Malawi, 2010

I am delighted to address

the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly as

Chairman of the African Union.

I offer my personal congratulations and those of

the African Union to you, Sir, on your election as

President of the United Nations General Assembly at

its sixty-fifth session. I assure you, Sir, of Africa’s

support in your work.

I pay tribute to His Excellency Mr. Ali

Abdussalam Treki, President of the General Assembly

at its sixty-fourth session for his leadership during his

tenure of office.

I also commend our Secretary-General, His

Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his exemplary

leadership of our Organization and the excellent

manner in which he continues to discharge his

responsibilities. Africa is particularly grateful for his

continued support of Africa’s development agenda.

I am happy to say that Africa welcomes the theme

for the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly that

reaffirms the role of the United Nations in global

governance. African leaders believe that the United

Nations, with its universal membership, is well placed

to build political consensus for global governance.

They hold the view that the United Nations has the

potential to bring about solutions to common

governance problems that our global village continues

to encounter, such as managing diversity and

combating terrorism and conflict. I believe that now,

more than ever before, the United Nations needs to

strengthen its institutions to enable it to promote peace

and stability and facilitate balanced growth and

prosperity between developed and developing

countries.

Africa also wishes to remind the United Nations

not to lose sight of its commitment to fight poverty.

Poverty reduction must remain the central focus of the

United Nations.

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As we reflect on this year’s theme, the central

role of the United Nations in global governance, I am

fully aware that the Africa the world hears about is that

of incessant calamities and natural disasters.

International media report on the Africa of extreme

poverty, widespread endemic diseases and human

suffering. They constantly portray the Africa of civil

wars, genocide, terrorism and piracy. They glorify the

Africa of underdevelopment and hopelessness.

But in their reports we do not hear about the

success stories of a number of African Governments.

We do not hear about the successes in participatory

democracy and good governance. We do not hear about

the peaceful multiparty general elections. We do not

hear about the high rates of macroeconomic growth in

some African countries. We do not hear about the

successes in food security in some of them.

That is why I now want to present another Africa

to the General Assembly. It is the Africa of new hopes

and new possibilities, the Africa of industrial, mineral,

and agro-processing opportunities, the Africa with new

job creation prospects, and the Africa that can produce

enough food for all.

Yes, this is the Africa I want the Assembly to

know. This is the Africa of the new beginning.

I want the world to know that we African leaders

have a clear vision of a new Africa free of hunger,

disease and poverty. We have the vision of a new

Africa that is prosperous and full of hope. We have the

vision of African nations determined to contribute

more to global economic prosperity, peace and

stability.

I want to inform the world that the leaders of the

African Union have decided to unlock Africa’s

combined huge natural resources and human capital to

establish new industries to create new wealth for our

people. That is why this year I have chosen to address

the Assembly on the subject of “Africa of the new

beginning”. I want the United Nations to share our

belief that Africa is not a poor continent; rather, it is its

people that are poor.

This year, I have come to inform this world body

that Africa has decided to shift from Afro-pessimism to

Afro-optimism. We are going to make Africa better.

Now, turning to global issues, I want to say that

the world today faces the challenge of producing

enough food to feed the over nine billion people living

on this earth, and it must do this against the backdrop

of rising food prices, global warming, climate change

and environmental degradation. I am pleased to inform

this world body that African leaders fully recognize

these problems and have unanimously agreed to

institute new measures to ensure that five years from

now, Africa will be able to produce enough food to

feed its people. They have also decided that, five years

from now, no child in Africa will die of hunger or

malnutrition.

In order to meet these targets, the African Union

decided to turn the continent into an African food

basket whose main aim is to encourage allocation of

increased budgetary resources and private sector

investment to agriculture and food production. For that

to happen, African leaders have agreed to redesign

their policy efforts to focus on three priority areas,

namely, agriculture and food security, transport and

energy development, and climate change. It is

envisaged that effective transport structures and

adequate energy supply will enhance agricultural

production and food processing as well as improve

human mobility and the marketing of food and

agricultural products from surplus countries to deficit

countries across the African continent.

The African food basket concept envisages full

cooperation between Africa and Governments of the

Group of Eight. The United Nations, the Food and

Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the

European Union and other multilateral institutions will

also cooperate in this effort.

I now want to briefly raise some issues of major

concern to Africa: the adverse effects of climate

change, fragile peace and security, terrorism and

piracy, maternal, infant and child mortality, and slow

reform of the United Nations.

African leaders recognize that climate change and

environmental degradation are among the most serious

global challenges that affect Africa negatively. All

countries in the world share the adverse effects of

climate change. All countries in the world are, to

varying degrees, experiencing the adverse impacts of

climate change such as severe cyclones, hurricanes,

rising sea levels and water salinization, prolonged

severe droughts and overall global warming.

There is enough evidence to show that most

countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are the

least able and equipped to cope with those challenges.

17 10-54827

The global nature of climate change therefore calls for

an effective, immediate and appropriate international

response. We need to act, and act now.

The international community has acknowledged

that climate change is a real threat to humanity, and yet

the performance of the major players at the United

Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

disappointed Africa and developing nations elsewhere

by their intransigency. The leaders of Africa therefore

would like to see the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol

be urgently implemented as essential interventions to

address climate change. Those conventions spell out in

detail what is to be done to mitigate climate change.

On behalf of Africa, I call for immediate

implementation of those decisions in order to avert

impending human catastrophe.

I am glad to note that maternal, infant and child

health and welfare are among the underlying issues of

the theme of the General Assembly this year. That calls

for concerted action for the achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals.

I am pleased to say that the African Union has

reaffirmed its commitments to the reduction of

maternal, infant and child mortality in Africa. African

Governments have undertaken to launch the four-year

Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal

Mortality in Africa. We also agreed to call on the

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

to create a new window to fund maternal, newborn and

child health. Let me, therefore, take advantage of the

General Assembly to appeal on behalf of Africa to our

development partners and donors to replenish the

Global Fund during next month’s meeting and to

increase resources for maternal, newborn and child

health.

Another global governance issue of major

concern to Africa is the lack of movement on

international trade under the Doha Round multilateral

trade negotiations. Members of the United Nations

agree that trade is a conduit to development in every

country. Therefore we in Africa appeal for an urgent

conclusion of the Doha Round, for we believe that that

is essential to revive global trade and to aid in global

economic recovery. Any outcome of the Doha Round

negotiations must lead to clear benefits for farmers,

producers, exporters and consumers in developing

countries, including in Africa. Nations of the world

must redouble efforts to resolve all impediments to the

successful outcome of the trade negotiations.

The advancement of women and gender equality

continues to be the cornerstone of the Africa of the new

beginning. Women have played and continue to play a

decisive role in the global, continental and national

agendas for democracy, transition and development. I

am happy to inform the General Assembly that African

Governments have intensified the fight against gender-

based violence, sexual abuse, discrimination and

trafficking in women and girls. The ultimate objective

is to have more coherent and meaningful interventions

that will adequately increase the number of women in

high decision-making positions in the advancement of

growth and development.

On peace and security, I wish to underscore that

the African Union considers that democracy, good

governance and development cannot be sustainable

without peace and security. African countries have

made significant progress in ensuring that peace and

security prevail on the African continent. Several

countries have conducted peaceful elections, and there

is growing tolerance and accommodation between the

ruling and opposition parties in many countries. That is

encouraging.

However, Africa has of late witnessed the re-

emergence of coups d’état and other unconstitutional

changes of government. The African Union has taken a

strong collective decision that those negative trends

will not be allowed to continue.

The African Union is also gravely concerned that

Somalia has had no stable or functioning Government

for a long time. That continuing volatile situation is

being compounded by increasing organized piracy in

the Indian Ocean. That negatively affects not only

Somalia and her immediate neighbours, but the entire

African continent and the rest of the world. I believe

the situation calls for a new approach and new

intervention. More countries should be directly

involved in seeking a lasting solution to the Somalia

crisis.

The situation in the Sudan presents a special

challenge to the African Union and to the United

Nations. Although some progress has been achieved

towards the implementation of the Comprehensive

Peace Agreement, the African Union eagerly awaits the

holding of the referendum in January 2011 and the

post-referendum structure of relations in the Sudan.

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One of the most immediate options in the Sudan

is to consolidate the prevailing peace and stability

there. The African countries are concerned that while

efforts to secure lasting peace in the Sudan are

ongoing, the International Criminal Court seems to

push for a pound of flesh by insisting on arresting

President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. There is general

consensus in Africa that that would have a negative

effect, polarizing the different positions of the

stakeholders and thereby driving them away from a

peaceful settlement. The African Union therefore

strongly appeals to the General Assembly to amend

Article 16 of the Rome Statute to enable it to assume

the powers of the Security Council to defer the case

against President Al-Bashir for one year to allow

ongoing negotiations and dialogue to succeed.

On behalf of the African Union, I wish to express

appreciation for the contribution of the United Nations

to the promotion of peace, security and stability in

African countries. The United Nations has performed

very well in many parts of Africa, including the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan, Chad

and West African countries. Those efforts in the search

for solutions to the ongoing conflicts on the continent

are highly commendable.

The sanctions against some members of the

African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement have

caused great economic hardship, especially to the poor

and more vulnerable people in those countries. The

African Union feels that the ideological justifications,

if there ever were any, have outlived their time.

Sanctions are also inconsistent with the emerging

dialogue for the reform of the United Nations.

Sanctions are also inconsistent with the obligations of

United Nations Member States to promote social

progress and better standards of life, as promulgated in

the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations.

The African Union therefore appeals for the

immediate lifting of sanctions against the Republic of

Zimbabwe and the Republic of Cuba. We believe that

would enable ordinary poor Zimbabweans and Cubans

to begin a life of new hope and new prospects.

As to the development of nuclear energy for

peaceful purposes, the African Union supports the

position taken by the Non-Aligned Movement calling

for justice and equal treatment for all nations

concerned.

With regard to the reforms of the United Nations

and the Security Council, the African Union believes

that for the Organization to be effective in fulfilling its

mandate as an honest broker, the proposed reforms

must be implemented in the spirit of equity and

fairness. In this regard I would like to reiterate the

African Union’s request for two permanent seats with

full veto powers and five non-permanent seats. The

African Union should also have the right to determine

the selection of Africa’s representatives on the Council.

Once implemented, that would enable Africa to

effectively participate in the global governance that the

United Nations is now propagating.

In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm Africa’s strong

belief that a reformed United Nations and specialized

agencies are likely to play a more effective role in

global governance and in a more equitable global

trading and financial system. I believe that the United

Nations in its new governance role should support the

Africa of the new beginning. A strong Africa —

industrially, economically and politically — is a better

trading partner for the G8 countries and the rest of the

world than a weaker one. I also believe that the Africa

of the new beginning with its combined vast mineral,

agricultural and human resources will provide the

safety valve for a boiling international monetary and

financial system. Think about these things.