

fruitful and trusting partnership, ensuring progress and well-

being for all. And let us courageously decide now on what

is possible, even if it means postponing matters until the

year 2000, when we can put the finishing touches to what

we will not have done today.

In the debate this session, Africa, in its constant

quest for consensus, has modest ambitions. We would

consider two permanent seats in the Security Council,

with the same rights for all, pursuant to the resolutions of

the summit in Harare, as positive results. The delegation

of the Republic of Guinea will fight for this during what

it hopes will be a calm and constructive debate.

The United Nations is essential for today and

tomorrow. If it did not exist, we would have had to invent

it.

The United Nations, as a special and irreplaceable

place for 185 States to meet, work together and cooperate,

must lay down rules of law recognized universally by all

so that international relations can continue in a coherent,

equitable and efficient manner.

Structural reform, however perfect, cannot be fully

effective without adequate financing of the Organization’s

operations and, above all, of its activities.

Reform must necessarily be accompanied by

consistent funding. Without reducing this important aspect

of the question solely to the payment of the contributions

owed by many countries, the delegation of Guinea wishes

to state that its reaction to the statement by the President

of the country that is the largest contributor was a

positive one. Nevertheless, in keeping with the principle

that the rules that have hitherto governed the Organization

are still in effect, the payment of arrears by all Member

States must precede the opening of negotiations to work

out a new scale of assessments satisfactory to all.

While bearing in mind that our common destiny

should be the background to our statements before the

Assembly, I would like to point out that each region and

subregion comes to this rostrum with its own pressing

concerns.

The subregion of western Africa, to which my

country, the Republic of Guinea, belongs has been shaken

by two fratricidal conflicts in Liberia and in Sierra Leone.

In Liberia, the recent democratic and transparent

elections held on 19 July 1997 under the aegis of the

Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS), with the support of the Organization of

African Unity (OAU), the United Nations and such

friendly countries as the United States of America, the

Netherlands, Denmark and France, have been crowned

with success. We welcome the Ministerial Meeting of the

19

Special Conference on Liberia that is taking place today in

the Trusteeship Council Chamber, and we hope that it will

lead to the mobilization of substantial resources for the

rebuilding of that fraternal country. The consolidation of

peace and stability there is at stake.

The Republic of Guinea, faithful to its policy of peace

and good-neighbourliness, has worked unflaggingly for the

success of such efforts. For the record, it will be recalled

that this is the first time that an African subregional

organization, determined to shoulder its responsibilities, has

managed to initiate, lead and successfully carry out a

peacekeeping operation.

We would also like to salute here the support being

given by the international community to ECOWAS for the

restoration of constitutional legitimacy in Sierra Leone,

which was the victim of a coup d’état on 25 May 1997.

The consequences of the conflicts in Liberia, which

lasted for seven years, and in Sierra Leone, which has been

going on for six years, have weighed heavily on the

Republic of Guinea. These are two neighbouring countries

that share hundreds of kilometres of frontiers with Guinea.

We have had to take in hundreds of thousands of

refugees and displaced persons. The Republic of Guinea, a

country of 7 million inhabitants, has up to 650,000

refugees, or one tenth of its population. In taking in the

refugees it has had to pay a heavy price and make

enormous sacrifices. In the border areas the environment

and infrastructures have deteriorated under the demographic

pressure. Schools have been closed to serve as shelters for

refugees. We have also had to cope with many health

problems of all kinds.

Because of this exceptional situation the members of

ECOWAS, meeting at Conakry on 26 June 1997, launched

an appeal for emergency assistance for the Republic of

Guinea. That appeal is beginning to be heeded by many

countries and international organizations.Here we would

like to thank most warmly the People’s Republic of China,

the State of Kuwait, the United States of America, France,

Canada, Qatar, Italy and the Organization of African Unity,

which have already demonstrated their solidarity with us.

I would be remiss if, out of a desire to inform the

Assembly of the problems of western Africa, I failed to

give due attention to conflicts tearing other African

countries and other regions of the world asunder.

With regard to the Great Lakes region, my

delegation would encourage all initiatives to establish a

climate of peace and stability in that area.

Similarly, we would like to voice our concern at the

deterioration of the situation in the Congo. While urging

the parties to the conflict to observe the ceasefire and

persevere in their efforts at negotiation, we reaffirm our

support for the tireless efforts being made by all those of

goodwill to reach a settlement of that crisis.

Turning to Western Sahara, the Republic of Guinea

welcomes the appointment of a new Personal Envoy of

the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and hopes that

the personal input of that diplomat will foster the peaceful

implementation of the United Nations settlement plan.

Other parts of the world are also experiencing unrest

that threatens international peace and security. We shall

confine ourselves here to the situation in the Middle East.

The Republic of Guinea encourages the efforts being

made to find a just and lasting settlement in the Middle

East. Notwithstanding current difficulties, we must

persevere. Peace, a just and equitable peace between

Israel and its Arab neighbours, is essential. Peace will

remake that region in the interests of all its peoples and

turn it into a magnet for all the nations of the world. The

only way to achieve that is through negotiation.

In the prevention, management and resolution of

conflicts, Africa is increasingly shouldering its own

responsibilities. This new approach is in keeping with

current developments, and the international community

should encourage and support it.

The Republic of Guinea, which pursues a policy of

peace and economic development under the leadership of

a man of peace and tolerance, the President of the

Republic, Brigadier General Lansana Conté, will be

prepared, as in the past, to bear its share of responsibility

for solving African problems.

A dark cloud always has a silver lining.

It is comforting to note that life on the African

continent is not confined to crises and conflicts. The

struggle of African peoples to emerge from poverty has

made striking progress in recent years. The needs of

economic development have compelled all African

countries to adapt their State institutions and redirect their

policies to cope with the changes of the new era.

20

Today, there are many bilateral and multilateral

initiatives to help Africa get off the ground. Most of those

initiatives draw on the lessons of the past and, happily,

avoid the imposition of patterns or stereotypes; they take

into account the real needs of the African people, who are

increasingly involved in the choice of development plans

and programmes. Measures to convert, suspend or write off

debts are part of that process.

We face major challenges, whose diversity and

complexity concern us and call for urgent solutions

commensurate with the expectations and aspirations of our

peoples. The Republic of Guinea is confident that the

current session will produce decisions enabling our

Organization fully to carry out its noble mission as we

approach the third millennium.

I conclude on that note of hope and optimism.