Guinea-Bissau, 1993

Allow me at the outset, Sir, to offer you my warmest

congratulations on your well-deserved election to the

presidency of the forty-eighth session of the General

Assembly of the United Nations. Your presence at the head

of this Assembly clearly attests to the commitment of your

country - Guyana - to the defence of peace and the

promotion of multilateral diplomacy. Your skills and your

experience on the international scene, acquired over many

years, will, we are certain, ensure the successful conclusion

of our deliberations. My country, Guinea-Bissau, wishes to

assure you of our fullest readiness to cooperate with you.

Our congratulations and thanks go to your predecessor,

His Excellency Mr. Stoyan Ganev, for the remarkable and

constructive job he did in steering the work of the forty-

seventh session. We wish also to express our gratitude to

His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary-

General of the United Nations, for the way in which he is

directing the work of the Organization in this new context.

We hail the advent of new Members to the great family

of the United Nations: Andorra, Monaco, Eritrea, the Czech

Republic, Slovakia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia.

I am particularly honoured to have the privilege of

speaking on behalf of my country, Guinea-Bissau, at the

forty-eighth session of the General Assembly at a time when

an increased worldwide consensus seems to be emerging, in

that significant and encouraging changes are taking place in

the global political and economic landscape.

How many questions, expectations and, indeed, how

much skepticism underlie that assertion?

The end of the bipolar domination of international

relations and the cessation of the cold war, which affected

all continents, constitute an event that is of manifest political

significance and of great historical impact - first, because it

has led to the dismantling of an international order that

prevailed for half a century and divided the world into

hostile blocs; secondly, because it has cleared a space for the

development of certain processes whose free evolution was

impeded because of the political discipline imposed, within

each bloc, by the demands of the conflicts between the two

super-Powers.

The world power pattern has changed. This has led to

a shift in certain countries’ relative positions in the economic

and political hierarchy. The very nature of the relations

between these countries is changing. However, the rules and

practices that will constitute the basis of the new

international order have not yet been defined.

As happens in periods of history marked by great

changes - especially unpredictable changes - we are now

witnessing the emergence of factors that give rise to both

integration and disintegration, to the order and disorder that

are alternating in international behaviour and in the conduct

of international affairs. The new and old orders are fighting

for primacy in the development of an international system,

and it is no longer easy to distinguish between the past and

the future.

The new international context gives rise to considerable

anxiety, especially as it poses several questions that have not

yet been answered. For example, it is not clear how

political hegemony can be exercised in a system that has

become multipolar; strong tendencies towards globalization

and towards regionalization are emerging on the international

scene, and one wonders how these can be reconciled; the

nation State’s decision-making capacity is limited by

transnational players, and its prerogatives of sovereignty are

being ceded in order that it may be incorporated into broader

political and economic entities, even as ancient ethnic groups

are claiming the right to be regarded as nation States; one

sees increasing capitalist competition in a situation in which

economic interdependence imposes new parameters for the

settlement of conflicts of interest; one is witnessing a world-

wide heightening of awareness of the responsibility of us all

with regard to ecological matters, and, at the same time, one

has to deal with the means of sharing responsibility between

the various countries.

This is hardly an exhaustive list, but it is sufficient to

demonstrate the extent to which the international agenda is

being broadened and made more complicated. The future of

many countries will depend on the items on that agenda and

on our capacity to organize our approach to them.

Given this situation, it is absolutely vital that the closest

possible contact between nations be maintained by means of

the exchange of information, joint thinking and discussion,

so that awareness of the changes that are under way and of

their possible impact on a continent such as Africa may be

deepened.

At the beginning of my statement, I mentioned the

emergence of a universal consensus that has stemmed form

the changes in the international system. The wide prospects

that have opened up, in terms of the peaceful settlement of

conflicts and the elimination of tension in regions such as

southern Africa, western Africa, the Maghreb, Central

Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia, lead us to believe that this

process, which is marked by the strong resolve of the

international community to achieve lasting peace, will not

turn out to be a short-term symptom of a world in upheaval.

The situation prevailing in Angola is still a matter of

major concern to Guinea-Bissau. My Government welcomes

the unanimous adoption, by the Security Council of the

United Nations, of resolution 864 (1993), which is a logical

follow-up to earlier resolutions that aim at the restoration of

peace to Angola. We are convinced that only dialogue can

lead to a lasting solution that will result in the return of

peace to that country. The parties to the conflict should

comply in full with the obligations resulting from the

agreements that have been signed and from the Security

Council resolutions. This is the only possible way to end

the suffering of the Angolan people and to respond to their

legitimate desire for peace and democracy.

With regard to Mozambique, we should like to express

our concern at the slowness with which the Peace

Agreement is being implemented. We encourage the parties

concerned to continue their efforts to strengthen peace and

national unity. Further, we exhort the international

community to continue its support for that process.

In South Africa, the abolition of the legislative pillars

of apartheid is a positive step. It is now important that the

last obstacles, including those caused by the climate of

violence, be removed to make possible negotiations towards

the creation of a non-racial and democratic South Africa.

We have welcomed with satisfaction President Nelson Mandela’s appeal concerning the lifting of

sanctions against South Africa.

The tragedy that, daily, besets the Somali people gives

us reason for great anxiety. We urge all the parties

concerned to end the hostilities and to commit themselves to

negotiation. We are convinced that the peace-keeping

activities in Somalia, within the framework of the United

Nations Operation in Somalia (UNISOM II), should, above

all, serve the interests of the Somali people and strengthen

the fragile process of national reconciliation that is under

way.

We happily welcome the positive developments in

Liberia - in particular, the signing, at Cotonou, of the Peace

Agreement, including the provision for the establishment of

a central transitional Government. However, we regret the

widespread adverse effects the Liberian war has had on the

territory of neighbouring countries. We express the hope

that all the protagonists on the Liberian political scene will

persevere in the consolidation of peace by making every

effort towards reconstruction of their country.

In the Maghreb, the constructive position taken by the

Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front makes it

possible to be optimistic about developments in the situation

Forty-eighth session - 12 October l993 3

in Western Sahara and about the prospects for organizing a

referendum under United Nations auspices.

Guinea-Bissau watches with concern the conflict that is

laying waste the territory of the former Yugoslavia. We

believe that only an agreement acceptable to all parties

involved in the conflict will put an end to this bloody

episode. My Government regrets that the latest Geneva talks

on peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not yield the

expected results. We hope that the parties will adopt more

flexible positions with a view to bringing about the signing

of a peace agreement.

Guinea-Bissau believes that the solution to this

fratricidal conflict must be sought by peaceful means. That

is why we continue to support the United Nations and the

European Community’s negotiating effort and welcome the

Security Council’s adoption of resolution 827 (1993) on the

establishment of an International Tribunal.

In the case of East Timor, we urge the Secretary-

General to continue his efforts with the parties concerned

aimed at finding a peaceful, negotiated solution to this issue.

In the Middle East, peace is now possible thanks to the

rapprochement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation

Organization. We greet the Washington agreement with

satisfaction and renewed hope. We encourage the parties to

continue negotiations with a view to establishing a lasting

peace throughout the region.

The reunification of China is in essence the sole

concern of the Chinese people. In our opinion, the

international community should turn its attention to the need

to recognize the fundamental rights of the 21 million

inhabitants of the Republic of China.

The poverty and social injustice that are the sorry lot of

a large portion of humankind are amongst the underlying

causes of the conflicts that constantly threaten the world’s

peace and stability. The ideological tensions of the cold war

seem likely to be replaced by new tensions, this time

economic in origin, if adequate precautions are not taken.

The United Nations must of course strengthen its structure

for maintaining world peace and security, but it must also

play a leading role in helping to build a stable economic

system and promoting the development of the developing

countries, particularly that of the least developed countries.

This is without question the best and most effective form of

preventive diplomacy.

The economic situation in Africa is becoming more and

more worrying. Today, on the eve of the twenty-first

century, incomes in sub-Saharan Africa average $490 per

person per year, in other words, they are the lowest in the

world. The average figure masks great disparities between

countries: Africa is the only region in the world where the

number of people living in poverty is likely to increase

markedly before the year 2000. Trends in the world

economy lead us to predict that the situation will get worse.

Black Africa’s share of world trade has plummeted

from 3.8 per cent in 1970 to 1 per cent now, which has

entailed Africa’s being relegated to the sidelines in

international relations. Despite plentiful labour and

investment opportunities, direct investment from the most

industrialized countries is in flight from the least developed

countries towards the advanced economies. Sub-Saharan

Africa receives about 6 per cent of direct investment, which

is profitable essentially for those few countries with oil

and/or strategically important minerals.

Restrictions on international trade as a result of various

protectionist practices and of subsidy policies for the

industrialized countries’ agricultural products are imposing

severe limitations on the underdeveloped countries’ export

opportunities. In this regard, can we hope that the Uruguay

Round negotiations, if they succeed, will spare humankind

the possible unpleasant aftermath of discriminatory practices

on the part of the trading blocs?

We wish to make an appeal that the next round of

negotiations be planned to have all the relevance that the

situation requires. In the meanwhile, it is painful for us to

see how those who recommend to us that we should

liberalize trade if we want to get our economies moving

again can, in the blink of an eye, become fervent defenders

of protectionism when they are convinced that they are

defending their own interests that way. Liberal policies in

the countries of the South have not a hope of succeeding

unless the countries of the North systematically dismantle

their protectionist barriers and open up their markets.

The transition to effective and lasting market economies

requires further buttressing from the international

community. Most of the underdeveloped countries,

particularly in Africa, have recognized the errors that were

committed in their post-colonial economic management.

They have therefore embarked, with the assistance of the

international financial organizations and other partners

abroad, on radical economic reforms aimed at laying the

foundations for economic growth and development.

Enormous political and social costs have had to be borne in

4 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

carrying out these reforms, but the will to succeed is still

there despite all the odds against it.

Unfortunately, these efforts have been overwhelmed by

the massive reductions in financial assistance from the

industrialized countries and the multilateral organizations.

The target set by the United Nations for official development

assistance (ODA), 0.7 per cent of gross national product

(GNP), has scarcely been complied with at all. At the

moment, only an infinitesimal fraction of ODA is being

allocated to the poorest countries and even less than that to

the priority sectors that are most likely to trigger

development. ODA must be restructured if the problem of

poverty and lasting development is to be tackled. We must

take the risk and have faith in a renewed Africa with a new

economic management mind-set.

Judging by the number of international conferences and

meetings on Africa that are held each year and the feeble

way they make available finance to root out the evils they

deplore so much, we could be right in saying that we live in

a real consumer society for intellectual products, that is.

People are at last beginning to wake up to the fact that these

international meetings, although they sometimes do succeed

in making world public opinion aware of one or another

aspect of underdevelopment, have not contributed very much

at all towards eliminating the great scourge of

underdevelopment itself.

Not only does the way economic and financial

opportunities are being distributed throughout the world

provide the less developed countries with piffling amounts

of resources, even worse than that is the way colossal

amounts are being clawed back from them, particularly

through those notorious debt-servicing costs. Total debt as

a percentage of GNP stands at over 100 per cent, and debt-

servicing costs are over 20 per cent and even 50 per cent in

some cases. As a result, several African countries are

unable to maintain the infrastructures for production or the

social services that are vital to development.

Traditional approaches to solving the debt problem,

while they have granted some countries a few months’

breathing space, would none the less appear to have

exacerbated the problem, since Africa’s debt burden has

gone on growing, by about 10 per cent over the last decade.

This is extremely worrying.

How can we allot more financial resources to

developing our human resources, involving women in

development and protecting the environment if at the same

time the donors are mounting pressures to have the debt paid

back, operate unfavourable trade policies and cut back their

assistance? My country believes that major steps absolutely

must be taken if we want the low-income countries not to

miss the boat for economic modernization and development.

The Trinidad conclusions, which propose canceling two

thirds of the eligible debt coupled with a rescheduling of the

remainder over 25 years and an additional five-year grace

period, offer a promising and encouraging approach to

easing the debt burden. However, the Trinidad conclusions

should also be applied to multilateral debt, which now

accounts for one third of debt servicing costs.

If our planet is to have lasting security, there must be

a collective effort to combat the endogenous and exogenous

factors that nowadays condemn the majority of the world’s

population to absolute poverty. If this poverty persists, its

consequences will ultimately spill over borders in the form

of migration, terrorism, drugs and crime of all kinds.

Africa’s economy is worsening to such an extent that

we must break with routine thinking and devise new

instruments and methods in order to understand and properly

respond to the needs of a continent which is economically in

anguish. Unfortunately, it is clear that technological

advances, which should contribute to improving the human

lot everywhere, are actually creating an increasingly greater

gulf between those who have mastered that technology and

those who are trying to enter into the technological age. The

development of science and technology ill-suited to our

needs is contributing to a reduction in the demand for

commodities and is consequently further worsening the terms

of trade.

Given all these issues, does this Organization not have

a role to play in mitigating the negative effects on the least-

developed countries of the rapid globalization of production

and sophisticated technological systems? This is the very

foundation of the preventive diplomacy that the United

Nations has advocated.

The prospects for development are also threatened by

the staggering pace of the degradation of the environment.

The degradation of natural resources and ecosystems poses

a major threat to humankind.

For Africa, which still depends on natural resources for

its survival, this situation involves grave consequences likely

to hamper medium-term economic recovery programmes if

urgent measures are not taken and the appropriate means

mobilized. With national budgets already truncated, African

countries will find it very difficult to face these challenges

unaided in the absence of an increase in international

Forty-eighth session - 12 October l993 5

assistance, properly programmed and managed so as to

ensure the rational development and regulation of the

environment.

The economic difficulties faced by most of the

countries of the South have markedly diminished their ability

to act together and in a coordinated manner. Domestic

economic challenges, instead of promoting the mobilization

of forces and resources in a regional or subregional context,

often lead to a tendency by these countries to turn inward.

This tendency has been compounded by structural adjustment

programmes designed and executed in a strictly national

context, with the aim of upgrading short-term indicators of

macroeconomic and financial performance. The chances for

sustainable development in the developing countries and

particularly in the least-developed countries could be

increased by strengthened programmes of regional and

subregional integration and cooperation.

In this respect, we welcome the efforts of the European

Economic Community, in the framework of the Lomé IV

Convention, to lay the foundation for closer economic

cooperation between the five Portuguese-speaking countries

of Africa, despite the fact that they are not geographically

contiguous. In this context, strengthening the ties of

friendship and cooperation with Portugal and Brazil will

make it possible to develop a special kind of relationship

between these countries, all of which use the Portuguese

language.

It has now been clearly acknowledged that the active

participation of peoples in political, economic and social life

is an essential prerequisite for releasing creative energy and

enriching cultural values and people’s ability to take control

of its own destiny. Mindful of this fact, Guinea-Bissau, like

other countries of our continent, has opted for democracy as

one of the means to mobilize its full human and physical

potential in the struggle against underdevelopment. In this

respect, the appropriate legal and institutional machinery has

been established, with a view to promoting a political system

based on consensus and the rule of the majority and on a

transparent and effective public administration.

The democratic process, to be credible, must mesh with

the socio-cultural heritage of a region or a country.

Virtually everywhere in Africa, we are witnessing the

emergence of new forces for change which are in the

vanguard of democracy: civilian societies, especially free-

association and cooperative movements; non-governmental

organizations; and civic associations.

Despite some short-term obstacles, political pluralism

in Guinea-Bissau is, without the shadow of a doubt, an

irreversible process. One of its stages will culminate in the

holding of the first multi-party elections, scheduled for 27

March 1994. To ensure the greatest possible transparency in

these elections, the Government is taking all the steps

necessary to prepare for them, with the support of its foreign

partners. In this context, international observers will be

invited to assist in the organization of the elections, and we

look forward to receiving increased support from the

international community at the appropriate time.

Sustained support for these new forces of change is

absolutely vital if we wish to bolster new democracies and

explicitly affirm our commitment to the protection of human

rights.

The challenges facing the United Nations in terms of

maintaining international peace and stability while at the

same time promoting economic and social development in a

rapidly changing world require that profound changes be

made in its structure. These changes should take into

account the interests of all the components. More than ever,

international cooperation has become an opportunity to

create lasting peace, to strengthen protection for the dignity

of human beings everywhere, and to safeguard the rights,

profound aspirations and well-being of present and future

generations.

For its part, Guinea-Bissau, faithful to the principles

enshrined in the United Nations Charter and determined to

make its contribution to the maintenance of international

peace and security, solemnly reaffirms its firm commitment

to pursue this course. We are convinced that the task of

maintaining international peace and security is a

responsibility incumbent on the whole of the international

community, on all countries large and small, in conformity

with the principle of the sovereign equality of States.

It is against this backdrop that my country has

presented its candidacy as a non-permanent member of the

Security Council, and we ask all Member States to support

us.

Guinea-Bissau is admittedly a small country, but its

firm resolve to contribute to the attainment of the objectives

of this Organization is widely known. Our presence at this

time - in the framework of United Nations Missions - in

Angola, Mozambique, Liberia, Cambodia, Haiti and in the

former Yugoslavia, in both the civilian and the military

spheres, is a clear illustration of this assertion.

6 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session