Zambia, 1996

It is with great pleasure that

I take this opportunity to warmly congratulate you on your

unanimous election as President of the General Assembly

at its fifty-first regular session. Your election is a tribute

not only to your country, Malaysia, but also to you

personally. I am aware that you bring to the presidency of

the General Assembly wide experience in the field of

international relations, from which we stand to benefit

immensely. I would also like to wish you every success in

your important duties. I would further like to affirm the

readiness of my delegation to cooperate with you in the

discharge of your duties.

Allow me also to pay tribute to Mr. Diogo Freitas do

Amaral of Portugal, who presided over the fiftieth regular

session of the General Assembly with great skill and

dedication. His presidency did indeed enhance the

deliberative role of the General Assembly.

Furthermore, my delegation would like to record its

appreciation for the work of our esteemed Secretary-

General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, carried out under

trying conditions. Zambia greatly values the contribution of

the Secretary-General to the reform process of the United

Nations and can only hope that the entire membership

will give him a second term in order for him to complete

these reforms.

This session of the General Assembly is distinctive

because it is being held in the aftermath of the historic

fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, which we

observed last year. It will be recalled that in observing

and celebrating that important event, we made solemn

commitments to steer the world body towards the

progressive development of a world community that

would be cooperating effectively in dealing with global

problems in the interest of humanity. We also agreed that

the United Nations should be more democratic,

transparent and responsive and should be the common

property of all the people of the world, in whose name it

was created in the first place. We went on to state that we

wanted all citizens of the world to have real ownership of

the Organization. We also set for ourselves economic and

social goals. In some cases, we went as far as to agree on

specific time-bound targets by which progress would be

measured. This session, therefore, marks the beginning of

a process of fulfilling these solemn commitments that we

made last year.

Crucial to fulfilling these commitments is the issue

of the reform of the United Nations, which is now under

way. Reform and continuous renewal are indispensable if

the future of the Organization is to be secured. All of us

have to play our part with the hope and determination

necessary to carry forward the United Nations reform

agenda with speed and thoroughness. In this way, we can

work towards strengthening the Organization and make it

serve humanity more effectively. It is my conviction that

the United Nations can achieve greater success if we, the

stakeholders, work towards creating a much improved

Organization.

As the twenty-first century approaches, the greatest

challenge facing the international community is to improve

the living conditions of the majority of people. Every

human being must have access to opportunities that afford

a decent livelihood under conditions that are free from

want, disease, hunger and ignorance. The World Summit

for Social Development held in Copenhagen last year

adopted a framework to deal with poverty and other social

problems. Far too many people, especially women and

children, are vulnerable to marginalization and deprivation.

We need to invest more resources to end the conditions of

endemic human deprivation existing in many parts of the

world today.

There are several other areas where we need to

improve the social conditions of life. The first ever World

Congress on the Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in

Stockholm, Sweden, in August this year, presented in

graphic detail the atrocities being committed against

children. Many young lives are being wasted in the huge,

illegal international business of child prostitution and

pornography. As a civilized world, we cannot allow

lifestyles that are attuned to the sexual abuse of children. It

is the hope of my delegation that all countries of the world

will work expeditiously to implement the Agenda for

Action adopted at the World Congress. In the same vein,

the international community must continue to protect and

promote the rights of the child by implementing the

provisions of the Declaration and Programme of Action of

the World Summit for Children.

The United Nations has also articulated various

programmes aimed at the improvement of the status of

women and youth. Commitments contained in the Beijing

Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the World

Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and

Beyond, require the devoted attention of the international

community, especially with regard to empowerment

strategies in the critical areas of employment, education,

health and participation in societal decision-making. It is

incumbent upon us all to honour the commitments we made

in the declarations and the programmes of action. My

country has committed itself to the attainment of the

objectives contained in these documents. Women and

children are invaluable resources that can be neglected

only at the world’s own peril.

It is fitting that we begin this session shortly after

the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty (CTBT). Zambia supported the adoption of this

Treaty because of our commitment to general and

complete disarmament under effective international

control. It is in the same spirit that my country signed the

Pelindaba Treaty, establishing Africa as a nuclear-free

zone, on 11 April this year. Zambia will be signing the

CTBT with the hope that all other countries of the world

will do so as well, in the spirit of the traditional

recognition by the United Nations that disarmament is one

of the priority questions of international relations. In this

regard, Zambia would like to call on nuclear-weapon

States to inject a new spirit of commitment to ensuring

nuclear disarmament, in accordance with article 6 of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In this connection, my delegation wishes to reiterate

the conviction that the time has indeed come for the

convening of another special session of the General

Assembly, in 1999, devoted to disarmament. My

delegation believes that such a session would offer

additional possibilities for the international community to

review, from a perspective more in tune with the current

international situation, the most critical aspects of the

process of disarmament in the post-cold-war era.

It is common knowledge that in most of today’s

conflicts the most widely used weapons are small arms

and light weapons. None is more menacing than land-

mines, the use of which is widespread. Currently more

than 110 million of them are buried in various parts of

the world, mostly in developing countries. The world

cannot continue to lose human lives from these lethal

weapons. In this regard, my delegation fully supports calls

for the banning at the global level of the use, stockpiling,

production and sale of anti-personnel land-mines for all

time. Zambia will therefore support initiatives, during this

session of the General Assembly, to effect such a global

ban.

The issue of small arms and light weapons brings

me to the question of conflicts in various parts of the

world that our Organization has increasingly been called

upon to resolve. The international community faces the

challenge of bringing peace in countries where warring

factions show, in some cases, irreconcilable ethnic

differences and other forms of intolerance.

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The African region has its sad share of these conflicts

that have led to great loss of life, displacement of people

and the disruption of vital economic activities. Burundi is

one such major challenge. The measures to restore the

parliament in Burundi and unban political parties, which

were announced on 11 September by the military regime of

Major Pierre Buyoya, are steps in the right direction. My

delegation, however, wishes to underscore the point that

changes of Government should occur only through

constitutional and internationally accepted means.

Therefore, unless and until a constitutional Government is

established in Burundi, my Government will continue to

withhold recognition of the Buyoya regime. The immediate

action of the countries of the Great Lakes region to impose

sanctions on Burundi following the coup d’état of 25 July

1996 deserves the commendation of the United Nations.

There is no doubt that this action is what has forced the

military Government in Burundi to restore the parliament

and to unban political parties.

We are encouraged with regard to Rwanda by the fact

that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has

finally been established and that its work has started. It is

vitally important that the perpetrators of genocide in

Rwanda in 1994 should be brought to justice. This would

serve as a deterrent to others who would otherwise be

tempted to commit similar crimes. The re-emergence of

genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity

should be a source of great worry to the international

community. Such crimes should not be allowed to continue,

because they violate fundamental human rights and strike

at the very foundation of the international legal system.

The Economic Community of West African States

Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) has done an admirable job

of containing the situation in Liberia and preventing it from

degenerating further. We are now seeing more promising

steps towards the settlement of the conflict in Liberia. The

gains achieved in Liberia can only be consolidated by the

continued support of the international community for

ECOMOG so that the timetable adopted at the recent Abuja

summit can be effectively implemented.

The peace process in Angola is also on track, as

evidenced by the quartering and disarmament, which are

now almost complete after some extensions. The Assembly

is also aware that only two days ago the situation in Angola

was deliberated upon by Heads of State or Government of

the Southern African Development Community in order to

bring the leadership of the Movimento Popular de

Libertação de Angola-Partido Trabalhista (MPLA) and the

União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola

(UNITA) together. Unfortunately, the UNITA leader,

Mr. Jonas Savimbi failed to attend.

Efforts to bring peace to Angola will nevertheless

continue. The regional summit on Angola demonstrated

the strong commitment of the leaders of southern Africa

to the resolution of the conflict in Angola. However, the

international community needs to be continuously

engaged in order to ensure that the situation is resolved.

We urge that the integration of former UNITA guerrillas

into the national army of Angola be speeded up to

consolidate the peace process. Zambia would also like to

urge Mr. Jonas Savimbi and other UNITA leaders to be

more resolute in the implementation of the commitments

they made in the Lusaka Protocol.

I wish to take this opportunity to commend the

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on

Angola, Mr. Alioune Blondin Beye, for the good work he

has done in the Angolan peace process. However, even

when peace finally comes to Angola, it will be important

for the international community to provide assistance to

that country in areas that will facilitate rapid national

reconstruction, such as mine clearance.

The issue of Western Sahara continues to be Africa’s

last unresolved colonial question. My delegation believes

that it is not beyond the wisdom of this Assembly to

overcome whatever obstacles may be standing in the way

of a referendum. We would therefore like to appeal to the

principal parties to cooperate with the Secretary-General

in finding a lasting solution to this problem.

With regard to Somalia, my delegation is concerned

at the apparent lack of efforts by the international

community towards finding a lasting solution to the crisis

in that country. The situation in Somalia is also not

conducive to regional peace and security. We therefore

call upon the international community to seek ways and

means through appropriate organs to assist the people of

Somalia to reach accommodation with each other, just as

we call on the Somali factions themselves to work

towards a genuine political settlement so that peace may

return to that country.

The situation in the Middle East is a source of great

danger to regional peace and security. We urge the parties

to the conflict not to abandon but to consolidate the peace

process brought about through sacrifice and painstaking

work. The violent confrontation that has taken place in

the past three days is a matter of grave concern to us.

Zambia still believes, however, that the parties will

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harness the moral courage and the political will that are

necessary to return to the peace process. Zambia believes

that for the peace process to restart and gain momentum,

the new Government in Israel should respect and implement

the agreements already reached on the Middle East peace

process, in accordance with the norms of international law.

Since its inception, the United Nations has faced the

challenge of facilitating effective international economic

cooperation. However, we have yet to attain a satisfactory

level where countries of the world can pursue prospects for

development through the machinery of the Organization.

Multilateralism is indispensable to the management of the

process of the globalization of the world economy that is

now going on. Major issues like foreign direct investment,

currency stability, external debt problems, international

trade and commodity price stabilization require durable

multilateral cooperative arrangements.

It is the hope of my delegation that the current work

taking place at the United Nations on an Agenda for

Development, the strengthening of the United Nations and

prospective new modalities for financing operational

activities for development will generate possibilities to

implement fully the provisions of Chapter IX of the Charter

of the United Nations. It is also the hope of my delegation

that the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions will not

further erode the capacity of the United Nations to deal

with economic questions.

It is, however, a matter of concern to my delegation

that United Nations agencies and departments are facing

budget cuts because of the continuing financial crisis of the

world body. Our concern is heightened by the fact that in

March this year, the United Nations embarked on a decade-

long process of promoting African development through its

System-wide Special Initiative for Africa. The United

Nations, which is at the centre of the implementation of the

Special Initiative, requires strong institutional capacities.

The continuing financial crisis is certainly going to erode

this institutional capacity further.

The Special Initiative and the Zambian economic

reform programme complement each other. We hope that

this is also the case with other African countries. We are

also particularly happy that the Special Initiative gives

prominence to peace-building, conflict resolution, national

reconciliation and strengthening of the capacity for

governance in the wide agenda of socio-economic

development on the African continent. As is well known,

economic progress in Africa has all too often been

undermined by conflicts.

As the international community supports African

development, we once again draw its attention to the

burden of external debt that is stunting African

development. Both the Special Initiative and the United

Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in

the 1990s recognize that the major obstacle to sustained

economic growth and development is the problem of

external debt. It is the expectation of my delegation that

deeper debt reduction going beyond the Naples terms can

be agreed upon in the near future. Deep debt reduction

will go a long way in facilitating domestic savings and

investments in Africa, especially in the social sectors, and

thereby reduce poverty, environmental degradation and

dependency on aid.

Before I conclude, I should say a few words about

the political situation in Zambia. In November 1991, my

country embarked on a multi-party democratic process.

We are almost at the end of the first five-year period of

democratization. Zambia will hold presidential and

parliamentary elections this year under conditions of firm

political stability. We are determined to maintain this

stability by ensuring that peace prevails throughout the

election period. The Movement for Multiparty

Democracy, which is currently running the Government,

has been unequivocal in condemning all forms of political

violence and intolerance.

There is no political crisis in Zambia. The people of

Zambia have continued with their daily lives in peace,

security and full confidence in the political process of the

country. In order to demonstrate good faith in the conduct

of the democratic process, the Government of Zambia has

invited international observers to participate in monitoring

our elections. These are in addition to local independent

election monitors. It is our desire that as many observers

as possible should participate in this process, which is

aimed at consolidating democracy.

Zambia believes that the ideals of the United Nations

are indispensable to the development of the partnership of

countries. It is therefore the supreme duty of all of us to

promote and uphold them. In this context, I would like to

conclude by reaffirming the faith of my delegation in the

ideals of the United Nations.