Namibia, 1998

Before I deliver my

statement, let me express on behalf of my country our

heartfelt sympathy to the Governments and peoples of the

Caribbean that have fallen victim to the devastating

onslaught of Hurricane Georges. I hope that we all in the

international community will extend to them comfort and

humanitarian assistance with all deliberate speed.

Let me add my voice to the other speakers in

felicitating Mr. Opertti upon his unanimous election as

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session.

Namibia will readily lend him our full support and

cooperation during his tenure of office. Our two

countries — Uruguay and Namibia — have worked very

closely together and with other friendly countries in

bringing about the African-Latin American initiative, a

necessary and timely innovation aimed at concretizing a

mutually felt need for greater interaction between our two

neighbouring continents. I wish him all the luck.

Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate his

predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, former Foreign

Minister of Ukraine, who so ably presided over the work of

the General Assembly during a period in which the

Organization took bold steps towards institutional

transformation and in various social and technical fields.

Not only did he prove his leadership qualities and

diplomatic skills, but he also, and more importantly, sought

to promote the important role of the General Assembly

itself in the larger context of the maintenance of

international peace and security, and particularly the

preservation of human security. For small and developing

countries like Namibia, the Assembly is where democracy

comes alive as the worldâs biggest parliament.

To the Secretary-General of our Organization,

Mr. Kofi Annan, my delegation pledges its fullest support

for his tireless efforts to provide effective leadership and

practical ideas as we try to find workable solutions to the

new challenges facing the global community. His annual

report and the important statement he delivered yesterday

provided inspiration and reassurance. I congratulate him

for his vision and initiatives.

Let me say a word or two about the United Nations

reform process. We are two years away from the new

millennium and, for some time now, we have all being

addressing some of those challenges that lie ahead and

how the United Nations can transform itself to more

effectively respond to the needs and aspirations of its

Members in the twenty-first century. The initial work of

revitalization of the United Nations in the economic,

social and development fields has been partially

completed. Reform of the United Nations is an ongoing

process and Namibia believes that an important lesson can

be learnt from what has been achieved so far: no quick

fixes, but also no indefinite negotiations. The management

of the global economy is a top priority. Economic

disparities and social backlogs in our societies must be

mitigated.

Africaâs position on the enlargement of the Security

Council is on the table. It includes two permanent seats

on the Council and additional non-permanent seats.

Namibia also calls for the abolition of the veto power.

We have done so before and I am repeating that call once

again, for the veto negates the very idea of United

Nations reform and democratization.

Let me also say here that, while we take into

account the purposes of the United Nations as stated in

Article 1 of the Charter, it is also important that we take

effective and collective measures to finance the United

Nations. In this regard, Namibia urges all Member States

to pay their contributions in full and on time and to clear

their arrears in order to enable the Secretary-General to

fully carry out the resolutions of the General Assembly

and, indeed, also those of the Security Council.

I wish to say a word or two about peace and

development. In 1995, all the world leaders who

converged on New York for the fiftieth anniversary of the

founding of the United Nations reiterated, in their

different languages yet in unison, their common

commitment to the highest virtues of human dignity,

peace and security, sustainable development and

prosperity for all. Three years later, it looks everywhere

as if it is a question of business as usual. Much more

needs to be done in the areas of poverty eradication,

human resource development and gender equality, as well

as transfer of technology and resources for development

from the rich to the poor.

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Wherever in this, our one world, economic disparity,

social injustice, armed conflicts, political instability and

indeed environmental degradation prevail, there can be no

rewarding human existence, meaningful productivity to

sustain life and civilization, nor lasting scientific and

technological breakthroughs in the service of this and future

generations.

Todayâs very topical questions of democracy, human

rights, good governance and globalization now seem to end

up on the back burner of the global agenda. Other priorities

always seem to enjoy more attention. Much needed

resources are being driven more and more away towards

greater benefits for the military-industrial enterprises of the

rich and the powerful nations. The result is further

impoverishment of the nations and peoples of the third

world.

Happily, we have been joined by two illustrious

champions in a worthy human cause: Danny Glover,

African-American actor activist, and Nadine Gordimer,

South African Nobel laureate, who will, jointly and

individually, articulate worldwide the plight of the forgotten

masses in the third world, as the United Nations

Development Programmeâs Goodwill Ambassadors. Both of

them are my personal friends, and I congratulate them and

heartily welcome them aboard.

It has been said by a third world leader that:

“We live in an international jungle. There is no law

and order in international relations. There is very little

justice. The high and the mighty rule everywhere. The

weak and the poor just have to lump it.”

It is hardly possible to dispute this.

With regard to issues of multilateral trade that are of

concern to the developing countries, there is an imperative

need for us to articulate a specific and constructive South

agenda. The developing countries must develop a common

position on, for example, whether there should be a new

round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations or

whether a sectoral approach is preferable. These are our

common concerns that the Group of 77 should be

spearheading in WTO negotiations, as well as in the South-

North dialogue.

Globalization is here to stay. We welcome it. But it is

not in itself a panacea for ensuring the peopleâs economic

rights at home or a just world order, based on cooperation

and equity. Globalization must be our thing collectively as

members of the human family. When one section of the

family prospers, the rest should be allowed to share in

that bonanza. To condemn a section of the family to a

perpetual state of marginalization would be inhuman and

unkind.

The heavy burden of external debt is denuding the

resources and capacity of poor nations, mainly those in

Africa. External debt cannot merely be reorganized. Debt

write-off is the best and the most humane thing to do,

under the present circumstances. Some major Western

creditors have written off debt, others should follow.

Bretton Woods institutions should rethink their insistence

on bleeding conditionalities in terms of official capital

flows and debt relief in favour of providing assistance

towards stimulating economic growth and productivity

that will help poverty eradication in the developing

countries. In this connection, it is to be hoped that the

recent meeting held in New York with the World Bank

and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be a

harbinger of new and better things to come.

The Group of 77, which is the task force for the

member States of the Non-Aligned Movement, together

with our many friends, must continue to work hard in

order to hasten implementation of the Agenda 21

Programme of Action in its entirety. For globalization and

liberalization to be carried out successfully in pursuit of

our shared ideals of democratization, economic justice

and human security, South-North dialogue should be open

and constructive in the spirit of “smart” partnership,

devoid of confrontation and blackmail.

At the 1998 Southern African Development

Community (SADC) Summit of Heads of State or

Government, held at Grand Bay, Mauritius, on 13 and 14

September, the regional African leaders endorsed policy

guidelines that will facilitate the speedy completion of

SADCâs transformation into a dynamic development

community. This exercise will be carried out on the basis

of the review and rationalization of the SADC Programme

of Action. The Summit reaffirmed the ongoing work on

sectoral coordination by member States to ensure

streamlining of sectors and increase regional integration

and productivity. The member States were urged to

expedite ratification of the trade protocol as a matter of

the utmost priority. This will open up greater

opportunities for regional economic cooperation and trade

between them.

Added to these actions that have already been taken

or are being envisaged was the strong reiteration that all

28

SADC regional policies and activities must be carried out

pursuant to the objectives and goals of the African

Economic Community. The first significant step taken in

this direction was the signing on 25 February 1998, in

Addis Ababa, of the Protocol on The Relationship between

the African Economic Community and the Regional

Economic Communities. For 1999, the Summit set a theme

for SADC:

“SADC in the next Millennium: The Challenges and

Opportunities of Information Technology.”

That is the vision that seeks to promote the socio-economic

empowerment of the people. Political and economic reforms

that have started in Africa must stay on course and produce

the results that our people want.

Regarding regional conflicts, as other speakers have

noted, the maintenance of international peace and security

is constantly being threatened by ongoing as well as new

regional conflicts. Lately, dastardly acts of terrorism and

indiscriminate counter-attacks have become frequent

happenings. In Europe, bloody confrontation and human

suffering persist in Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo. In West

and South Asia, a very explosive political, military and

nuclear situation is fast developing into an undeclared state

of war and a likely destabilization of that strategic region.

We welcome the high-level and face-to-face meetings now

taking place between some of the leaders from that region.

Sadly, there is a serious situation of stalemate,

reversals and prevarication in the Middle East, and the

peace process has by now, to all intents and purposes,

reached a precipitous dead end. Israel cannot hope to live

in security if the universally accepted principle of land for

peace is not scrupulously adhered to and implemented

without delay. The legitimate rights of the Palestinian

people, including the right to self-determination and the

establishment of an independent State of their own, cannot

be sacrificed because of a single-minded insistence on

security. An early agreement on a just, comprehensive and

durable peace for the whole of the Middle East is the only

viable guarantee for peace, stability, security and

cooperation in the best interests of one and all. Namibia

supports that approach and not the politics of confrontation

and nullification.

In our own SADC subregion, some of the old conflicts

have gone from bad to worse and new ones have been

ignited. In Angola, renewed military attacks and defiance of

the demands of the United Nations and the rest of the

international community by Mr. Savimbi and UNITA have

derailed the peace process and delayed the finalization of

the implementation of the remaining aspects of the 1994

Lusaka Protocol. The Security Council has reacted

forcefully to UNITAâs non-compliance by imposing

stringent sanctions on it and, once again, has demanded

speedy and full implementation of the Lusaka Protocol.

Furthermore, the last summit of the Organization of

African Unity (OAU), held in Ouagadougou, was equally

unsparing in its condemnation of Mr. Savimbi and

UNITA for unceasing delaying tactics and political

violence against innocent Angolans and the unsuspecting

citizens of neighbouring States, including my own

country, Namibia. The recently concluded SADC Summit

resolved, among other things, that measures must be taken

to ensure compliance by Mr. Savimbi and UNITA with

the decisions that member States have made through

SADC, the OAU and United Nations resolutions.

The Summit further called on the international

community, particularly countries and leaders who have

an influence on Mr. Savimbi, to persuade the rebel

movement to rededicate itself to the path of peace and

reconstruction in Angola, as a matter of urgency.

On another front, the Kingdom of Lesotho is once

again teetering on the brink of serious destabilization and

social disorder just because some politicians, who were

defeated in the last general elections, have taken the law

into their own hands. It has become an acute situation,

which our regional leaders are urgently and jointly trying

to resolve peacefully.

Moreover, other misguided men, driven by a blind

ambition and appetite for needless confrontation, have

plunged the Democratic Republic of the Congo into a

devastating war, which has resulted in inter-African

fighting on the battlefield of that sister country. Namibia

has joined the other SADC member States, at the express

invitation of President Laurent Kabila and his legitimate

Government, for the sole purpose of preventing the

collapse of the State machinery and the violation of the

sovereignty and territorial integrity of a fellow SADC

member State by the invading armies and their

collaborators. Namibiaâs involvement is for peace,

democracy, human rights and regional cooperation.

The recent SADC Summit expressed itself on the

situation, and it is important that I quote a few passages

what it said, as follows:

29

“The Summit expressed deep regret at the outbreak of

war in DRC, as a result of attempts by rebels and

their allies to forcefully remove the Government of

President Kabila from power.

“The Summit welcomed the initiatives by SADC and

its member States intended to assist in the restoration

of peace, security and stability in the DRC, in

particular the Victoria Falls and Pretoria initiatives. In

that regard, the Summit reaffirmed its call for an

immediate cessation of hostilities and commended the

Governments of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe for

timeously providing troops to assist the Government

and people of the DRC to defeat the illegal attempt by

rebels and their allies to capture the capital city,

Kinshasa, and other strategic areas. The Summit

emphasized the need for all political actor in the DRC

to commit themselves to orderly and peaceful

transition to multi-party democracy, primarily through

constructive consultations and negotiations involving

all stakeholders.”

As freedom fighters, we never relied on ethnicity to

win victory against the oppressor nor can we ever accept

today any idea of regional hegemony based on ethnicity and

Herrenvolk tendencies from any quarter. African unity and

cooperation must be based on a genuine spirit of solidarity

and sharing, and not on subversion and disunity.

There are some outstanding questions that I would like

to deal with now briefly.

Our agenda still has on it the unfinished business of,

for example, decolonization, conflict resolution and

peacekeeping.

The legitimate cause of the Palestinian people, led by

the Palestine Liberation Organization, and their full

enjoyment of the right to self-determination, independence

and sovereignty, cannot end with the creation of an

Authority which is only an interim mechanism. The goal

which the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and

certainly we in Namibia support, is that of unfettered

statehood as envisaged in the Charter of the United Nations

and international law. I say this simply to restate our well-

known position on the question of Palestine.

Cyprus, a fellow Member State of the United Nations

and of the Commonwealth, is being bullied by a bigger and

powerful neighbour which is perpetuating by means of fiat

the unlawful division of that peaceful island State. Namibia

is aware of the repeated initiatives of the Secretary-General

to end the deadlock; so far his efforts have been

unsuccessful. The United Nations and the world

community must not forget the nation of Cyprus and its

heroic people.

At last, there is a light at the end of the tunnel

concerning the resolution of the question of Western

Sahara. Following the Houston accords brokered by

Mr. James Baker, former United States Secretary of State,

there is now an agreement between the parties concerned

for a free and fair referendum to be held in December

this year. With this in mind, Namibia urges the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United

Nations to ensure that the deadline is kept and that the

people themselves are given a genuine choice regarding

their future. In this way, Africaâs last colonial question

will be finally resolved and the Kingdom of Morocco will

return to the fold of the OAU, of which it is a proud

founding member. It will be a happy day for all Africans.

Now that the question of East Timor has been put

back on the front burner, Namibia lends its full support to

the latest steps that the Secretary-General has taken to

find an amicable and lasting solution, in cooperation with

Indonesia, Portugal and the inhabitants of East Timor.

We apparently welcomed too hastily what we

thought was good news concerning a peaceful settlement

of the Lockerbie affair by the application of law. The

good news has all of a sudden been eclipsed by bad news

or misunderstandings that need to be carefully sorted out

in the spirit of give and take among the principal parties.

There are clearly serious legal and technical matters that

require further consultations and clarifications between

Libya, on the one hand, and the United Kingdom and the

United States, on the other. Africaâs well-reasoned and

constructive position on this issue was reinforced at the

last OAU summit, held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

In this connection, the decisions taken there are being

implemented by African leaders. Among them is a

renewed call for the Security Council to lift the punitive

and outdated sanctions imposed on Libya several years

ago. The suffering of innocent people should quickly be

brought to an end.

In conclusion, allow me to share a few personal

thoughts. In his valedictory address to the General

Assembly, President Mandela of South Africa referred to

the connections between the United Nations and South

Africa and invoked some memories of the past, beginning

in 1946. Those memories and connections also included

my own country, Namibia, a former colony of apartheid

30

South Africa and a territory for which the United Nations

assumed direct legal responsibility for 24 years, from 1966

until 1990. That special linkage ended on 21 March 1990,

the glorious day of our independence. But the long-

established relationship between the United Nations family

and the Namibian people continues unabated.

During the past more than 26 years of my active

involvement in politics and diplomacy, I have known the

United Nations system as my home. In various incarnations,

I have walked the heights, the depths and the corridors of

this magnificent edifice of human brotherhood, liberation,

equality and justice. Many mentors and friends from across

the globe have held my hand in support, encouragement

and solidarity. They have contributed enormously to my

formation and maturity.

I did my undergraduate and postgraduate studies in

this country under a United Nations fellowship. On 25

September — that is, next Friday — I am going to receive

an award from the World Association of Former United

Nations Interns and Fellows for, they tell me, an

“outstanding contribution to the promotion of human

rights, peace and development, especially within the

context of promoting Namibiaâs nation-building and

the role that United Nations training and other

economic and technical cooperation activities can still

play”.

I am deeply touched by this generous gesture, and I

am immensely grateful. This is the result of my partnership

with the United Nations and its varied agencies as well as

with friends the world over.

I, actively supported by my Government, have

announced my candidature for the presidency of the

General Assembly at its fifty-fourth regular session, in

1999. In this connection, I am most delighted to announce

from this mighty rostrum that in June this year, in

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the OAU Assembly of Heads

of State and Government endorsed me as the sole African

candidate for the position. I trust that I can count on all the

Member States from other regions to cast their votes in

support of my candidature when the time comes. By doing

so, you will have made me extremely happy. But, more

than that, you will have endorsed unanimously the

collective wish of the African continent.

Lastly, and in this context, I endorse the sentiments

expressed by our Secretary-General in respect of making

the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, which falls

in the year 2000, the Millennium Assembly. But I believe

the preparations must be made during the fifty-fourth

session, and Africa is ready to lead the way into the

twenty-first century.