Chad, 2011

The

Chadian delegation warmly congratulates the President

on his election to the presidency of the Assembly at its

sixty-sixth session and assures him of its cooperation

and support as he carries out his noble endeavours.

I also express my delegation’s admiration for his

predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss, who skilfully guided

the Assembly’s work during the sixty-fifth session.

Finally, Chad pays tribute the Secretary-General,

His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his work on the

development front and towards peace in the world. We

reiterate to him our warmest congratulations on his

well-deserved re-election to a second term at the helm

of our Organization.

My delegation welcomes the choice of the central

theme for our general debate, “The role of mediation in

the settlement of disputes”. This theme is fully

consistent with our own political vision, our

convictions and our philosophy of a harmonious and

egalitarian world.

Chad has made its own modest contribution in

supporting the efforts of the State of Qatar, the United

Nations and the international community by

participating at the highest level in the negotiations and

conclusion of the Doha Framework Agreement for the

Resolution of the Conflict in Darfur between the

Sudanese Government and the armed opposition in

Darfur. We sincerely hope that this crisis will finally be

resolved. To that end, the Sudan should be supported

by the entire international community, so that peace

and security can be restored throughout the country

and in the subregion.

Furthermore, we are concerned by the hotbeds of

tension that are spreading throughout the world and

that sometimes stem from the profound changes taking

place, particularly in some countries of the Middle East

and in the Maghreb. That process is often described as

the Arab Spring.

Our Organization must be resolute in its

commitment to stand with the parties to conflict, as

part of efforts to find solutions based on reconciliation

and forgiveness. In addition to the losses of human life

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that we have witnessed, we should also mention the

fact that dramatic circumstances such as these also

result in the inevitable streams of refugees and the

displaced. And when we speak of refugees and

displaced persons, we are talking about misery and

terrible suffering. We are well qualified to discuss this

issue, given that Chad is now hosting more than

100,000 refugees from Central Africa in the south-

western part of the country and more than 290,000

Sudanese refugees and 180,000 Chadian displaced

persons in the east. They have been living in this

situation since 2003, in precarious environmental and

social conditions.

We call on the international community to show

solidarity and to assist us in assuming responsibility

for all Chadian displaced persons. In the wake of the

full withdrawal last March of the United Nations

Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad

(MINURCAT), the Chadian Government assumed

responsibility for the protection of refugees and

displaced persons, as well as of the humanitarian

organizations that are assisting them, by setting up a

special national force known as the Détachement

intégré de sécurité. It is to be hoped that our partners

will continue to deploy efforts alongside us and

complement them with the financial and logistical

support necessary to the proper functioning of that

force.

In addition, like a number of other Sahel

countries, Chad has witnessed the return from Libya, in

very dangerous conditions, of almost 100,000 of its

nationals who were forced to leave Libya in a state of

utter destitution. I should like to take this opportunity

to thank the International Organization for Migration

and other institutions as well as all those countries that

have assisted us in repatriating and providing

assistance to our nationals. Our deepest desire is for

peace to return to Libya so that the killing can end and

the Libyans can reconcile in the framework of the

National Transitional Council in order to build a State

based on the rule of law and democracy.

In connection with the building of a new Libya,

we would draw the attention of our Libyan brothers to

the situation of those of our citizens who, despite

having contributed to the development of that country

as immigrant workers, are sometimes referred to

indiscriminately as mercenaries. In addition, we wish

to express our great concern about the fate of the

400,000 Chadians who remain trapped in Libya. We

call on the new Libyan authorities urgently to take

measures aimed at fulfilling its commitment to protect

immigrants.

Chad would also like to share with the Assembly

our views on current issues of common concern, a

number of which are being discussed in meetings

during this session. These are mainly problems that

affect international solidarity. They include the

handling of economic and environmental crises as well

as the security situation in our region. These issues

directly affect our daily lives in that they hinder or

even stall our development efforts, particularly in the

case of countries emerging from conflict, such as Chad.

The aftermath of those crises will certainly jeopardize

the implementation of our development strategies and

our capacity to achieve the Millennium Development

Goals by 2015.

Chad, which has lived through decades of

external attacks, cannot achieve the Millennium

Development Goals unless it receives substantial

support through, inter alia, the Heavily Indebted Poor

Countries initiative. For that reason, we have

repeatedly called for support from the relevant

international institutions.

One of the consequences of climate change is that

this year the Sahel area saw low levels of rainfall,

which could lead to an environmental and humanitarian

catastrophe such as the one that we have seen in recent

months in the Horn of Africa.

We commend all of the initiatives undertaken by

the Organization to promote international solidarity

with our countries through high-level meetings and

summits, including the United Nations Conference on

the Least Developed Countries, held in Istanbul, and

upcoming conferences on combating desertification

and on sustainable development, to be held in Korea

and in Rio de Janeiro, respectively.

Among the other major initiatives that we have

undertaken, I would like to stress in particular those

relating to free emergency health care, maternal and

child health, communicable diseases such as

HIV/AIDS and malaria, and free education at all levels.

Our policies on gender and on the empowerment of

youth remain the cornerstone of our vision of a new

Chad that is moving ahead and making progress.

Finally, of all the challenges facing us, the issue

of sustainable development remains a priority. Indeed,

31 11-50871

following the holding in Chad in June 2010 of a

meeting on the Great Green Wall initiative by the

countries of the Sahel, our country in October 2010

convened the eighth World Forum on Sustainable

Development on the theme “Save Lake Chad”. The

action plans that emerged from those meetings are

being publicized so as to ensure support for their

implementation. We call once again on the

international community to assist those countries

located on the banks of Lake Chad to help save the

lake, because the world should know that the future of

the Congo Basin forest depends on its survival, as does

the combat against desertification.

The question of Palestine has been outstanding

for far too long, and its impact on regional and global

security influence is felt daily. There is therefore an

urgent need for an international consensus on the issue

of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. We

believe that the time has come to recognize a State of

Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel.

We must have the courage to move forward in this

direction, which is essential in order to bring about

peace between the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.

For that reason, I call on all peace- and justice-loving

countries to commit themselves to that end.

Finally, we would like once again to touch on the

issue of the reform of the United Nations, one of whose

characteristics is the marginalization of a large part of

humankind; I refer here to the African people. African

States, individually and collectively, are today key

players in terms of peace, security and development.

Unfortunately, it has to be said that they have not yet

assumed their full role within the system, because of,

inter alia, their marginalization in the context of

initiatives aimed at resolving certain conflicts that pose

a threat to peace and security on our continent.

United Nations reform is absolutely necessary,

and we should accelerate the process, in consideration

of the claims and legitimate hopes of Africans, whose

main concern is to fulfil the right of the African

continent to be represented on the Security Council by

a permanent seat with veto power. That is the only way

for Africa to effectively contribute to conflict

prevention and settlement and to the maintenance of

peace in the world at large and on the African continent

in particular.