Senegal, 2000

The

General Assembly has unanimously chosen you, Sir, to

guide our debates. This is a tribute both to your

qualities as a diplomat and statesman and to your

country, Finland, for the very positive role it plays in

addressing the great issues of our modern world.

Senegal is happy to convey to you, through me, its

congratulations and hopes for success in leading this

session.

You were preceded in this office by His

Excellency Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister for

Foreign Affairs of our sister Republic of Namibia, who

presided in the name of our continent, Africa. He

guided our debates successfully throughout his

mandate, which was full of important events for our

Organization.

I would like at the same time to pay tribute to the

work of our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, who

has devoted himself and all his energy to our

Organization, in an increasingly complex world. Let us

pay him the tribute he richly deserves for the success of

the Millennium Summit, which proved to the world

that Mr. Kofi Annan has achieved what he set out to

do, i.e. to restore the dignity and prestige of the

Organization as the indispensable forum for

concertation and concord, and as a peacemaker and

promoter of progress for all.

I would also like, finally, to welcome the

delegation of Tuvalu, which has become the 189th

Member State.

History will recall that, in the framework of the

Millennium Assembly, the Millennium Summit

gathered in this venerable Hall our illustrious heads of

State and Government, who examined the role our

Organization is being called upon to play in the twenty-

first century. These eminent dignitaries thereby gave us

a new vision of how to take up the great challenge

posed by globalization by promoting a new human

international order.

The first half of the year 2000 was also an intense

time for the United Nations and the international

community, what with the holding in June of two major

special sessions of the General Assembly. These two

special sessions following up on and reviewing the

Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held

in Beijing, and the World Summit on Social

Development, held in Copenhagen produced

encouraging results. My delegation cherishes the hope

that these sessions will contribute to strengthening the

status and role of women in our respective societies by

promoting gender equality, the eradication both of

poverty and of its feminization, and the promotion of

productive employment and social integration. If we do

not fully respect women and recognize their essential

contribution to the progress of our societies, our world

is going continue walking on one leg, when obviously

there are two.

Despite these new perspectives and their

historical importance, this session is not without causes

for grave concern and even despair. Despite our

ongoing efforts, a number of conflicts are persisting

and deepening. From Sierra Leone to the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, from Angola to the border

between Ethiopia and Eritrea, from Burundi to

Somalia, from Kosovo to East Timor we hear the

echoes and see the images and the horror of conflict

zones.

Senegal would like to here voice its great concern

at what is occurring between Guinea and Liberia. Our

country calls upon these two countries to carry out a

brotherly, peaceful dialogue in accordance with the

purposes and principles of the Charter of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU). We make the

same urgent request of the political leaders of CÙte

d'Ivoire, urging them to find a political compromise

that will enable the great country, CÙte d'Ivoire, which

we love so well, to live in peace, stability and unity.

It is in view of such situations that regional

organizations, aware of the fact that Africa is paying a

high price for all these conflicts, have resolutely

undertaken to seek political solutions, with the help of

the international community. This is what occurred in

9

Sierra Leone, where the LomÈ Agreement, reached

under the aegis of the Economic Community of West

African States, allowed us to nourish hopes for a

lasting solution. The same can be said for Angola and

the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the two

Lusaka agreements of 1994 and 1999, respectively.

Unfortunately, these praiseworthy efforts often run up

against a lack of commitment on the part of rebel

movements or armed factions to the very agreements

that they themselves have signed.

However, in spite of this bleak situation, we

should not give in to discouragement. As the

constitution of the United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization says,

`since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the

minds of men that the defences of peace must be

constructed'.

We have a moral obligation to continue to act with

determination and perseverance, bringing the

protagonists of these conflicts to recognize and

embrace a culture of peace that will allow people to

progress, committing themselves to forgiveness and

reconciliation.

It is in this context that my delegation

congratulates the members of the Panel on United

Nations Peace Operations for its recent report. The

subtlety of the analyses and the relevance of the

recommendations contained therein open new

perspectives for the United Nations in terms of

reducing tensions and wisely managing conflicts.

Senegal attaches great importance to the consideration

of the Panel's recommendations, so that a new

peacekeeping doctrine can be established.

Experience has shown us that the language of

weapons, as well as feeding conflicts by illicitly

exploiting natural resources, cannot produce humanly

acceptable solutions. The only possible solution is one

that allows peoples to fully enjoy conditions of peace

and economic and social security.

It is in this context that the Constitutive Act of

the African Union was signed on 12 July at LomÈ, at

the thirty-sixth session of the Assembly of Heads of

State and Government of the Organization of African

Unity (OAU), committing Africa to resolutely engage

in a spirit of unity in finding African solutions to its

many challenges. This is why the President of the

Republic, MaÓtre Abdoulaye Wade, a convinced Pan-

Africanist, led to its completion the procedure making

Senegal the second African country to ratify this

historic Act.

Before LomÈ, Africa had already taken another

meaningful decision, at the Algiers summit, by

proclaiming 2000 the year of peace and concord on the

continent.

The advent of democracy in Guinea-Bissau and

the efforts to bring about a gradual return to normality

in the life of its citizens and institutions are part of the

response to the demand for democracy. Is not the

recent peaceful political transition in my country,

which brought MaÓtre Abdoulaye Wade to the highest

executive position, further proof that our peoples can

choose their leaders in a sovereign and democratic

fashion?

I now turn to the Middle East, where my country

has noted the major breakthroughs this year in the

Israeli-Arab conflict, at the heart of which is the

question of Palestine. The evacuation of Lebanese

territory by the Israeli occupation troops and the long

and delicate negotiations at Camp David between

Palestinians and Israelis give rise to hope, despite the

talks' relative failure. Our hopes include that of seeing

the creation of a space of lasting cohabitation between

Israelis and Palestinians, as well as between Israel and

its Arab neighbours, with respect for the dignity and

rights of the peoples and States of the region.

It is only right to pay tribute to all the participants

in this positive development, in particular the

Palestinian and Israeli leadership, who, thanks to their

political courage and sense of history have opened this

avenue towards a new dawn of peace in the Middle

East. Senegal reiterates its constant support for

President Yasser Arafat and its admiration for his

courage and political lucidity. He has never dropped

the olive branch to which he referred here in 1974. Our

congratulations also go to President Clinton. We

express our support for the Prime Minister of Israel,

Mr. Barak, as well as the other actors in the peace

process, whom we commend for their determined

efforts in search of peace and reconciliation between

all the peoples of the region. We hope that their efforts

will soon be crowned with positive results.

The year 2000 was also marked by a relaxation of

major importance in relations between the two Koreas.

This highly significant political development will

contribute to consolidating peace and security on the

10

Korean peninsula and in the entire subregion of South-

East Asia. The United Nations, universal symbol of the

peoples' aspirations to peace and security, should make

a significant contribution to protecting the ongoing

process between the two Koreas.

It is in the name of rapprochement between

peoples and the principle of universality that my

country supports the request of the Republic of China

on Taiwan to rejoin the concert of free nations within

the United Nations and its specialized agencies, and

thus to participate in the consolidation of international

peace and security.

With the completion last June of the definition of

what constitutes crimes, and of the rules of procedure

and testimony, the Preparatory Committee for the

International Criminal Court passed a significant

milestone in the establishment of this important legal

institution. This progress and the new ratifications of

the Rome Statute, are encouraging signs of the

international community's rejection of criminal faits

accomplis, injustice and impunity. I repeat Senegal's

support for the process, which should bring about a

credible, independent and efficient International

Criminal Court.

Building and consolidating peace also, and above

all, means to meeting the chronic challenge of

underdevelopment, for, as we know, development is

another name for peace. Twenty years ago the North-

South Commission on development problems strongly

emphasized that where hunger reigns there cannot be

peace, and that whoever wants to banish war must also

banish poverty. Yet today, despite that warning, poverty

persists and grows, although we have the means to

fight it.

We dare to hope that next year's high-level

meeting on financing development will be a unique

opportunity to examine in depth the causes of the

decline in official development assistance and will find

ways and means to redress this worrying situation: the

urgent need to deal with the debt crisis, rebalance

international trade and deal with the risks of

marginalization resulting from globalization.

I recall President Wade's appeal, warmly received

by his peers, for an in-depth analysis of the African

debt and for a world summit on globalization to correct

its injustices and contradictions.

I would also like to reiterate Senegal's support for

cooperation frameworks such as the EU-ACP

agreements and the Tokyo International Conference on

African Development (TICAD). We hope that recent

decisions made at the G-8 Summit in Okinawa, as well

as the American initiative, `African Growth and

Opportunity Act', will be the starting point of a new

partnership based on solidarity and mutual benefits.

Development is inseparable from the promotion

and protection of human rights, the rule of law and

sound governance, principles to which my country

remains firmly attached. By creating a human rights

unit attached to the presidency of the Republic, the

Head of State has shown his personal commitment to

the protection and promoting of citizens' fundamental

rights and freedoms by the Administration and at every

level of public life. Senegal will continue to make

every effort to consolidate the foundations of the rule

of law, to protect human rights defenders and to honour

the obligations it assumes by its adherence to

international legal instruments on human rights.

With the momentum created by the success in

Senegal of the peaceful change-over of political power

and a peaceful transition, my country feels equipped to

continue to defend the image of a serene Africa, a

mature Africa, a tolerant and democratic Africa.

Today, more than ever, our people wonder about

the political will and capacity of our States to take

advantage of the current international climate, which

seems propitious for a dynamic of peace and for taking

into account the human dimension in technological

innovations.

In Africa our thoughts often turn to the anguish

caused by the ravages of HIV/AIDS, although with a

l.6 per cent rate, Senegal strengthens the hope that this

scourge will be defeated.

Fifty years ago, at the end of the planetary

nightmare of the Second World War, a hope and

conviction were born: that men and women throughout

the world would do everything possible to prevent new

wars from breaking out and would work together to

ensure respect for the right of each individual to

freedom, justice and progress. Today the intellectual

and material resources available to humanity should

logically be increasingly dedicated to building a future

of peace, progress and shared happiness. But it must be

said that for the great majority of peoples and nations

the international situation does not meet their

aspirations to peace and progress.

In the final analysis, to build a pan-human society

which is at peace with itself we must unite all our

energies to create the basis for more human

development with greater solidarity, bringing new hope

to future generations. This is the importance and

meaning of the Millennium Summit, in urging us to

make a collective contribution to strengthening our

Organization for the salvation of humanity.

As it has become a tradition in my country, I will

leave the last word of my statement to the inimitable

Senegal-Cameroon poet of love and hope, David

Mandesijop, who said:

`Hope lived in us as in a citadel.'

I hope the aspiration to a more just and happy

world will live within us all as an impregnable citadel

so, as Mandesijop said, that spring will grow beneath

our footsteps.