Niger, 1999

I am

delighted to have the opportunity at this fifty-fourth

session of the General Assembly to share with the entire

international community the concerns — but also the

hope — that inspire the nation of Niger in the progress of

world events.

The Niger welcomes the new Member States — the

Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the

Kingdom of Tonga — to membership of the United

Nations community.

I would also like to say how proud and pleased we

are, Sir, over your unanimous election as President of the

General Assembly for this session. On behalf of the

delegation of the Niger, I wish to sincerely congratulate

you and the other members of the Bureau. Your

professional skills and your well-known human qualities,

as well as your unceasing commitment to your country,

Namibia, and to the defence of the noble causes of

humanity, guarantee the successful outcome of the

Assembly’s work.

My delegation also has the agreeable duty of paying

a well-deserved tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Didier

Opertti, for the excellent work done during his term of

office.

9

The presence at your side of Secretary-General Kofi

Annan, whose devotion and constant desire to serve the

causes I have mentioned are well-established, reinforces our

conviction that the outcome of this session will make it

possible to lay a sound basis for the future of a world that

is less unjust, more peaceful, more prosperous — and, in a

word, more human.

The Niger is a landlocked, heavily indebted country

which has for almost a decade suffered from chronic

institutional instability. This situation has seriously

undermined its people’s efforts to establish a viable

political, economic and social environment. Since its

accession to independence in August 1960 the Republic of

the Niger has experienced profound upheavals which have

affected its progress towards the establishment of a

democratic, harmonious and prosperous society.

But these upheavals, far from weakening the

democratic ideal of our people, have strengthened its

resolve to overcome these challenges. Strengthened by this

conviction, the Council for National Reconciliation and the

Government resulting from the events of 9 April 1999 have

made the strong commitment that the people of the Niger,

at peace with itself and possessing stable and durable

democratic institutions, will be able to meet the challenges

of the third millennium.

On 18 July, in a referendum, the people of the Niger

adopted the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, which will

lead to the establishment of lasting democratic institutions.

The timetable decided on by our Independent National

Electoral Commission sets the first round of presidential

elections for 17 October. The second round will be held at

the same time as the general elections, on 24 November.

The investiture and assumption of office of the President-

elect of the Republic will take place on 31 December 1999.

In this respect, every step has been taken to organize

the elections in the most transparent, honest and neutral

way possible. The measures taken include a ban on the

military’s submitting candidates for the presidential and

general elections, even if those candidates are on leave of

absence or have resigned from the military. The

Government will ensure that the elections are held in a

spirit of impartiality.

With this same aim, the Independent National

Electoral Commission was institutionalized and a national

communications monitor set up to guarantee equal access

to public media and to ensure that the press is free and

constructive.

Basically, therefore, our political transition is on the

right track, and the instruments for this transition will be

active until power is handed over to the duly, freely

elected authorities.

In view of all this, we hope that our traditional

external partners will help us establish true democracy in

the Niger. We expect their support, which is necessary to

help us in the process of establishing dialogue among all

parties concerned to guarantee the holding of credible,

honest elections.

But as the Assembly is aware, democracy does not

just mean holding a series of elections. A legal arsenal

and a different way of thinking are essential to

consolidate democracy, and this is why we have started

giving organized, concerted consideration to the drafting

of basic texts that will govern the future Republic.

Varied and burning issues, such as the

depoliticization of the administration, the electoral code,

the charter of political parties, the status of the opposition

and the role of the army in a democratic context have

been tackled.

In this context, I call upon interested States to take

part in the national workshop to be held next December

on the theme “The army and democracy in Africa: the

case of the Niger”.

I wish very sincerely to thank all bilateral and

multilateral partners of the Niger, in particular United

Nations agencies, and more specifically the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for having

continued to support my country’s efforts to create the

right institutional environment to restore social peace and

to enable men and women of the Niger to meet the major

challenges they face. This highly appreciated assistance

will continue to be necessary in this decisive phase of the

democratic process and the process of national

reconciliation.

The recurrent theme of post-conflict insecurity

deserves special attention from the United Nations

system. The Niger, resolutely committed to the process of

cantonment, disarmament and socio-economic

reintegration of elements of the former rebel army which

rampaged in the north and far east of the country a few

10

years ago, fully supports the programme for collecting and

destroying small arms.

It is in this spirit that my country submitted to the

Secretariat a plan to put an end to the illicit circulation of

small arms and light weapons. It endorsed the decision

taken by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in June

1998 and the declaration adopted by the heads of State and

Government of member countries of the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in October

1998 to deal with the destabilizing effects and the threat to

peace and security posed by the illicit circulation of small

arms and light weapons for the West African region and for

the entire continent.

We welcome the emerging concordance of views and

action regarding the priority nature of this question among

African organizations on the one hand, and other

international institutions — including those of the United

Nations system, the European Union and the Organization

of American States — on the other. This international

consensus will make it possible to take effective steps in

time for the upcoming international conference on all

aspects of the illicit arms trade, to be held in 2001.

The Niger has always sought to make its modest

contribution to the settlement of conflicts that threaten

peace and security in Africa and throughout the rest of the

world. Despite our limited resources, we sent troops to

Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, as well as civilian

police officers to Haiti. In this regard, my Government

wishes to reaffirm its constant willingness to send military

and police contingents to all United Nations peacekeeping

operations when needed.

In Africa, thanks to the efforts of the international

community, we have reason to hope that the process

leading to the referendum on self-determination for the

Sahraoui people will soon lead to a final settlement of this

question.

The conclusion of the Peace Agreement in Sierra

Leone under the aegis of ECOWAS and the Ceasefire

Agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have

given us a glimmer of hope. These efforts must be

continued and must serve as an example for those involved

in other conflicts, such as in Angola, in Somalia or in the

armed confrontation between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

It must be acknowledged that these situations of crisis

and insecurity demand first and foremost that African

Governments and leaders of public opinion commit

themselves resolutely to dealing with factors of instability

on a consensus basis. In this respect, my Government and

my people would like through me to welcome the

individual and collective initiatives to create or

consolidate an environment of peace and security in

Africa, which is a sine qua non for development.

Outstanding and effective initiatives have been taken

in various places and should be welcomed. Among these

is the action initiated by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika

of Algeria, who had the praiseworthy idea of holding on

16 September last, a referendum on civil concord, which

was massively supported by the Algerian people. The

Government and the people of the Niger welcome this

genuine plebiscite and the prospects it ushers in for that

fraternal country.

The Niger also welcomes the positive developments

in the Lockerbie case. We believe that conditions now

exist for the total lifting of sanctions against the great

Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

In the Middle East, the attention of the international

community is still focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace

process, which, fortunately, seems to have been revived

with the change in the leadership of the Israeli

Government.

In Asia, the Jammu and Kashmir conflict remains a

source of great tension between two nuclear States, India

and Pakistan, and a persistent, serious threat to peace and

security in that part of South Asia.

The Niger, therefore, as a member of the contact

group established by the Organization of the Islamic

Conference, reiterates its appeal to both parties to step up

their negotiations in order to reach a peaceful settlement

of the conflict by recognizing the Kashmiri people’s right

to self-determination pursuant to the relevant resolutions

of the United Nations.

In Europe, my Government welcomes the return of

peace to the Balkans. The establishment of an

administration under United Nations control is a sure

guarantee for the safe return of the refugees.

It is more essential and urgent than ever to reverse

the decline in official development assistance which, it

must be recalled, is at its lowest level in 50 years. In

order to meet this challenge, the international community

must consider the possibility of mobilizing additional

resources. It is therefore urgent that progress be made

within the framework of the initiatives taken at world

summits. At the same time, we must pool our efforts to

increase the effectiveness of aid by reviewing its modalities

and through its sound and rigorous management.

It is on the basis of this experience that my

Government adopted a national strategy note and an

economic recovery programme that clearly defines the

coherent networks for action by our development partners.

Furthermore, the crucial problem of African countries’

debt — which is wiping out all development efforts —

calls for the international community as a whole to

implement, without delay or conditions other than good

public administration, appropriate regulatory policies and

mechanisms.

In this connection, the Heavily Indebted Poor

Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative of the World Bank and the

International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as the recent

initiative undertaken in Cologne at the Group of 7 Summit,

must be extended to all the least developed countries in

order to produce the effects we hope to see. This must take

the form of an outright cancellation of the debt.

Despite the outstanding efforts made by many African

countries in the area of economic reform, foreign private

investment flows are still meagre, notwithstanding the

enabling environment that has been established. We very

much hope that the positive initiative taken by the

Secretary-General at Davos will allow greater involvement

by the private sector in implementing adequate measures to

reverse that tendency. It is in this connection that my

delegation would like to appeal to all development partners

to help reinforce the institutional capacities of our States

and to create adequate infrastructures, which are guarantees

of balanced development.

The second special dialogue between the Economic

and Social Council and the Bretton Woods institutions held

here on 29 April 1999 reaffirmed the need to continue the

reform of the international financial system, bearing in

mind social imperatives and the external debt situation, that

is to say, the close link between settling debt, poverty

reduction and lasting development.

Niger belongs to the group of least developed

countries and has a population that is growing at an annual

rate of 3.4 per cent. It has a fertility rate of 7.4 children per

woman and a life expectancy of 47 years, and is ranked

among the poorest countries of the world. Despite all these

constraints, my country has made efforts to design and

implement initiatives in keeping with the

recommendations of the population conferences.

These various difficulties have exacerbated the

political instability I referred to before and have kept our

country at the bottom of the human development table.

Poverty affects 63 per cent of our compatriots, 34 per

cent of whom live below the extreme poverty threshold.

Those people are victims of continued declining maternal,

childhood and adolescent health standards — a critical

social and health situation marked by high mortality and

illiteracy rates, one of the lowest standards of education

and insufficient drinking water resources. They even lack

basic social services.

The economic and financial crisis that has hit my

country has, among other things, led to a drastic reduction

in public investment, particularly in the social sectors,

thus depriving 80 per cent of the rural population of

adequate living standards. With the valuable assistance of

international financial institutions we have initiated an

enormous economic recovery programme to confront this

situation. This programme includes, among other things,

a series of economic and financial reforms and framework

programmes to restore the macroeconomic balance,

reduce poverty and stimulate growth.

I wish, from this rostrum, to reiterate our great

appreciation for the ongoing support that the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United

Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations

Population Fund (UNFPA) and other development

partners have been steadily providing to implement our

national framework programme to combat poverty. This

programme we are implementing is one of the priorities

of the first country cooperation framework adopted by the

UNDP Governing Council last January.

I would like here to make a heartfelt appeal to the

United Nations system to allocate sufficient

supplementary resources to UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA

so that they can complete their development activities in

the least developed countries. This appeal also goes out

to the international community to supply all the necessary

support to my country so that the major challenges we are

confronting can be met.

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, special

attention should be given to making a reality of the

universality of our world Organization. Peace, security

and development are too important to be the sole

responsibility of a club of military, economic and

12

financial Powers. Africa, which now figures prominently

among international initiatives and hopes to become an

active partner in those initiatives, must play an important

role within a reformed Security Council. Africa has

countries that can play a decisive role in that regard.

A large number of countries, including my own, that

share the use of French with other States of the world very

much hope that they can work in all United Nations bodies

and agencies in their official language. The member States

of the Organisation international de la Francophonie, which

is increasingly establishing itself as an essential actor in

world affairs, will make an additional contribution in the

give-and-take process in the third millennium.

In conclusion, I should like to express the confidence

that Niger and its people have in the United Nations, which

is trying very hard to be an institution that embodies hope

on the basis of justice, equity, peace, freedom and progress.

These values will build the coming twenty-first century we

are expecting if the United Nations is stronger and more

effective.