Guinea, 1999

I should like to

take this opportunity to congratulate you, Sir, on your well-

deserved election to the presidency of the fifty-fourth

session of the General Assembly and to convey to you, on

behalf of the people and Government of Guinea, my

warmest congratulations. I am convinced that our Assembly

stands to gain a great deal from your leadership and from

your wealth of experience.

I would like also to pay tribute to your predecessor,

Mr. Didier Opertti of Uruguay, for his commendable efforts

to advance the process of the reform of our Organization.

Finally, allow me to convey my sincere

congratulations and words of encouragement to Mr. Kofi

Annan, who, since taking the helm of our Organization, has

worked tirelessly to make of it a catalyst and a unique

framework for nations to work together. We share that

conviction and would like to assure him of our unflagging

support in that respect.

The present-day world is characterized by a rapid

evolution that has taken the form of profound political,

economic and social changes. Those changes have had an

impact on peace, international security and development.

The quest for peace and for a new and more

equitable international order has become the major

concern of our age. The United Nations cannot insulate

itself from these changes. Its effectiveness will depend on

its ability to re-adapt itself to today's realities.

The reform of the United Nations, the maintenance

of international peace and security, disarmament, the fight

against poverty and the strengthening of international

cooperation — all of these matters will require our

attention and energy in the third millennium.

I am certain, therefore, that the Assembly will agree

that the events taking place today clearly show the need

to reform the United Nations.

All the arguments favour such a change as a means

of strengthening the United Nations system and

democratizing its main bodies, particular the Security

Council, to make it into an authentic tool in the service

peace and development for all. Our position on these

issues is in accordance with that of the African Group as

set forth at the thirty-fifth summit of the Organization of

African Unity (OAU) in Algiers. The new make-up of the

Security Council must fully reflect present-day realities

through the equitable geographic representation of every

region of the world.

The increasing number of conflicts is undermining the

foundations of international peace and security and

dangerously compromising the development efforts of our

States. In this respect, I am sure the Assembly agrees that

there can be no development without a consistent political

commitment on the part of our States to peace and

disarmament. That is why my delegation believes that any

sign of indifference or silence on the part of the

international community when confronted with the spectre

of violence and the use of weapons of mass destruction can

prove fatal for international peace and security.

As in the past, the Republic of Guinea can neither

remain silent nor conceal its concern with regard to the

increasing number of areas of tension and conflict

throughout the world, particularly in Africa. Indeed, more

than two thirds of the items currently on the agenda of the

Security Council relate to critical situations in Africa.

However, despite these difficult circumstances, our

continent has courageously taken its destiny into its own

hands by creating, under the auspices of the OAU, a

Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and

Resolution. With the assistance of the United Nations, this

mechanism should be able to play a major role in

maintaining peace on the continent.

Africa needs international cooperation if it is to make

this instrument fully effective, given the breadth and

complexity of the task that it must undertake. For some 10

years, West Africa has been particularly tested by the

fratricidal wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.

They have had very serious consequences for those

countries, which have become fields of desolation and

whose reconstruction will require the assistance of the

international community for a long time to come.

In this context, particular attention should be paid to

the unfortunate young people in those countries. Tens of

thousands of adolescents have been dragged into those

wars, and now they are skilled only at fighting. It is

essential to provide for and ensure their economic and

social integration so as to prevent them from becoming

easy prey to the warlords who are laying waste to the

region.

The consequences of the conflicts and tensions in the

neighbouring countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and

Guinea-Bissau have affected Guinea in many ways and

significantly impeded the achievement of its development

targets. My country has provided asylum to several

hundred thousands of refugees, whose presence in our

land has had a very serious impact on its economy,

environment and security. The impact of the refugees and

the burden they represent for the country in general, and

for the host populations in particular, have been

enormous, making Guinea one of the leading countries of

asylum in the world, since the high proportion of refugees

makes up more than one tenth of its population.

This situation has affected the ability of the

Government to achieve its priority development objectives

because of the tremendous unforeseen expenses that

Guinea has had to bear and will continue to have to bear

in order to restore peace, security and stability in the

subregion, together with the other States members of the

Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS).

Despite the support of the international community

in the face of these crises and conflicts that are

convulsing our continent, it is regrettable to note the

discriminatory way in which Africa is treated in dealing

with the refugee problem. We should like here to

welcome the gratifying initiative of the United Nations to

make the Republic of Guinea the focal point of stability

in the subregion.

In this connection, a solidarity conference to

strengthen Guinea's stability and efforts for sustainable

development will soon be held in Brussels. My country,

which has high expectations of that meeting, would like

to appeal to all donors to increase their support for the

efforts of the Government of Guinea to deal with the

socio-economic consequences of the massive presence of

refugees in our territory.

I should like to reiterate to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, the sincere gratitude of the people of

Guinea for his recent visit to our country, and I am

pleased to be able solemnly to pay tribute to his personal

action to mobilize the international community for the

benefit of Guinea.

The subregion of West Africa is not the only one

that has suffered from war. We remain deeply concerned

by the fratricidal struggles that are convulsing Central

Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and Angola; those conflicts continue to be at the

forefront of the international political scene. While

deploring the situation, which is a threat to the stability of

our continent, I should like here to call on all the parties

concerned to give a chance to the negotiation and mediation

efforts under way in various places so that those crises can

be overcome. I congratulate the United Nations and the

Organization of African Unity and encourage them to

pursue their initiatives and concrete actions aimed at

restoring peace in those countries.

Today more than ever, the Middle East needs peace

and security. Such a peace can be built only with mutual

confidence and the desire to live together, with respect for

the rights and the dignity of all the peoples of the region.

That is why we welcome the recent developments in the

Middle East, particularly in Israel. The hopes that have

been raised should not be dashed.

In Yugoslavia, the advent of peace requires tolerance

and respect for the territorial integrity and the right to

coexistence of all the various parts of that nation. The

establishment of a true State based on the rule of law is the

only way of guaranteeing the reconstruction of the country,

with the assistance of the international community.

Another subject of major concern to Africa is that of

economic matters and international cooperation. Here we

must acknowledge that efforts to date have not yielded the

results we had hoped for in meeting the needs and

aspirations of our peoples. An in-depth, comprehensive,

proactive approach to development problems, as defined at

the Second Tokyo International Conference on African

Development, deserves the support and assistance of the

international community. Unfortunately, one of the essential

elements of such cooperation — the North-South dialogue

so eagerly sought by our countries — remains at an

impasse. All the while, disparities between the rich

countries of the North and the underdeveloped countries of

the South have grown. The arbitrary fixing of prices for

commodities and manufactured goods by the North reduces

to the point of futility the measures that have been proposed

to alleviate the burden of external-debt servicing.

The system of trade too is based on discrimination.

Under the banner of liberalization and free competition,

globalization has had the effect of eroding or even

eliminating preferences providing our commodities with

access to the markets of the North. It is vital to establish

timetables for adaptation and for the provision of alternative

compensation so that our countries can maximize their

potential as participants in world trade. Further, because of

the importance of the fight against poverty in developing

countries, we call upon donor countries to redouble their

efforts to reach the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national

product for official development assistance.

Turning to the crucial question of debt, it is now our

firm conviction that no economic-recovery programme

can have the hoped-for results without a favourable

approach to the backlog of debt burdening African

countries, particularly the most heavily indebted among

them. While my delegation welcomes the recent decisions

taken by the Group of Eight at Cologne, we are

nonetheless concerned that efforts need to be made to

produce a lasting resolution of the debt question. Debt

continues to swallow up the bulk of the resources of poor

countries, particularly those in Africa, whose earnings are

diminishing daily in spite of the great sacrifices made by

our peoples with the adoption of structural adjustment

measures.

We therefore call for the convening of an

international conference on the external debt of Africa

with a view to finding a final solution to this problem;

this would revitalize our ever more fragile economies. I

wish in that connection to say that my country is now

engaged in ongoing dialogue with the Paris Club of

Industrial Country Creditors, the relevant Consultative

Group, and the donor community with a view to

significant rescheduling of our external debt.

Turning to the question of human rights and

democracy, my Government believes that the eradication

of poverty, social inequality and ignorance is a

prerequisite for the promotion of human rights. Even

though we are living through a difficult situation, my

country remains deeply committed to democratic values

and fundamental freedoms and has created all the

necessary institutions for a State based on law; the proper

functioning of these will contribute to our political

stability.

We have been witness to the gradual emergence of

a sense of hope, common destiny and a new partnership

among nations. Such a world vision, however, should not

to cloak our profound concern at a time when humanity

is preparing to cross the threshold of the third

millennium. The international community must do

everything in its power to bring about the triumph of

hope, even if threats to the very existence of the world

persist. If it is to shoulder these responsibilities to the full,

the international community has no choice but to help the

United Nations adapt to the major changes under way in

3

the world and must play its proper role in that world. More

than ever before, mankind must understand that it bears

responsibility for its own future.

In the name of human solidarity, the very fabric of

international cooperation, I call upon all members of this

great world family to make the United Nations a centre for

harmonizing the efforts of the nations of the world, united

in defence of our common destiny: a house in which all our

wills converge resolutely, looking towards the future, and

in which humanity can flourish and be united on the basis

of freedom, justice, peace and prosperity. Long live the

United Nations.