Morocco, 2006

Madam President, I would like at the outset to extend

my sincere congratulations to you and the brother

country of the Kingdom of Bahrain on your election as

the first Arab woman in the history of the United

Nations to preside over the General Assembly. I wish

you every success in your tasks during this session and

in realizing our aspirations, and achieving practical and

valuable results regarding items on the agenda.

I would like to avail myself of this occasion to

express my warm thanks to your predecessor, Mr. Jan

Eliasson, for his brilliant presidency of last year’s

session.

Allow me also to seize this opportunity to

reiterate Morocco’s appreciation of Mr. Kofi Annan for

the noble tasks he has been undertaking and for his

tireless efforts throughout his term to consolidate our

Organization’s international position and to revitalize

its role in the maintenance of international peace and

security. We equally appreciate his unfailing support

for regional and international development activities to

ensure the promotion of the United Nations

mechanisms and structures and thus reinforce their

effectiveness.

The Kingdom of Morocco welcomes the

accession of the Republic of Montenegro to

membership of the United Nations and we assure it of

our constructive and continuous cooperation.

This year’s session coincides with the 50th

anniversary of Morocco’s joining the United Nations.

They have been 50 years of clear and concrete

commitment to the purposes and principles of our

Organization aimed at fostering peace and security

worldwide and at consolidating development for the

benefit of all peoples and States, mainly in developing

countries.

Joining the United Nations was one of the first

sovereign decisions Morocco made in the wake of

gaining its independence. It expressed the Kingdom’s

firm belief in the efficacy of multilateral action as one

of the most viable means of managing chronic crises

and as an appropriate tool to face growing international

challenges. It also reflects Morocco’s unfailing

commitment to the values of active solidarity and

fruitful cooperation, as expressed in a speech given by

the late King Mohammed V on 6 November 1956,

when he stated that

“Morocco’s attachment to the principles

underpinning the United Nations reflects its

commitment to supporting freedom and peace

throughout the world and to establishing

international relations on the basis of arbitration

and concord, with no recourse whatsoever to

violence or force, and relying on cooperation and

solidarity rather than on animosity and

discrimination”.

Since joining the United Nations, the Kingdom of

Morocco has endeavoured to contribute significantly to

helping our Organization attain its status as a central

actor in the establishment of international peace and

security, as well as in organizing and promoting

international relations to create a world order built on

cooperation, justice and international legality. The

Kingdom has always been an advocate of the principles

of international law, United Nations resolutions and

multilateral actions emanating from constructive

dialogue and ongoing consultations as the most viable

way to settle international conflicts and crises

peacefully.

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Throughout that period, the Kingdom has

contributed to numerous United Nations peacekeeping

operations in demonstration of its commitment to

international peace and of its deeply rooted belief in

the importance of collective security and of the role of

the United Nations in that field. Today, our country is

contributing to five peacekeeping operations in Africa,

the Caribbean and Europe. That has earned Morocco

the thirteenth position among countries contributing to

peacekeeping operations internationally, the second at

the Arab level and the sixth at the African level.

In addition, the Kingdom of Morocco has

launched a process aimed at establishing active

solidarity among members of the international

community through constructive and fruitful

partnerships between North and South, on the one

hand, and the reinforcement of South-South

cooperation as a strategic priority, on the other, in

order to achieve sustainable and balanced development

for the benefit of all.

The Kingdom of Morocco has further

endeavoured to implement the recommendations

adopted at important United Nations meetings and

conferences on development issues, including the

Millennium Development Goals, which are in full

harmony with our national development strategy. In

that regard, the National Initiative for Human

Development, launched by His Majesty King

Mohammed VI on 18 May 2005, testifies to Morocco’s

willingness to lay the foundations for a development

model that embodies Morocco’s political choices and is

helping to establish a modern and democratic society.

Modernization, democratization and economic

development, as well as sustained human development

indicators, are interdependent in the quest for equitable

opportunities, the dissemination of knowledge and the

provision of basic social services.

Our development initiative places a special

emphasis on the empowerment of the Moroccan citizen

as the focus of comprehensive development, in line

with the Secretary-General’s report of 2005, entitled

“In larger freedom: towards development, security and

human rights for all”.

In that context, and in a spirit guided by universal

principles aimed at creating the necessary harmony

between Morocco’s international commitments and its

national priorities, a workshop on the promotion of

human rights was convened in Morocco. The workshop

was marked by the issuance of specific

recommendations upon the end of the mandate of our

equity and reconciliation commission, in a critical and

transparent evaluation of a specific period of

Morocco’s past with a sense of responsibility and a

constructive vision of its future.

Since its inception, the United Nations has

contributed to the settlement of many international

disputes and the establishment of peace and security in

many regions. However, the Middle East and Africa

still suffer from many conflicts, wars and economic

and social crises that thwart peoples’ natural

aspirations to security, stability and development.

In that regard, and having welcomed the Israeli

withdrawal from Gaza as a first step towards the

establishment of a Palestinian State in accordance with

the road map, Morocco hopes that the current dire

situation, which has led to even more killing and

destruction, will rapidly come to an end. Following the

failure of various international and regional efforts to

resume the peace process and settle the Arab-Israeli

conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco reiterates its call on

the international community, and the Security Council

in particular, to assume their responsibilities in the

search for a comprehensive and lasting solution to the

conflict, in accordance with the terms of reference of

the peace process, relevant United Nations resolutions

and international legality, as well as the principle of

land for peace.

Concerning the military aggression against

brotherly Lebanon and the resultant loss of civilian life

and destruction of infrastructure and service facilities,

Morocco welcomed Security Council resolution 1701

(2006) and expresses its hope that all concerned parties

will cooperate in providing the appropriate political

conditions for a lasting settlement on the basis of the

Taif agreement and the relevant resolutions of the

Security Council. Morocco also calls upon the

international community to provide more cooperation

and solidarity in the reconstruction of Lebanon and to

support the success of efforts to achieve peace and

tranquillity for our brother Lebanese.

As for the situation in the brotherly country of

Iraq, Morocco acknowledges the outcome of the

political process, in which all Iraqi parties and

influential political actors took part. However,

Morocco is still hoping for an end to the ongoing

violence, which continues to bring suffering to

47 06-53323

innocent Iraqi civilians. We hope that our Iraqi brothers

can agree, as soon as possible, on the time and venue

for a conference on Iraqi national accord, which could

help establish a basis for the completion of institutional

reforms thereby ensuring the sovereignty, territorial

integrity, security and stability of a unified and safe

Iraq.

The Kingdom of Morocco, whose head of State,

His Majesty King Mohammed VI, chairs the Al-Quds

Committee of the Organization of the Islamic

Conference, reaffirms its commitment to work together

with all parties towards a just and comprehensive

peace in the Middle East. The achievement of that

objective will depend on the Israeli withdrawal from

all the occupied Arab territories and the establishment

of a Palestinian State, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its

capital, living side by side in peace and security with

the State of Israel.

Morocco firmly believes in dialogue and

negotiations as a means of settling regional and

international disputes. It also considers that resorting to

force, whatever the reason or motives, will not yield

viable solutions or lead to a just, lasting and

comprehensive peace in the Middle East. On the

contrary, it will only exacerbate and prolong the status

quo.

Morocco is equally convinced that peace in the

region can be achieved only if the United Nations

creates the right environment and works to eradicate

the causes of tension and escalation and coordinates

regional and international efforts aimed at reviving the

peace process on all tracks, with a view to ultimately

achieving security and lasting peace. In that way, the

peoples of the region would be able to move towards a

more promising future in which generations to come

can cooperate and live together in harmony.

The African continent is facing a number of

serious threats and major challenges. It is currently

beset by many crises and conflicts that have proved

difficult to resolve. Indeed, half of the armed conflicts

in the world over the past decade have taken place in

Africa, which also hosts half of the world’s refugees.

The continent is also confronted by numerous

economic and social problems, including poverty,

hunger, desertification and infectious diseases, which

threaten the daily lives of millions of people.

This critical situation, which should by no means

be considered inevitable, making Africa a priority for

the United Nations and for international development

programmes and agendas. However, programmes and

initiatives must be better harmonized and coordinated

if they are to create conditions conducive to sustainable

development in Africa. To that end, we must consider

creating an international mechanism that includes

experts in the fields of security and development to

supervise the implementation of the range of

international programmes and initiatives concerning

Africa.

For its part, the Kingdom of Morocco will

continue to support all development efforts in Africa.

His Majesty King Mohammed VI, a champion of peace

and development whose enlightened and far-sighted

vision is based on a full and deep understanding of the

concerns of the continent, has introduced many

initiatives and visited many African countries with the

aim of strengthening the bonds of brotherhood,

cooperation and solidarity among African peoples.

In this regard, Morocco calls for the holding next

year of a high-level dialogue on Africa and

development with a view to further intensifying the

development debate and consultation and establishing

mechanisms to guarantee the implementation of all

international initiatives aimed at making full use of the

continent’s huge economic and human potential in the

service of its development.

In his first address to the General Assembly, His

Majesty the late King Mohammed V declared that the

Kingdom of Morocco had chosen negotiation as the

basis for its international relations, with a view to

reaching mutual agreements, freely arrived at, and

providing for peace, unity and solidarity among

nations. In keeping with that broad vision, the

Kingdom of Morocco has renewed its commitment to

cooperate with the Secretary-General and his Personal

Envoy in order to find a lasting, negotiated and

mutually acceptable political solution to the dispute

over the Moroccan Sahara.

In this respect, and in response to the call of the

Security Council to break the current deadlock and

make progress towards a political, consensus-based

and final solution to the dispute, Morocco will present

an autonomy plan that would enable the inhabitants of

the region to manage their local affairs within the

framework of the national sovereignty and territorial

integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco.

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To that end, nationwide consultations were

launched in November 2005 with all political actors

and local representatives of the region, within the

framework of the Royal Consultative Council for

Saharan Affairs, whose membership has been renewed,

structure modernized and mandate strengthened. This

process has been carried out on the basis of

participation and transparency aimed at encouraging

the adherence of all parties to the notion of autonomy.

This experience is unique in the Arab North African

region.

More than ever, the world needs a more efficient

United Nations that can translate into reality the

aspirations and expectations of all the peoples of the

world, uphold the principles of international legality

and foster the spirit of multilateralism through

innovative mechanisms, value-added components and

new ideas that can yield positive results.

As it has done over the past 50 years, the

Kingdom of Morocco will contribute to strengthening

the principles of the Organization and enhancing its

work in the service of peace, development and accord

among all peoples of the world.