Senegal, 2008

Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto, in electing you to the presidency of the

Assembly, Member States wished to show their

confidence in your wealth of experience, as former

Minister for Foreign Affairs, to successfully guide its

work. The Senegalese delegation congratulates you

through me. At the same time I wish to thank and

congratulate our Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon,

who has taken many initiatives since he was elected as

the leader of our Organization, as demonstrated by the

recent meetings dealing with Africa.

Many heads of State have referred to the dizzying

increase in the price of oil, including, just now, the

President of the Dominican Republic. That is not by

chance, because many of us have denounced the policy

of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(OPEC), which establishes the price of oil as it wishes

and tries to blame it on the increase in demand — as if

we had never studied economics.

The assessments of our association have not been

very optimistic, but it should be noted that the

objectives set by the founding Members have not been

achieved. I quote from the birth certificate of our

Organization that one of the purposes was “to promote

social progress and better standards of life in larger

freedom”. I believe that the United Nations has served

humanity considerably by resolving some conflicts and

by establishing lasting peace, but we must also

recognize its shortcomings in many areas, including

peace and in the economic field.

Today, populations throughout the world have

great expectations of our meeting, because humanity,

fortunately, still hopes, and that hope remains alive in

the countries that are called poor, and indeed they are.

But I usually say with regard to Africa that it is not

poor, but rather that Africa is a continent that has been

impoverished over five centuries of slavery and one

century of colonization and exploitation. However,

despite all of that, Africa has engaged itself in

international cooperation — bilateral and multilateral.

08-51749 26

We also strive to contribute within the United Nations,

for example to peace, which is one of the objectives of

our Organization.

Experience teaches us that there are limits to our

international system. As you, Mr. President, and the

Secretary-General have both mentioned, we should

look directly at the issues and undertake reforms.

Above all, we must demonstrate imagination and a

capacity for innovation.

The first issue of concern to us is to feed Africa.

We must substitute this idea of food aid, which was at

the origin of the Food and Agriculture Organization of

the United Nations (FAO), and replace it with the

concept of assistance to agriculture, because we have

demonstrated that we are able to carry out agriculture

just like developed countries. Unfortunately, we suffer

from certain shortages, including seeds, fertilizer and

equipment, as I will show in a moment. In place of

traditional financing, we need to imagine what is

referred to now as innovative financing.

In June 2008, we raised an alarm over the

increase in the price of basic commodities and

especially of food products. The Secretary-General

asked FAO to meet in Rome with heads of State. We

dropped everything in order to go to Rome and respond

to that appeal, believing that real solutions would be

proposed. Solutions were proposed, but we are still

waiting for them to be implemented. At the same time,

I drew attention to the fact that the countries of the

Sahel region have three to four months of rain each

year, during which time one could grow whatever one

wanted if one had the means to do so. That is followed

by eight or nine months of drought.

We launched that appeal, but like the doctor who

arrives after the death, no one responded. Fortunately

for Senegal, we foresaw difficulties due to the weighty

global mechanisms and launched a programme called

the Great Agricultural Offensive for Agriculture and

Abundance. We were told it was too ambitious because

it amounted to $800 million.

The project, which began at the end of May, will

be completed in a month. I have the pleasure to inform

the Assembly that, beyond meeting its food needs,

Senegal has met the challenge of achieving a surplus.

Six months ago, Senegal was among the most food-

dependent countries, importing all its food, including

more than 600,000 tons of rice annually. But a look at

Senegal today reveals that there is green everywhere. I

called on all Senegalese everywhere, including in the

Senegalese diaspora, to farm as much as they

wanted — on 10, 20 or 1,000 hectares — so long as it

was food. That great offensive, as I have said, has

unquestionably been a great success. The world will

not see Senegal launching an appeal for food

assistance. We have solved the problem and hope that

we have solved it once and for all.

Admittedly, we could not have done it without

God’s help. The programme required $100 million, a

third of which was to be devoted to fertilizer.

Fortunately, our country is endowed with phosphate

deposits that can be directly used as fertilizer for crops,

thus enabling us to save one third of the cost of our

investment in the programme. This has been possible

because of the belief I have adhered to for more than

50 years. I have said for a long time that we could find

phosphate. We have now gone out to find that hidden

wealth. As I said in jest about the previous regimes,

God had hidden it from them, but we managed to find

it.

Africa has responded to the call to protect the

environment. President Obasanjo and I launched the

Great Green Wall Initiative, whereby a band of trees

15 kilometres wide and 7,000 kilometres long will

stretch from Dakar to Djibouti. Once again, we were

told that it was a dream. No, as I speak, since, in the

words of the philosopher, we believe in going forward

by walking, Senegal is in the process of building

587 kilometres of the Great Green Wall. Everyone has

supported us in this endeavour — France, the United

States, the European Union — at least in words. We are

looking forward to your support, especially from the

scientists, who we hope will help us to choose drought-

resistant plants. It is possible. I contacted scientists

through the Internet. They came from all over the

world — Europe, the United States, American

universities and Australia. I accordingly called for the

help now of the Science Without Borders association. I

invited scientists to Senegal because their knowledge

comes free of charge, and they are always willing to

make it available for the benefit of humankind.

The Great Green Wall will be backed by what we

call retention basins. Billions of tons of water that fall

during the rainy season are lost to runoff or the sea. We

are trying to capture that water, as is being done so

well in countries such as Burkina Faso. We in Senegal

are making that a systematic effort. The World Bank

27 08-51749

has labelled our effort conclusive, and we also want to

build a green strip from Dakar to Djibouti.

Africa is therefore responding to the call of the

international community to protect the environment.

However, I cannot fail to point out that the African

coast is in the process of disappearing, with several

centimetres being lost from Morocco to the Gulf of

Guinea each year. In that connection, a first meeting

was held in Cotonou a few days ago to address the

issue of coastal erosion.

As the Assembly is aware, the Secretary-General

has issued a challenge to Africa. Not long ago, the

World Bank indicated that five African countries were

capable of achieving the Millennium Development

Goals, including Senegal. The Secretary-General has

said that no African country would achieve the

Millennium Development Goals. I, for my part,

respond to challenges. I shall meet that challenge for

Senegal, I shall take it up, and that is not a dream. Not

long ago, Senegal was very far down on the World

Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index. Just a few days

ago, thanks to our targeted efforts to overcome our

shortcomings, Senegal was classified as the first

country in Africa for doing business, and the fifth in

the world.

Child and maternal mortality is one of the

obstacles to overcoming our shortcomings. After

giving thought to the problem, we decided a week ago

in Senegal that, so long as the problem is left up to the

State, we will not make progress. We have instituted a

new approach that entails putting in charge a woman in

each neighbourhood of the affected areas to monitor

pregnancies and help pregnant women to visit doctors,

as well as to immediately inform the authorities of any

problems. We hope that will enable us to reduce child

and maternal mortality. We are even going so far as to

provide cell phones to women in the interior of Senegal

so that they can report cases to health-care centres.

There is also a need to establish a new

mechanism to mobilize resources. That was our goal in

setting up a pilot group for solidarity levies to fund

development. We have also launched a digital

solidarity fund. We Africans have done that, with the

support of the entire world. We are therefore on our

way to bridging the digital divide identified by the

Secretary-General.

As we begin our work here, more than 1 billion

Muslims throughout the world are fasting in

accordance with one of Islam’s five pillars. Apart from

religion, for every Muslim the fast is a code of

behaviour inspired by the lofty values of peace,

sharing, forgiveness, respect and brotherly love,

irrespective of religion. On the basis of the letter and

spirit of the message of Islam, which are being

celebrated during this Holy month of Ramadan, and in

my capacity as Chairman-in-Office of the Organization

of the Islamic Conference, I should like here to

reiterate the adherence of the Islamic Umma to the

principles of the culture of peace and dialogue among

civilizations. We affirm that we condemn extremism,

violence, intolerance and discrimination, which are

contrary to the teachings of Islam and which our

religion condemns as a source of unhappiness and

discord. It is for that reason that we are willing to

engage in a dialogue with all civilizations.

The United Nations ideal of peace continues to be

tested by the reality of conflicts in the world. Although

we have certainly seen fewer trouble spots in Africa,

conflict still rages in Chad, the Sudan and Darfur. We,

for our part, will always continue to give our active

support to peace and the United Nations.

Quite sincerely, however, I believe that there will

be no solution in Darfur until we disarm all armed

groups, which have been clearly identified. As for

Zimbabwe, we welcome the progress that is being

made. In Mauritania, we, as a neighbouring country,

are very concerned about what is taking place. But I

should like to reiterate here that we very much believe

in the rule of law of the Republic, in accordance with

the position outlined by the African Union.

We are also continuing our efforts in the Middle

East, as we have been called on to give our support to

intra-Palestinian dialogue and to dialogue between

Israel and Palestine.

For many years now, I have consistently

bemoaned the ineffectiveness of economic thinking.

The failure from which we are suffering today is the

failure of economists and financiers and, more

generally, of the intelligentsia. I greatly appreciate the

appeal just made to the intelligentsia made by the

President of the Dominican Republic.

I continue to believe that the solution to the crisis

is not to be found in the North; crises begin in the

North, but we will not find their solutions in the North.

08-51749 28

The global economy moved from Europe to the

United States where it created a new centre of

development that has underpinned the global economy

for almost 200 years. Now that economy is running out

of steam because of crises like the one we are facing

today.

President Bush has told us about a solution

advocated by his financiers, but I am sorry: the

solution to the North’s crisis lies in the South; the

solution lies in Africa.

Rather than allowing capital to roam in every

direction to create inflationary situations, I think it

better, as a Keynesian thinker, to call on Members to

invest in the creation of wealth and jobs in Africa, a

continent possessed of great material and human

resources and capable of taking its turn as the engine of

the exhausted global economy. That economy, which

left Europe for the United States, will finally be

developed in Africa.

That is why we call on the entire world to invest

in Africa because it is there that I sincerely believe that

the last advances will be achieved. It is true that some

trouble spots remain — as in every country — but with

the support of the General Assembly and the

Secretary-General, and with all people of goodwill, we

are sure that Africa will be able to play that role,

provided of course that Africans are trained as soon as

possible to assume that historic mission.

It is on this note of hope and as Vice-President of

the New Partnership for Africa’s Development

(NEPAD) and President-in-Office of the Organization

of Islamic Conference (OIC) that I make an appeal to

all countries to continue supporting efforts for peace

and continue supporting investment efforts in Africa.