Mozambique, 2002

I wish to join

previous speakers in congratulating Mr. Jan Kavan on

his election as President of the fifty-seventh session of

the General Assembly. We are confident that, with his

experience, wisdom and proven skills, our

deliberations will produce the desired successful

outcome.

Let me also pay a well-deserved tribute to his

predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Han Seung-soo,

former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign

Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, for the

excellent manner in which he discharged his duties as

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President of the fifty-sixth session of the General

Assembly.

I would also wish to commend the Secretary-

General for his continued devotion to peace and

development worldwide. During his recent visit to

Mozambique, we had the opportunity to discuss the

best ways of furthering the goals of the United Nations

and strengthening cooperation between Mozambique

and the United Nations. We remain committed to

continuing to work closely with the Secretary-General.

The Government of Mozambique welcomes the

Swiss Confederation as a Member of the United

Nations and looks forward to welcoming the

Democratic Republic of East Timor. They will further

strengthen our universal Organization.

Allow me to express our sympathy to the peoples

and the Governments of several countries in the world

that have recently been hit by severe floods. We in

Mozambique and in Southern Africa understand the

economic and social consequences of floods. Floods,

drought and other natural calamities have become a

frequent occurrence in the world, and in Africa in

particular. It is therefore our hope and expectation that

we will be able to prepare ourselves to better deal with

issues arising from natural disasters. Perhaps it is high

time we revisit the outcome of the 1994 World

Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, held in

Yokohama.

The 11 September 2001 attacks demonstrated to

all of us the dangers of international terrorism, which

represents a serious threat to the peace and security of

every nation, rich or poor. In that regard, it is our

collective duty to fight this threat effectively, under the

leadership of the United Nations. To be successful in

this endeavour we need to clearly understand and

address the root causes of terrorism, amongst which we

want to stress poverty and other injustices.

In addition to Security Council resolution 1373

(2001), we must give due recognition to regional

agreements and declarations to combat and eliminate

terrorism, such as the 1999 Organization of African

Unity (OAU) Convention on the Prevention and

Combating of Terrorism, and the Southern African

Development Community (SADC) Declaration against

Terrorism adopted by our heads of State or

Government in January this year, as valuable tools for

strengthening cooperation and providing a platform for

effective action to suppress terrorism.

Mozambique has already submitted its report on

legislation and measures for preventing and combating

terrorism, and is in the final stages of the process of

ratifying all 12 conventions on terrorism. However, for

the effective implementation of these legal instruments

Mozambique needs support from the international

community to strengthen its institutions, namely the

police, the judiciary, the financial system and the

Attorney-General's office.

We have witnessed this year the holding of a

number of major United Nations conferences and

summits devoted to a wide range of socio-economic

issues: the International Conference on Financing for

Development, the World Food Summit, the World

Summit on Sustainable Development and the special

session of the General Assembly on Children. We have

also seen the holding in Barcelona of an international

conference on HIV/AIDS, at which our leaders

recognized that this pandemic is a global problem

challenging our common will and requiring global

responsibility and response.

The common feature of all these events has been

strong and unanimous agreement on the need to ensure

the implementation of the agreed outcomes and

commitments in order to meet the Millennium

Development Goals. Our leaders have stressed that for

this to happen, there is a need for unity of purpose,

collective responsibility and political will.

We should, continuously and critically, assess the

progress made in each area of commitment, with a

view to realizing the aspirations and needs of our

peoples. The future of the world is in our hands. We

must not fail to meet the expectations of our peoples.

The time has now come for action. We must act

decisively to honour the commitments made in the

Millennium Declaration.

My Government has been following with keen

interest the latest developments in the Middle East. We

urge both parties to return to the negotiating table to

find a lasting peace in that region; such a peace must

include an independent Palestinian State living side by

side with Israel, and the solution of outstanding issues

deemed important by both parties. Without a

comprehensive and just solution to the question of

Palestine, and without full respect for the legitimate

interests of all the peoples of the region, the prospects

of peace will remain elusive and distant. The

international community should encourage both Israelis

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and Palestinians to work hard for peace, drawing on all

the strength and resolve they need to overcome

obstacles along the way. Taking into account our own

experience in Mozambique, we believe that peace is a

real possibility in the Middle East, and that the parties

must seize the opportunity now.

I would like to take this opportunity to

congratulate the Government of Iraq on its wise

decision to allow the return of the United Nations

inspectors. It is our hope that the resumption of the

inspections will mark a new era of cooperation between

Iraq and the United Nations within the spirit and the

letter of the United Nations Charter and international

law.

This session is taking place at a moment when we

are witnessing important progress regarding the

resolution of conflicts in Africa. In Angola we have

noted with satisfaction the conclusion of a

Memorandum of Understanding between the

Government and UNITA, which marked the end of a

protracted war. We salute this Memorandum of

Understanding and believe that it opens a new era for

the Angolan people: an era of hope and great

expectations. We appeal to the international community

to continue supporting the people and the Government

of Angola in the consolidation of peace and stability,

national reconstruction and the strengthening of

democracy, as well as in responding to the current

humanitarian needs.

Sierra Leone is living in peace after the

successful implementation of the peace process, and

following general and presidential elections. We hope

that these positive developments will lead to the

improvement of the political environment in the Mano

river region as a whole.

The recent agreements between the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as well as the

understanding between the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and Uganda, have created the hope that the

peace process will be irreversible. The attainment of

peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will

undoubtedly contribute to bringing about the needed

stability in the Great Lakes region, and will pave the

way for the rapid economic integration of Southern

Africa. We believe that with good will there can be a

solution to the concerns of all parties involved in this

conflict.

In the Comoros and in Lesotho, peace is now a

reality. We salute the efforts made by the peoples of

those countries to make Africa a continent of hope. We

are happy to see Ethiopia and Eritrea working together,

with the support of the United Nations, to strengthen

peace and good-neighbourliness. The acceptance by

both parties of the decision of the Boundary

Commission was a major step forward.

My Government is concerned at the lack of

progress in Western Sahara. We wish to encourage the

United Nations and the parties concerned to pursue

further efforts, within the established framework, with

a view to finding a lasting and internationally

acceptable solution to this issue.

The African leaders established the New

Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as an

instrument to address these problems. NEPAD is based

on the principle of African ownership aiming at setting

an agenda to renew the continent and to encompass

national and regional priorities along with development

plans. This is to be done through a participatory

process and a new framework for interaction and

partnership with the rest of the world.

The support already expressed by many partners

of Africa is a signal that NEPAD is a viable initiative.

In that context, I would like to salute the encouraging

results of the Group of Eight Summit recently held in

Kananaskis, Canada, where the world's most

industrialized countries expressed their support for

NEPAD. In the same vein, I salute the results of the

General Assembly's high-level meeting on NEPAD,

held in this Hall two days ago. These results enhance

our hope of a better future for Africa. Let us work

together to make it a reality.

In Mozambique, as part of efforts to fight poverty

and to implement the Millennium Declaration, the

Government approved, and is implementing, a Plan of

Action for the Eradication of Absolute Poverty, locally

known as PARPA. The overall objective of PARPA is

the substantial reduction of absolute poverty in the

country through investment in education, health,

agriculture and rural development, as well as through

good governance and macroeconomic stability.

PARPA is partially financed by savings achieved

through debt reduction from our creditors — bilateral

and multilateral — under the Heavily Indebted Poor

Countries (HIPC) Initiative. We are thankful to all our

partners for the debt reduction and the cancellations we

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are receiving. Let us continue to work together to find

a definitive solution.

This session is being held at a particularly

important moment in the history of Mozambique, given

that on 4 October 2002 we will celebrate the 10th

anniversary of the signing of the Rome Peace

Agreement, which marked the end of a devastating war

of destabilization. Ten years after this historic

achievement, the Mozambicans have kept the peace

and shown that they can live together in harmony.

Given the historic significance of this date, we have

declared it a national holiday: the Day of Peace and

Reconciliation.

Mozambicans are today enjoying the dividends of

peace, which were achieved with the invaluable

contribution of the United Nations in what became a

peacekeeping operation success story.

To consolidate this hard-won peace, we are

implementing home-grown development plans with a

view to promoting the welfare of our people. We are

also strengthening democracy, governance and the rule

of law, and preparations are under way for the

forthcoming municipal elections in 2003 and the

general and presidential elections in 2004.

In my address during the fifty-sixth session of the

General Assembly, I spoke of the negative

consequences of the floods which affected

Mozambique during two consecutive years, 2000 and

2001. Today, I am pleased to inform the Assembly that

most of the flood's victims have been resettled and are

engaged in productive activities. Mozambique's

economy is gradually recovering from the scourge of

the floods, and, as a result of the hard work of the

Mozambican people and of adequate international

assistance, my country achieved a growth rate of 13.9

per cent in its gross domestic product last year and of

12.1 per cent in the first six months of this year.

The report of the Secretary-General on assistance

to Mozambique (A/57/97), which I commend, provides

a further account of the achievements recorded by the

Mozambican people in the process of national

reconstruction and of economic and social

rehabilitation following the floods of 2000 and 2001.

The 2001 Human Development Report gives additional

evidence of the progress that has been achieved.

I should like to take this opportunity to reiterate

the sincere gratitude of the people and the Government

of Mozambique to the international community for its

invaluable support to the victims of the flooding.

Mozambique will continue to count on the international

community's support, in particular with a view to

mitigating the effects of the drought that is affecting

Mozambique and other countries of southern and

eastern Africa, and in order better to prepare the

country to face natural calamities.

In conclusion, I should like to reaffirm my

country's faith in the United Nations and in its Charter,

for they remain the indispensable foundation of a just,

peaceful and more prosperous world. We believe that

the current reform of the United Nations will help it to

provide better service to Member States, particularly

those most in need. We are convinced that the reform

will give rise to a stronger United Nations, with a clear

focus on developing countries and on results-oriented

actions.