Niger, 2014

Allow me to

offer my sincere condolences to the French Government

for the cowardly murder of one of its citizens yesterday,

24 September, in Algeria by the so-called Soldiers of

the Caliphate.

Sociopolitical crises, religious extremism, armed

conflict, terrorism, cross-border crime, identity politics,

development issues, the effects of climate change and

pandemics such as that currently caused by the Ebola

virus are now concerns of the utmost importance

that are crying out for action from all players of the

international community.

In order to meet the challenges of promoting

peace, stability, security and development, we have to

further strengthen the spirit of sharing and solidarity.

“Delivering on and implementing a transformative

post-2015 development agenda”, which the Assembly

has identified as the theme of the general debate of the

sixty-ninth session, provides a good link with the theme

of last year’s session. That gives us an opportunity

once again to further explore the questions that are

of concern to all of us. It is nearly post-2015 already,

and crafting a programme that goes beyond that date

requires that we take stock of the implementation of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Despite the remarkable progress in the

implementation of some of those goals, it is now clear

that there are still vast gaps in other goals, which will

persist when the programme is concluded. With respect

to the Niger, for example, the implementation of the 3N

Initiative, “Les Nigériens nourrissent les Nigériens”,

has already allowed us to achieve target C of MDG 1,

which has to do with reducing by half the number of

people who are suffering from hunger. The Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has

recognized that, in that area, the Niger has achieved

impressive results in record time. Our country has

also achieved target A of MDG 6, with an HIV/AIDS

prevalence rate of 0.4 per cent in 2012, as compared

with a target of 0.7 per cent in 2015.

With respect to reducing by half the proportion of

people whose income is less than $1 per day, ensuring

primary education for all, strengthening gender

equality and the empowerment of women, dealing with

the mortality of children under five years, reducing

maternal mortality and promoting a sustainable

environment, major efforts have ben undertaken. Still,

those goals will most likely not be achieved, despite the

implementation of the programme of recovery currently

under way since my election in 2011.

In drafting the new post-2015 agenda, we naturally

need to maintain all of the unachieved MDGs and

provide for measures to avoid a deterioration in

areas where the goals have already been achieved.

For example, the issue of the demographic dividend

should be a priority on the agenda. The demographic

dividend, the Assembly will recall, consists of both

the demographic transition and inclusive economic

growth. More specifically, the demographic dividend

means, on the one hand, reducing maternal, infant and

juvenile mortality and controlling birth and, on the

other hand, providing for sustainable development with

its three pillars: economic, social and environmental.

The demographic transition is needed to strengthen

sustained growth, which in turn should accelerate

the demographic transition. I continue to believe that

the best contraceptive method, the best condom, is

sustainable development.

The post-2015 agenda will be dominated by what

I would call the three D’s — defence or security,

democracy and development. It is fortunate that the

international community has now established a close

correlation among those three fundamental challenges,

which are interconnected. Global peace and security

today are, however, threatened by terrorism, by

organized crime, by demands based on identity and

by the growth of inequality, which have led to the

worsening of poverty around the world, from Iraq to

Libya, from Syria to Nigeria and from Mali to Somalia.

The enemies who embody that terrorist threat

are engaged in an unconventional and asymmetrical

combat. They are sending out propaganda through their

actions and seek to control populations through terror,

including rape; kidnapping young girls, as in Chibok,

Nigeria; taking hostages in exchange for ransom: and

murder. The war pursued against them is no longer

a conventional, industrial war of the kind for which

our armies have been trained. Warfare among our

populations is not a new phenomenon, but in recent

years, it has taken on an exceptional dimension. To deal

with that situation, we need to change the paradigm and

move from a paradigm of classic conventional war to

that of the war that takes place among our populations,

which, in turn, presupposes that our countries reform

their armies. That also presupposes that our countries

train special forces that are capable of adapting to the

methods of the enemy.

In order to eradicate the Islamic State or the

Al-Nusra Front in Iraq and Syria, neutralize the jihadist

organizations in Libya, overcome Al-Qaida in the Islamic

Maghreb and Al-Mourabitoun in the Sahel, particularly

in Mali, and oust the Al-Shabaab from Somalia and

Boko Haram in Nigeria, the international community

needs to establish a shared goal and strategy, working

with the countries involved. The common political aim

is to defend our democratic institutions and protect our

peoples. The strategy would then necessarily have to

do with cutting off the sources financing terrorism,

whether those sources are States or the drug trade or

the payment of ransom. The strategy also needs to deal

with the terrorist strategy, which generates propaganda

through its actions, and unfortunately, its propaganda

is heavily covered by the media and social media on the

Internet. In addition, a just settlement of the Palestinian

issue could certainly contribute to the fight against this

scourge.

As a neighbour of Libya, Nigeria and Mali, the

Niger is deeply concerned by the situation prevailing in

those countries. In Libya, the international community,

together with neighbouring countries, must establish the

conditions that would enable it to neutralize the militias,

reconcile all Libyans without exception and form a

Government of union that would organize elections

under the guidance of the international community. The

current United Nations Support Mission in Libya must

be replaced by a more robust structure, and in this case,

a stabilization and institution-building mission. The

international community will then have to undertake

a vast diplomatic initiative under the auspices of the

Secretary-General to promote national reconciliation,

which is needed to bring about the end of violence and

chaos as well as to assist in the emergence of the true

rule of law.

Whatever the case may be, as the leader of a country

that is a neighbour of Libya and whose economy and

security have been seriously affected by what has been

taking place there for three years, my belief is that it is

dangerous to leave the current state of affairs in play as

it is. We therefore need to have the courage to radically

change our perspective and act so as to help Libyans

realize their sole aspiration, which is to live in peace.

With respect to Nigeria, Boko Haram has been

extremely aggressive and has demonstrated a barbarism

never seen before, with its recent incursions into

Cameroon and the occupation of ever more territory,

going so far as to threaten Maiduguri, the capital of

the federated state of Borno in Nigeria. It is evident

that that terrorist group has aims that are much

larger than had been thought. That means that more

effort and cooperation are needed at the regional and

international levels in order to deal with the problem

effectively. It is in that perspective that the heads of

State and Government of Cameroon, the Niger, Nigeria

and Chad — the members of the Lake Chad Basin

Commission — and Benin, will meet in Niamey on

7 October 2014 to pool their efforts in the fight against

this serious threat.

Regarding Mali, I welcome the inclusive inter-Malian

dialogue that is currently taking place under the auspices

of Algeria. I express the hope that the dialogue will lead

to an agreement that respects the unity and integrity

of Mali. In Mali, as in the Central African Republic,

the question of unity is essential. The Pandora’s box

of Balkanization, which has been opened elsewhere in

Africa, must be closed again if we do not want the rest

of the continent to catch fire. The future of Africa is

in its unity. The best way to do away with the borders

inherited from colonization is not to create new borders

along ethnic or religious lines, but to go beyond current

borders through integration.

Global security can be ensured only by States with

strong and stable democratic institutions. The post-

2015 programme must be a priority. Global security

can also not be guaranteed as long as inequalities in

trade between nations and income inequality within

nations persist. Inequalities are morally unacceptable

and economically inefficient. Therefore, the struggle

against inequality has always been an essential question

and one that we must stop avoiding, if we want a more

just, humane and prosperous world. That struggle must

be central to the post-2015 programme.

Observers are unanimous in saying that Africa,

with its high rates of economic growth, is the continent

of the twenty-first century. That is true, but only if our

continent definitively emerges from the unequal trade

situation and from the colonial pact that has always

treated Africa as merely a reservoir of raw materials,

often sold cheaply, as in the old days when slaves or

vast territories were acquired in exchange for mirrors,

pins, needles and other junk. The African continent

will actually be the continent of the twenty-first

century when it, itself, works with its raw materials,

that is to say once it takes the place that it deserves

in world industrial production. Africa will be the

continent of the twenty-first century once its relations

with other nations are governed by equitable trade and

not by official development assistance. Africa will be

the continent of the twenty-first century when there

is a huge middle class arising from good political and

economic governance, including a better distribution of

income to reduce poverty.

Currently, according to a study by the African

Development Bank, the African middle class, which is

defined as the proportion of Africans with an income

between $2 and $20 a day, represents about 30 per cent

of the population. Our ambition should be to increase

that number to 80 per cent. The vision contained in the

2063 agenda of the African Union suggests that we are

on the right track. It is in the interest of the international

community to include priorities that are on the agenda

of our continent in the post-2015 programme.

The twenty-first century must be the century when

Africa equips itself with roads and rail and energy

infrastructure and new information and communication

technologies. It will also be the century of an agriculture

that feeds our population, which is growing larger, and

the century of access to water and sanitation services

and to education, including vocational and technical

training to enable each young person to have a trade.

However, if our children and grandchildren are to

have a chance at having a better quality of life, we must

meet the challenge of climate change. In that regard,

we must congratulate Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

on his initiative to convene the Climate Summit. That

conference’s outcome will be the basis for the decisions

that the international community is called upon to

take at the climate conference to be held in Paris in

December 2015.

We have the imperative duty to save our planet. The

global temperature is increasing owing to greenhouse

gases, which have led, to take the example of the Sahel

region, to a decrease in rainfall and reduced water

flows, with the silting up of waterways, as in the case of

the Niger River; the drying up of Lake Chad, which has

lost 90 per cent of its area in 50 years, shrinking from

25,000 square kilometres to 2,500; extreme flooding

and drought; reduced plant cover, including forest loss;

reduced biodiversity; reduced crop yields; and thus the

impoverishment of the population, whose young people

then become an easy target for recruitment by terrorists

and organized crime.

However, since the United Nations Climate Change

Conference in Copenhagen, we have seen not a decrease

but an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. If nothing

is done, the temperature increase may surpass 2 degrees

centigrade in 20 to 30 years and reach 4 degrees by the

end of the century. We must therefore regroup and focus

on promoting clean energy, such as hydro-electricity,

nuclear energy and solar energy, provided that, in the

latter case, we create competitive conditions for it. We

also need to promote what is called smart agriculture

and make adjustments in the industrial, transport and

construction sectors.

I hope that humanity will not squander the

opportunity that will be provided in Paris. I hope that

we will implement a development model that will

enable us to save our planet. I hope that we will be able

to build a more just and humane world.