Mauritania, 1998

Allow me first of all, on behalf of my country?s

delegation, to convey to Mr. Opertti my warm

congratulations on his election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its fifty-third session. I am

convinced that his wisdom and experience will ensure that

we are successful in our work. I wish also to thank his

predecessor, Mr. Udovenko, who guided the work of the

last session so skilfully.

I wish also to extend our appreciation to His

Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the

United Nations, for his constant and tireless efforts to

strengthen the universality of the United Nations, to

enhance its credibility and to strengthen its ability to

discharge its responsibilities despite a difficult

international situation.

On 16 July of last year, the Secretary-General

presented to the Assembly his report entitled “Renewing

the United Nations: a Programme for Reform”

(A/51/950), which provides an overall scheme to

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modernize the working methods of the Organization in

order to give it fresh impetus and enhance its efficiency so

that it is better capable of responding optimally to the

growing needs of the international community on the

threshold of the third millennium.

In this regard, we are convinced that implementation

of the measures to reform the Organization will assist it in

achieving its aims and objectives, namely restoring peace

and security to the world and strengthening international

cooperation in such a way as to achieve the economic and

social development of all nations and peoples. In line with

this, the question of reform and expansion of the United

Nations Security Council has, for several years, been

discussed. In this connection, we would like to reiterate our

support for the proposals aiming at enlarging the

representative base of that key body in accordance with the

norms of democracy, transparency and justice and with

equitable geographical distribution, enabling it to reflect the

universal nature of our Organization pursuant to Article 24

of the Charter.

The threats facing today?s world are not all political or

military in nature. Some of them are economic or social

and call for prompt and practical solution. The scourge of

drugs and psychotropic substances and the ravages resulting

from their consumption, marketing and distribution are

among the most serious challenges facing us today. In this

connection, I wish to express my delegation?s satisfaction

that awareness of the dangers inherent in this evil is

steadily growing. This has been reflected in a very clear-cut

fashion in the unanimous adoption, at the twentieth special

session of the General Assembly held last June, of the

Political Declaration and the Guiding Principles of Drug

Demand Reduction.

There is no doubt that international peace and security

on the one hand and economic growth, social development

and the eradication of poverty on the other are organically

bound up one with another. The United Nations and its

specialized agencies have provided many measures to

impress this reality on all of us. This approach has been

manifested in the adoption of a large number of

programmes and recommendations stemming from

important international conferences and forums organized

in the last few years under the auspices of the United

Nations.

However, this enormous effort should be translated

into concrete reality through a new mobilization based on

partnership and solidarity. The first step should be to devote

to these lofty objectives the tremendous resources allocated

to the production, development and acquisition of all

types of weapons of mass destruction.

On this basis, we must likewise enable the

developing countries to speed up effectively their pace of

growth. To this end, donor countries should augment their

official development assistance, increase flows of

investments, put an end to the continuous deterioration in

terms of commercial trade, and give the products of

developing countries free access to their markets without

any hindrance.

Likewise, the debt problem, which constitutes a

heavy burden for the economies of developing countries,

should receive the attention that it deserves. The 1997

Human Development Report indicates that debt servicing

on average absorbs a fifth of a developing country?s

export earnings, which is a significant drain on its modest

foreign currency reserves and thus compromises its ability

to take part in international trade on an equal footing.

In this context, we hope that the initiatives taken on

the subject of the external debt of the poorest and most

heavily indebted countries will make it possible to find a

radical solution to this set of problems, which impedes

these countries? development endeavours.

Despite the magnitude of the challenges of

development and the wide range of priorities involved,

and despite an unfavourable world economic situation, the

Islamic Republic of Mauritania, under the enlightened

leadership of the President of the Republic, Mr. Maaouya

Ould Sid?Ahmed Taya, has taken significant steps

towards comprehensive development aimed at raising our

citizens? standard of living and at consolidating

democracy and the rule of law in a climate of tranquillity,

security and stability.

On the political plane, therefore, pluralistic

democracy in our country came to fruition with the

holding on 12 December 1997 of pluralistic presidential

elections, the second of their kind, in which several

candidates participated in a spirit of healthy competition

and a climate of political plurality and freedom of

expression. Furthermore, the third municipal elections,

scheduled for the end of this year, are being organized

successfully.

Alongside this democratic process, which embodies

our people?s aspirations to fully exercise its rights, our

country is engaged in a decisive struggle to eradicate

poverty and to combat illiteracy and marginalization, for

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we are convinced that genuine enjoyment of human rights

and fundamental freedoms cannot be fully achieved except

through a sustained effort aimed at enhancing citizens?

socio-economic and cultural level.

We have created an agency to deal with human rights,

poverty and integration. That agency is responsible for

promoting the exercise of human rights and implementing

the national strategy to combat poverty. The budgetary

allocations earmarked for social expenditure are

approximately 37 per cent of all public expenditure —

almost double the level recommended by the World

Summit for Social Development.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is pursuing a

foreign policy that is based on immutable principles aimed

at fostering relations of good-neighbourliness, peaceful

coexistence and strengthened regional and international

cooperation. On the basis of these principles, my country

attaches particular importance to the consolidation of

stability and the containment of the large number of areas

of tension around the world that are likely to threaten

international peace and security and to jeopardize the

development efforts of many nations and peoples.

While reaffirming its full support for the peace process

in the Middle East, my country believes that no just and

lasting peace can be achieved in that region until Israel has

withdrawn from all the occupied Palestinian territories,

including Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan and the Lebanese

territories, in conformity with Security Council resolutions

242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and the principle of

land for peace. Such a peace cannot be attained until the

Palestinian people have been enabled to establish their

independent state on their territory with Al-Quds as its

capital.

In this respect, my country expresses its profound

concern at the difficulties besetting the peace process and

the negative developments that have taken place in the

region. My country also calls for taking the measures

necessary for restarting peace negotiations on all tracks, and

urges the two sponsors of the peace process to make further

efforts to preserve the chances for peace in that region.

With respect to the Gulf region, we hope that all

regional and international efforts will combine to bring

about a return to stability and concord in the area. In this

respect my country, while reaffirming its attachment and

commitment to international legitimacy and United Nations

resolutions, reiterates its repudiation of anything that could

undermine the independence of Kuwait and its territorial

integrity.

It also reaffirms its consistent position of rejecting

any measure likely to threaten the unity of Iraq and the

integrity of its territory. At the same time, it calls for the

lifting of the embargo imposed for seven years now on

the Iraqi people. The Iraqis have been very hard hit by

this embargo, whose impact has been first and foremost

felt by women, children and the elderly.

With respect to the Arab Maghreb, my country is

acting, together with its sister countries of the Arab

Maghreb Union, to develop cooperation and consultation,

to respond to the aspirations of the peoples of the

Maghreb.

As to Western Sahara, my country expresses its

satisfaction at the positive steps taken within the

framework of the United Nations settlement plan and

reiterates its readiness to do its utmost to facilitate its

implementation.

We call for the lifting of the embargo imposed on

the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. We hope that the recent

positive developments will lead to finding a formula for

a prompt settlement of this question, which has harmed

the interests of the Libyan people.

In many parts of Africa, the situation remains

worrisome because of conflicts and civil wars, with the

attendant torrent of human suffering and destruction.

These crises, along with other crises around the world,

should be given more sustained attention by the United

Nations, since it is the international community that bears

responsibility for containing them and for acting seriously

and effectively to prevent their proliferation. My

delegation welcomes the report of the Secretary-General

on the causes of conflict in Africa and on ways of

promoting durable peace and sustainable development.

We also welcome Security Council resolution 1170

(1998), adopted last May, which authorizes a number of

mechanisms for the implementation of the

recommendations contained in that report. We hope too

that at its present session the General Assembly, when

considering that report, will find ways and means of

implementing the recommendations that fall within its

purview.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania expresses its

concern at the persistent conflict in Somalia and hopes

that the Somalis will be able to find the path to

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constructive dialogue, in order to bring about a settlement

that will secure concord and stability in that country.

In the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, we

hope that the efforts undertaken by the League of Arab

States and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) will

lead to a solution that will preserve that country?s

sovereignty and unity.

In Guinea-Bissau, my country welcomes the truce

agreement signed last 26 August and supports all the efforts

and initiatives aimed at restoring security and stability.

Similarly, my country urges Ethiopia and Eritrea to

continue to comply with the ceasefire, in the hope that the

efforts undertaken by the OAU will result in a fair

settlement which will guarantee security and stability in the

region.

With respect to the Great Lakes region and the serious

developments taking place there, my country supports all

endeavours to promote a return to stability and to bring

about the reconstruction of everything that has been

destroyed by war and conflict there.

Likewise, my country supports the regional and

international endeavours to consolidate peace in Sierra

Leone, so that that country may see the beginning of a new

era of peace, stability, reconstruction and development.

It is regrettable that there are many other regions of

the world where there is instability and conflict. In the

Balkan region, the situation in Kosovo continues to worsen,

compounding the suffering of the population and boding ill

with regard to future humanitarian disasters comparable to

those experienced in the Republic of Bosnia and

Herzegovina. This calls for decisive international

intervention to prevent the situation from worsening further.

While war and conflict cause mass tragedies and mass

destruction, the international community today is facing the

phenomenon of terrorism, which cannot be contained within

either time or place and which also threatens the peace and

stability of all States and peoples. My country stresses its

condemnation of terrorism in all of its forms, whatever its

origins. We call for strengthening of cooperation and

consultation at the international level in order to confront it

resolutely and severely.

The world of today witnesses a gigantic leap in the

increase of wealth, improvement of means of production,

evolution of telecommunications and the informatics

revolution. Although the developments offer conditions of

comfort and well-being, they do, however, widen the

chasm which separates the development and growth levels

of the developed and the developing countries. This will

exist as long as cooperation, solidarity and partnership do

not prevail, until nations and peoples can together benefit

from the advantages of globalization, and until the

international community is able to give an impetus to

international relations based on peace, democracy, justice

and sustainable development.