Eswatini, 2012

It is an immense pleasure for me

to join other Heads of State and Government at this

sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly. I should

like to begin by congratulating the President upon

his election to steer the work of the Assembly at this session. His experience and abilities are well known

and respected. We have full confidence that he will

take the Organization to greater heights. The Kingdom

of eSwatini is ready to give him all the support that he

deserves in carrying out this mammoth task.

I also wish to thank the Secretary-General for his

detailed report on the work of the Organization (A/67/1).

We have seen the staff of the United Nations working

very hard, sometimes in very difficult and hostile

environments, dedicating their service to helping those

who require our assistance and support. The Kingdom

of eSwatini commends the Secretary-General and his

dedicated team for working tirelessly to ensure the

realization of all aspirations of the Organization.

As we gather here, we must always remember

that the role of the United Nations is to keep peace

throughout the world, to develop and to help nations to

work together in resolving challenges such as hunger,

unemployment, conflicts, disease and illiteracy, among

others. The United Nations also aims to be the centre

for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve our

aspirations.

We are meeting here at a time when the whole

world is facing numerous challenges, such as the

economic and financial crisis. The Kingdom of

eSwatini believes that the United Nations is the

appropriate forum to deliberate on these challenges

in order to come up with united global solutions. As

part of the global community, the Kingdom of eSwatini

has not been spared from this economic predicament.

Our social development programmes that enhance the

delivery of the Millennium Development Goals and

national projects, such as job creation and poverty

alleviation strategies, have been adversely affected

by the prevailing situation. The gains we have made

in the fight against HIV and AIDS through the rollout

of antiretroviral treatments remain threatened by the

uncertainty around the financial sustainability of the

programme.

We wish to acknowledge the support we continue

to receive from the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS,

Tuberculosis and Malaria in mitigating all diseases.

The Fund has gone a long way in injecting resources

into our national programme of promoting health as

a key national priority. The need to work together to

overcome these challenges could not have been more

essential. In our efforts to address global economic challenges,

we should be conscious of the social implications of

some of the proposed solutions. Our strategies should

not create more hardship, but rather find answers that

mitigate the difficulties we face. I am confident that,

with our wealth of different experiences, we stand

to benefit from valuable strategies, especially from

those States that have not been seriously affected by

the financial crisis. We urge those countries to share

their experiences for the benefit of all Member States.

The Kingdom of eSwatini calls on the United Nations

to consider making these challenges among its top

priorities during this session.

The Kingdom of eSwatini last month converged

on Sibaya for dialogue on social, economic and

political issues with a view to crafting solutions and

agreeing on a way forward that would best improve our

livelihoods. Sibaya is a place where every citizen is free

to participate irrespective of gender, creed, religion or

affiliation, among other things. We believe in the full

participation of all citizens at the grass-roots level in the

decision-making process. This forum is an institution

where key national pronouncements are made and

national sustainable development strategies conceived.

Our national Constitution and National Development

Strategy are outputs of this structure. This practice has

been passed on from generation to generation, and has

continued to serve us well, since it allows the people to

contribute to their own welfare.

Like many other States Member of the Organization,

the Kingdom of eSwatini has been working hard

towards the ratification of United Nations conventions,

as well as of continental and regional protocols. I am

pleased to inform the Assembly that the Sibaya forum

provided the whole nation with an opportunity to

discuss those conventions and protocols, which have

since been ratified by Parliament and deposited with

the Secretary-General. We are pleased that we can now

be counted among the countries that have successfully

ratified United Nations conventions and protocols.

The world we live in has become a complicated

place with the advent of modern technology. We remain

faced with the challenge of how best to take advantage

of this technology, such as social media, to promote

peace and stability. If there is anything we need to do, it

is to promote peace in the world. It is true, and we fully

agree with the assertion that there is no need to promote

violence of any kind, be it the killing of diplomats, the

forced removal of Governments, or any other form. In this world, we must all live together in peace, whether as

Muslims, Christians or any other traditional believers.

We must learn to respect each other irrespective of

race, creed or religious affiliation. If we practiced those

principles, the world would be altogether a different

and better place. As human beings, we must turn the

page, forget the past and live together for the benefit of

generations to come.

On the African continent, we are encouraged by

the concerted efforts of our fellow brothers and sisters

who are committed to resolving their differences in

a peaceful manner. We encourage speedy resolutions

in areas where pockets of conflict remain, such as the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and some

North African countries, to mention but a few.

The Assembly knows that Somalia has also been

without a stable Government for a long time, and we

hope that new developments will bring about lasting

peace. In that vein, the Kingdom of eSwatini welcomes

the recent development that has taken place in Somalia.

We hope that the election of the President will bring the

desired stability.

We extend the call for peace beyond Africa, to the

Middle East, where we continue to witness conflict. The

war in Syria has claimed the lives of too many citizens

and must come to an end. We appeal to the people of

Syria to discourage the use of force in resolving their

differences. We encourage the use of dialogue in cases

where they do not see eye to eye. We implore the Syrian

Government and the other stakeholders to sit down in

dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the current

impasse. The barrel of the gun will bring nothing but

misery.

The United Nations and the League of Arab States

have sent a Joint Special Representative to work with

the people of Syria. We hope that all stakeholders will

make good use of the Joint Special Representative

towards finding a peaceful and lasting solution to their

differences. The Kingdom of eSwatini urges States

Members of the United Nations to work together in

supporting all efforts aimed at helping the people of

Syria to resolve the conflict.

We also note that the Israel-Palestine conflict

remains unresolved. A peaceful settlement of the issue

is deeply desired and urgently necessary. Our position

is unambiguous. The most viable solution is to have the

two States of Israel and Palestine coexisting side by

side in peace and harmony. We must commend the recent positive developments

with regard to relations between the Republic of

China on Taiwan and mainland China, which are

steadily improving. Indeed, it is very encouraging

as it demonstrates that the tensions between the two

countries have subsided. We hope that one day they

will be able to resolve all of their differences and live

happily with each other. We are witnessing increasing

trade, as well as f lights, between the two countries.

Recently, it was also interesting to see mainland China

host an African summit, to which the countries that are

friends of Taiwan were also invited.

As an African country, we would like to thank

mainland China for its continued support to African

countries. We have no doubt that the potential of the

two peoples working together side by side will make

a significant difference in the world. We hope that the

new developments will pave the way for Taiwan to

participate fully in all United Nations entities, because

the people of Taiwan desire to become part of the global

community.

Peace will continue to elude us until we properly

address the issue of weapons of mass destruction.

It is clear that those weapons are not necessary to

humankind. Their mere presence is a recipe for conflict

as each country seeks to gain power over others. The

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

adopted by many Member States, must be enforced to

ensure the complete elimination of these weapons.

We have not seen any tangible proof of compliance

with the internationally agreed time frames, which

is a cause for serious concern requiring urgent

attention. The mere existence of those weapons creates

unnecessary tension that could result in a very hostile

world environment. We implore those countries

endowed with uranium resources to use them for other

essential economic development needs, such as power

generation.

The Kingdom of eSwatini recognizes the important

role that the Security Council plays in the pursuit of

international peace and security. The Charter of the

United Nations clearly stipulates an international order

that ensures the rule of law. We call upon the General

Assembly at this session to deliberate on Security

Council reform, as not all regions are well represented.

We wish to reiterate the African position on the Security

Council, claiming two seats in the permanent category

and five seats in the non-permanent category. The

full representation of all regions in the Council will ensure that we all own the decisions of that important

security organ. We should all be given equal treatment.

No region or country should impose its influence over

others. We wish to see finality in that urgent matter,

since it has dragged on for a very long time now.

The high-level meeting on sustainable energy for

all, which was held alongside this session, gave Heads

of State and Government a forum to deliberate on issues

that promote the protection of our environment. That

meeting provided us with an opportunity to revisit the

commitments made towards sustainable energy for all.

The destruction of the environment has had

devastating effects on many of our countries. The

United Nations must expedite the processes towards

protecting the environment by enforcing the use of

environmentally friendly technologies and practices by

Member States. We call upon the developed countries

to honour their commitments made prior to the United

Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio

de Janeiro.

Finally, allow me to say that as we meet during

this session, let us adopt resolutions that will provide

lasting solutions to the challenges faced by humankind

the world over. We wish the United Nations every

success as it pursues its objective of creating a peaceful

environment and coexistence among all the nations of

the world. Let honesty, peace, stability and tolerance

prevail across the globe.