Rwanda, 2006

I have the honour to

deliver this statement on behalf of His Excellency Paul

Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, at this

sixty-first session of the General Assembly.

Each year the General Assembly provides an

excellent opportunity for us to review our collective

commitments as reflected in the Charter, as well as

more recent ones such as those set out in the

Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit

Outcome. We therefore view the beginning of the

sixty-first session of the General Assembly as an

opportunity to breathe new energy into our collective

responsibilities articulated at previous conferences and

summits. It is my earnest hope that we shall seize this

opportunity to take stock of our successes and

shortcomings and devise practical solutions to realize

these commitments, particularly the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs).

In its preamble, the United Nations Charter

expresses our collective determination to promote

social progress and better standards of life in larger

freedom. This statement formed a basis for the

Millennium Declaration in 2000 and our renewal of

those commitments at last year’s World Summit. All of

the outcomes of previous conferences and summits

reflect the recognition of our collective interests and

responsibilities in addressing the common problems

affecting humankind.

Today, there is no greater danger threatening

humanity than extreme poverty. Forty per cent of the

world’s population, or 2.5 billion people, live in

absolute poverty on less than $2 a day, while more than

800 million people suffer from hunger and

malnutrition. For sub-Saharan Africa, the statistics are

even more staggering; in most cases, 60 to 70 per cent

of national populations live on less than a dollar a day,

while life expectancy at birth is less than 50 years.

This is clearly unacceptable at a time when the

rest of the world enjoys unprecedented levels of

affluence and technological and scientific

advancement. As for the poor, their daily lives are a

trial that nobody would wish to experience. We must

not permit another five years to pass only to find out

that no progress has been made and only to simply

renew the same commitments. We must, therefore,

devise means to do things radically differently and in

an accelerated manner.

There are a number of areas that require our

urgent attention if we are to make progress in attaining

the MDGs by 2015 and in eventually eradicating

poverty. I will highlight a few of these areas, which, in

our view, are the most salient. Regardless of one’s

definition of good or effective governance, what has

been proved is its importance in the sustained socio-

economic development of a nation. We believe that the

key features of good or effective governance include a

political culture that fosters inclusive and competitive

participation; robust national institutions that pursue

effective and coherent national development strategies;

effective management and oversight institutions; and,

of course, the consolidation of the rule of law. It is our

view that, by embracing good-governance principles,

we are setting the stage for the attainment of our global

and national targets.

Rwanda is strongly committed to these principles

and has submitted itself to the scrutiny of our African

peers under the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development (NEPAD) African Peer Review

Mechanism (APRM). The APRM is an African

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initiative aimed at promoting good governance through

constructive self-assessment and peer review. We

welcome the acknowledgements of the progress we

have made in many areas and commit ourselves to

continuing to make improvements in the areas

identified in the peer review report.

In the spirit of mutual accountability, it is our

belief that the principles of good governance that

prevail at the national level should also guide our

relations with our development partners. Both sides of

the ongoing governance debate should be given

adequate and equal attention, particularly since aid

effectiveness is also critical to the attainment of the

MDGs.

We believe that improving the quality and

increasing the quantity of official development

assistance (ODA) is another important set of measures

that would improve development prospects. The

quality of ODA should be improved by adopting needs-

based approaches, providing more budget support,

supporting national poverty reduction programmes,

reducing waste and overhead, and channelling aid to

sectors that enhance productive capacities rather than

perpetuate dependence.

It is critical that there be harmonization of the

objectives of trade and development policies on the

part of our development partners. Trade policies should

complement, rather than undermine, the attainment of

the development goals. We must recommit ourselves,

both in principle and practice, to an open, rules-based,

non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading

system. Any progress that developing countries like

Rwanda might achieve in attaining the MDGs will not

be sustainable unless measures are taken to provide

greater opportunity for those countries to access the

markets of the developed world, thereby increasing

household and national incomes.

The attainment of the MDGs will require

additional resources. We thus consider it essential to

increase the quantity of aid. We welcome the decision

by some developed States to dramatically increase the

volume of ODA over the next few years, and we are

grateful to them. We also congratulate those States that

have reached or exceeded the internationally agreed

0.7 per cent of gross national income for the ODA

target, and we welcome the decision by those States

that have set timetables to achieve or exceed that target

by 2015. The challenge is, therefore, to translate these

commitments into tangible disbursements and the

implementation of real poverty reduction programmes

on the ground.

The most serious challenge to our development

and the attainment of the MDGs is the unprecedented

price level of fossil-fuel energy on the one hand, and

the reduction in hydroelectric generation capacity on

the other.

There is a danger that the successes registered so

far towards the attainment of the MDGs could easily be

reversed if the current energy sector cost trends

continue unabated. It is critical, therefore, that we

invest heavily in sustainable alternative energy sources

for the long term. In the short- and medium-term,

however, we shall need to find ways to mitigate the

effects of energy price shocks if we are to sustain and

accelerate the attainment of the MDGs.

The scourge of war continues to cause the

massive loss of human life and blight entire

communities. The ongoing conflicts in some parts of

Africa and the Middle East pose a serious threat to

international peace and security and require our

collective efforts to reach political settlements to these

conflicts.

Our painful experience in Rwanda has taught us

that peace comes at a price. There can be no peace

without reconciliation and recognition of the rights and

interests of all people, including the rights of States to

exist and the right of self-determination. We have

learned that no community’s rights can or should

supersede another’s. We have learned the value of

sharing and the value of communities’ living side by

side in peace and mutual respect.

Rwanda is happy to contribute to the promotion

of international peace and security through its military

and police contributions to the United Nations and

African Union peacekeeping missions in the Sudan,

Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and the Comoros. We are

committed to continuing these contributions for as long

as they are required and as long as our resources

permit. The Security Council and the Secretariat should

continue to work towards better-conceived and more-

effective peacekeeping operations, towards greater

participation by regional organizations in conflict

resolution and towards the institutionalization of

lessons learned from the past. There is also an urgent

need to institutionalize relations between the United

Nations and regional organizations, particularly the

06-53323 50

African Union, in the areas of conflict resolution and

peacekeeping.

We warmly welcome the reforms adopted during

the previous session of the General Assembly. We take

this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Jan Eliasson,

President of the sixtieth session, and all Member States

on the reforms, including the setting up of the

Peacebuilding Commission, the establishment of the

Human Rights Council and the renewed commitments

to combat HIV/AIDS adopted at the special session of

the General Assembly in June. There has also been

commendable progress on management reform,

including the establishment of an ethics office,

strengthening whistle-blower protection and reforming

procurement procedures to prevent corruption. We look

forward to working together with other delegations

during this session to improve coherence, efficiency

and effectiveness within the Secretariat and to continue

to review the Organization’s mandates, so that the

United Nations may be strengthened to respond better

to the expectations of Member States.

It is our hope that this session of the General

Assembly might achieve greater progress with respect

to Security Council reform. Rwanda supports the

common African position on this issue and believes

that reform of the working methods to promote

transparency and accountability is most urgent. The

reform process should enable States that are not

members of the Council to participate more actively in

its deliberative and decision-making processes,

especially on issues that affect them. A reformed

Council should be seen by all States, especially the

smaller States, to be more accessible, transparent,

credible and legitimate.

In the next few months, the General Assembly

will elect a new Secretary-General upon

recommendation of the Security Council. Rwanda

supports the common African position that the next

Secretary-General should be from Asia. As far as the

election process is concerned, we appeal for greater

transparency in that process in accordance with the

Charter and the basic principles of democracy.

In conclusion, in today’s globalized world, our

interdependence has never been more self-evident. As a

result, the imperative for our collective action is

greater than ever. Once again, the onus is on all of us

to translate our many challenges and opportunities into

a shared destiny of peace, security and prosperity for

all.