Zimbabwe, 1998

At the outset I would

like to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti on his unanimous

election to the presidency of the fifty-third session of the

General Assembly. His election is a well-deserved tribute

to his own admirable diplomatic skills and also a vote of

confidence in his country, Uruguay. My delegation

intends to cooperate fully with him as he guides the work

of this Assembly.

I would like to take this opportunity to express our

sincere appreciation to his predecessor, our friend

Hennadiy Udovenko, of the Republic of Ukraine, for the

able and exemplary manner in which he presided over the

work of the fifty-second session.

In the same vein, we would like to pay tribute to the

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, whose style of work

and vigorous response to the various crises that have

beset the international community we deeply appreciate.

We want to reiterate our confidence in his work and

continued support for his leadership.

Following the United Nations fiftieth anniversary

celebrations, we, the Member States, reaffirmed our

commitment to the purposes and principles of the

Organization as enshrined in the Charter and further took

on the responsibility of charting an institutional

9

framework and operational parameters that would enhance

the Organizationâs relevance and effectiveness in the

twenty-first century. The reform proposals made by the

Secretary-General in 1997 attempted to articulate a vision

of the future for a United Nations Organization that is more

focused and coherent and one that better reflects the new

geopolitical realities of the post-cold-war era.

We are encouraged that the first phase of the reform

of the United Nations system was launched when the

Secretary-General began to implement those measures that

fall within his sphere of competence as chief administrative

officer of our Organization. My Government has taken full

cognizance of those measures, as well as of proposals for

reform, and is carefully considering them in detail.

The proposal to convene a Millennium Assembly to

articulate a vision for the United Nations in the new century

has our full support. All Member States must actively

participate in the preparations for and holding of the

Millennium Assembly in order to come up with a

consensus document to guide the Organization into the next

century. However, we believe that the proposed sunset

provisions, which are to effect cut-off mechanisms for some

issues on the United Nations agenda, need to be carefully

considered. My Government will lend its support to any

development dividend that channels savings generated by

administrative efficiency into a Development Account,

especially if it benefits developing countries. We must

continue to search for a general agreement on the proper

and efficient utilization of the Development Account.

When the reform process was first initiated, my

Government alluded to the need for us, the Member States,

to formulate a mechanism to deal with the financial crisis,

which, much to our chagrin, continues to worsen. I reiterate

once again that it is we, the Member States, who have to

pay our dues promptly, in full and unconditionally or risk

being an ineffective Organization that is incapable of

meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Still on the process of reform, my Government is

disappointed by the excruciatingly slow progress being

made in the Open-ended Working Group on the Question

of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters

Related to the Security Council. The key issue of the

expansion still preoccupies the Working Group and a

solution continues to elude that Group. Africa, for its part,

remains steadfast in its just demand for two permanent

seats — to be shared on a rotational basis — as well as for

three non-permanent seats. The system of rotation is an

innovation that Africa is proposing in the name of

democracy and sovereign equality of Member States. It

may not suit other regions, and we have stated that we

are preparing it for the Africa region alone. I take this

opportunity once more to urge our friends outside the

Africa region to support our just demand, as it is intended

to enhance the representative nature and authority of the

Security Council.

It has also become apparent that the impasse in the

deliberations of the Working Group is a result of the

nonacceptance by a handful of powerful countries of the

sacrosanct principles of equitable representation,

democracy and transparency. We hold that the

democratization of the United Nations system is integral

to its continued legitimacy and efficacy. Conversely, the

increasing inefficiencies and lack of efficacy that we

witness today on the part of the Security Council are in

large measure the consequence of its lack of moral

authority, itself the result of the unrepresentative and

undemocratic nature of the Council as it is presently

constituted.

In the name of human rights, pressure has been

brought to bear especially on developing countries to

democratize their national political systems and to become

more transparent, and most of them have done so. We

therefore insist that the same processes of democratization

and transparency should characterize international

relations, particularly the reform of the United Nations

system.

Let me recall that the Movement of Non-Aligned

Countries has on several occasions spoken against the

anachronistic and undemocratic nature of the power of the

veto. The Movement has proposed the restriction of the

scope of the veto to matters pertaining to Chapter VII of

the Charter, with a view to its eventual abolition. But

while the veto exists we insist that all new permanent

members should, in accordance with the principle of

sovereign equality of Member States, equally wield the

power of the veto.

Africa has witnessed a dramatic broadening of

relative peace and stability with the return of democracy

to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The return of the legitimate

Government of Sierra Leone is of particular significance

to the African continent, as it came about as a result of

resolute action by the Economic Community of West

African States to reverse the military coup in that country.

This was in conformity with an Organization of African

Unity (OAU) watershed resolution taken at the Harare

10

summit in 1997 in response to the coup in Sierra Leone to

the effect that henceforth Africa will not accept the change

of a legitimate Government on the continent by military

means.

Another example of the positive political developments

in Africa has been the various steps taken by the present

Government of Nigeria to return that key country to

democratic governance. It is only fair that those who have

been critical of events in that country in the past should

now openly welcome the recent positive developments.

But the situation in Africa has not been without its

disappointments. The deteriorating situation in Angola

deserves our urgent attention. The achievement of peace

and stability in that country continues to be obstructed by

UNITAâs constant and deliberate non-compliance with the

implementation of the Lusaka Protocol or with relevant

resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. We

urge the UNITA leadership to heed to the voice of reason

and give peace a chance in Angola. We equally urge those

members of the international community who have

influence on the UNITA leader to persuade him. In the

meantime, we ask the international community to join

Angola and the countries of the Southern African

Development Community (SADC) in their decision to work

with those positive elements in UNITA who have

committed themselves to continue with the peace process in

Angola.

Sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of

States are age-old principles of international law, and

respect for them is the bedrock of inter-State relations.

These fundamental principles are at the core of the United

Nations Charter, to which we all subscribe. They are held

equally sacrosanct in the Non-Aligned Movement, the OAU

and many other international organizations. Therefore any

violation of these principles cannot and must not be taken

lightly, as it poses a serious threat to international peace

and security.

Sadly, in our subregion, the Democratic Republic of

the Congo has recently fallen victim to such flagrant

violations of international law. In August this year, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo found itself under siege

by rebels supported by foreign troops. Realizing that the

fall of Kinshasa was imminent, the legitimate Government

of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in accordance

with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, appealed for

assistance from Southern African Development Community

(SADC) member States to enable it to defend its

sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The presence in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo of allied forces from the SADC States of Angola,

Namibia and Zimbabwe is a response to this call and has

the objective of upholding the fundamental provisions of

the Charters of the United Nations and of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the inviolability

of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence

of member States. It is also in line with the OAU

resolution approved at the Harare summit of 1997

condemning the change of legitimate Governments by

military means, as well as in compliance with a 1995

resolution of the SADC Inter-State Defence and Security

Committee in which SADC member States agreed to take

collective action in cases of attempted coups to remove

legitimate Governments by military means in the

subregion. It is in conformity with that very decision

taken by SADC that, as I speak, troops from the Republic

of South Africa and the Republic of Botswana, two

SADC countries, are involved in upholding the authority

of the legal Government of Lesotho against army

mutineers.

My country remains committed to the search for a

negotiated settlement to the crisis in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo in accordance with the relevant

provisions of the Charters of the United Nations, the

OAU and of SADC. It will be recalled that since the

outbreak of the conflict, Zimbabwe has hosted two

summits with a view to finding durable peace and

stability in the Great Lakes region. The second Victoria

Falls summit, held from 7 to 8 September 1998, called

for a ceasefire in the conflict in the Democratic Republic

of the Congo. Zimbabwe remains committed to this

process. We appeal to the international community to

support Africaâs various initiatives aimed at establishing

durable peace in the Great Lakes region.

My country is concerned about the situation in the

Horn of Africa, where fraternal forces of the Federal

Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Eritrea are facing

each other, ready to go to war. We appeal to these

brotherly countries to continue cooperating with the OAU

in the search for a peaceful resolution to the border

conflict. In Western Sahara, we urge the parties to

complete the Houston accords peace process by holding

the proposed referendum.

We condemn the recent killings of innocent people

in the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi

and Dar-es-Salaam. We are disappointed by the stalemate

in the Middle East peace process. We urge the

Government of Israel to show flexibility in carrying

11

forward the peace process. The killing of Iranian diplomats

in Afghanistan is regrettable and unacceptable in inter-State

relations. We urge the parties to the Lockerbie affair to

seize the present opportunity to resolve this sad, long-

standing issue. We ask for good faith on all sides in order

to carry the process forward.

The African continent continues to face a multitude of

problems as it settles into the new world order. African

countries are implementing painful political, social and

economic adjustments to existing structures in order to

respond to the twin processes of liberalization and

globalization. We have embarked on structural adjustment

programmes, often at the behest of the Bretton Woods

institutions. These programmes have had a severely adverse

impact on the social welfare of the African countries. The

curtailment of expenditure on social programmes,

particularly health and educational facilities, in the absence

of the requisite safety nets, has worsened the living

conditions of the majority of the African peoples and in

some cases this has heightened instability and insecurity in

our countries.

For many developing countries, the issue of resource

flows cannot be dissociated from that of the external debt

problem. Figures continue to indicate that the overall debt

of developing countries is still on the increase. We believe

that new, comprehensive and coordinated approaches to the

debt and debt-servicing problem have to be adopted,

including outright forgiveness.

The critical economic situation in Africa, the least

developed and most marginalized of all regions, has to be

addressed if global economic growth and interdependence

are to have any meaning at all. Apart from the excruciating

and debilitating debt, there is need for an increased flow of

resources in the form of both official development

assistance and foreign direct investment.

I wish to conclude my remarks on economic matters

by mentioning an issue that is of vital importance to the

question of sustainable development: the World Solar

Programme 1996-2005, which was adopted by the World

Solar Commission. The promotion and popularization of

solar energy technologies can be a major contribution to

solving the worldâs energy crisis and ensuring the

availability of a clean and inexhaustible source of energy

for sustainable development. I urge all Member States to

support the draft resolution on the World Solar Programme,

which will be presented at this session.

In the field of disarmament, the much vaunted peace

dividend did not materialize at the end of the cold war.

On the contrary, it appears that an arms race is still with

us, and it is my Governmentâs strong conviction that the

international community must continue to work

purposefully for nuclear disarmament, as well as for the

total removal from the face of our planet of other

weapons of mass destruction and for stricter control over

the production, sale and movement of small arms. My

delegation was deeply disappointed that the United

Nations Disarmament Commission this year concluded its

substantive session without reaching an agreement on the

need for, or the agenda of, the fourth special session of

the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. We owe

it to posterity to lay the foundations of a third millennium

free from nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass

destruction.

My Government welcomes the International

Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings,

adopted at the fifty-second session of the General

Assembly, and the recently adopted Statute of the

proposed International Criminal Court. The international

community has long witnessed how ill-equipped Member

States of the United Nations have been in dealing with

international terrorism, and for us in Africa the recent

terrorist bombings of the United States embassies in

Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, which together claimed about

260 lives, brought home to us the vulnerability of

developing countries to the sophistication of modern

terrorism.

The Statute of the International Criminal Court has

forged the missing link in the international legal order and

is a genuine step forward in the field of human rights

law. It has created new inter-State relationships and

complementarity between national and international law.

As we come to the close of the Decade of International

Law, in 1999, we hope that the United Nations, especially

the Security Council, will also take decisions that will

result in the advancement of the primacy of the rule of

law in international relations in the next century.

In conclusion, my delegation wishes to make a brief

comment on the contemporary realities of the

international situation. Our balance sheet leaves much to

be desired. On the credit side, we have seen a modest

measure of success. We have witnessed a return to

democracy and peace in some countries where once there

was military despotism and armed conflict. We have

successfully paved the way for the establishment of the

International Criminal Court and forged new partnerships

12

between our regional organizations and the United Nations.

Yet we still have a daunting debit side. Conflicts still rage

in many parts of the world. Poverty, inequality and

underdevelopment still remain the order of the day for 90

per cent of the worldâs population. The AIDS pandemic

threatens to reverse the socio-economic gains made in most

of our countries over the years. The ongoing financial crisis

which engulfed South-East Asia and now threatens the

entire world reminds us that current efforts at a new

architecture both for controlling the free flow of money and

ushering in a new discipline in the financial institutions

should be brought about without delay. We have to

confront and reduce world poverty with determination at a

time when some within the Organization itself are still

resisting the democratic changes that are necessary for

enhancing the image and authority of the Organization and

making it effective in addressing these problems. Zimbabwe

believes that the time for change is here and now and that

Member States have a moral obligation to muster the

political will to make those changes.

Let the fifty-third session of the General Assembly be

one of qualitative and meaningful change for the people of

the world.