Guinea, 2012

On behalf

the delegation of Guinea, which I have the great

honour to lead, I would like first of all to congratulate

the President on his election to guide the work of the

General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session at a time

when our Organization is facing multiple challenges.

That mark of trust placed in him is a vibrant tribute

to his country, the Republic of Serbia, as well as to

his recognized diplomatic qualities, which augur well

for the success of our deliberations. His predecessor,

Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, of Qatar, deserves our

gratitude and thanks for his excellent work. I should also

like to express my Government’s highest appreciation

to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his

dynamism and determination in the exercise of his

mandate.

The theme of this session, “Bringing about

adjustment or settlement of international disputes or

situations by peaceful means”, lies at the very heart of

the uncertainty that weighs on the future of humanity.

The emergence of new forms of violence at the hands

of numerous actors and non-State groups, international

terrorism, and above all the proliferation of small arms

and light weapons, all constitute grounds for concern.

While inter-State conflicts have decreased in recent

years, intra-State conflicts in certain regions of the

world have led to political instability, general insecurity

and human tragedies, with their attendant economic,

social and environmental crises.

It follows that the peaceful settlement of disputes,

as a fundamental principle of international relations,

is becoming more indispensable than ever for the

maintenance of international peace and security. That

principle requires sustainable preventive strategies and

concerted efforts on the part of regional and subregional

organizations along with international development

partners. The critical need for States to promote and

defend the purposes and principles of the United

Nations Charter and of international law is the bulwark

par excellence against attempts against the territorial

integrity and sovereignty of States.

International mediation as a means of prevention

or a way to end violence through dialogue, along with

negotiation and the achievement of final agreements,

should be given pride of place. In that context, the

Guinean delegation encourages the rapid deployment

of mediators and experts. It also wishes to offer its

emphatic support to the Secretary-General’s initiative

encouraging the role of women in the mediation process.

In developing States, especially in Africa,

mediation and settlement mechanisms should be

strengthened through capacity-building and the

allocation of sufficient resources to assure a holistic

and effective approach. The institutionalization at the

national, regional and international levels of a culture

of peace that includes dialogue between civilizations

and religious tolerance is the irreversible path towards

a world of solidarity and peace.

In West Africa, where the northern part of our

neighbour, Mali, has been occupied for months

by terrorist and rebel groups, the strengthening of

democratic institutions and the restoration of territorial

integrity constitute the primary challenges of note.

Guinea reiterates its support for the initiatives of the

Economic Community of Western African States and

the African Union in their search for a solution to that

crisis, whose effects on the countries of the subregion

could well be devastating. In that regard, Guinea joins

the Government of Mali in urgently demanding the

Security Council to deploy an international contingent

to restore the territorial integrity of that brother country.

In Guinea-Bissau, the consolidation of peace and

stability requires the restoration of all democratic

institutions. With respect to the Great Lakes countries,

we support the efforts of the international community

and the Central African Economic and Monetary

Community, which seek to restore peace and security

in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, which is fundamental for the stability of that

country and the region.

In the Horn of Africa, there has been encouraging

progress with respect to the peace process in Somalia.

The implementation of a new federal Parliament, the

adoption of a new interim Constitution and the election

on 10 September of Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

as President of the Republic, all demonstrate the

commitment of the Somali people, the Intergovernmental

Authority on Development, the African Union and

the United Nations to support peace, democracy and reconciliation in that country. The Government of

Guinea would like, at this time, to express its warmest

congratulations to the African Union Military Observer

Mission in Somalia.

Guinea also supports the ongoing negotiations

between the Governments of the Sudan and South Sudan

regarding post-independence issues, in accordance

with the African Union road map of 24 April 2011,

as approved by the Security Council in its resolution

2046 (2012). We welcome the agreement reached by the

parties on sharing petroleum revenue.

In the Middle East, the restoration of lasting

peace in the region must of necessity depend on the

creation of an independent Palestinian State, living

in peace and security side by side with the State of

Israel. The situation in Syria increasingly cries out to

the international community. We urge the concerned

parties to spare no efforts to halt the violence, protect

the population and restore peace. My Government

reaffirms its support for the declaration on Syria of

the recent extraordinary session of the Organization of

Islamic Cooperation.

The adoption on 21 June of the outcome document

(resolution 66/288, annex) of the United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)

offered the international community an opportunity

to renew its political commitment to sustainable

development in all its dimensions — economic, social

and environmental. The priority of the international

community today should be the effective implementation

of the commitments made to take into account the

legitimate concerns of all countries, in particular in

Africa. To that end, Guinea remains convinced that

defining a post-2015 development agenda must take

into account the complementarity of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) and the sustainable

development goals resulting from Rio+20 in order to

ensure maximum benefit from the subsequent synergy.

In consideration of Africa’s post-2015 development

agenda, at the proposal of my country, the fifth Joint

Annual Meetings of the African Union Conference of

Ministers of Economy and Finance and the Economic

Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers

of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, held

in Addis Ababa in March, and the seventeenth session of

the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation,

held in New York in May, agreed to promote South-

South and triangular coalition.

South-South and triangular cooperation is now

becoming a new modality for international cooperation

in order to deal with the debt and financial market

crises and the lack of traditional official development

assistance and implement international development

goals, such as the MDGs and the Istanbul Programme

of Action, among others. From this rostrum, I would

like to launch an urgent appeal to all Member States

and development partners to support that innovative

initiative of solidarity by the international community

towards Africa. The continent remains the weakest link

in the international development mechanism despite its

vast potential and its economic performance in recent

years.

Since the election in 2010 of President Alpha Condé

to the highest office, the Government has undertaken

an vast programme of democratization and political,

institutional, economic and social reforms. At the

political level, a law on the fair reconstitution of the

Independent National Electoral Commission, adopted

by the National Transition Council, was approved by

the President. We hope that that will open the way for

the holding of legislative elections by the end of the

year.

I would like to reiterate the Government’s

commitment to continuing to promote human rights

and to ensure public freedoms. To meet the various

challenges facing the country following the 2010

presidential election, the Government has submitted

to the Peacebuilding Commission a request for support

and assistance in three priority areas, namely, national

reconciliation and unity, security sector reform and

youth and women’s employment.

Those priorities resulted in a statement of

mutual commitment, adopted here in New York on

23 September 2011 in the presence of our Head of

State. A year later, the implementation of those mutual

commitments has produced encouraging results thanks

to the significant efforts of the Government, the United

Nations and other partners. I would especially like to

welcome the significant progress in security sector

reform, in particular the biometric census of troops and

the retirement of nearly 4,000 soldiers.

In order to build on those achievements, we believe

that Guinea and its partners should benefit from the

momentum and trust created by those initial steps to

continue the reform by extending it to all components

of the security sector, in particular the police and the judiciary. We are convinced that strengthening the

security and stability of the country and of the subregion

depend on that.

In the economic and social field, there has been

significant progress in combating the macroeconomic

imbalances and in improving prospects for growth and

people’s living conditions.

Those policies enabled Guinea to reach the

completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

Initiative a few days ago, following meetings of the

Executive Boards of the International Monetary Fund

and the World Bank. The subsequent foreign debt relief

will make it possible to release significant financial

resources to investment in basic social services to

alleviate poverty. The normalization of relations with

creditors, restoring the State’s credibility, will promote

access to new foreign financial resources. However,

the Government of Guinea is aware that reaching the

completion point is only a first step and that many

challenges must be overcome to launch the country

on the path of sustainable growth. Our objective is to

rapidly raise the country to the ranks of an emerging

economy through the exploitation of its natural

resources.

I would like to conclude by reiterating Guinea’s

firm support for efforts to reform the General

Assembly and the Security Council so as to strengthen

the effectiveness and democratic governance of our

universal Organization.