Togo, 2008

Allow me

first of all to congratulate Mr. Miguel d’Escoto

Brockmann on his election as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session. He can count on the

full cooperation of the Togolese as he carries out his

noble task. We would also like to pay tribute to the

Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for the insight

and determination which he has demonstrated in

leading the Organization since taking up his post.

At the high-level meeting on Africa’s

development needs, held here on 22 September,

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Member States noted that despite the efforts that have

been made, the situation in Africa demands continued

serious consideration by the international community

in order to help Africa face up to the many challenges

it faces. It was also stressed that the fight against

poverty and the fight for sustainable development

cannot succeed without considerable official

development assistance and fairer trade between

nations.

In that regard, it is unfortunate that the North-

South dialogue has been exhausted, as evidenced by

the recent failure of the World Trade Organization

negotiations in Geneva. Indeed, while international

trade should become a tool for development, the

balance of global economic power, which was

responsible to a great degree for the dependence of

countries of the South on their partners in the North,

will continue to deteriorate. Most countries perceive

globalization as the status quo, which makes the

objectives of development and social justice even more

difficult to achieve. To think that, when the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 2000,

many of us were hopeful that they would be achieved.

For that reason we call upon the international

community, especially the countries of the North, to

respect the commitments made.

We note with concern that today new and even

greater challenges are being added to the long list of

those which our States already face. The sharp rise in

the price of oil and other raw materials, as well as the

increasing demand for energy, along with the effects of

the global food and financial crises are among these

new challenges.

The current food crisis will not fail to have

catastrophic consequences if aid to agriculture is not

reviewed and increased; it is unfortunate that such

assistance was cut by half between 1992 to 2000. It

should also be stressed that few resources have been

allocated to agricultural infrastructure, to irrigation and

to supplying water to the population.

We venture to hope that the new partnership

established on 4 June in Rome between the Alliance for

a Green Revolution in Africa, the United Nations, the

Food and Agriculture Organization, the International

Fund for Agricultural Development and the World

Food Programme will contribute to an appropriate

response to the situation.

Togo has suffered the negative effects of a long

political and economic crisis. However, since President

Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé’s accession to power in

May 2005, the Togolese Government has sought

suitable solutions to the major concerns of the Togolese

people by implementing a pragmatic policy based on

national reconciliation, poverty reduction and

strengthening democracy and the rule of law.

In that context, the head of State worked to

conclude a comprehensive political agreement in

August 2006, which was signed by the major political

parties and which opened the way for the holding of

legislative elections in October 2007. There is little

need to remind members that those elections took place

in a peaceful, transparent and safe environment. They

led to the establishment of a broad-based Government

and a pluralistic National Assembly, which shows the

commitment of the head of State to strengthen the

democratization process in an atmosphere of

understanding and national unity.

We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate

our thanks to the friendly countries and multilateral

partners that have fully resumed their cooperation with

Togo following the implementation of the agreements

signed. In order to consolidate that commitment

process, the Togolese Government is working tirelessly

to see through the institutional and constitutional

reforms provided for by the comprehensive political

agreement.

In the legal field, it has undertaken to modernize

the justice system, so as to guarantee its independence.

In the same vein, national consultations aimed at

establishing a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation

Commission were launched on 15 April 2008. The

Commission will be charged with shedding light on

acts of political violence committed in the past and

finding ways to compensate the victims. The results of

those consultations have just been submitted to the

head of State.

Similarly, in its search for better strategies to

fight corruption and improve good economic

governance, Togo recently signed a memorandum of

understanding with the African Peer Review

Mechanism, by which it agrees to submit to periodic

reviews by the other members of the African Union

(AU) and to be directed by the jointly adopted

parameters for political, economic and financial

governance in Africa. As part of the financial reform,

25 08-53129

soon the post of auditor-general and a national audit

office will be set up. A Government audit programme

is in the process of being finalized.

The torrential rainfall that struck our country last

July sorely tested our Government’s efforts. It led to

countless human injuries and material and financial

losses, including the collapse of a dozen bridges, the

flooding of railways and the destruction of roads,

villages and fields. That disaster, the second of its kind

in a year, makes it very difficult to move from region

to region.

The solidarity shown to our country enabled us to

assist the affected and to start rebuilding some of the

infrastructure. Here, I should like to express our deep

gratitude to Ghana, Benin, France, China, the United

States of America, Brazil and all the other countries,

organizations and institutions that helped us.

As members can see, in spite of our efforts the

overall situation in our country is far from satisfactory.

Therefore, our country deserves more substantial

support. In that regard, the positive results of the Togo

Development Partners Conference, held in Brussels on

18 and 19 September, leads us to hope that the

international community is ready to play a decisive

role in assisting our country to get back on its feet.

We would like once again to express our

profound thanks to all those who contributed to the

success of that conference, in particular the European

Union, France, Germany, the United States of America,

Portugal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, the Niger, the World

Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic

Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the

Central Bank of West African States, the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the

West African Economic and Monetary Union.

For decades, Togolese diplomacy has worked to

strengthen friendship and cooperation among States

and peoples. Thus, at both the bilateral and the

multilateral levels, Togo has always done its utmost to

achieve the peaceful settlement of disputes with the

purpose of maintaining peace and stability wherever

threatened. Those actions, undertaken through dialogue

and consultation, are part of the efforts made by

African countries to ensure better living conditions for

their populations. Togo believes that dialogue and

consultation must be the preferred ways to settle

ethnic, religious or territorial disputes, which are true

obstacles to harmonious coexistence among States and

peoples.

Along those lines, it must be recalled that the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is at the core of the

political and security problems in the Middle East,

continues to be the focus of the highest concern for the

international community. In order to promote peace

and stability in that region, the international

community must make a greater effort to find a just

and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

In that regard, Togo welcomes the ongoing

dialogue between the parties and hopes that the various

initiatives will lead to a comprehensive solution, based

on the principle of two States, Israeli and Palestinian,

living within secure and internationally recognized

borders.

Afghanistan and Iraq, which are experiencing a

major lack of security, deserve special attention. We

therefore call on the international community to

increase its assistance to the Governments of those

countries in their fight against terrorism, so as to

promote peace and reconstruction.

In Africa, while it is true that glimmers of hope

are to be seen in the settlement of crises, one cannot

but condemn situations such as those persisting in

Darfur and Somalia. We call on the various actors to

demonstrate more courage and political will to get out

of the vicious circle of violence and, thus, give peace a

chance.

Because of the orientation of its foreign policy,

the Togolese Government endorses all initiatives aimed

at preventing, fighting and eliminating the causes of

conflict, in particular the trafficking of and illegal trade

in small arms. For that reason, it did not hesitate to

support the proposal to draft and adopt a binding

international instrument on the trade in small arms.

Along those same lines, Togo was involved in activities

linked to promoting and safeguarding international

peace and security, as demonstrated by its participation

in the various peacekeeping operations of the United

Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS.

Today more than ever, the world needs security

and peace in order to devote its energies to eliminating

hunger, illiteracy and disease. To that end, it is more

urgent than ever to make concerted efforts to fight

inequality, injustice and exclusion.

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In our respective countries, we must build

societies where humanism and solidarity will reign in

peace and security. We believe that that is one of the

purposes of the founders of the United Nations and

which we must strive to achieve now, at the beginning

of the twenty-first century.