Uganda, 2005

I should like first of all to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election to preside over

the General Assembly at this important session, at

which we pledge our full cooperation. I also wish to

thank your predecessor, Mr. Jean Ping, for having

conducted the proceedings of the fifty-ninth session so

efficiently and for having spearheaded the vital

negotiations on the outcome document adopted by the

summit.

I must also express my gratitude to the

Secretary-General for his leadership, especially his

efforts to reform the United Nations so as to make it

more responsive to the dynamics and demands of the

current world.

The founding fathers of the United Nations

dreamed of an organization that would be able, in the

words of the Charter, to promote social progress and

better standards of life in larger freedom. It was in

pursuit of that dream that the General Assembly at its

fifty-fifth session adopted the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). That was a milestone in

the realization of one of the purposes and principles of

the Charter — to achieve international cooperation in

solving international problems of an economic, social,

cultural or humanitarian character, to promote and

encourage respect for human rights and fundamental

freedoms for all and to be the centre for harmonizing

the actions of nations in attaining those common ends.

A great deal has been done since the Millennium

Summit in 2000, at both national and international

levels, to attain the objectives that we set ourselves in

the MDGs. Asia and Latin America have progressed

well, while Oceania and Africa have not been quite as

successful. On the whole, Africa’s performance has

shown mixed results. Some regions, especially in

North Africa, have registered positive achievements,

while others have faired negatively.

In a globalized world, the future and welfare of

all are interlinked. Poverty in one part of the world

threatens peace and security globally. Equally, an

epidemic in a remote village in Africa threatens the

health of the prosperous individual in New York. In

essence, we all share a common fate. The international

community has therefore a self-interested obligation to

help Africa emerge from its current predicament. Let

the wealth of some enhance the welfare of all.

Uganda hopes that the World Summit Outcome

(resolution 60/1) marks a real commitment to

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improving the welfare of the world’s poor and to

making the United Nations the vanguard for the

aspirations of all. We hope that it will not suffer the

fate of the commitments that preceded it.

Peace and security is a prerequisite for

development. One of the reasons why Africa has failed

to register substantial achievements with regard to the

MDGs is lack of stability, peace and security.

Conflicts, wars and civil strife afflicting the continent

have acted as disincentives to development. The 1885

Berlin Conference split Africa up, without due regard

to the long-term interests of the African peoples. The

Great Lakes region found itself at the confluence of all

the colonial Powers. That confluence created a political

and social situation that has, over the years, proved

difficult to manage. It is a complex situation, with both

positive and negative tendencies. The cold war further

exacerbated the situation as the East battled the West

for influence. Indeed, former Secretary-General Dag

Hammarskjöld lost his life in the context of that

explosive political mix.

As Africa struggles to set its house in order,

Uganda has identified four main causes of conflict on

the continent which negative forces have exploited for

their own ends. They include parasitic vested interests;

superficiality and obscurantism in identifying and

dealing with those parasitic interests and their effects

on a particular country or group of countries; weak and

disoriented local leadership; and, finally, the

pre-industrial characteristics of Africa.

Those are the core causes of conflict, although

there are others. Paying clear and careful attention to

them could provide a vital springboard from which

long-term solutions could be found.

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and the Great Lakes region in general is caused

by a combination of those factors. Those with the most

to lose in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are

marginalized, while real issues of statecraft have been

pushed to the periphery. No attention is being given to

creating institutions and infrastructure that can sustain

the State.

The integration of armed factions into one single

national armed force is half-hearted. How can a State

exist without the minimum pillars of support, such as

an army capable of defending its territorial integrity?

The view that justice should precede integration

is wrong, in our opinion. While justice is important, it

is Uganda’s belief that it should not take precedence

over the integration of armed groups. We should

integrate all factions, and then seek to punish those that

are guilty of any offences later. Uganda advocates the

concept of provisional immunity or immunité

provisoire, as it is referred to in Burundi. On the other

hand, equal attention needs to be given to issues of

development, rehabilitation and the recovery of the

economy. A growing economy is necessary for

sustainable peace. What we are witnessing today is a

rush to elections and political agendas without due

regard being given to the institutions and infrastructure

necessary for the long-term sustainability of peace. We

have travelled this road before, with disastrous

consequences. Let the immediate past of the continent

be a guiding lesson for all of us.

The Lusaka peace accord provided a strong

mechanism enabling the region and the Democratic

Republic of the Congo to play complementary roles in

the peace process. Unfortunately, it has been

abandoned. The central problem of negative forces,

which the agreement recognized, has been put on the

back burner. For over five years, the United Nations

Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo (MONUC) has made no significant effort to

ensure the demobilization and disarmament of those

groups, thus leaving in place the seeds of future

conflict. We are, however, hopeful that our efforts,

both at the bilateral level and in the Tripartite

Commission, which is composed of Uganda, Rwanda

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the

participation of Burundi, will iron out those problems

and allow our region to attain peace and stability.

For some time now, the situation in Burundi has

been a real concern to the Great Lakes region and to

the international community at large. The destruction

and loss of life that took place spurred the regional

States, together with South Africa, to undertake and

spearhead a peace initiative. It was a long and arduous

process. With the support of the United Nations and the

international community, signs of success are today

evident.

In the past few months, the people of Burundi

elected their leaders in local, parliamentary and,

finally, presidential elections. They look to the future

with hope. Uganda welcomes His Excellency

Mr. Pierre Nkurunziza, the new President of Burundi,

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and we look forward to working with him to

consolidate peace in the region. The international

community and the United Nations have an obligation

to make peace sustainable. Reconstruction,

rehabilitation and development will be necessary. We

hope that due attention is given to institutional

capacity-building so that Burundi does not relapse into

the fratricidal anarchy that had been its bane over the

past decade.

After two decades of conflict in southern Sudan,

the people of the Sudan, led by the Government and

the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement and Army

(SPLM/A), signed the Comprehensive Peace

Agreement earlier this year. The guns are silent, and

the long-tortured people of southern Sudan are now

enjoying some peace. It is unfortunate that the late

John Garang passed away at a time when

implementation of the Agreement was in its early

stages. We are confident that given the commitment of

both the Government of the Sudan and SPLM the

peace agreement will hold and will be comprehensively

implemented. We are also confident that the Sudan is

headed for a peaceful future. We hope that other

conflicts, such as that in Darfur, will be peacefully

resolved using the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as

an inspiration and a model.

The signature and implementation of the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement in the Sudan has led

to increased optimism about peace in northern Uganda.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a terrorist group

that has long maimed, kidnapped and terrorized the

civilian population of northern Uganda, for a long time

had sanctuary in southern Sudan, from where it

launched its terrorist activities. With the cooperation of

the Sudanese Government, including SPLA/SPLM in

the south, these terrorists are being flushed out from

southern Sudan. Uganda’s strategy of peace

negotiations combined with maximum military

pressure has significantly reduced the LRA’s capacity

to commit evil. However, as peace returns to the

region, we need international cooperation and

assistance to supplement the Government of Uganda’s

post-conflict humanitarian, rehabilitation and

development programme, which is already under way

in northern Uganda.

Somalia has been in a state of anarchy for more

than a decade and a half. Peace efforts by the

international community and the United Nations have

been anything but timid. A sense of frustration on the

part of the United Nations has led to resignation and

despair, thus condemning the Somali people to a state

of bondage and being held hostage by the warlords.

It is in this void that the regional States, under the

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),

took on the mantle of negotiating peace and

re-establishing order. Anarchy is contagious. We

cannot feel safe in a situation pregnant with arms

trafficking, religious extremism, the dumping of

radioactive waste and the potential for breeding

terrorists in the region. These are realistic threats, and

IGAD cannot ignore them. The international

community — and, most especially, the members of the

Security Council — should not be deluded by

geographical distance. A potential threat to

international peace truly exists in Somalia.

It is in view of these current and latent threats

that the members of IGAD took upon themselves to

negotiate with Somalia for peace. Over a period of two

years, we went through a very laborious and sometimes

frustrating negotiating process until agreement was

reached on formation of a Government of national

unity last year. At the end of the process, we expected

the Security Council to join us in the pursuit of peace.

We expected that all efforts would be geared towards

creating the necessary legal and political atmosphere to

facilitate the realization of peace for the long-suffering

people of Somalia.

We were, however, deeply disappointed when the

Council, in its wisdom, acted otherwise, leaving the

region and, most important, the Somali people to their

fate. The decision to uphold the arms embargo and to

reject even its partial lifting denied the region a chance

to implement the peace process to its logical end. We

hope that it is not too late for the Council to evaluate

and review its position.

Let me briefly make some comments on the

proposed reform of the United Nations. The institution

we have today was conceived and created 60 years ago.

The sense of triumphalism of the victors in the Second

World War, the anguish of the vanquished and the

assumed indifference of the colonial peoples,

especially in Africa, formed the background to the run-

up to the creation of the United Nations.

The institution that emerged reflected those

realities. Nowhere within the United Nations, was this

more apparent than in the Security Council. The victors

reserved for themselves the right to determine the

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destiny of others. This was done without due regard for

the interests of those that the decisions were to affect

most. Today, the situation has dramatically changed.

Colonial peoples have gained independence, and the

international power structure has changed.

Decisions of the Security Council need wider

support diplomatically, financially and militarily in

order to be implemented. It has, therefore, become an

imperative to reform the Security Council and make it

more representative and reflective of the realities of

today’s world.

In Africa, where most Security Council mandated

operations take place, we believe that it is time for the

continent, composed of 53 States, to have a real say in

how those operations are formulated and implemented.

Today, Africa is the only continent that has no

representation at the real decision-making level of the

Council. It is for these reasons that we demand that the

continent be given two permanent seats with veto and

two additional non-permanent seats. A Council thus

composed will be more democratic and credible and

will have its decisions more widely accepted.

While the dream of the founding fathers of the

United Nations was to save succeeding generations

form the scourge of war, conflicts remain a reality in

today’s world. For 60 years, the United Nations has

failed to live up to this expectation. Uganda, therefore,

welcomes the establishment of the Peacebuilding

Commission and a Peacebuilding Support Office. We

hope that the 31 December 2005 deadline will be met

in order to enable those vital bodies help the United

Nations effectively address conflict and make peace

more sustainable.

In the same vain, we support the establishment of

the Democracy Fund, which should be used to support

countries’ home-grown institutions and not as a

mechanism to import foreign brands of democracy.

My delegation is cognizant of the primary

responsibility of States to protect their own people. In

the event of failure, the international community has a

responsibility to protect in order to prevent genocide

and ethnic cleansing. However, this responsibility

should be clearly defined and its exercise should have

the prior authorization of the Security Council.

We believe that the commitment of our leaders to

support a stronger relationship between the United

Nations and regional and subregional organizations

will help expand the capacity of the international

community to handle the old and new challenges

facing the world. Indeed, regional organizations that

have a capacity for prevention of armed conflict or

peacekeeping should use it to enhance the United

Nations in this field.

The existing Commission on Human Rights has

been deficient in its performance over the years. We

believe that it is time to create an independent

institution with an effective and clear mandate to

handle human rights. The proposal to create a Human

Rights Council is timely. We hope that all the

necessary details will be agreed upon so that this

Council can be launched.

In conclusion, allow me to restate Uganda’s

commitment to the ideals and principles of the United

Nations. The Organization has served us relatively well

over the years. It is capable of serving us even better

and achieving the dreams and ideals emanated by the

framers of the Charter 60 years ago. This can happen

only if we take the bold step of adopting the far-

reaching, innovative reforms proposed by the

Secretary-General and if we fully implement the

outcome document.