Guinea-Bissau, 2014

On behalf of

the President of the Republic, Mr. José Mário Vaz, and

on my own behalf, and in the name of the State and

people of Guinea-Bissau, I would like to congratulate

Mr. Sam Kutesa on his election to the presidency of

the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. His

election by this most representative institution of the

international system is a tribute not only to his country,

Uganda, but to the entire African continent. I welcome

him and wish him success in guiding the work of the

Assembly.

We are grateful to the United Nations, and to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in particular, for

the attention given to Guinea-Bissau and for the

important contribution of the Special Representative of

the Secretary-General in our country to our political

normalization process. We would also like to say a

special word of appreciation to the former Special

Representative of the Secretary-General, President

Ramos-Horta, for his friendship with Guinea-Bissau

and his dedication to his mission.

We express our appreciation to and thank the

Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, its Government

and people. When they saw the need of their sister

nation of Guinea-Bissau, they extended the hand of

friendship and provided valuable and extraordinary

support to our country in dealing with our crisis, for

which the entire nation of Guinea-Bissau is grateful.

The subregion contributed financial support

in helping our Government to function, which has

been key in enabling us to reach the point where we

find ourselves today. We would like to express our

appreciation and acknowledgement to the forces of

the Economic Community of West African States

Mission (ECOWAS) in Guinea-Bissau, who carried

out their mission with professionalism and ensured a

peaceful and orderly transition. Similarly, we commend

the efforts of all our national political actors and

international partners to reach the consensus required

to maintain an international stabilization force after the

end of the Mission’s mandate.

We would like to acknowledge and thank all the

member countries of ECOWAS for their support, in

particular my friend and brother President Goodluck

Jonathan of Nigeria, who chaired the Contact Group

on Guinea-Bissau and provided additional and valuable

support to our country. I pray for peace and tranquillity

for his country and for the welfare of his people. We are

also deeply grateful to President Alpha Condé of Guinea,

who mediated the crisis in Guinea-Bissau. Finally, we

would like to express our profound acknowledgement

and gratitude to all our international partners — the

United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS, the

Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries and its

member States, the European Union, the West African

Economic and Monetary Union and the International

Organization of la Francophonie, whose support was

important in monitoring and managing the political

transition process, as well as in holding free, transparent

and fair general elections in our country.

I would also like to share with the Assembly

that Guinea-Bissau’s society has renewed its hope in

a new political cycle and to assure it that we possess

the political will and deep commitment needed to

consolidate political stability, revitalize and strengthen

the State’s capacity and create the basic conditions that

will enable our people to realize their dreams.

Guinea-Bissau is a post-conflict State with fragile

institutions and scarce financial resources, suffering

from the severe political, economic, environmental and

social consequences of our crisis. We therefore face a

complex and difficult situation, in which we call on the

international community for assistance, that will be

essential if we are to stabilize our country in this post-

election period and achieve our goals of strengthening

the State’s institutional capacity, reducing our people’s

poverty and vulnerabilities, ensuring social stability,

legitimizing the Government, and relaunching our

economy. That approach to international assistance,

at the centre of our dialogue with our international

partners, is based on the Government’s agenda, which

includes three key programmes: Urgent, Contingency

and Medium-Term Development.

Under the Urgent Programme, we must ensure

food safety and social stability through support for

agricultural production and distribution, improve access

to food and income for some sectors of the population,

provide the population with basic health, education and

water and power supply services, and pay civil servants’

overdue salaries. It also includes an emergency health

action plan for preventing and responding to the threat

of an Ebola epidemic. The Contingency Programme’s

objective is essentially to ensure the transparency

and accountability of all natural-resource concession

and exploitation agreements and to end the nefarious

procedures that allowed our country’s forestry and

fishery resources to be plundered over the past two

years. The Medium-Term Development Programme

will be presented to our international partners at a

donor conference to be held at the end of this year or

early next, and for which we are requesting the essential

support of the United Nations and all our multilateral

and bilateral partners.

As we embark on the challenge of rebuilding

Guinea-Bissau anew, we are fully conscious of the

problems but filled with a patriotic spirit of collective

drive and unity joining all Bissau-Guineans and, in

particular, all political actors and sovereign institutions,

with full confidence in an inclusive Government that

incorporates all political parties represented in our

Parliament, as well as civil society and the diaspora.

This confidence was significantly enhanced by our

national Parliament’s recent unanimous approval of the

Government’s programme, which is unprecedented in

the history of our democracy.

While it is true that the ongoing process of political

stabilization and normalization of the democratic

institutions in Guinea-Bissau depends on a major

national effort, it will also require unequivocal and

urgent support from our regional and international

partners. We must structure and coordinate our actions

based on the goals established in the Government’s

programme in order to lay the foundations for our

country to change course and become viable.

In this context, three situations demonstrate how

imperative it is for us to combine our efforts. The first

is the ongoing process of defence and security sector

reform, including extensive steps taken in recent days

towards its reorganization. We need international

support in order to make those steps sustainable and

irreversible. The second is the extension of the State’s

presence throughout the national territory in an effective

and organized manner through decentralization and

local elections. The Government will lay the foundations

for the municipal administrations to become operational

and will adopt the national territory organization policy.

The third is the extremely complex task of combating

drug trafficking and organized crime. Our country’s

efforts will be successful only through a collective and

objective approach.

Guinea-Bissau needs a robust and impactful

intervention from our development partners in order

not only to consolidate the success of our political

transition but also to lay the foundations for a transition

to development. We request the reactivation of the

International Contact Group on Guinea-Bissau under

the auspices of the United Nations, for the purpose of

monitoring the domestic situation in our country and

supporting the mobilization of international aid, which

is key for us to face the challenges in our future.

The new authorities in Guinea-Bissau, our

Parliament, the President of the Republic and our

Government chose an inclusive dialogue and political

coordination as the preferred tools in our efforts

to consolidate political stability and create broad

consensus around the main thrusts of governance.

Therefore, in addition to strengthening the democratic

legitimacy of our political institutions, we wish to

take clear, unequivocal and decisive steps to build

broad consensus on the main issues facing our society.

They would be anchored in a political protocol that

establishes the main areas of legislative and executive

action, including issues related to reforming the State,

revising the Constitution and rebuilding the economy.

A sign of this power-sharing vision for the resolution

of our main problems is the inclusion of the opposition

leader in our delegation to the United Nations, in order

to show the world that Guinea-Bissau has embarked on

a path of harmony and stability.

Our subregion, West Africa, is facing an Ebola

epidemic, which directly threatens several members

of ECOWAS, to which we belong. Allow me to offer

Guinea-Bissau’s solidarity to our sister nations where

cases of contamination have been identified. I would

like to note our appreciation for the international efforts

in providing urgent medical assistance and to call on

the international community to step up its commitment

and support in combating and preventing this epidemic.

We also appeal for the establishment of an effective

international coalition to confront this grave threat to

international security, which was recently recognized

as such by the Security Council.

I reaffirm my country’s position on reforming the

Security Council. The enlargement of this important

United Nations body is required in order to enhance the

legitimacy of its representation and to reflect the new

international order under discussion. Therefore, and in

accordance with the African Union’s position, Guinea-

Bissau calls for the designation of two permanent seats

with the right of veto and five non-permanent seats in

the Security Council for the African continent. We also

voice our support for the designation of permanent seats

on the Security Council for Brazil, Japan, Germany and

India.

I would like to assure the peoples and countries

that have fallen victim to international terrorism of our

solidarity and to renew our Government’s commitment

to combating this scourge within a framework of

coordinated actions undertaken jointly with our

regional and international partners, according to the

specific nature of the actions.

We note with concern that the economic and

financial embargo imposed against Cuba more than

50 years ago constitutes a serious obstacle to that

country’s economic and social development, and we

reiterate our call for it to be lifted.

We commend and encourage the United Nations,

and in particular the Secretary-General, for their

renewed efforts, vision and wisdom with regard to the

issue of climate change and its effects on life on our

planet. The Climate Summit held here on 23 September

was an eloquent testament to this fact. The main areas

that may allow for viable and sustainable development

emerged and seem likely to gather the required

consensus for the establishment of a post-Kyoto global

climate regime designed to promote the well-being of

all.

Sustainable development goals, the new post-

2015 global development paradigm, must be rooted in

the peoples’ cultures and objective realities and must

undoubtedly draw their inspiration from the lessons of

the Millennium Development Goals.

It should be noted that climate change is no longer

simply a future threat; it has now become an unequivocal

threat to the present. The rising incidence of climate

change that exposes our vulnerabilities is now felt and

has increasingly unpredictable consequences. Human,

economic and environmental losses in a vulnerable

country such as Guinea-Bissau are increasing and

threaten our survival and development prospects.

Sea-level rise may irreversibly affect coastal areas,

including entire islands, villages, cities and other seaside

settlements. This situation is particularly worrisome

for our country, which, with its combination of coasts

and archipelagos, is highly vulnerable to the impacts

of climate events and may see its efforts to combat

poverty and achieve development goals compromised.

Despite all the difficulties that have challenged

Guinea-Bissau’s efforts to fulfil our international

commitments holistically, we are pleased to note that

12 per cent of our national territory consists of protected

areas, which should double by 2020. Unfortunately,

most of the population in developing countries with

forests, such as Guinea-Bissau, continues to depend on

these natural resources as their only means of survival.

Therefore, in order to offset the possible loss of those

resources, technological and financial alternatives must

be made available to this population.

I conclude my statement by thanking the United

Nations and expressing our deep appreciation for the

significant role that the Peacebuilding Commission has

played in supporting the consolidation of political and

governance stability in Guinea-Bissau. I also recognize

the United Nations bodies, including the United Nations

Development Programme, UNICEF, the World Food

Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization

of the United Nations, the United Nations Population

Fund and the World Health Organization, as well as the

grass-roots groups and non-governmental organizations

working on a day-to-day basis with our Government

in combating poverty and the vulnerabilities of our

population and advocating respect for human dignity.

The people of Guinea-Bissau look forward to the

active engagement of those bodies in assisting in the

new phase of our accelerated efforts to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals. Guinea-Bissau is

poised to transform its territory into an area of peace,

security, and openness for all of those who, together

with our people, wish to build a more brotherly, secure,

welcoming and progress-oriented society with all

peoples and cultures.