Guinea-Bissau, 1998

On behalf of the delegation of Guinea-Bissau,

I am pleased to extend our congratulations to you, Sir, on

your election to the presidency of the General Assembly

at its fifty-third session. I am particularly pleased because

it is unanimously agreed that you have exceptional

intellectual, political and diplomatic qualities which will

ensure the success of our deliberations. It also gives me

pleasure to pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy

Udovenko, and to thank him for his dynamism and

initiative and for the integrity which he displayed

throughout his mandate.

I wish to reiterate to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, our appreciation for the tangible results we have

seen in the Organization since his election, and to

encourage him to persevere with the same determination

in implementing his reform programme, which we

wholeheartedly support.

As we prepare to enter the new millennium, it is

important to be aware of the increasing interdependence

of nations, large and small, and of the consequences of

globalization, so that through fruitful dialogue at the

global level, we may together find appropriate responses

to the numerous challenges facing us, particularly the

fight against international terrorism. Poverty,

underdevelopment and the major pandemics must not

remain the sole responsibility of the countries affected by

these scourges, because for tomorrow’s world to be stable

it must be united founded on the principles of social

justice and the equality of peoples and nations. Hence, the

primacy of law must continue to guide us in seeking

lasting solutions to the numerous regrettable conflicts

throughout the world. We are pleased to note that all the

peoples of the world share a determination to live in peace,

within their national borders, with their neighbours and the

rest of the international community.

My country welcomes the positive developments in the

Lockerbie affair, which has been a matter of concern to us

for many years. It has been the subject of decisions by

regional organizations, such as the Organization of African

Unity (OAU) and the League of Arab States, as well as the

Non-Aligned Movement. We hope that the parties involved

will spare no effort to ensure that justice is done in

conditions of fairness and impartiality, with all the

necessary guarantees, taking into account the recognized

rights of each party. We feel that the clarifications called

for by the Libyan authorities are legitimate, because they

are based on the objective criteria of neutrality and fair play

which govern any judicial procedure worthy of the name.

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau was admitted as a

fully fledged member of the United Nations in September

1974, following a lengthy and difficult struggle for national

liberation. For almost a quarter of a century we have been

committed to respecting and defending the principles

enshrined in the United Nations Charter, because they are

essential guidelines for active participation in international

life and for the building of our young nation.

Early on we understood that in order to give shape to

our political independence we needed to establish the

conditions for harmonious economic development from

which all sections of our population could benefit. With the

assistance of the international community, therefore, our

young State focused on ways and means to build a land of

freedom and peace.

It goes without saying that 11 years of struggle for

national liberation scarred our people and left an indelible

mark on their minds and bodies. Since Guinea-Bissau is a

poor country with very limited resources, everything needed

to be built, despite the fact that we did not have the

financial means or the necessary skills. Therefore, inspired

by the courage that enabled us to galvanize ourselves to

free our country, we set to the task determined to create the

right conditions for the full development of our citizens and

the improvement of their living standards.

Over the past four years we have succeeded in laying

the foundations of a democratic State based on the rule of

law and respect for human rights. As members of the

Assembly know, building a nation is a long-term task

requiring both determination and perseverance. Guinea-

Bissau, which is among the poorest countries of the

world, is no exception to that rule. Over the past two

decades we have focused on consolidating our national

unity by strengthening the ties of solidarity that unite our

citizens, whose maturity had enabled them to wage, and

succeed in, one of the most exemplary national liberation

struggles in Africa. It is precisely this awareness of

belonging to the same people that has enabled all sectors

of our population to unite and work hand in hand for the

development of the country and the well-being of all.

Therefore, since its independence in 1973, despite the

economic difficulties all States face, Guinea-Bissau has

lived in peace and has known a period of great political

stability.

However, since 7 June our country has experienced

tragedy, previously unimaginable, just when it was

beginning to make notable progress with regard to

democracy and respect for human rights and in the

economy.

An unprecedented crisis for which we were not even

minimally prepared has deeply shaken and paralysed our

country for some four months now, endangering the

foundations of the state of law and the existence of

democratic institutions in the Republic. The act of

aggression by a party of our country’s national army is a

serious violation of the constitutional provisions in force

in Guinea-Bissau. The international community, in

particular the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and

the United Nations, have unreservedly condemned this act

of aggression.

From this podium, we wish to thank the United

Nations family for the solidarity and support it has

provided to the President of the Republic, Mr. João

Bernardo Vieira; the legal Government of the Republic of

Guinea-Bissau; its leaders; and especially, the innocent,

victimized population. I should like in particular to

convey our gratitude to the neighbouring countries of

Guinea-Bissau for their active solidarity with our people.

On behalf of my Government, I specifically thank the

authorities of Senegal, Guinea, Cape Verde, the Gambia

and Portugal for having rapidly created an appropriate

rapid-response team to evacuate citizens and foreign

nationals who wished to leave, especially our own

desperate compatriots, a great number of whom have

sought refuge and safe haven in neighbouring countries.

Each of these brother countries has distinguished itself

admirably in an exemplary display of compassion and

2

humanity. I wish to thank them most sincerely on behalf of

our Government and all of my compatriots.

I also wish to pay tribute to the courage of my own

fellow citizens and to reiterate, on behalf of our

Government, our keen awareness of the difficulties they

face and of the need to ease their suffering by finding a

speedy solution to the current crisis, so that peace and

stability may be restored to our homeland, and by

establishing conditions to allow our people to return to their

country.

It is its desire to find a peaceful and negotiated

solution to this crisis that has inspired the Government of

the Republic of Guinea-Bissau in its contacts with the

members of the self-proclaimed military junta. Indeed,

through the joint mediation of members of the Community

of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and the Economic

Community of West African States, we have signed a

ceasefire and begun a constructive dialogue, which we will

pursue on the basis of recognition and respect for the

constitutional legality of our country and the need to work

together to restore peace and stability.

We are grateful to all people of goodwill who have

come forward, both in Africa and overseas, to assist us in

overcoming all of these difficulties and in finding a final

solution to the conflict in Guinea-Bissau.

The people of Guinea-Bissau are peaceful. They have

age-old relations of friendship and brotherhood with their

neighbours in the Republics of Guinea, Senegal and the

Gambia. These relations are based on the common destiny

which history and geography have bequeathed us. It is a

precious legacy that present and future generations must

preserve and defend in the conviction that their identity and

their social and cultural values will endure. It is this same

committed and unfailing solidarity which enabled us to free

ourselves from the yoke of colonialism, as did our brothers

in Guinea and Senegal.

As we have already had the opportunity to point out,

the presence of Guinean and Senegalese troops in Guinea-

Bissau is based on the implementation of bilateral

agreements duly signed and ratified. In addition to the

existence of an unquestionably legal framework, however,

it is important to know and recall that, through their

intervention, the Guinean and Senegalese troops bravely

assisted their comrades in arms in Guinea to overcome an

attempted coup that has been condemned by the OAU, the

United Nations and the entire international community.

They have made a courageous contribution to the

maintenance of constitutional legality and democracy in

Guinea-Bissau. Allow me here to pay tribute to them for

their decisive action and to offer them our full gratitude.

For some four months, Guinea-Bissau has been

experiencing a major tragedy that has brought great loss

of human life, serious material damage and much

suffering to our people, who have been internally

displaced and made refugees in neighbouring countries,

Cape Verde and Portugal.

Once again, I wish to thank the Assembly for its

solidarity with our country and people. Its assistance is

valued and will be valuable in healing the wounds and

assisting all the citizens of our country to understand each

other better and work together for the common future of

their homeland. I can assure members that we will spare

no effort to ensure that, through dialogue and joint

endeavours, peace will return to a Guinea-Bissau united

and reconciled in solidarity.

More than ever, we recognize the need to establish

a pluralistic democracy in a state of law and an

egalitarian society that will guarantee full respect for civil,

political and human rights. Today more than ever, we are

aware of the importance of peace in our country and in

other conflicted regions of the world where peoples of the

same country have been torn apart. I am thinking in

particular of the fratricidal wars which for some years

now have ravaged other African countries, Angola and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular.

At a time when we are preparing to commemorate

the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights, it is appropriate to proclaim our complete

commitment to the fundamental principles of democracy,

good governance and respect for human rights, which

underpin our search for harmonious development and a

better standard of living. The international community, the

United Nations in particular, has always heeded the

aspirations of the people of Guinea-Bissau. With its

solidarity, it has made our struggle for national liberation

its own battle for the emancipation of peoples throughout

the world. Today, as in the past, we need its support to

rebuild our country and restore confidence and hope to

our compatriots, who impatiently await the moment when

they can return to their country, their homes, their

families, their friends and their workplaces — to peace

and stability.