Senegal, 2007

Senegal

welcomes Mr. Kerim’s election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its sixty-second session. We

congratulate him and will support him as he carries out

his important responsibilities. His predecessor, Sheikha

Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain, a

country which is a friend to Senegal, deserves our

tribute and appreciation for her outstanding

contribution, throughout her term of office, to the

revitalization of the General Assembly.

I also would like to take a moment to

acknowledge my brothers and sisters in the diaspora,

who this year commemorated the 200th anniversary of

the abolition of slavery. That shameful and repugnant

trade constituted the worst of attacks on the dignity of

the human person, as did its continuation, colonization.

That is why I would now solemnly warn against

horrendous revisionist arguments that attempt in vain

to falsify history. Colonialism in its design and

exclusive logic of domination, exploitation and

enslavement cannot boast of any civilizing mission or

any positive fallout, because by its very nature it is a

negation of the human condition. We must remain

vigilant and mobilized. In Senegal we say yes, we will

forgive, but we will not forget or agree to

manipulation.

The high-level discussion we held on

24 September on the serious issue of climate change

confirms once again the terrible threat that is hanging

over our planet. I therefore welcome the initiative of

the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, to put this

crucial issue at the very heart of our agenda. We have

all seen the damage done. Mankind has not been wise.

We have, with greater or lesser awareness, destroyed

this Earth which God has lent to us. We must beseech

his forgiveness.

Combating climate change demands innovative

solutions, which must take into account the special

situation of countries that are not significant polluters

but which nevertheless suffer from the serious

consequences of this phenomenon of the modern age.

Senegal is aware of its responsibility to join the

struggle against pollution. Therefore, in exploiting our

mineral resources, we take particular care to restore the

ecosystem and to use non-polluting practices and

technologies. We have also prohibited the importation

of used cars more than five years old and of household

appliances that pollute. As we have already mentioned,

we do not want Africa to be a dumping ground for

outdated technology from Europe or elsewhere.

We are also gradually establishing a policy of

combating coastal erosion. On the Atlantic coast, at the

high-tide line, we are building a reinforced concrete

wall on the granite or clayey base of the continental

shelf, 2.5 to 3 metres deep by 40 centimetres thick, to

slow the advance of the sea. Experts say that the wall

will stop the sea’s advance for 50 to 100 years. We

have done this on an experimental basis, since it is

very expensive. The wall costs $2,000 per metre. We

have constructed 2 kilometres as an example, to show

that it is possible, because we consider it the ultimate

weapon.

We are also launching a project for ports leading

into free zones, alternating with tourist complexes,

along the Atlantic coast; that is also a way of stopping

the advance of the sea. Coastal erosion, from Morocco

to Mauritania to Senegal, is a threat which the

international community must take very seriously.

In the Sahel region, we Africans are also planting

what we call the great green wall, 7,000 kilometres

long by 150 kilometres wide from Dakar to Djibouti.

We have not waited; each of us in our own country has

begun to create the “wall”. The European Union and

France, as Mr. Sarkozy has said, are ready to provide

us with loans to help with the wall in order to stop the

encroaching Sahel and the process of desertification.

We have also tried to take advantage of the

billions of tons of water that, each year during the

rainy season, fall on the Sahel and are absorbed by the

earth or flow into the sea. In Senegal we have therefore

built holding basins in the most low-lying areas, where

runoff water accumulates. We have built 250 of these

basins; we are walking the walk. The African countries

meeting in Bamako have decided to implement this

programme, from Dakar to Djibouti, to create such a

“wall” to stop the encroaching desert.

At Senegal’s initiative, non-oil-producing

countries have now established an association that we

call the Green OPEC, with the aim of protecting our

interests. We call on the international community to

take on the excess costs with which we have been

burdened owing to increases in the price of oil. We also

want to turn Africa towards producing biofuels. For

this reason, I welcome the launch, here in New York on

2 March 2007, of the International Biofuels Forum. As

President of the African Non-Petroleum Producers

Association, I solemnly request that all of the Forum’s

initiatives and participants pursue our common goal of

promoting alternative energy sources.

As we pursue economic and social development

in the South, African countries in particular continue to

face insurmountable obstacles, such as agricultural

subsidies in developed countries. We have already

talked about that subject enough. Paradoxically, at the

same time that our countries are being forced to open

their markets in the name of free trade, developed

countries are subsidizing their own products, so we are

no longer able to export our products to the developed

world.

As I said at the Group of Eight summit in

Heiligendamm, Germany, Africa is not poor. It has

been impoverished by unjust trade practices and by the

exploitation of its resources, which are not bought at

their true price. I wish to add that trade measures are

not in themselves enough to wipe out the injustice that

has been done. We also need genuine economic

measures.

If we want to fend off the advance of poverty, we

must be creative. But first, what is poverty? It is

certainly not an income of less than a dollar a day, the

definition advocated by the United Nations. Poverty, in

my view, is a set of unmet needs. Poverty is a leaky

roof, or not having a roof over one’s head at all. It is

poor-quality food, no drinking water, no clothing, no

health care, no education or training. Lastly, being poor

is not having a clean environment. That is what I call

the cluster of needs, which is an entire set of needs

and, as we can see, not just a monetary assessment.

What are we in Senegal doing? We have launched

a programme to build housing, called the Jaxxay plan,

under the slogan of “one family, one roof”. We build

nice, affordable homes. For less than $70 a month,

people can become homeowners in Senegal. The

development in which we are building those houses

provides health, education and other services. That is

how we are trying to combat poverty.

Allow me to turn to the digital revolution. We

believe that Africa has a great opportunity, because the

digital revolution is happening now. The Internet

contains all the knowledge in the world. Africans must

therefore have access to the Internet for their training,

information and educational needs and in their

universities and schools. For that reason, as Africa’s

representative to the World Summit on the Information

Society, organized by the International

Telecommunication Union in Geneva in 2003, I

proposed a Global Digital Solidarity Fund to bridge the

digital gap that separates us from the developed world.

After many ups and downs, the Fund is now supported

by all of the Members of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, the majority have not yet formalized

their acceptance of this Fund or have begun paying into

it. However, all countries in principle are members of

this Fund, which seeks to provide computers to Africa

and to be involved in various programmes, like

healthcare telematics.

In Geneva we launched what is called the Geneva

Principle, which asks countries and producers of

information and communication technology to

voluntarily donate one per cent of the amount of each

transaction to the Digital Solidarity Fund.

Let us now discuss the Security Council and the

need for Africa to have a seat therein, irrespective of

any question of reform. It is the only continent which

is not represented in the Security Council, even though

it has been said that 70 per cent of the Council’s

business involves Africa.

Today, Senegal is at peace I shall not dwell on

this and we are trying to provide the materials and

the personnel needed for Darfur. Senegal is increasing

its contingent from 150 to 1,600 and is also providing

all the police for the operation conducted by the

African Union and the United Nations.

The Middle East situation still gives serious

concern and I wish to reconfirm Senegal’s unwavering

support for the just cause of the Palestinian people in

their legitimate quest for a viable State. We support all

efforts to that end.

Remembering the last two wars, we must really

try to achieve peace. Peace is not just the absence of

war as somebody said this morning. We must combat

war in the minds of men, particularly young people.

In March 2008, Senegal will have the honour of

hosting the eleventh Islamic Summit Conference. It is,

therefore, my deepest hope that we will make progress

towards achieving peace in accordance with our

religion and the Qur’an. I have already proposed an

Islamic-Christian dialogue, which would be a first step

towards dialogue among peoples. We believe that if the

leaders of the world meet together and make a real

appeal for tolerance as a legacy from this generation to

future generations, then we will have taken a step

forwards towards understanding among the various

religions. This is absolutely essential to the

establishment of peace.

We know that Organization of Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) oligopoly increases the

price of oil as it wishes by manipulating supply I

know this because I am an economist. I realize that it is

the law of the market, but the rest of us suffer from it. I

propose that whenever OPEC increases the price of oil,

it voluntarily add 2 per cent, but not as a tax: 1 per cent

to combat poverty and 1 per cent to combat

environmental degradation. Out of the $200 million of

profits from Africa, this would be at least $40 million

and you won’t feel it more than you do just now,

because a barrel which cost $29 in December 2003

now costs over $81.