Senegal, 1998

Senegal takes pleasure in addressing, through me, its

heartfelt congratulations to the President on his illustrious

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its

fifty-third session. His election is eloquent testimony to his

intellectual and moral qualities and to his vast experience

in international relations, and also reflects the unanimous

recognition by the Member States of our Organization of

your country, Uruguay, for its ongoing commitment in the

service of international peace and cooperation.

We express profound gratitude to his predecessor, Mr.

Hennadiy Udovenko, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of

Ukraine, for the skill and commitment with which he

discharged his duty throughout a particularly difficult year.

Finally, I should like to pay a well-deserved tribute

to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, a man of

conviction who deserves our unreserved support in the

pursuit and achievement of the outstanding work of

reform, to which he is fully committed in order to ready

our Organization to meet the realities of the twenty-first

century.

The annual sessions of the General Assembly

provide special opportunities for the great United Nations

family to come together to consider collectively and

thoughtfully the situation of the world and the problems

and challenges that our Organization must meet as it

seeks to bring about peace, progress and solidarity for

human society.

As this century fades, we are living in an era marked

by major challenges that involve all of us individually and

collectively. Our world is in the throes of transformation,

internationally as well as within each of our States, and

our transition towards the third millennium is not without

certain contradictions.

Globalization has become a worldwide phenomenon.

The movement of people and ideas, the computer and

information revolutions, the protection of the environment

and the fight against drugs and terrorism have also

become transnational phenomena that call for global

reform and thoroughgoing international solidarity, which

is the only thing that will allow us to attain our major

objectives — for while we are all similar, we are also all

different.

At the same time, fragmentations are increasing and

differences are asserting themselves at the national level,

thereby leading to civil wars and ethnic and tribal conflicts

that often jeopardize the structure of our States. Formidable

wealth has been created for a tiny minority, while vast

expanses of absolute poverty remain; and while human

rights are exalted here, they are mocked or trampled

underfoot elsewhere.

The United Nations, which is the repository of the

universal conscience, must adapt to these changing realities

and develop the capacity to act, often with urgency, in the

service of peace and to respond appropriately to the

legitimate aspirations of humankind. As we seek to attain

the goals that are before us, our Member States have the

responsibility and the duty to endow our Organization with

the tools that will allow it effectively and rapidly to

implement the agenda for the twenty-first century.

In this context, I should like to emphasize and

welcome two major developments that have marked the

recent history of the United Nations. I shall refer first to the

establishment of the International Criminal Court, not

because it takes priority but because the head of State of

my country, President Abdou Diouf, has conferred upon me

the honour of being involved in this issue for the past two

years. Senegal was among the first signatories of the Statute

of the Court and is waiting only for the certified copy

before ratifying it. The Diplomatic Conference in Rome

was without doubt a historic gathering, as for the first time

the nations of the world, in particular those from Africa,

united by a single and shared desire for justice, together

found a legal means of deterring those who might be

tempted to commit crimes against humanity, war crimes

and crimes of genocide; a means of bringing them to trial,

if there are grounds for doing so; and a means of

sentencing them if they are found guilty. In short, we have

succeeded in forging the missing link in the international

legal system.

That gathering will also be remembered as historic

because the Statute of the Court, which we solemnly

adopted on 18 July 1998, in such a symbolically rich place

as Rome, introduced major innovations in relations between

States and between national and international jurisdictions.

Finally, if anyone needs to be reminded, I am happy

to say that the Statute and the final act governing the Court

complement, and thereby imbue with greater meaning, the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose fiftieth

anniversary we are commemorating this year as one of the

great milestone events in the history of the United Nations.

What is more, the Statute makes the ideal of justice more

precise and more alive.

I am pleased to say that my country, Senegal,

recently became the first State member of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) to ratify the

Protocol on the Establishment of the African Court on

Human and Peoples? Rights, which was adopted at the

most recent OAU summit in Ouagadougou.

Last year, during the fifty-second regular session of

the General Assembly, we all warmly welcomed the

reform proposals of the Secretary-General, contained in

his report (A/51/950) entitled “Renewing the United

Nations: a programme for reform”. We were unanimous

in believing that those judicious, balanced, innovative and

action-oriented proposals were very timely because they

were in tune with the spirit and letter of the Declaration

issued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary, which

stated:

“In order to be able to respond effectively to the

challenges of the future and the expectations of the

United Nations held by peoples around the world, it

is essential that the United Nations itself be

reformed and modernized.” (resolution 50/6,

para. 14)

This conviction, which we all shared, has today

become an imperative. Indeed, through the dynamic

impetus provided by the President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-second session, Mr. Udovenko, the

General Assembly adopted resolutions through which it

endorsed and reaffirmed the implementation of the

measures and proposals recommended by the Secretary-

General. In this regard, I should like to convey my

sincere congratulations to Ms. Louise Fréchette, who has

been appointed to the distinguished position of Deputy

Secretary-General of our Organization, with particular

responsibility for development issues. To her, our partner

in development, I wish every success in carrying out her

honourable and important mission.

In calling to mind the reforms that will enable the

United Nations to become the cornerstone of a

multilateral system better attuned to the realities of the

twenty-first century, I could not ignore the delicate and

complex negotiations under way within the Working

Group entrusted with the question of restructuring the

Security Council. Security Council reform is a

fundamental element in the overall reform of the United

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Nations, but we must recognize that it will not be an easy

task.

We all agree on the need to modernize and

democratize that essential United Nations body, but we are

finding it difficult to reach consensus, or even general

agreement, on such fundamental issues as the enlargement,

composition and right of veto. Despite five years of

discussions within the Working Group, we must not

abandon our hopes and become discouraged. If we redouble

our efforts and benefit from the momentum that we have

created, I am convinced that in due course we will succeed

in this great undertaking to restructure the Security Council

by conferring on it greater legitimacy, credibility and

transparency.

Africa certainly has its place in this reform — a place

that must be acknowledged given its history and its destiny

as a continent of the future in which there is room for

continued growth.

The United Nations has traversed half a century, and

during the course of those years we have progressively laid

the groundwork for an international system that should be

able to ensure our collective security. In this regard, our

Organization has been and remains an irreplaceable tool for

the promotion and maintenance of international peace and

security. Despite the numerous achievements recorded in

that area, we must agree about how much farther we have

to travel, as well as about the bold initiatives to be taken in

order fully to secure international peace and security.

Longstanding conflicts continue to resist our efforts at

resolving them, while a number of fresh crises — a new

generation of conflicts linked to an upswell in ethnic or

intercommunity violence — continue to be a source of

major concern for our countries, especially those in Africa.

Thus, in the subregion of western Africa, while Sierra

Leone was moving towards the total restoration of

constitutional order with the return to Freetown of the

democratically elected President owing to efforts by the

United Nations, the Organization of African Unity and

especially the Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS), a mutiny broke out on 7 June last,

spearheaded by part of the standing army of the Republic

of Guinea-Bissau.

At the express request of the legal authorities of that

country, Senegal and the Republic of Guinea, another

neighbour of Guinea-Bissau, dispatched troops in

accordance with the relevant provisions of the bilateral

agreements signed by each of the two countries with

Guinea-Bissau.

I should like to reiterate that Senegal?s involvement

in Guinea-Bissau is designed solely to help restore

constitutional order, ward off threats to the safety of the

civilian populations and foreigners, and contribute to the

strengthening of stability and security in the subregion

and throughout Africa.

On 26 August 1998, ECOWAS, together with the

Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, succeeded

in inducing the parties to sign a ceasefire accord, the first

step towards the normalization of life in Guinea-Bissau.

In the Horn of Africa, we have witnessed a drastic

downturn in the relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Indeed, the armies of those two fraternal countries —

forced by history, geography and culture to live in perfect

harmony and peace — launched military operations. And

yet there have been numerous initiatives designed to bring

about a political solution of this new conflict. The

brotherly Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea should

agree to sit down at the negotiating table and endeavour,

with the help of the current Chairman of the OAU, the

countries of the subregion and other participants of

goodwill, to find ways and means of reaching a peaceful

solution.

Elsewhere on the continent, in Angola and in

Somalia, the road to peace is winding — if not

tortuous — and uncertainty continues to prevail.

Allow me to pay once again from this rostrum a

respectful tribute to the memory of Matre Alioune

Blondin Beye, Special Representative of the Secretary-

General in Angola, and of his companions in misfortune,

who included our fellow countryman Moctar Gueye, a

journalist, all of whom died in an accident on the field of

honour in the service of peace.

All of Africa aspires to progress and to a better life,

even though the conflicts it is enduring continue to pose

major obstacles to a balanced and lasting economic and

social development. We therefore have the obligation and

the duty, as members of the family of nations, to continue

to strive to bring about a world order that is more stable,

equitable and just.

Aware of this reality, Africans together, working in

concert with the OAU and in close cooperation with the

United Nations, are participating more and more actively

3

in regional efforts aimed at conflict prevention,

management and resolution.

I should like to take this opportunity to welcome the

publication of the Secretary-General?s report on the causes

of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and

sustainable development in Africa. In this invaluable report,

the Secretary-General offers a well thought out and

objective analysis of the causes of conflicts in Africa,

rightly pinpointing the close link between stability and

development, and finally recommending criteria, conditions

and ways and means of ensuring, building and safeguarding

peace in the interest of sustainable development in Africa.

My country, Senegal, convinced of the importance of

peace in the Middle East and of the need for greater

progress in that respect, is actively supporting the peace

process and remains committed to the achievement of peace

in the region based on the relevant resolutions and

agreements, which must be respected by all parties, if only

on the basis of the principle of pacta sunt servanda.

The time is ripe urgently to call once again on the

parties involved, the co-sponsors and all peace-loving

nations to ensure that fresh initiatives are taken to reconcile

the widely divergent viewpoints of the Palestinian Authority

and the Government of Israel in order to restore a climate

of confidence and cooperation, which is the only possible

basis for peace and peaceful coexistence among the peoples

of the region.

Ongoing efforts to bring about general, complete and

verifiable disarmament represent a major step in

strengthening international security. While significant

progress has been made in this realm in the past decade, we

must acknowledge that global disarmament, today more

than ever, remains a long-range objective.

Indeed, the conflicts we have seen in recent years have

demonstrated that the massive destruction caused by

conventional arms requires that initiatives be taken to deter

their proliferation, and in particular the illicit traffic in

small-calibre weapons, now a real scourge in Africa. Major

efforts are being mobilized on the continent to fight this

threat, but it is obvious that Africa alone cannot possibly

overcome it. Senegal will spare no effort to contribute to

the elaboration of an international convention to fight the

illicit traffic in small-calibre weapons.

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the universal

character of the United Nations has achieved wide

acceptance, and its universality gives our Organization

greater credibility and effectiveness.

In keeping with this principle, Senegal unreservedly

supports the request by the Republic of China to rejoin

the community of free nations and to be admitted as a

member of our Organization and of its specialized

agencies. Accordingly, we have proposed that the General

Assembly reconsider that part of resolution 2758 (XXVI)

that excluded the Republic of China from the United

Nations and from its specialized agencies.

In keeping with its purpose — to be a centre where

nations work together for social progress through the

achievement of improved living conditions — the United

Nations has made a remarkable contribution to

pinpointing the problems facing humankind.

Throughout this decade, the United Nations has held

a series of major conferences that have enabled the

international community to adopt at the highest political

level a set of consensual plans of action. These have laid

the foundation for a new global partnership for

development based upon the principle of national

responsibility and the imperative of international

solidarity, in the quest for a united response to the

challenges that face all of us. Never before has so

generous and so highly promising an approach been taken

to the concerns felt by the community of nations.

These action plans, apart from their degree of

relevance, constitute a set of formal commitments on

measures that should be taken together. Without the

corresponding mobilization of new and additional

resources, the specific actions expected from these noble

initiatives, whose grandeur and legitimacy derive their

very force from the ideals embodied in the Charter itself,

are liable to translate into severely compromised or

dashed hopes.

Above and beyond the problems linked to

implementing the results of the major conferences held

throughout the decade, the fact is that international

cooperation for development now poses a paradox that we

cannot ignore without betraying the ideals of peace and

development that inspired the founding fathers of our

Organization.

4

Miguel de Unamuno, Rector of the University of

Salamanca in Spain, once said:

“Under certain circumstances, to keep silent is to lie”.

How, then, can we remain silent before the obvious

contradiction between the incessant expansion of needs for

economic cooperation for development and the constant

decline in official development assistance, which is today

at its lowest level in 25 years? How can we forget the

persistent imbalances in multilateral international trade,

whose first and foremost role was, after all, to ensure for

everyone, in developed and developing countries alike, the

benefits of a trading mechanism that was to be open,

regulated, transparent, equitable and predictable? What

values of humanity can still be invoked when at the dawn

of the third millennium, in a world that has become a

global village, over a billion men and women are deprived

of even the barest elements of a decent life? The

marginalization and exclusion that haunt the daily lives of

these men and women give proof once again of the

absolute priority that the fight against poverty must have at

both the national and international levels.

This is why strong measures to breathe new life into

North-South exchanges are today more imperative than

ever. The General Assembly?s high-level debate devoted to

relaunching a dialogue to strengthen international

cooperation through partnership and the draft plan for an

international gathering at the highest level for development

financing are encouraging initiatives, as would be initiatives

for fair compensation for commodities and a global

settlement of the debt crisis of developing countries.

The fifty-third session of the General Assembly

coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights. The promotion, consolidation

and expansion of the underpinnings of the State based on

the rule of law throughout the world; the strengthening of

national institutions for the defence of human rights; the

integration of human rights into the major activities of the

United Nations system; the promotion of the right to

development — these seem to us to be the essential pillars

of a global policy for the benefit of human rights and

freedoms at the end of this century.

In this context, my delegation would like to salute the

major initiatives undertaken by Mrs. Mary Robinson, High

Commissioner for Human Rights since she took office,

particularly those directed to our continent, Africa, which

are fully in keeping with our expectations. This means, in

fact, that more than ever before, we must promote dialogue

with Governments, strengthen dialogue between

institutions within the United Nations system and strive to

rationalize the machinery of human rights.

The fight against the global drug problem remains a

concern shared by the entire international community

because of the multiple and pernicious ties that drug-

trafficking has been able to establish with phenomena

such as transnational organized crime, terrorism, large-

scale banditry and illegal arms-trafficking networks —

particularly those involving small calibre weapons,

especially in Africa. This illicit trafficking in narcotics

and psychotropic substances has become a dangerous

threat to the peace, stability and security of all nations,

States and regions of the world at the end of the

millennium.

This is why my country, Senegal, welcomed the

holding last June in the presence of numerous heads of

State and of Government in this Hall of the special

session of the General Assembly devoted to the drug

problem. Now it is important for all of us to work for the

effective implementation of the important conclusions

reached at that meeting, both at the national and

international levels.

Before I conclude, allow me to say a few words

about the financial crisis and the need to strengthen the

effectiveness of the United Nations. Our Organization has

been in the midst of a very worrisome financial situation

for several years now. The causes of this situation have

been debated at length right here and it does not seem

necessary for me to recall them now. I would simply like

to stress that the reform process that we have all

undertaken cannot possibly be brought to a successful

conclusion within this situation of financial instability that

the Organization is experiencing at a time when it is

being called upon to act on many different fronts.

The new international context, and the

multidimensional nature of the challenges to be met

require that we have a restructured and modernized

United Nations that is endowed with the capabilities

necessary to come to our help in resolving our disputes,

eliminating injustices and disparities and avoiding

exclusion and selfishness.

It is enough for us to want these things, because we

possess the resources and capabilities to attain them.

Humanity has already met so many challenges in the

course of its troubled history that we can have no doubt

5

now that it is indeed capable of meeting the challenges of

the third millennium as well.

So far as we are concerned in Senegal, under the

leadership of Mr. Abdou Diouf, President of the Republic,

we are ready to shoulder our responsibilities in a genuine

spirit of solidarity and collective effort in order to realize

our ambitions and dreams. We owe it to ourselves, but

especially to the generations to come.