Kenya, 2004

I am honoured to

address the General Assembly for the first time. On

behalf of my delegation and on my own behalf, I

convey to you, Mr. President, and to other members of

the Bureau our warm congratulations on your election

to steer the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session.

I am confident that, with your experience and

professionalism, you will lead us to the fruitful

conclusion of this session. I would also like to pay

tribute to His Excellency Mr. Julian Hunte for his

outstanding performance as President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-eighth session.

Kenya is convinced that a vibrant, responsive and

representative United Nations system is the desire of

all Member States. My delegation welcomes the

ongoing efforts to reorganize and revitalize the United

Nations to make it more effective and efficient. The

revitalization exercise must reaffirm the status of the

General Assembly as the pre-eminent policy-making

organ of the United Nations, as envisaged in the United

Nations Charter. With respect to the Security Council,

it should be enlarged, democratized and made more

representative to reflect the Organization’s membership

in the twenty-first century. We look forward to the

findings of the High-level Panel on Threats,

Challenges and Change, appointed by the Secretary-

General during last year’s session of the General

Assembly.

I pay tribute to the Secretary-General, His

Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, for his commitment and

his efforts to ensure the capacity of United Nations

offices, in particular the United Nations Office at

Nairobi, the only United Nations headquarters in a

developing country. We are encouraged to note that,

during the fifty-eighth session of the General

Assembly, budgetary provisions were made for

improving and modernizing conference facilities at the

Nairobi Office. Nonetheless, there is still a great deal

to be done. We urge the Secretary-General to

significantly increase the regular budget component of

funding the United Nations Office at Nairobi to bring it

in line with the administrative and financial

arrangements of similar United Nations Offices at

Geneva and Vienna.

The production, stockpiling, transfer and use of

anti-personnel mines are problems of major

proportions that have caused untold suffering to

populations throughout the world, with Africa the most

mine-affected continent. Kenya has been given the

honour to host the First Review Conference of the

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and

on Their Destruction — the Ottawa Convention.

The Conference — also known as the 2004

Nairobi Summit on a Mine-free World — will be held

from 29 November to 3 December 2004. Among the

events scheduled will be the pre-Conference

ceremonies on 28 November, presided over by the

President of the Republic of Kenya, the Honourable

Mwai Kibaki, who has extended invitations to world

leaders to attend the Conference. I take this

opportunity to invite each and every one of those

present here to participate at the highest possible level

at the Conference. I also encourage them to take

advantage of their presence in Nairobi to sample

Kenya’s hospitality and particularly its world-famous

safaris, as well as the sandy beaches along Kenya’s

coast.

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International peace, security and stability are

prerequisites for sustainable development. Kenya

recognized early that peace and stability should be the

cornerstone of both its national and foreign policies.

Consequently, Kenya has taken an active part in the

search for peaceful solutions to conflicts in our

subregion, in Africa and in the rest of the world.

Within the framework of the Intergovernmental

Authority on Development (IGAD), Kenya is chairing

the southern Sudan peace process and the Somali

reconciliation process. I am pleased to report that, in

the Sudan peace process, milestones have been

achieved since the signing of the first protocols in

2002. The Nairobi Declaration on the final phase of the

Sudan peace process was signed on 5 June 2004.

Although the process has been long and tedious, a

final peace agreement is within reach for the two-

decade-long conflict. I would like to appeal to the

international community to redouble its support and

commitment in assisting the people of the Sudan to

achieve peace through constructive dialogue. It is also

my hope that events in the Darfur region will not

subsume the positive developments achieved by the

Naivasha process. However, post-conflict

reconstruction will require considerable resources. The

international community must rise to that challenge.

As regards the Somali peace process, I am

pleased to report encouraging developments in the past

few weeks that indicate a willingness on the part of the

people of Somalia to embrace peace after 14 years of

turmoil. In mid-August, 275 members of Parliament

were elected by representatives of the Somali people,

and the Transitional Federal Parliament of the Somali

Republic was inaugurated on 29 August in Nairobi.

Subsequently, the Parliament elected its Speaker on 15

September 2004. It is expected that the President will

be elected next month. The process has been long and

costly, but, as a result of our determination and

optimism, we hope to witness the installation of a

Federal Government of Somalia by the end of this year.

The presence of a Government in Mogadishu, however,

should be not an end in itself, but the beginning of a

long journey towards peace, stability and development.

I appeal to the international community, and

especially the United Nations, to move with speed and

to provide the support necessary for capacity-building,

infrastructure and security and other logistical support

for the new Government. I would like to express

Kenya’s gratitude for the assistance provided by IGAD

Partners Forum, the United Nations and the

international community as a whole in support of both

peace processes.

Long-standing conflicts in our subregion have led

to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons,

which constitute major security concerns to my country

and others. For example, Kenya has been at the

forefront of regional initiatives to combat this menace.

In March 2000, Kenya hosted the First Ministerial

Review Conference of the Nairobi Declaration on the

Problem of the Proliferation of Illicit Small Arms and

Light Weapons in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn

of Africa, which produced the Declaration. In April

this year, Kenya hosted the Second Ministerial Review

Conference of the Nairobi Declaration, which adopted

the Nairobi Protocol for the Prevention, Control and

Reduction of Small Arms and Light Weapons. Those

efforts are intended to consolidate a regional

framework within which to deal with the problem of

proliferation in order to improve security so that the

people of the region can redirect their energies and

resources towards meaningful economic activities.

Kenya therefore welcomes and fully supports the

convening of the international conference for the Great

Lakes region on conflict and development, scheduled

for 17-20 November 2004 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

My delegation applauds the United Nations and the

African Union for mobilizing support and resources for

the preparation of the conference.

The threat of international terrorism remains real.

We unreservedly condemn all acts of international

terrorism. On behalf of my delegation and the Kenyan

people, I extend our sympathy to the Government and

people of Russia on the recent barbaric terrorist attack

on innocent school children, parents and teachers in

Beslan. Kenya has been a victim of terrorist attacks in

the recent past. We are therefore more convinced than

ever of the need to address this issue collectively. No

single country, however resourceful, has the capacity to

successfully deal with it on its own. I would like to

assure the Assembly that Kenya fully supports

international efforts in dealing with this problem.

Collective efforts to address the issue must be through

international cooperation, information and intelligence

sharing, coordinated by the United Nations.

In line with the international efforts to ensure that

peace and security prevail, we welcome the decision by

the African Union to establish a standby African force.

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Kenya has been honoured to host one of the regional

centres, the Eastern Africa Brigade. We are ready to

provide the requisite facilities and logistical support to

the centre. On the international arena, Kenya has long

been a major troop-contributing country in

peacekeeping operations and will continue to actively

participate with other nations under the aegis of the

United Nations. We call upon the international

community to assist the African Union in realizing the

establishment of the force, which will be one of the key

tools for ensuring peace and stability on the continent.

Poverty remains a major impediment to

sustainable development, particularly for developing

countries. Current trends indicate that countries in sub-

Saharan Africa will not meet the Millennium

Development Goals by the year 2015. We emphasize

the importance of the fulfilment of the eighth

Millennium Development Goal on a global partnership

for development, and especially the realization of the

target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product as

official development assistance from developed

countries. We therefore look forward to the outcome of

the 2005 high-level plenary of the General Assembly

on the review of the implementation of the outcomes of

the major United Nations conferences and summits in

the economic, social and related fields, including the

Millennium Declaration.

The attainment of the Millennium Development

Goals will depend on how effectively we deal with the

HIV/AIDS pandemic and other related communicable

diseases, among other problems. In sub-Saharan

Africa, it has resulted in a reversal of economic and

social gains made over the years. Governments need to

develop strategic plans that identify key priority

response areas, such as prevention and advocacy,

treatment, care and support. Also important are the

mitigation of the socio-economic impact and research.

We are grateful to our development partners and the

United Nations Global Fund for their support and

provision of resources in fighting these diseases. We

look forward to their continued assistance.

At the regional level, tremendous progress has

been made towards regional economic integration. The

East African Community Customs Union Protocol,

which was signed on 2 March 2004 by Kenya, Uganda

and Tanzania, is intended to create a single investment

and trade area. We hope that this positive development

will encourage local and foreign direct investment in

the subregion.

We welcome the support accorded to the New

Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

initiative by the United Nations and the G-8 countries.

However, we regret to note that the commitments made

to the NEPAD initiative have not been fully realized

and call upon our development partners to fulfil their

pledges.

This year, Kenya is facing a severe famine caused

by drought, which has affected a large section of the

population. Consequently, Kenya and the United

Nations have issued a joint appeal for assistance to

contain the famine. We are grateful for the prompt

support of the World Food Programme, the United

Nations Children’s Fund, the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

and bilateral donors. However, the need for more

assistance still exists.

To achieve long-term economic stability and

development, the Government of Kenya has embarked

on an economic recovery strategy for wealth and

employment creation, aimed at revitalizing the

economy and enhancing the welfare of our people.

Other measures have been taken to improve the well-

being of the Kenyan people. Those include the

improvement and promotion of the welfare of children

through free and compulsory primary education and the

recognition of the central role played by women in

development.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the

important role the United Nations plays in global

affairs. It could be greatly enhanced through adherence

to the provisions of the Charter and to the rule of law.

Member States should respect those instruments in the

conduct of their international relations.