Mauritius, 2001

Mr. President, it gives

me great pleasure to address this Assembly under your

able and distinguished leadership. May I, on behalf of

my delegation, take this opportunity to extend to you

our warmest congratulations on your election as

President of the fifty-sixth session of the General

Assembly. You may rest assured, Sir, of the fullest

support and co-operation of my delegation in the

daunting tasks that you will be called upon to confront

during your tenure.

I also avail myself of this opportunity to thank

Mr. Harri Holkeri for the excellent manner in which he

steered the work of the last session of the General

Assembly.

May I also congratulate a distinguished son of

Africa, our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his

unopposed election to a second term. The award of the

Nobel Peace Prize to him and to the United Nations

confirms the high esteem in which he and our

Organization are held.

As we gather in New York, the atrocities of 11

September remain fresh in our collective memory.

Allow me to pay a special tribute to the memory of the

thousands of innocent victims of the terrorist attacks on

the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in

Pennsylvania.

We condemn the attempts of the terrorists to

justify their acts as being in conformity with the tenets

of Islam. We do so because neither Islam nor any other

religion condones the killing of innocent civilians.

In order to preserve the lives of our citizens and

their way of life, we are bound to focus on the sequels

of those heinous terrorist attacks.

International terrorism must be fought with all the

means at our disposal. Terrorists know only one thing,

and that is destruction. While Mauritius is fully

committed to the global coalition against terrorism, we

urge the international community to take a long-term

view of international terrorism. Terrorism is the

greatest threat to international peace, security and

development.

We also believe that the war on terrorism must be

fought on the basis of principles and standards which

are accepted by every single State. Terrorism remains

terrorism, and there can be no justification for it at any

time or under any circumstances. We also consider that

cross-border terrorism has caused and is continuing to

cause immeasurable damage in many parts of the

Indian subcontinent and in Africa. We are convinced

that there must be no double or multiple standards in

the war against terrorism. In this context, we believe

that the International Criminal Court must become

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operational at the earliest date, and countries which

rejected it in the past must review their stand.

We shall work closely with the Security Council

and the international community at large in order to

fully implement Security Council resolutions 1368

(2001) and 1373 (2001).

Together with the war on terrorism, we need to

wage many other wars, particularly in the light of the

Millennium Declaration adopted last year. We need to

pursue wars against poverty, ignorance, hunger and

underdevelopment. The war against the scourge of

HIV/AIDS is a war that we cannot afford to lose. It is

our belief that the international community must

remain focused on these issues, as they are very often

the breeding ground for dissent, crises, wars and

terrorism.

Peace and security will be in danger as long as

nuclear arsenals and weapons of mass destruction

continue to exist and proliferate. Now that terrorists

may get hold of or may already have in their

possession such weapons, it becomes extremely urgent

for the nuclear States to start meaningful discussions

on the elimination of these weapons within a specified

time frame.

With the conclusion of the recent United Nations

Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and

Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, we need to move

towards early implementation of the measures

contained in its Programme of Action. For Africa, this

is a top priority. We are convinced that disarmament

cannot remain a slogan; it must be effectively

addressed.

Conflicts, wars and crises still persist in many

parts of the African continent and elsewhere,

particularly in the Balkans. Although we are

encouraged by the latest developments in Burundi and

the Democratic Republic of the Congo and by the

direct talks between Rwanda and Uganda to defuse

situations before they become explosive, we consider

that peace and security in Africa deserve the closer

involvement of the international community,

particularly in making available adequate financial

resources. We expect early and full deployment of the

third phase of the United Nations Organization Mission

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) in

keeping with the Security Council resolutions, and we

support the inter-Congolese dialogue.

We are grateful to African leaders like former

President Nelson Mandela, President Moi and former

President Masire for their commitment to ridding

Africa of conflicts and to paving the way for an

African economic take-off.

Mauritius is committed to a major reform of the

composition of the Security Council. We are convinced

that we should amend the Charter in a way that would

reflect the emergence of new power structures

justifying an expansion of the membership. Whatever

may be the criteria for an expanded membership, we

believe that India ought to become a permanent

member at the earliest opportunity. The expansion of

the Security Council, as well as a reassessment of the

absolutist veto, cannot be delayed any longer.

The birth of the African Union coincides with its

role as the engine to drive forward the process of the

New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).

The New Partnership for African Development is a

road map for Africa to eradicate poverty and to achieve

the sustainable growth and development of the

continent, thereby allowing it to find its place in the

world economy. It is a call for a new relationship

between Africa and its partners.

We are mindful of the setback which the events of

11 September have caused to the major economies, but

we are also hopeful that the G-8 will remain committed

to providing to Africa all assistance for the effective

implementation of NEPAD.

Mauritius supports the liberalization of

international trade under the rules of the World Trade

Organization. We are, however, disappointed at the

lack of progress with regard to implementation issues

and the undertakings of the major trading countries

under previous Uruguay Round agreements. The terms

of trade as well as non-trade concerns are tilted too

much in favour of the developed countries, which are

still denying market access. Africa, which today

accounts for less than two per cent of global trade,

could, with the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers

in the developed countries, significantly increase its

share of global trade and thus improve the standard of

living of its people. An increase in trade for Africa will

also mean a lesser dependence on aid.

While globalization throws up opportunities as

well as challenges, we also have to be conscious of its

negative aspects. We appeal for there to be no double

dealing in trade with poor countries.

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The Small Island Developing States experience a

variety of inherent disadvantages. In their efforts to

achieve sustainable development and the need to

enhance their capabilities to function effectively within

the new globalized trading arrangements, my

delegation calls for the urgent and effective

implementation of the Programme of Action for

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States.

We welcome the statement by the United States

that it supports the creation of a Palestinian State. We

consider this to be a major step in the right direction

for the resolution of the Middle East crisis. We urge the

United States to be even-handed in its relations with

both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. We also

believe that the unilateral imposition of conditions

prior to the resumption of peace talks is unhelpful.

With the support of the international community, we

are confident that Israel and Palestine can, within the

framework of the Mitchell report and the Tenet plan,

work out a just and durable peace in which the States

of Israel and Palestine can live side by side, secure

within their respective boundaries.

In our region, the Southern African Development

Community and the Common Market for Eastern and

Southern Africa (COMESA) are emerging as important

institutions integrating our economies. These initiatives

are helping the member States to better confront the

challenges of globalization. COMESA is the first

regional institution to have set up a free trade area.

These regional institutions also address issues of good

governance, as well as security and peace. We take an

interest in the domestic situation of our fellow

members inasmuch as whatever happens in one

member State inevitably impacts, negatively or

otherwise, on all member States.

We urge all parties to the Framework Agreement

for National Reconciliation to take all measures to

expedite the process towards the referendum in the

Comoros that will usher in a new constitution. Under

the aegis of the African Union, Mauritius is proposing

to host a donors’ meeting as soon as the Framework

Agreement is implemented.

We continue to claim our sovereignty over the

Chagos archipelago, which was excised by the United

Kingdom from the then colony of Mauritius in

violation of international law and of General Assembly

resolution 1514 (XV). We are convinced that the time

for the United Kingdom to engage in talks for the early

retrocession of the archipelago to Mauritian

sovereignty is long overdue, inasmuch as problems left

over from colonial days cannot remain unresolved.

We are also concerned by the plight of all those

Mauritians, commonly known as the Ilois, who were

forcibly and in outright violation of their fundamental

rights removed from the islands forming the

archipelago by the then colonial Power. We support

their legitimate claim for all appropriate remedies.

With regard to Tromelin, I reiterate the position

of my delegation, as expressed in the General

Assembly last year, and once again call on the French

Government to enter into constructive negotiations for

the settlement of this issue.

As I speak here, bombs are still falling over

Afghanistan. We are aware that the living conditions of

the civilian population are difficult. We deplore the

loss of civilian lives. We are confident, however, that

the international community will rise to the occasion in

providing all humanitarian assistance to the needy in

Afghanistan. We are hopeful that the efforts under way

to install a broad-based Government in Afghanistan

will be successful.

The Conference of Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change in

Morocco, the World Food Summit in Rome, the

discussions on trade issues in Doha and a host of other

meetings in recent days demonstrate the close

dependence that we have on each other. No country can

afford to go it alone and the many problems that we

face today must be faced by us all in a spirit of

solidarity, cooperation and mutual accommodation. We

need to be continually engaged and to collaborate so

that never again does humanity live the extremely

painful moments that it lived after 11 September.

The United Nations is the forum to address all

our concerns and we are sure that all countries,

regardless of their might, understand that there can be

no substitute for the rule of law, good governance,

democracy and respect for the dignity and rights of the

individual. We do recognize the threats posed by

international terrorism and we are all prepared to do

whatever has to be done to combat it. It is our hope that

this togetherness will not be frittered away when the

threat and the danger have disappeared. The world has

walked away on too many occasions in the past. From

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now on, we have to walk together and pave the way for

a better world.