Cameroon, 1999

We are pleased to note that the annual sessions of

the General Assembly are increasingly each year not only

a special forum for discussing international affairs, but also

and in particular an opportunity for the democratic

expression of our shared experience, a time for each

Member State of the Organization to freely state his or her

views.

In this context, Cameroon is particularly pleased that

the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth

session has been assumed by a fraternal country, Namibia.

We regard it as highly symbolic that this role, at this

delicate time of a bridge between two centuries and two

millenniums, has been entrusted to you, Mr. Theo-Ben

Gurirab, worthy representative of Namibia, the last State in

Africa to recover its sovereignty. My country fully

associates itself with the praise addressed to you and we

assure you of our full support as you exercise your difficult

and lofty duties. I hardly need recall that your country's

attainment of independence, just like the end of apartheid

in South Africa, demonstrates what the United Nations and

the international community are capable of.

Cameroon wishes also to reiterate its full appreciation

to your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, for the skill,

devotion, effectiveness and open-mindedness he

demonstrated throughout the fifty-third session.

Finally, we wish to pay tribute to the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his continuing work to

consolidate peace and combat poverty, and for his special

attention to the problems of the African continent and the

poorest regions or those in crisis. His outstanding report on

the work of the Organization illustrates again this year the

intelligence and determination that are his constant guides

as he performs his duties. The work of the Secretary-

General, carried out with an acute sense of the common

interest of all Member States, deserves our support.

Cameroon welcomes the new Members of the

Organization: Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga. Their admission

reinforces the universality of our Organization.

Despite great progress in many areas, this last decade

of the twentieth century has been marked, and continues to

be marked, by less positive events in the world. More than

ever before, therefore, we need to react, act and even act

preventively, constantly and vigorously, in order to rectify

an inappropriate course of events. There are still too

many conflicts. Too much human blood has been shed.

Too many men and women have their fundamental rights

and freedoms flouted. There is too much poverty, even

destitution, which is in stark contrast to an unparalleled

opulence: Too many inequalities and too much

interference and domination persist in inter-State relations.

This succession of dangers is accentuated by the

problems of epidemics and illiteracy, and recalls the vital

need for greater solidarity between prosperous countries

and developing countries, given the growing globalization

of economies and the universal need for peace,

democracy, prosperity, justice, the guarantee of

fundamental human rights and the effective sovereignty of

States.

Cameroon therefore welcomes recent positive steps

on the path to peace. I refer to the Middle East, with the

signing of the Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Egypt. The

resolution of the Kosovo crisis, and particularly the

establishment of an administration guaranteed by our

Organization, also deserves recognition. Cameroon

encourages all actors in the Balkans and the Middle East

to continue to advance resolutely towards lasting

normalization.

We are also very mindful of developments in East

Timor, and we hope very much that wisdom will

prevail — that is, that everyone will respect the process

initiated under United Nations auspices.

We welcome the holding in Maputo, Mozambique,

of the First Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on

Their Destruction. That meeting made it possible to

continue the campaign to heighten the international

community’s awareness of the need to ban these ghastly

weapons for ever. These weapons continue, particularly in

Africa, to indiscriminately mutilate children, women, the

elderly, civilians and military personnel every day.

Cameroon, in confirmation of its commitment to this

great struggle, recently ratified the Convention.

We welcome the results achieved in Sierra Leone,

Guinea-Bissau and Northern Ireland. These and other

advances cannot, however, make us forget either the

deadly conflicts that continue to destroy lives or the

threats of holocaust that persist because of the lack of

significant progress in the field of nuclear disarmament.

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In this overall context, which remains full of elements, the

proliferation of hotbeds of tension and conflict in Africa,

particularly in Central Africa, is a major source of concern

for Cameroon. That particular situation deserves more

attention from the international community than ever

before. Unfortunately, as the Secretary-General notes in his

report, these African crises, no matter how grave, have

basically been ignored.

Is it conceivable that Somalia, fragmented and

disorganized, with its helpless, starving, sick people, and

now bereft of any viable state structure, could be purely

and simply forgotten, abandoned and allowed to perish?

Could the situation in Somalia today not be the fate of

other countries on our continent and elsewhere? Should the

international community abdicate its duty of solidarity with

and assistance to Western Sahara, to the Sudan or in the

conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea?

We deplore the continuing bloody destructive crisis in

Angola. That disastrous civil war directly or indirectly

destroys thousands of lives and systematically obliterates

infrastructure every day; this, too, seems to have been

forgotten by everyone. Since the withdrawal of the United

Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), the States

members of the United Nations Standing Advisory

Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, which

for a year now has been chaired by Cameroon, is trying to

do the impossible in order to prevent Angola from

permanently locking itself up behind fratricidal closed doors

in the face of this kind of widespread indifference.

Together with some other regional and international

diplomatic actors, the Standing Advisory Committee has

also made many efforts to try to restore peace in Burundi,

the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and Rwanda, particularly through the resolute

dissemination of a culture of peace.

In this respect, Cameroon and all States Members of

the Committee welcome the peace accords on the

Democratic Republic of the Congo signed in July in

Lusaka, Zambia. This came as a result of the doggedness

and tenacity of African mediators, and it proves, if any

proof is needed, that Africa, with the support of the

international community, is able to overcome its difficulties.

We wish to reiterate the solemn appeal of the Standing

Advisory Committee to all signatories of these accords to

see to it that the peace process is carried through.

Cameroon is convinced that their determination to

consolidate peace will be supported by the international

community, in particular through the speedy and effective

establishment of the peacekeeping force that the United

Nations is planning to deploy in the Democratic Republic

of the Congo.

No matter what the cost, we must eradicate wars and

conflicts in Africa, particularly in Central Africa. We

must halt the spiral of bloody confrontation and fighting

in that subregion, which pits ethnic group blindly against

ethnic group, political group against political group. It is

not true that love of and devotion to one’s own people or

faith in one’s own ideals must be proved by one’s hatred

towards others. These grim tragedies, as we know, are not

inevitable. Fundamentally, they are the result of practices

to which Africa must put an end; otherwise, the continent

will be for ever left out of humankind’s majestic march

towards modernity.

The diagnosis of the causes of this situation is

already apparent: poverty, destitution, ignorance, the

absence of good governance, the fragility of the nations

and States concerned, and acts of interference of all kinds

are at the heart of the problem. Together we can combat

them and overcome them.

This is why one of the priorities of Cameroon’s

diplomacy, promoted by President Paul Biya, with the full

endorsement of his peers, is to help guarantee peace,

security, stability, democracy and prosperity for the 100

million women and men of Central Africa. This

determination has guided our action as we head the

United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security

Questions in Central Africa.

As we prepare to hand over the chairmanship to

another fraternal country, we would like to recall the

progress that member States have made together over the

last 11 months in our quest to strengthen peace, security

and stability in Central Africa. The most significant

initiative undoubtedly was the threefold decision taken at

the meetings in Yaoundé, on 25 February 1999, and in

Malabo, on 24 June 1999, by 9 of the 11 heads of State

of Central Africa, to establish the Council for Peace and

Security in Central Africa (COPAX); to adopt the

Yaoundé declaration on peace, security and stability in

central Africa; and to integrate COPAX into the structures

of the Economic Community of Central African States

(ECCAS). Through this threefold decision, those heads of

State have given our subregion a politico-diplomatic

organ and ethical framework, as well as a code of

conduct to meet the challenges of prevention,

management and the lasting settlement of crises and

20

conflicts. The practical modalities for the functioning of

COPAX are now being worked out in the secretariat of

ECCAS.

Since crisis and conflict prevention remain absolute

priorities, the States of Central Africa have continued their

efforts to establish an early warning mechanism. This

structure has just acquired premises that serve as its

headquarters in Libreville, Gabon.

A number of other initiatives mark important progress

for the establishment of peace and stability in Central

Africa.

I refer first to the decision taken in June at the Malabo

summit by the heads of State of Central Africa to lend their

prestige to the establishment of a subregional centre for the

promotion of human rights and democracy. With the

support of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights, this centre will be both an observatory of

realities and trends and a kind of think tank to produce

recommendations on human rights and democracy. I wish,

on behalf of the peoples of Central Africa, to welcome the

encouragement shown by Mrs. Mary Robinson for this

project, as well as the steps she has taken to follow up on

the resolution adopted on this subject by the General

Assembly at its fifty-third session.

I also wish to refer to the establishment of a network

of parliamentarians of Central Africa — an initiative that

should lead to the establishment of a subregional parliament

which will be both a democratic forum and a subregional

platform for cooperation and harmonization of laws dealing

with questions of peace, security and integration.

I would also mention the establishment of the Central

African Court of Justice, the seat of which will be in

N’Djamena.

I would like to refer to the high-level seminar held in

Yaoundé from 19 to 21 July this year on the report of the

Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the

promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in

Africa, proceeding from the desire and determination of the

leaders of Central Africa to build peace and progress in the

subregion. This high-profile meeting — which brought

together parliamentarians, seasoned experts, civilians and

military, men and women with experience representing civil

society and non-governmental organizations and whose

report was published by the United Nations — made it

possible to identify ways and means for the specific

implementation in Central Africa of the recommendations

of the Secretary-General.

The main actions recommended by the seminar to

follow up the very frank diagnosis of the situation seek to

promote effectively human rights, participative

democracy, methods for the peaceful settlement of

disputes, good governance, transparency, international

humanitarian law and accelerated national and regional

integration.

The proliferation and illicit circulation of small arms

and light weapons in the region is another major concern

for the member countries of the Committee because they

threaten their stability. A subregional conference will be

held on this subject at the end of October in N’Djamena

under the aegis of the Committee and with United

Nations support. It will make it possible for member

States to assess the scale, causes, mechanisms and

consequences of this phenomenon and to envisage

specific steps to be taken.

All of these actions — in particular the

establishment of COPAX, the early warning mechanism,

the subregional human rights centre, the parliament and

the Central African Court of Justice — are challenges, not

merely for Central Africa itself, but clearly for the entire

international community. They will be priority areas for

fruitful bilateral and multilateral cooperation at the

threshold of the new millennium. That is certainly the

wish of the peoples of Central Africa.

The design of a subregional policy for peace,

stability, democracy and development in Central Africa is

partly related to the domestic policy of Cameroon. The

head of State has always believed that there is no crisis

that cannot be resolved peacefully through dialogue,

pooling of efforts and especially through respect for the

law. It is this conviction that prompted Cameroon to

stress the search for a settlement through legal means of

the dispute with the Federal Republic of Nigeria regarding

the land and maritime border.

In this year which marks the closing of the United

Nations Decade of International Law, we must forcefully

reaffirm our total support for the rule of law in inter-State

relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes, including

through jurisdictional means when other mechanisms have

proved to be ineffectual. That is why we urge the

international community to continue to help our two

countries, Cameroon and Nigeria, to adopt effective

measures to strengthen peace and the climate of

21

confidence which has emerged following the contacts at the

highest level which have taken place this year.

Pending the verdict of the International Court of

Justice in The Hague, three of these measures could be

taken right now: a solemn declaration of commitment to

abide by the Court’s decision, withdrawal of armed forces

from the battlefield to positions which they held before the

outbreak of fighting, and the lifting by Nigeria of its recent

reservations about the optional clause regarding binding

jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice,

reservations which negate an international society based on

law. The positive winds of change now blowing across

Nigeria, following the coming to power of the

democratically elected civilian regime, give us enormous

hope.

Through the work it did last year, Cameroon, like

other States in Central Africa, is resolutely committed to

saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war. But

we did more than that. We also determined for the sake of

future generations to protect the environment and to

safeguard the natural resources. An example of this was the

summit on conservation and sustainable forest development

organized last March in Yaoundé in the presence of heads

of State and Government of the subregion and a

distinguished host, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the

Duke of Edinburgh of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

and Northern Ireland, who is past President of the World

Wide Fund for Nature.

Four resolutions were adopted by the heads of State

and Government of Central Africa to preserve and extend

the millions of hectares of forest in our subregion. They

undertook to conserve and manage the forests of Central

Africa in a sustainable manner to safeguard our rich

biodiversity. They then undertook, in particular, to protect

new transnational forest zones in the Congo basin. Then the

major partners and donors agreed to provide financial and

technical assistance to implement the resolutions and

commitments adopted at the Yaoundé summit. Finally, the

summit participants agreed that good forest management is

an important part of work for sustainable development in

Central Africa.

However, in the areas of the protection, conservation

and sustainable management of forests and biodiversity, a

profound dilemma has arisen. Central Africa is, after the

Amazon region of South America, the second largest

forested area of the world whose natural characteristics are

decisive for the balance of the biosphere and the

ecosystems of the entire planet. The accelerated and

mindless destruction of this forest would in fact be a

direct way to prepare for the disappearance of all life on

earth. In a word, the forests of Central Africa are the

lungs of the world.

Following the Yaoundé summit, the senior officials

of Central Africa and the peoples concerned became

clearly aware of their duty to all humankind, a duty that

should be reflected in the sound conservation and

management of forests and the diverse resources they

contain. But at the same time, the experts rightly noted

that this would involve extremely heavy and increasingly

higher costs. The costs of protecting species, reforestation

and reintroducing animals, as well as the administrative

costs involved in the functioning of the institutions

needed to do those jobs, will be an additional burden on

the already meagre resources of the countries of our

subregion.

This is why we believe that it would only be right

for the whole of humankind — for which we are making

this vital sacrifice of forest and biodiversity

conservation — to find the ways and means to support us

in this work for the common good. This could be done by

providing matching funds or, better yet, by bringing about

genuine global action under the guidance of the United

Nations and financed by a fund for the preservation and

sustainable management of forests and biodiversity in

Central Africa. That fund would support all the important

preliminary work to be done in this essential area of

globalization.

We will be submitting a draft resolution on this

subject for the kind consideration of the General

Assembly.

When Cameroon campaigns with other States for the

protection of the environment and for the safeguarding of

natural resources, we do so very mindful of the long term,

which has meaning only in relation to the future of

mankind, and of younger generations in particular. We are

all the more conscious of the importance of the legacy we

will leave for the adults of tomorrow because more than

46 per cent of the population of Cameroon will reach

adulthood at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The proportion of our children who are today under 15

years of age, like all men and women of the world in the

next century, have a legitimate right to demand of us, as

the most important part of our legacy, peace, security and

stability in freedom and development and in a healthy

environment. That is why, in conclusion, I wish to

22

address our partners in the prosperous countries, particularly

the Group of Eight.

I wish first of all to say how much we appreciate the

steps that have been taken this year to reduce the debt

burden of the poorest countries, particularly those in our

continent. According to the Secretary-General, the African

debt burden represents more than 300 per cent of the value

of goods and services exported from the region. Therefore,

the spirit of solidarity in the Group of Eight, which is a

good sign, must be pursued and consolidated while taking

into account the situation of the so-called medium-income

countries. That spirit of solidarity must be resolutely

continued and take root in all other developed countries.

The Secretary-General's in-depth coverage of many

subjects in his report calls for us to reflect on them. I will

take up just one of these subjects: AIDS.

Like other pandemics, AIDS not only jeopardizes the

future of millions of African men and women, it is also a

mortal danger for all humankind. To show a lack of

concern for its ravages in Africa, no matter what part of the

world one comes from, would be suicidal indifference. The

future of the world is more indivisible than ever before.

The choice can no longer be postponed — the choice

between the universal common good and the chaos caused

by poverty, destitution, ignorance, injustice, the absence of

good governance, interference, wars, et cetera.

The end of this century shows every sign of serving as

a loud and clear call to the whole of mankind, but first and

foremost to the leaders of nations. The end of the century

has made hope possible and has brought about the global

advancement of the values of peace, democracy, solidarity

and the struggle for human rights. These principles must

not merely guide each nation; we believe that they should

also inspire the relations between nations. The staunch

resolve of all countries to promote these principles together

is the only guarantee of a better future for humanity. In

order to bring this about, mankind as a whole —

increasingly more united and in solidarity under the banner

of the United Nations — has a duty to provide speedy

assistance wherever the life and dignity of the human being

have been seriously undermined or threatened.

Accordingly, it is clear that the international

community, assembled within the United Nations, has an

inalienable, inviolate and sacred right to act. This universal

right to act, whose letter, spirit, legality and legitimacy

come from the Charter itself, is the reflection and the

inevitable consequence of the changes occurring in the

world today. Clearly, it excludes any form of interference.

A new world has thus been born; we must

acknowledge this from now on. The Millennium

Assembly and the Millennium Summit, to be held in the

year 2000, should embody the spirit of that new world

and set it in order.