Angola, 2010

First, I should

like to take this opportunity to congratulate the

President on his election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session and to

assure him that he can count on the support of Angola

so that at the end of this session we will all be better

prepared to respond to the multiple and complex

challenges facing the international community. I also

take this opportunity to convey, though the President,

our most sincere gratitude to the outgoing President for

the selfless manner in which he conducted the sixty-

fourth session.

In the last decade several events have profoundly

marked the world community, including natural

calamities and man-made disasters, which should lead

us to consider the need to work towards a more

cooperative and increasingly integrated world, for no

one is immune to those phenomena. The terrorist attack

of 2001 on the Twin Towers of New York that killed

more than 3,000 people, the tsunami of December 2004

in which more than 200,000 people perished, the recent

earthquake in Haiti that caused more than 200,000

deaths, and the series of natural disasters that have

occurred on every continent, added to the global

financial and economic crisis, should awaken us to the

fact that we live in a different world that requires

broader cooperation among nations, given that those

phenomena are unforeseeable.

Therefore, in today’s world, the consequences of

the irresponsibility of a few can have repercussions on

the lives of us all. It is thus imperative that we pursue

relationships that have greater balance and equality

between large and small and rich and poor, because the

new reality is that we are increasingly interdependent

in a global world.

Angola, has always been convinced of the

important role of the United Nations and of multilateral

diplomacy in general, because no country can progress

and develop unilaterally, isolated from the community

of nations and alienated from the common problems

affecting humanity as a whole.

25 10-55276

In the President’s speech to the General Assembly

on the occasion of his election (see A/64/PV.93),

among other things he set the following topics as

priorities for the sixty-fifth session: climate change, the

Millennium Development Goals, food security,

sustainable development, rebuilding and strengthening

fragile post-conflict States, and humanitarian aid and

disarmament. Angola is of the opinion that the

environment and other issues he mentioned must

remain priorities on the national and international

agendas. They are crucial for sustainable development,

for the growth of our economies, for the implementation

of national strategies for combating poverty, and for

the attainment of the Millennium Goals.

At the Food and Agriculture Organization’s

Regional Conference for Africa, held recently in

Luanda, the participants expressed their concern about

the impact of climate change on the world food crisis

in some regions and recommended that States make an

extra effort to reduce its impact on agriculture.

Angola believes in the importance of

multilateralism as the best form of treatment and

resolution of the multifaceted challenges that humanity

faces today. In that context Angola advocates a shared

commitment to find solutions to our problems at all

levels.

My country gives priority to political and

diplomatic coordination and to strengthening

institutional relations with the organizations of the

United Nations system, as well as with the regional and

subregional organizations to which it belongs, namely,

the African Union, the Southern African Development

Community (SADC), the Economic Community of

Central African States (ECCAS), the International

Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and

the Commission on the Gulf of Guinea, the latter

having its headquarters in Angola.

In the Commission on the Gulf of Guinea,

member States cooperate with a view to managing

potential conflicts linked to maritime borders and

managing shared maritime resources, as well as

coordinating policies for the prevention of maritime

trafficking and piracy, thus providing security to a

region that produces more than 15 per cent of the

world’s oil.

With that motivation, Angola and its armed forces

bravely participated in the liberation of southern

Africa, having contributed to the independence of

Namibia and to the end of apartheid in South Africa.

With that same motivation we contributed to the

stabilization of the Republic of Congo and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. With other

international partners of the United Nations, we are

participating in the training of the armed forces of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Today the Angolan armed forces are a factor for

stability not only for Angola, but also for the southern

and central regions of Africa, where we are part of the

early warning mechanisms of SADC and ECCAS. At

present we are committed to finding solutions to the

crisis in Guinea-Bissau, in close cooperation with other

partners in West Africa, namely, the Economic

Community of West African States, and in partnership

with the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

It was therefore with great amazement that we

learned of the mention of involvement by the Angolan

armed forces in alleged acts of human rights violations

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a report

intended to be circulated as a document of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights. We stress that that

document was produced at the initiative of an organ of

the United Nations Secretariat with no specific mandate

from the Secretary-General or from Member States.

It is important to emphasize before the Assembly

that Angola intervened in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo on the basis of a SADC mandate, at the

request of the Government of the Democratic Republic.

That intervention made it possible to stop the

bloodbath and to save the lives of millions of people

and lay the basis for the negotiations that culminated in

the establishment of the transitional Government, the

installation of the United Nations peacekeeping

mission and the successful holding of the first

democratic elections. It thus contributed to the

pacification of the Great Lakes region.

Angola vehemently rejects the insinuation and

considers abnormal the manner in which that so-called

mapping exercise was conducted. We question the

motivations behind that venture. We would like to

reiterate that Angola and the Angolan armed forces will

continue to act responsibly and on the basis of

international standards and scrupulous respect for

human rights.

The report of the Secretary-General to the sixty-

fifth session contains references to peace and security,

considering them essential for development and for the

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promotion of and respect for human rights. Angola

shares the concerns of the Secretary-General. Our

experience shows that only peace, the democratic rule

of law and respect for human rights can guarantee the

stability necessary for sustainable development and

improvement of the living conditions of our people.

Angola encourages the efforts by regional organizations

and the United Nations in conflict resolution and

peacekeeping to ensure global security and stability.

A situation that is certainly of concern to all of us

is the conflict in the Middle East. Angola recognizes

that it has lasted a long time, with serious

consequences for the population. Therefore we support

the resumption of peace talks by President Barack

Obama with a view to creating a Palestinian State that

coexists peacefully with the State of Israel.

Angola is also concerned at the persistence of the

economic, commercial and financial blockade against

Cuba, despite successive General Assembly resolutions

demanding its immediate removal. That unilateral

measure, particularly its extraterritorial effects, is

contrary to the principles and norms of international

law and contributes to the precarious humanitarian and

social situation of the Cuban population. From this

rostrum we reiterate our vehement appeal for the lifting

of a measure whose anachronistic nature has been

restated here on numerous occasions.

Regarding the question of Western Sahara,

Angola notes with concern that despite various United

Nations resolutions and initiatives, there has not been

the type of progress that would lead to meeting the

aspirations of the Saharan people. We urge the

Secretary-General to continue his efforts to attain those

objectives.

Mutually beneficial cooperation, the promotion of

peace and respect for human rights remain the major

drivers of Angolan foreign policy, based on the

observance of the principles of respect for sovereignty

and territorial integrity, equality and non-interference

in the internal affairs of other countries.

Internally, and as a result of experiences during

different periods in our history, marked by three

decades of war and political instability, Angola is now

entering a new cycle, of which we are very proud. It is

characterized by the adoption of a new constitution that

marks the end of the transition period and definitively

establishes democratic rule of law, given that elections

will be held in June 2012.

We are aware that we still have a long way to go,

especially in view of all the time lost and the delays

accumulated in several areas. But it seems important to

us to emphasize that the progress already achieved did

not happen by chance. Rather, it resulted from the

leadership efforts of the Angolan executive organs, the

pragmatism of its policies and its commitment to better

the human development indexes, which are reflected

today in the improved welfare of the people.

After eight years of peace, Angola has

implemented economic and social reform policies that

have allowed for the revitalization of its economy and

the rehabilitation of key infrastructure. Such policies

have enabled the country’s annual growth rates to

average double digits, with a direct impact on the

improvement of basic indicators of the Millennium

Development Goals.

Since 2002 more than 2 million children have

been enrolled in primary education. The percentage of

children attending school has risen sharply, to 76 per

cent. The rate of infant and maternal mortality fell

considerably, from 1,400 per 100,000 live births in

2001 to 660 per 100,000 live births in 2010. Moreover,

in order to eradicate hunger and poverty, Angola has

adopted its National Food Security Strategy (2009-

2014) as a mechanism to increase agricultural

production in a sustainable manner.

We are convinced that the international

community is also aware of how much still has to be

done, particularly in the areas of financing for

development and the materialization of the

commitments made at major international conferences

on financing for development.

Finally, the reform of the Security Council, given

its importance in the democratization of international

relations, must remain a topic on the agenda of the

Organization. In that connection, Angola reiterates its

support for the African common position embodied in

the Ezulwini Consensus.