Morocco, 1998

First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-

third session, convinced as I am that under your leadership

and with your vast experience and profound knowledge of

international affairs the work of the session will be

successful. I would also like to take this opportunity to

salute your friendly country of Uruguay.

I would also like to express thanks to Mr. Hennadiy

Udovenko for his successful conduct of the work of our

previous session. I would like to extend, as well, our deep

thanks to Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of our

Organization, for the earnest determination and great

competence he has brought to bear on the matters entrusted

to him.

This fifty-third session of the General Assembly is

being held as we bid farewell to the current century and

prepare to usher in a new millennium. A large portion of

humanity is still facing international conditions that do not

come close to enabling them to achieve their ambition and

their hope to live in a world where peace, international

justice, economic development and life in dignity prevail.

Despite some signs of economic development in

certain third world countries, the general trend points to an

increasing gap between the advanced world and the

developing world. The developing world is facing major

changes over which it has no control, including a heavy

debt burden, dwindling prices for raw materials, difficulty

in gaining access to markets, financial speculation and low

foreign investments.

This situation demands that our Organization not

merely confine itself to preserving international peace and

security in the classical sense, but go beyond that and seek

to reduce the economic and social burden of developing

countries. This would contribute to the emergence of a new

world order based on consensus, consultation and

partnership among all countries.

Since its independence, Morocco has firmly believed

in the need to base its economic policy on the principle

of free enterprise and external openness as a means of

achieving the country?s economic progress and social

development.

Thus Morocco made an effective contribution to the

multilateral trade negotiations that resulted in the

founding of the World Trade Organization in Marrakech.

Morocco will also participate, with the same degree

of resolution, in the forthcoming negotiations with other

Member States to ensure that the international community

achieves equitable distribution of the dividends of the

international trade system, without overlooking the need

for proper coordination of monetary, financial and trade

policies, lest the financial crisis currently affecting certain

international markets have adverse effects on the

economies of other countries.

One of the world?s primary political trouble spots,

indeed one of the most complex problems threatening

world peace and security, is the problem of the Middle

East. The many resolutions of the United Nations aimed

at finding a solution to this problem have failed to enable

the Palestinian people to enjoy their inalienable and

legitimate rights or to compel Israel to withdraw from the

Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem — Al-Quds —

and the other occupied territories in the Golan Heights

and southern Lebanon. Those resolutions met only with

Israeli rejection and defiance.

In this respect, the reneging by the current Israeli

Government on the implementation of the agreements

signed as part of the peace process following the Madrid

conference and the Oslo meetings dashed the hopes that

had been pinned on those agreements and again plunged

the region into a spiral of despair and instability.

Israel?s reneging is quite obvious in its current

procrastination tactics as well as its attempts to impose a

policy of fait accompli through the building of further

settlements in the occupied territories, in violation of all

international norms and laws. Recently, Israel further

compounded the situation by implementing, in a

provocative way, a policy for the Judaization of

Jerusalem — Al-Quds — by changing its cultural and

demographic characteristics and surrounding it with

settlement colonies. The latest such measure was the

announcement by the Israeli Government last June of the

expansion of the municipal boundaries of Al-Quds, as

part of what is known as “Greater Jerusalem”.

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The entire Islamic world, as it denounces and

condemns these practices, which affect the status of

Al-Quds as an integral part of the Palestinian territories

occupied in 1967, considers all these Israeli practices as

null and void. This was indeed confirmed by the meeting

of the Al-Quds Committee of the Organization of the

Islamic Conference, under the chairmanship of His Majesty

King Hassan II, in Casablanca at the end of July.

Morocco believes that this problem can be solved only

through respect for the letter and spirit of the agreements

signed and through the implementation of the resolutions of

international legitimacy, especially the relevant Security

Council resolutions, in a way that will guarantee the right

of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the

establishment of their independent state, with Al-Quds as its

capital, and the return of the occupied Arab territories to

their legitimate owners.

Despite the tremendous potential and enormous

resources available in Africa, and despite the fact that most

African countries carry out appropriate economic policies,

the African continent is still suffering from serious political,

economic and social crises which have led to the

marginalization of our continent and the shrinkage of its

role in the international arena.

Some of these crises are clearly reflected in worsening

unemployment, increased debt burden, falling prices for

commodities exported by African countries, inadequate

foreign investment and declining foreign assistance, which

stands at barely 0.22 per cent of the gross national product

of developed countries, despite the fact that the amount

agreed upon is 0.7 per cent.

It is indeed regrettable that the deterioration of the

economic situation has contributed to a resurgence of

political instability and military confrontations in certain

African regions, as is the case at present in the Great Lakes

region, the Horn of Africa and Western Africa.

While expressing concern about this situation,

Morocco supports efforts aimed at containing these crises

and at guaranteeing the countries of those regions,

especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo, their

territorial integrity, stability and security. In this respect,

Morocco commends the efforts made by the States

members of the Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS) to find a solution to the crises in Liberia

and Sierra Leone. We hope that the efforts being made to

overcome the crisis in Guinea-Bissau will soon be

successful.

In order to find a solution to African economic

problems and their political repercussions, we would like

to reaffirm the proposal made by His Majesty King

Hassan II during the General Agreement on Tariffs and

Trade (GATT) meeting in Marrakesh for adopting an

international plan similar to the Marshall Plan, with a

view to ensuring African economic revival.

We would like to thank the Secretary-General of our

Organization for the important report he prepared on

Africa at the request of the Security Council. We hope

that the international community will seek to give

concrete substance to its recommendations through the

settlement of conflicts and the strengthening of security

and stability in our continent so as to contribute to the

necessary conditions for its economic and social

development.

Morocco has consistently affirmed that its

membership in the Arab Maghreb Union is a free and

strategic option which is irreversible, dictated by its

historic and civilizational roots, as well as by its current

and future interests. Given the existence of this

membership, Morocco cannot but express its deep

concern over the continuing suffering of the brotherly

Libyan people as a result of the air embargo imposed on

them, which caused them a great deal of hardship.

We welcome the approval by the United States and

the United Kingdom of the Libyan proposal, which was

supported by the League of Arab States, the Organization

of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned

Movement, to try the two Libyan suspects in a neutral

country.

On the other hand, we deeply regret the suffering of

another Arab people — the Iraqi people — as a result of

the pernicious effects of the economic embargo imposed

on that country. We hope that the agreement reached

between the Iraqi Government and the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, will lead to a resumption of cooperation

between Iraq and the United Nations so that the embargo

can be lifted and the hardships of this brotherly people

can be ended. We also hope that the Secretary-General

will succeed in finding a definitive solution to this

protracted crisis.

As a Mediterranean State geographically located near

European States, Morocco has been taking a special

interest, as always, in efforts to consolidate Euro-

Mediterranean cooperation. However, Morocco cannot but

be concerned about the continuing status of the Moroccan

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cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the neighbouring islands,

which are still under Spanish occupation, at a time when

the page of colonialism in most parts of the world has been

turned.

His Majesty King Hassan II proposed some time ago

the setting up of a Moroccan-Spanish panel to consider and

find a solution to this abnormal situation, in a way that

would guarantee Morocco?s sovereignty over its territory

while taking into account the economic interests of Spain.

Although the Spanish authorities have not yet reacted

to this fair proposal, Morocco remains convinced that the

depth of its historical and economic ties with neighbouring

Spain, coupled with the aspirations of the two peoples to

achieve greater rapprochement, cooperation and

participation in many fields, will be sufficient to enable the

two countries to reach a formula for a definitive solution to

this problem.

With regard to developments in the referendum

process in our southern provinces — the area known as

Western Sahara — we can only point out that it is still

experiencing some difficulties. The identification process

was stalled from the outset because the other party, without

justification, refused to take part in the identification of a

large number of candidates. Yet these candidates fulfilled

the agreed criteria and had been registered by the United

Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.

Once again we are now faced with the refusal of the other

party to participate in the identification of these candidates,

who this time presented themselves in accordance with the

Houston agreements that the other party had, indeed, also

accepted.

Those agreements confirmed the right of candidates to

be identified and reasserted the validity of oral testimony.

Indeed, in accordance with those agreements, the two

parties had agreed to begin, as soon as possible, the

identification of any individual who may present himself or

herself for that purpose.

We can only express deep concern over these

developments, which will delay the referendum operation

which has been long awaited by Morocco and the Saharan

refugee brothers who have been yearning for more than 20

years to return to their homeland, Morocco, in order to

participate in their region?s ongoing development. This will

probably also have repercussions on the building of the

greater Maghreb to which the peoples of the region aspire.

The relentless determination to exclude a number of

Saharans from participation in the referendum casts still

more doubts on the will of the other party to ensure the

necessary conditions for the organization of a fair and

transparent referendum.

We hope that the tremendous progress the world is

currently witnessing will be a factor leading to the

emergence of solidarity among all peoples, solidarity that

will contribute to ensuring greater advancement towards

development, security, peace and the spread of tranquillity

and prosperity among all peoples of the world.