Algeria, 1998

A

unanimous tribute has been paid to you, Sir, and, through

you, to your country, Uruguay, by your election to the

presidency at this session of the General Assembly. I am

pleased to join in that tribute by congratulating you on

this well-deserved distinction and wishing you all success

in the discharge of your mission.

I should also like to pay tribute to your predecessor,

Mr. Udovenko, who was able to meet our expectations in

exemplary fashion at a time when our Organization was

embarking on a course of reform. Mr. Kofi Annan has

fully committed himself, with imagination and courage, to

that same course of reform, and he has succeeded in

making strides that call for our sincere expression of

gratitude and recognition.

That reform is now on the right course. It is meeting

the collective expectations that have been expressed. But

more than that, it comes at the right moment, just as new

problems are arising to test our skills in diagnosing the

new challenges and in formulating policies that are

capable of responding to these challenges and aspirations.

However new these problems may be, they are a

natural consequence of humanity’s progress towards the

fulfilment of its destiny. They have arisen out of the

unprecedentedly swift changes that have taken place in

international relations for a full decade.

These problems have names. They present

challenges that were heretofore unknown to us, and they

demand solutions that go beyond our customary

frameworks of thought, analysis and action. Let us first

identify these problems by their names: globalization,

interdependence, development, peace and collective

security.

These are but workshops which nourish our diverse

debates and contradictory approaches. They raised

certainties on the part of some and doubts and warnings

on the part of others. Until now, the debate has been

limited to exchanges of ideas, confined to the approaches

or projections that each of us has formulated from our

own perspectives, our own calculations and our own

20

national interests. Today, the facts themselves have been

determined. It is incumbent upon us to confront what

yesterday was nothing but conjecture and today is a living

reality, in keeping with the principles and ideals of the

United Nations which our countries embody.

This is the case with globalization, which was long

presented to us as being capable of ensuring universal

prosperity, and to which was attributed the virtue of

limitless growth. However, many of our countries have

expressed their doubts, their warnings of the dislocations

and dangers which would result from a globalization which

lacks the least means of appropriate regulation, coordination

and monitoring. In the absence of such instruments of

regulation, coordination and monitoring, and given the

acknowledged shortcomings of the existing mechanisms,

globalization rightly gives rise more often to doubts and

fears than to support and conviction.

There is no better illustration of the tragic

consequences which could result from those dislocations

than the Asian crisis, the results of which are still

unfolding, threatening the economies of many regions of

the world to such a degree that the spectre of widespread

recession has re-emerged. In fact, rather than being a force

for integration, globalization has turned into a force for

exclusion and marginalization.

This state of affairs forces us to think collectively

about how to reimbue globalization with its original and

ideal purpose so that it can meet the aspirations placed in

it for universal progress in justice and solidarity.

Globalization represents a comprehensive challenge which

must be met by comprehensive regulation, coordination and

dialogue. Until then, the existing mechanisms must be

strengthened in their assigned functions of prevention and

interposition.

Finally, regional integration as an integral component

of a well-balanced and carefully monitored globalization,

must be accompanied by bold and effective initiatives.

The problem of interdependence is structurally linked

to that of globalization. The arrival of an age of

interdependence among nations has fed the great hope of

creating and diversifying the bonds that are necessary for

expanding the area of cooperation and exchange among our

countries. However, the erosion of international cooperation

for development, as well as the imbalances in the present

system of world economic relations, still represent basic

impediments on the road to crystallizing true interdependent

relationships.

At the core of the problem of globalization and

interdependence is development — a crucial problem,

which has not yet received the attention that is due to it.

On the contrary, it is increasingly marginalized in our

discussions today, as well as in the design of world

economic policies.

Finally, the problem of peace and collective security

has encountered new challenges other than those with

which it was identified before and which still exist till

today.

From this perspective, I speak of the phenomenon of

terrorism. Terrorism has no respect for human life and is

capable of perpetrating the most vile crimes against

humankind. By its logic of terror, death and destruction,

it seeks to strike at the foundations of every civilized

society. For these reasons, terrorism is truly characterized

as the most serious threat to our societies and the nations

of the world as a whole.

Terrorism is a global phenomenon which calls for a

global response from the international community. Algeria

is pleased to note that after having underestimated and

incorrectly analysed terrorism for a long time, the

international community increasingly seems to be more

cognizant of its dangers and aware that the time has come

to supplement unilateral and isolated action on the part of

States fighting terrorism with collective and resolute

action.

With this perspective in mind, conditions are now

right for us to go beyond mere verbal condemnation of

terrorism to ensure that intentions and actions would

really go hand in hand through effective international

cooperation whose goal is to fight terrorism. The

elimination of this scourge is no longer a mere moral

obligation for humankind. It has also become a political

necessity in an age of interdependence and globalization.

For that reason Algeria believes that the time has

come to give serious consideration to the preparation of

a global convention to prevent and fight all acts of

terrorism and to serve as a legal framework for the

organization and implementation of international

cooperation in that matter. Such a project should take

shape as of now in the form of concerted and sustained

action on the part of the entire international community to

dismantle terrorism’s multifaceted support networks and

rear bases, dry up its financial resources and bring to trial

the perpetrators of terrorist acts and their accomplices and

abettors. The convening of a world summit on terrorism,

21

which received broad support in this Assembly, would be

a basic step in that direction. Algeria fully supports the idea

of such a summit and stands completely ready to make its

contribution to it.

In view of Algeria’s belonging to several spheres —

the Maghreb, the Mediterranean, the Arab and the

African — it has constructed its foreign policy on the

principles of openness, solidarity, good-neighbourliness and

cooperation. Algeria embodies these principles in its

immediate environment, the Maghreb, convinced that only

a united Maghreb community would serve the cause of

peace, stability and the development of the countries of our

region.

These same principles have moved Algeria to tireless

support for a just and definitive solution to the conflict in

Western Sahara. We fully support the United Nations

settlement plan, in cooperation with the Organization of

African Unity, which calls for the holding of a free, fair

and impartial referendum on self-determination.

Like the rest of the international community, Algeria

welcomes the Houston accord, through which the two

parties to the conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco and the

POLISARIO front, solemnly agreed on the practical

modalities for implementing the provisions of the settlement

plan under the auspices of the United Nations. Today, one

year after the conclusion of that accord, and despite the

real, significant progress resulting, in large part, from the

efforts of the Secretary-General, of his Personal Envoy

Mr. James Baker, and of his Special Representative, serious

obstacles still stand in the path to the plan’s

implementation. If they are not overcome, these obstacles,

which the Secretary-General has clearly identified in

successive reports, along with their causes, could seriously

compromise the chances of holding the long-awaited

referendum.

Therefore it is now necessary to solemnly and urgently

appeal for full and strict respect for the commitments

undertaken and to reaffirm the responsibility of the United

Nations, in particular the Security Council, with regard to

the full and strict implementation of the settlement plan and

the Houston accord so as to ensure that the people of the

Western Sahara can exercise their inalienable right to selfdetermination.

As in the Maghreb, Algeria has been working in the

Mediterranean to ensure that there will be an atmosphere of

stability, peace, cooperation and prosperity. The machinery

for consultation and cooperation that was set up through the

Barcelona process has opened new horizons for the

development of a true partnership between the two shores

of that shared sea, a partnership directed towards

developing a zone of shared prosperity in the

Mediterranean. In this context, Algeria undertook

negotiations on an agreement of association with the

European Union aimed at putting in place the conditions

necessary for renewed and mutually beneficial

cooperation between the two parties.

Within the same Mediterranean region, and after the

launching of the peace process which raised great hopes,

feelings of anxiety and pessimism have again returned

since the peace mechanism has become stalemated.

The Israeli Administration, by reneging on

commitments made in Oslo and Washington, by

abandoning the principle of land for peace, by continuing

its settlement policy and by repeatedly attacking the

integrity and sacredness of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, has led to

the undermining of the peace process, rekindling the

frustrations and anger of the Palestinian people and

threatening the entire region with a return to the era of

confrontation which prevailed there for more than 40

years.

In order to deal with this perilous situation, we must

recall that the just, comprehensive and lasting settlement

to the conflict in the Middle East requires the full and

unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the

Palestinian and occupied Arab territories and the exercise

of the right of self-determination by the Palestinian

people, including the establishment of its own State with

Al-Quds as its capital.

In the same part of the world, the suffering of the

brotherly Iraqi people continues to dismay us. In this

regard, we cannot but reiterate our call for the rapid

lifting of the embargo on Iraq. Similarly, we renew the

same call with regard to the brotherly Libyan people, who

are also the victims of cruel economic sanctions, which

we hope will be lifted soon, in view of the recent positive

developments in the Lockerbie case.

In its relations with its African neighbours, as in its

relations with other African countries, Algeria has always

worked to ensure that there will be strong bonds of

cooperation and solidarity with a view to achieving the

political and economic unification of the continent.

Intrastate and inter-State conflicts in Africa can only

damage this ambitious and legitimate project. We

therefore call for the settlement of these conflicts and

22

crises by utilizing existing African mechanisms, particularly

the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and

Resolution, on the basis of respect for the territorial

integrity and sovereignty of States and also the frontiers

inherited from colonialization.

For a decade Africa has been making profound

political, economic and social reforms for which the

international community must provide resolute and

meaningful support, as the Secretary-General of our

Organization called for in his comprehensive and thorough

report.

In less than two months the international community

will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights. Such anniversaries provide

a good opportunity for collective self-review, which impels

us to acknowledge that in the field of human rights, the

situation is certainly much better than it was 50 years ago.

The people’s liberation movement and the global spread of

democracy have certainly played a crucial role in promoting

and consolidating human rights.

There can be no doubt that the significant progress

made in democratization and the establishment within the

State of the rule of law will remain fragile and will be

endangered unless they are accompanied by meeting the

economic, social and cultural needs of the citizens. This is

because true democracy cannot take root permanently and

soundly in places of deprivation and want.

In this connection and in the name of my country, I

wish to reaffirm our strong attachment to the universality,

interdependence and indivisibility of human rights and our

resolute commitment to promote them free from any

manipulation or politicization.

If we wish to sum up these complex and multifarious

challenges facing mankind today, this could be done

through one essential question: how can we make sure that

the evolving new world order will be more just and more

secure, will have greater solidarity and will truly address

the interests and aspirations of everyone?

That is the question which, of course, involves our

country, and through it, mankind as a whole. And what

better forum to answer this question is there than the

United Nations, which brings us together and through

whose Charter we have proclaimed our determination “to

practise tolerance and live together in peace with one

another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to

maintain international peace and security, and ... to employ

international machinery for the promotion of the

economic and social advancement of all peoples”.

The challenges of the present are embodied in these

basic values and these shared purposes. In fact, the

primacy given to these values and the attainment of these

purposes are contingent on our ability to mobilize our

collective energies. Mankind, which has mastered science

and technology, has achieved considerable progress in the

utilization of the resources of our world and has

established its control over the means of its progress.

Now it has in its hands the keys to its destiny. Using the

keys to its destiny for the common good depends on

humankind, and on humankind alone.