Chad, 1993

It is both an honour and a pleasure for me to extend to

representatives the warm greetings of the people of Chad

and to express their sincere wishes for peace.

Before conveying to Members the message of the

Transition Government of the Republic of Chad, I should

like to extend to you, Sir, my delegation’s congratulations on

your election as President of the General Assembly at its

forty-eighth session. I assure you that, in the discharge of

this difficult task, you will have the ready and full

cooperation of my delegation.

I should like also to express to your predecessor,

Mr. Stoyan Ganev, our gratitude for the dedication with

which he conducted the work of the General Assembly at its

forty-seventh session.

Our thanks go also to our dynamic Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his continuing commendable

and tireless efforts in the cause of peace and development

throughout the world.

4 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

It is also a pleasure to welcome the delegations of the

Czech Republic, Slovakia, The Former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia, Eritrea, the Principality of Andorra and the

Principality of Monaco.

The forty-eighth session of the General Assembly is

beginning at a time when clear hopes for peace in certain

regions are emerging, yet war continues to cause

unspeakable suffering elsewhere. Misery is increasing

throughout the world, and the gap between the richest and

the poorest continues to widen. Given these problems, the

United Nations is increasingly called upon for assistance.

Consequently, its capacity to react and to intervene is

reduced.

Concerted action by people of good will who love

peace and freedom and who work to reduce poverty and

misery and to advance democracy and human rights could

help to limit the number of calls for assistance that are now

being made on this Organization.

Within this framework, Chad set out on the road to

democracy in 1990. This deliberate choice was made in the

light of the recent history of our country and the profound

aspirations of our people to peace and social well-being. In

this regard, the Sovereign National Conference that was held

from 15 January to 7 April 1993, and brought together

nearly 1,000 delegates from all regions and all social strata

of the country, enabled us to lay the basis for the

establishment of stable democratic institutions and to ensure

lasting peace and good management of the country’s affairs.

This National Conference, which instilled much hope in the

hearts of the citizens of Chad, took the following steps in

implementation of the Transitional Constitution: the

President of the Republic, who is the guarantor of national

sovereignty, was confirmed in office; the Prime Minister,

who is the elected Head of Government, was put in charge

of implementing the programme of action; the Supreme

Council of Transition, the elected legislative body, was put

in charge of follow-up action in connection with

implementing the programme of action and was given the

job of providing arbitration in the case of any disputes

occurring during the transition.

The National Conference intended, through this

restructuring process, to give new direction to public life in

Chad, providing transparent administration in public affairs,

full freedom of the press and scrupulous respect for human

rights. These indispensable corollaries of any democratic

system are among the major concerns of the delegates.

Here, the Supreme Council for Communication and the

National Commission on Human Rights, which will be

established soon, will guarantee freedom of the press and the

fundamental rights of citizens.

For all the participants in the National Conference, as

for all the people of Chad, the time has come to make peace,

to seek new solutions to the country’s problems, so that it

will be possible to achieve genuine national reconciliation

among all the sons of Chad. The Transition Government,

which I have the signal honour of heading, is making

sustained efforts to realize these objectives. Thus, it is

trying to create the conditions necessary to the building of

confidence among the people in the future of their country.

The restructuring of the national army of Chad that is

now taking place will eventually open the way to better

control of public expenditure and will make possible the

channelling of the country’s limited resources into the most

productive sectors. Nor can any democratization be

undertaken and made stable without security services capable

of ensuring respect for the territorial integrity of the country.

Above all, there is a need for a disciplined army that

respects the Constitution of the Republic.

My Government lacks the financial and other material

means to succeed in this transformation of the national army

of Chad. First and foremost we need to encourage elements

of the army from the outset by financing projects for

military reconversion and for reintegration into civilian life.

In that connection, we warmly thank the French Republic for

its assistance over the past three years. I wish also to renew

our appeal to all countries that wish Chad to be genuinely

transformed to help us with all possible assistance in this

difficult task.

Beyond the question of the success of the

demobilization operation is the question of the future of

democracy in Chad. Our democracy will be unable to

withstand for long the many pressures resulting from all the

various problems besetting our country.

Hence, my country is working tirelessly to conclude

agreements of reconciliation with the remaining opposition

politico-military organizations. My Government is

developing initiatives in the area of human rights, bolstering

freedom of the press and establishing political parties and

civic organizations. Despite that progress, cases of human

rights violations continue in my country. This proves, if

proof were needed, that it takes time to change ways of

thinking, no matter what the clear will of the highest

national authorities may be.

Forty-eighth session - 8 October l993 5

There is no lack of obstacles for any young democracy.

As it is said, democracy, poverty and insecurity are not good

neighbours. At the forty-seventh session of the General

Assembly, my delegation drew attention to my country’s

precarious economic situation. Apart from problems linked

to uneven rainfall over our territory, to the threat of locusts

and to fluctuations in the world economic situation, our

economy is experiencing difficulties linked to poor

administration. The resources of the State are insufficient to

pay salaries and growing military expenditures. There is no

guarantee that we will be able to afford the cost of materials

and State contributions for investment in priority projects

relating to infrastructure, health and education.

The basic imbalances that characterize financial

management in Chad - which explain the continued

deterioration of our country’s social fabric - reflect those in

other Central African economies covered by the Central

African Customs and Economic Union (CACEU). Those

countries had achieved notable growth in 1985, but since

then have been in an unprecedented crisis. In the

circumstances, my country - current Chairman of the

CACEU Council of Heads of State - fully subscribes to the

plan for subregional adjustment and economic recovery

drawn up by the Central African States Development Bank,

and hopes to benefit from the greater understanding and

support of the international community. That support will

give our Government a sound basis on which to implement,

as it has declared its wish to do, a consistent programme of

macroeconomic adjustment and structural reform, with the

support of bilateral and multilateral donors.

Already we can say that the major thrust of the reforms

will be in the areas of improved public financing, the

resumption of productive activities through reductions in the

cost of the elements of production, rationalization of

management, elimination of arrears in State debt, the

promotion of a well-functioning private sector, and the

implementation of monetary, fiscal, customs and institutional

measures drawn up within the subregional framework of

CACEU and the customs zone.

My country, which has experienced the throes of war,

cannot remain insensitive to the many conflicts that are

tearing today’s world apart, claiming innocent lives

everywhere. In Africa, we are concerned at the exacerbation

of the situation in Somalia and Angola. Chad hopes that the

firm position adopted by the United Nations on those two

conflicts will help make those most responsible for the

tragedies respect agreements they have signed.

With respect to Mozambique, we are following with

interest the peace process under way in that country, and we

urge the two parties to cooperate fully and in a

straightforward way to achieve peace. We also welcome the

peace process that has begun in Rwanda, Liberia and South

Africa, where in the months to come multiparty negotiations

will lead to general elections, which we hope will be free

and transparent.

In the Middle East, the signature of a declaration of

principles on Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and Jericho and

mutual recognition by the Palestine Liberation Organization

and the State of Israel give us hope that the peoples of that

region will at last be able to live in peace. Dialogue and

cooperation should guide future relations among the peoples

of the region.

Chad is convinced that only dialogue can restore peace

to Central and Eastern Europe; we fully subscribe to the

action taken by the international community to bring about

a just and peaceful settlement of all the conflicts raging

there.

Today’s world economy is characterized by a structural

crisis in the developed countries and by increasingly delayed

development in the developing countries, particularly those

of Africa. My country welcomes the convening of the

international conference on African development, which is

now under way on the initiative of the Government of Japan.

We hope that the results of that meeting will be positive for

Africa. On behalf of my Government, I convey deep

gratitude to the Japanese Government for its initiative.

My delegation hopes that the restructuring and

revitalization of the economic and social structure of the

United Nations will contribute to strengthening the

Organization’s capacity to act.

My delegation reaffirms its strong conviction that only

dialogue and cooperation will enable us to overcome the

numerous obstacles to the establishment of peace and

harmony among peoples.

It is in that spirit that my country has appealed to the

International Court of Justice to settle its border dispute with

the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Both parties

have committed themselves to respect the judgment.

Members will know from my remarks that my country

is passing from a long, dark night of instability, dictatorship,

human rights violations and economic set-backs. They will

also know that the heroic struggle of the people of Chad has

6 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

led it onto the path of democracy; we want at all costs to

stay on that road. My delegation affirms that forcefully.

My people earnestly desires to make achievements

leading to a major recovery in its political, economic and

social situation, and has adopted an ambitious programme of

change, which we did not have the means to implement fully

in the six months remaining in the transition period. As they

tirelessly pursue implementation, my country’s officials

intend to focus all their efforts on certain pivotal objectives,

which I shall enumerate now.

First, we must ensure unswerving respect for human

rights by guaranteeing the security of citizens; we must

ensure freedom of communication, along with all individual

freedoms and, above all, respect for the value of human life.

We must banish the concept of impunity from our judicial

system. To that end, and to ensure the safety of our citizens

through a major reorganization of the police, we require

support from the international community both in devising

the action to be taken and in providing the means to do so.

My Government’s second objective is the holding of

free, open and democratic elections.

The social crisis we have just described is creating

inextricable problems for my Government, problems with

serious and pressing implications. A country cannot be

governed when there is constant pressure from the streets,

nor can decisive efforts be focused on carrying out economic

recovery if there is not a Government elected on the basis of

a programme containing needed beneficial measures and if

it does not have the support - or at least the understanding -

of the people with regard to an economic and social plan.

Thus, our Government intends to work on preparing for and

holding free, open and democratic elections within the time-

frame set out in the recommendations of the Sovereign

National Conference. Here too, and above all, we will need

the support of the international community.

On that note, in evoking the basic aspiration of my

people, I shall leave this rostrum today, having transmitted

my country’s message of peace to the international

community. Our aspiration to democratic change is, I feel,

realistic and its implementation is, I believe, inevitable.

Long live peace and dialogue between peoples!