Botswana, 1993

Botswana and Guyana

have, since their attainment of independence, both in 1966,

been the closest of friends. That is why we have welcomed

the election of Ambassador Insanally of Guyana to the

presidency of the forty-eighth session with so much warmth

and anticipation. I say "anticipation" because we are

confident that he has the requisite experience, expertise and

diplomatic finesse to make a good and productive President

for this most hopeful session of the Organization.

Our gratitude goes to the outgoing President of the

forty-seventh session, the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, who

gave the best account of his skills in the service of the

Assembly last year.

14 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

The new Members who have just joined the United

Nations are most welcome in our midst. We assure them of

our fellowship and readiness to cooperate with them in the

service of peace here at the United Nations.

We also wish to congratulate the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, on the creative dynamism he has

injected into the work of the United Nations. We know his

work has not been easy. But under his able leadership the

United Nations has indeed demonstrated its capacity to serve

as a reliable instrument of impartial management of

international conflicts. Increasingly, we are seeing the

fulfilment of the ideas contained in what I think was the

most forward-looking report ever produced by a Secretary-

General of this Organization, "An Agenda for Peace".

Mr. Ansari (India), Vice-President, took the Chair.

We commend the efforts the Secretary-General has

undertaken so far to enhance the Organization’s

effectiveness. Botswana understands the concerns raised by

the Secretary-General when he addressed the Fifth

Committee in August. Many demands and problems foisted

on the United Nations have put a lot of strain on its coffers.

Resources made available by Member States are far from

enough to meet these demands. Thus, the Organization is

facing a financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude. The

biggest problem, as explained by the Secretary-General, is

the failure of some Member States to fulfil their financial

obligations by paying the assessed contribution for both the

regular budget and peace-keeping missions. Member States

must heed the Secretary-General’s call and fulfil their

Charter obligations by paying their contributions in full and

on time.

At the same time, it would be remiss of me not to

emphasize the need and importance of transparency and

accountability in the use of United Nations funds. Of late,

we have heard of many irregularities in the administration of

this Organization’s funds, in particular funds for peace-

keeping missions. A number of proposals have been put

forward by the various Member States for a review of the

rules and regulations governing United Nations finances.

The time has come to set up a respectable mechanism to

undertake this urgent task.

Although the cold war is no more and old ideological

empires have unravelled, the euphoria of triumphalism has

been short-lived. There is turmoil almost everywhere as

age-old nationalisms that have for so long been suppressed

explode with a vengeance that knows no limit. True to

character, the twentieth century will not, so it seems, fade

away peacefully.

The post-cold-war era and the celebrated onset of a new

world order have thus not brought peace to our world, but

more bloodshed, instability and insecurity in many places.

Consequently, there has been a rapid expansion of United

Nations peace-keeping operations - far beyond the capacity

of the Organization’s resources to manage. There is neither

the manpower nor the financial wherewithal for the United

Nations to be everywhere in the magnitude of presence that

is so often requested.

There is, nevertheless, every reason for us to be

satisfied with the valiant efforts which the Secretary-General

and his staff have exerted to ensure that the many fires of

civil war that have become such dominant features of the

so-called new world order do not engulf us all. The United

Nations has shown that, given the wherewithal, it can live up

to what we expect of it in the realm of peacemaking and

peace-keeping. Cambodia has just been saved from

self-destruction. Imagine what Somalia could have become

had the United States and the United Nations not intervened

to safeguard the delivery of the massive humanitarian

assistance which the international community has poured into

the famished country. Even in the Balkans, where the most

brutal and senseless civil war imaginable is in progress,

particularly in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina - a

civil war that for a year and a half has been defying every

solution attempted - the United Nations has played a

mitigating humanitarian role under the most difficult of

operational circumstances.

On Somalia, Botswana stands firm in its support for the

United Nations mission of mercy in that devastated country.

We condemn in the strongest terms the continued attack on

United Nations peace-keeping forces even as we deeply

regret the loss of innocent Somali lives. We cannot condone

the massive loss of civilian lives in Mogadishu, though at

the same time we need to be extremely circumspect in

apportioning blame to one side of the conflict or the other.

An international effort to save a people is in serious

jeopardy. An attack on United Nations peace-keeping forces

must never be taken lightly, for it is fraught with very

serious implications. The horrendous spectacle of the corpse

of a United Nations peace-keeper being dragged like a

garbage bag on the streets of Mogadishu deserves all the

opprobrium civilized humanity can heap on such a callous

act of inhumanity. The international community must not

flinch in the face of the acts of those in Mogadishu who are

bent on thwarting the process of reconstruction and

rehabilitation in Somalia.

In many ways, the United Nations Operation in Somalia

(UNOSOM) has been a success. Botswana is proud to have

made a contribution to UNOSOM, however modest.

Forty-eighth session - 11 October l993 15

The terrible civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a

monumental outrage that must shame us all as human

beings. A world that is able to tolerate scenes of tiny

innocent children being torn to pieces or maimed by

shrapnel and bullets - innocent and helpless victims of a war

that makes sense only to its perpetrators - is a world without

a conscience. The international community must devise

more creative ways and means of dealing effectively with

that savage conflict.

To turn to our own continent, in Mozambique there is

an encouraging movement towards peace and tranquility.

The situation there has stabilized enough to give us more

hope than ever before that the war-ravaged sister country

will soon enjoy the beginnings of economic recovery and

national reconciliation and healing. Humanitarian relief is

now able to reach the famine-stricken. The United Nations

peace-keeping force, among which is our own contingent, is

progressively moving towards full deployment and the

accomplishment of its mandate. It is hoped that the many

cease-fire violations thus far recorded will not sabotage the

peace process.

The survival of the State and nation of Angola is in

very serious jeopardy as the senseless civil war that has been

raging there since the mid-1970s has worsened and assumed

the dimensions of an unstoppable conflagration. All the

efforts of the Security Council to find a lasting solution to

the civil war have come to naught as a result of Mr.

Savimbi’s stubborn refusal to negotiate a peaceful end to the

conflict. Unfortunately, in the face of this stubbornness on

the part of Mr. Savimbi, the world seems utterly incapable

of doing anything more than calling continuously for

peaceful negotiations - a call that is continuously scorned.

The international community must do more to save

Angola. A terrible crime against humanity is being

perpetrated against the Angolan people. We take note of the

recent announcement by UNITA that it is ready to accept the

Bicesse Accords and the results of the 1992 elections. The

Government has in principle agreed to the resumption of

peace talks. We hope that this time the peace talks, if they

take place, will produce the solution we have been

desperately waiting for.

In South Africa, the horizon of change is more

promising than ever before. Negotiations for a new South

Africa have been torturously slow and painful, but they

have, in a stunning reversal of fortune, produced the first

tangible evidence of the onset of real and meaningful

change. The legislative structures that are to underpin the

transition to the establishment of a democratic Government

in the first half of next year are in place. Four bills -

namely, those regarding the Independent Election

Commission, the Independent Media Commission, the

Independent Broadcasting Authority and the Transitional

Executive Council - have been adopted by the Negotiating

Council and will soon be enacted into law, having been

passed by the South African Parliament.

Once the transitional legislative package has been

completed with the adoption of the interim constitution and

the constitutional principles and fundamental rights at present

under negotiation, the transition will officially begin with the

installation of the Transitional Executive Council. To show

the great promise that the situation in South Africa holds

today, I can do no better than quote Mr. Nelson Mandela’s

momentous speech of 24 September to the United Nations

Special Committee against Apartheid. He said,

"The countdown to democracy has begun. The

date for the demise of the white minority regime has

been determined, agreed and set".

In its statement of 29 September 1993 the Ad Hoc

Committee of the Organization of African Unity on Southern

Africa concurred that enough progress had been made in the

peace process in South Africa to warrant the lifting of

economic sanctions. This was a momentous decision taken

by Africa in the ardent belief and hope that we are truly

approaching a historic watershed in the blood-stained history

of southern Africa: the end at last of the long nightmare of

apartheid. However, as Mr. Mandela and the Secretary

General of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania, Mr.

Benny Alexander, have conceded, freedom is not yet there.

With all the horrific violence now ravaging the KwaZulu

countryside and the East Rand townships, in the back yard

of the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg, where the

negotiations are taking place, the process does not lack

enemies or detractors. There is also the unfortunate boycott

of the negotiation process by some parties, whose

implications it is impossible to ascertain. Nevertheless, the

people of South Africa, more than ever before, will need

and, indeed, deserve our determined companionship as they

walk the last and, possibly, the most difficult mile in their

journey to the new South Africa.

Regrettably, progress, if any, has been very slow in the

implementation of the United Nations plan on Western

Sahara. We urge the Secretary-General to continue to spare

no effort to ensure that the referendum is held so that the

people of Western Sahara can at long last decide their future.

Botswana is encouraged by the readiness of all parties

to the Liberian conflict to honour their commitments to the

Yamoussoukro Accords and other subsequent peace plans.

16 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

We are anxious to see the Accords implemented peacefully

and in full. The Secretary- General, in his last report on the

subject (S/26422), notes that a successful implementation of

the Accords would require sufficient resources. We appeal

to all Member States to be generous in their contributions to

the trust fund set up for this purpose.

It is with a sigh of relief that we welcome the adoption

of Security Council resolution 872 (1993) on Rwanda. We

appeal to all the parties to the conflict in Rwanda to

cooperate fully with the United Nations Assistance Mission

for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in ensuring that that war-torn East

African sister country does not revert to the carnage that has

often threatened its very existence.

We celebrate the triumph of the democratic process in

the south-eastern Asian nation of Cambodia. The shroud of

misery and death that for many years eclipsed Cambodia

has, hopefully, now been lifted, and lifted forever. We

congratulate the United Nations and the Cambodians on a

job well done. 89.56 per cent of Cambodian voters,

undaunted by violence and threats of violence, have spoken

loud and clear that they want peace and reconciliation.

In the Middle East, the homeland of the Bible and its

miracles, we have recently witnessed a miraculous

rapprochement between the Jewish people of Israel and the

Palestinian people. The foundations of peace in the area

have been laid, and no effort should be spared to build on

them. No effort should be spared in making the peace

process only just begun a just, comprehensive and lasting

one. Given the desperate conditions in the occupied

territories, we, the international community, have a duty to

support and nurture the peace process by contributing

generously to the economic reconstruction of the area to

enable the Palestinians to taste the fruits of peace.

We cherish the hope that the sudden improvement of

prospects for peace in the Middle East will have a catalytic

and propelling effect on the quest for a workable formula for

the reunification of the island Republic of Cyprus. So long

as the island remains divided, it will remain a source of

conflict and instability in the area.

So it is with Korea. Botswana hopes the divided

peninsula will soon realize that it has become fashionable in

this post-cold-war era for age-old problems suddenly to

become amenable to solution. Change - peaceful change -

through negotiation is the imperative of our time.

In Central America, after many years of conflict, El

Salvador is finally at peace. We hope that the proven

capacity and efficacy of the United Nations in the field of

election-monitoring and supervision will again be put to

good use in El Salvador’s March 1994 election.

In Haiti, we look forward to the imminent restoration

of the presidency of Father Aristide. The success of the

United Nations and the Organization of American States in

shaping the agreement deserves our commendation.

Botswana, a country whose respect for human rights is

second to none, supports fully the creation of a post of

commissioner of human rights. We have no human rights

abuses to hide, nor do we fear criticism - constructive

criticism, that is - should the international community find

some aspect of our domestic policy or policies to be

incompatible with the enjoyment of human rights by our

citizens. This is not an invitation to interference in our

internal affairs. We have always maintained that no nation

has the right to violate the basic human rights of its citizens

while using Article 2 (7) of the Charter as an argument

against intervention by the international community.

Recent reports have revealed that the United Nations is

spending roughly three times as much on peace-keeping and

peacemaking as on development assistance. Problems of

development, as should be clear to everybody, constitute the

underlying cause of world conflicts, and for the United

Nations to be effective in the maintenance of international

peace, more energy and resources have to be expended on

development activities.

Of particular concern are the downward trend in

Africa’s commodity prices, the debt burden and the

shrinking aid flow. In addition, many African countries,

including my own, have had to cope with the serious effects

of drought and famine. The civil strife which many African

countries have had to cope with have also had a crippling

effect on economic activity through damage to infrastructure.

In order for an effective process of development to get

under way in Africa the international community needs to

establish a more open trading system giving access to, and

adequate compensation for, commodities produced in Africa.

For the past several years the market share for African goods

has experienced a dramatic decline. Botswana appeals for

a speedy conclusion of the current Uruguay Round of

multilateral trade negotiations, which we believe will

strengthen Africa’s trading capacity and allow unrestricted

access of our commodities to the world markets.

The debt burden continues to be a major obstacle to

African economic growth and development. Clearly,

necessary measures have not been taken to attend to this

compounding problem. The time has come for the donor

Forty-eighth session - 11 October l993 17

community and the multilateral financial institutions to heed

Africa’s call to reduce or totally cancel the debt stock.

We live in exciting times, exciting in both positive and

negative ways. We have been fortunate to wake up from the

long nightmare of the cold war and bear witness to the birth

of a new world, however imperfect. The birth of any new

epoch has never been easy or free of pain. The membership

of the Organization has multiplied with the rapid emergence

of new nations, whose aspirations for self-determination had

for so long been frustrated.

The import of this most welcome development is, of

course, not simply that we are close to universality but, also,

that the problems facing the Organization have multiplied.

Thankfully, our rejuvenated United Nations seems to have

borne this increased load of responsibilities with a great deal

of enthusiasm. Botswana renews its faith in this rejuvenated

United Nations and in its time-tested Charter.