Chad, 1999

On behalf of

the Chad delegation, and on my own behalf, I would like

to extend warm congratulations to you, Mr. President, on

your election to the presidency of the General Assembly

at its fifty-fourth session. This is both a tribute to your

country, Namibia, for its contribution in defending the

ideals of our Organization and a recognition of your

considerable ability. The delegation of Chad is firmly

convinced that your experience, talents and wisdom will

contribute to the success of our deliberations. We assure

you of our full support and cooperation in the

accomplishment of your noble mission.

I would also like to express our gratitude to your

predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti of Uruguay, who tactfully

and adroitly led the work of the fifty-third session.

Allow me also to praise the merits of our Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the foresight, wisdom and,

above all, patience with which he is guiding the

Organization, as well as for his sustained efforts in

seeking international peace and security, despite all kinds

of difficulties and the immensity of his tasks.

In a few months we will enter the third millennium,

a millennium filled with uncertainties, fears and

unknowns, but also one of hope. That millennium will be

characterized by globalization and, above all, the

domination of human intelligence over nature. It will be

an era of communications in which our planet will shrink

to a tiny area. It will also mean the disappearance of

barriers to the circulation of ideas, knowledge, culture and

science. But it will also be an era of competition and

complementarity.

During this century, the aspirations of most peoples

was to be fed, clothed, cared for, educated, trained,

housed and gainfully employed. It is legitimate to hope

that with the arrival of the coming century these essential,

basic human needs will be met, so that we can avoid a

further widening of the gap between wealthy and poor

countries.

On the eve of the third millennium, we must

acknowledge that the lofty objectives of the United

Nations, primarily the maintenance of international peace

and security and the reduction of poverty among Member

States, are far from being attained, although we have been

focusing on them for half a century.

How can we not ask ourselves these kinds of

questions at this great annual gathering, where the scope

and urgency of political and economic problems are made

so clear? It is time to contemplate solutions that include

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new kinds of relationships, based on solidarity and

partnership, that go beyond the traditional relations of

cooperation, which have proved their limitations.

Turning more specifically to Chad, our major concern

is to create conditions of peace and security through a fully

participatory political process that involves the various

political parties in the management of public affairs and in

the national reconciliation policy for all the people of Chad.

The involvement in this approach of all segments of society

has enabled our country to restore political stability and

civil peace and to establish constitutional and democratic

institutions.

We are firmly convinced that a democracy can be

effective only when it is based on certain republican

concepts, primarily justice, the primacy of human rights and

the participation of local communities in the management

of their own affairs. The recent establishment of the

Supreme Court and the Constitutional Council speak to this

major concern, as does that of the National Commission on

Human Rights, in operation since 1994. These efforts were

acknowledged and led the United Nations Commission on

Human Rights last April to end its consideration of the

human rights situation in Chad and consequently remove

our country from the confidential procedural situation it had

been in since March 1991.

Finally, our Government has undertaken a

decentralization policy aimed at implementing the choice

made by the people of Chad, as reflected in the

Constitution of 11 April 1996, through the establishment of

decentralized territorial communities and the gradual

transfer of authority.

In an effort to consolidate peace and reinforce social

cohesion, the Government of Chad has focused on two

questions: the army and anti-personnel mines. With respect

to the thorny problems relating to the army and security,

our Government has undertaken to ensure professional

training for demobilized former combatants in order to

redeploy them to new jobs, to provide them support in

developing income-generating skills and to see to it that

their basic needs are met.

With respect to security issues, we have set up a

demining programme that should contribute to increasing

the safety of the national territory, where approximately a

million mines and an indeterminate amount of ammunition

of all calibres remain buried, thereby helping to open up

Chad, especially the northern part of the country. The

presence of these dangerous devices seriously impedes the

movement of goods and people and hence the

development of the regions concerned.

In this regard, my country has signed and ratified the

Ottawa Convention and has set up national structures

supervised by the National High Commissioner for

Demining in order effectively to combat these lethal

devices. The objectives of that programme focus, inter

alia, on reducing the number of victims, making the main

roads safer, promoting economic and social development

and facilitating the return of displaced persons.

The implementation of this ambitious demining

programme, whose dimensions extend beyond the borders

of our country, cannot be done without the assistance of

our partners and friends. That is why we wish to appeal

once again from this lofty rostrum to the solidarity of

Member States of our Organization and to ask them to

provide us with assistance and cooperation.

On the eve of the twenty-first century, the welfare of

the country's citizens remains the motivating force for

governmental action in Chad. That action is based on the

ambitious reforms undertaken since 1995 and focuses

primarily on a modern and dynamic economy. In point of

fact, following devaluation in 1994, Chad rejoined the

Bretton Woods institutions and on 23 April 1995 adopted

a structural adjustment programme for the medium term,

with resources provided by the International Monetary

Fund in the framework of its Enhanced Structural

Adjustment Facility and by the World Bank in terms of

structural-adjustment credit, and with financial assistance

from our usual partners — France, the European Union

and the African Development Bank. Bold reforms have

been undertaken that focus primarily on stabilizing public

finance, correcting external imbalances and ensuring

sustainable growth. To this end we instituted an effective

policy to combat poverty.

Our Government has drafted and adopted a new

sustainable development programme focusing on three

major challenges: economic and financial, social, and

political and institutional. The goal is to create a climate

of social stability through sustained structural reform and

through fiscal, monetary and budgetary policies that will

contribute to a macro-economic consolidation and to

controlling inflation.

This fight against poverty focuses on four strategic

priority elements in the areas of health, education,

infrastructure and rural development. In this undertaking

we have received support from the international

22

community at the fourth round table on Chad, held in

Geneva on 21 and 22 October 1998, where some $1.12

billion was pledged.

In this regard, I wish to express our deepest gratitude

to friendly countries and international financial

organizations and institutions for their strong response to

our appeal for international solidarity. The people of Chad

will never forget those commendable efforts. Following that

round table, we organized two sectoral meetings, on health

and on rural development. Meetings on infrastructure and

education will take place in the near future. We reiterate

our appeal to all interested parties to participate actively in

these meetings, which will be held in N'Djamena in

November and December 1999, respectively.

One cannot speak of Chad's economy today without

referring to the question of the exploitation of its oil

resources. This is a key political, diplomatic and socio-

economic issue that has fueled heated discussions both

inside and outside the country. In addition to its undeniable

economic importance, this project will contribute

significantly to subregional integration because it establishes

a partnership between two brotherly countries, namely

Cameroon and Chad.

In this respect, we have taken into account the

development difficulties that Chad is facing, and we are

considering our future in terms of petroleum-related issues

with a great deal of caution. The Government and the

Parliament of Chad have already set up management and

distribution mechanisms for the anticipated oil income. For

the first time ever in the history of the exploitation of oil

deposits, legislation has been enacted to guarantee

transparency in the management of oil revenue and also to

set aside some of that income for territorial communities in

the oil-producing regions and for future generations. The oil

activity is an exceptional opportunity, which should

contribute to the gradual rebalancing of our budget and give

us room for manoeuvre to establish a true policy for

development. This project has rightly raised hopes

throughout the country.

We are all firmly convinced that new efforts and many

sacrifices are required to ensure the gradual implementation

of the purposes and principles enshrined in the United

Nations Charter as they relate to disputes between a

considerable number of Member States as well as to other

equally challenging evils that continue to trouble the human

conscience. How can we remain indifferent when

confronted with the scourges of poverty, illiteracy, foreign

aggression, conflict, various pandemics and transnational

problems associated with the degradation of the

environment and drug trafficking? Unfortunately, these

challenges will further increase with globalization, which

is now inevitable. Africa is the continent that has been

most exposed to those evils, and the growing number of

crises is causing our efforts to be spread too thinly and

reducing the meagre resources available and dividing our

countries.

The interdependence of peace and socio-economic

development needs no further proof, especially in Chad,

which has experienced the torments of war, its disastrous

effects on the population and its repercussions on social

and economic life. Out of a sense of duty and

international obligation, my country has made and will

continue to make enormous sacrifices for other African

countries that have fallen victim to the problems inherent

in coexistence. That is why we have participated in

various peacekeeping operations in the subregion of

Central Africa. In this context, I am pleased to recall

Operation Turquoise, in which Chad participated to save

lives in Rwanda. Chad also contributed to the Inter-

African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the

Bangui Agreements and the United Nations Mission in

the Central African Republic, which sought a negotiated

solution between the Government of the Central African

Republic and a part of the rebel army, and which resulted

in bringing together different viewpoints opinions and

establishing conditions required for the organization of

multi-party elections.

In that same spirit, my country intervened in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our involvement,

together with that of other countries, enabled the situation

to be stabilized and promoted dialogue between the

warring parties. With the signing of the Syrte accords on

18 April 1999, Chad withdrew its troops from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. The signing of the

Lusaka ceasefire agreement by all the parties in conflict

has opened up new prospects for that brotherly people.

Chad hopes that that agreement, which the Security

Council has endorsed, will lead to a definitive peace in

that country and the entire Great Lakes region. Chad will

support that process.

The tragedy in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo has not made us lose sight of the situation in the

Republic of the Congo, which was recently on the verge

of breaking up. Now passion seems to be giving way to

reason. We welcome the will shown by both the

Government of Congo and the opposition parties, who

have taken the wise decision to negotiate to restore peace

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to their country. Chad welcomes and encourages this

positive development.

To this rather sombre picture we must add the fragile

situation in Angola, where the civil war has resumed

throughout the national territory. This is of great concern

for all of Africa, particularly since the resumption of

hostilities will undoubtedly mean the failure of the

considerable efforts made on all sides to bring peace to that

country, which has been ravaged by a long war, thus

prolonging the suffering of the Angolan people. We appeal

to the Security Council to assist in restoring peace to that

wounded country.

We welcome the tireless efforts of the Economic

Community of West African States to bring peace and

security to West Africa. Those efforts have led to the

signing of the ceasefire agreements in Sierra Leone and

Guinea-Bissau. All the parties involved in those crises

should show restraint and work towards reconciliation in

the higher interests of their peoples.

With regard to the Horn of Africa, we note that there

has been no obvious progress in the willingness of the

parties involved in the conflict in Somalia to find a political

solution leading to national unity. While we welcome the

efforts of Mr. Hosni Mubarak aimed at a negotiated

resolution of the crisis, we also appeal to the Somali leaders

to assist in restoring peace to their country. We regret the

resumption of hostilities between the Ethiopians and

Eritreans, which has led to a considerable loss of life and

material damage. We urge all those who have mediated

between the warring parties to persevere so as to put an end

to those hostilities, which have further exacerbated an

already disturbing situation.

Closer to home, Chad welcomes the decision of the

Security Council to suspend the embargo against the Great

Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. We urge that the

sanctions be lifted once and for all; they have seriously

damaged the interests of the brotherly people of that

neighbouring country.

Of all the continents, Africa seems to have suffered

the most from the economic crisis and from wars and other

conflict situations. But we have not forgotten the major

problems that other peoples are facing.

With regard to the situation in the Middle East, it has

already been established that the question of Palestine is at

the heart of the conflict. Its resolution lies in the

implementation of the Oslo accords and, in particular, in

full respect by all the parties for United Nations

resolutions. The credibility of the Security Council is at

stake. With the arrival of a new Israeli Government, there

is new hope for the future. Chad encourages all the

parties to work together in the same direction.

Elsewhere, the effects of the conflicts between Iraq

and Kuwait and between Iraq and Iran persist, hampering

the final return to peace. We appeal to the sense of

responsibility of the former warring parties to work

tirelessly to restore full peace.

In the Balkans, Chad encourages the efforts of the

international community to restore peace to the region,

and in particular to Kosovo. As for East Timor, we urge

all the parties involved to complete the process begun

under the auspices of the United Nations so as to end the

suffering of the people there.

In Asia, Chad is concerned about the fate of the

Republic of China on Taiwan and its 22 million

inhabitants. The Republic of China on Taiwan, which

plays a major role in world trade, is a peace-loving

country that fulfils the obligations in the United Nations

Charter, as it has shown on many occasions. Chad

supports the admission of the Republic of China on

Taiwan to the United Nations as a means of correcting an

injustice.

It is well known that a number of conflicts stem

from the unbridled arms race. In this regard, the

circulation, proliferation of and illicit trafficking in small

arms in Africa is of concern to us, particularly since this

phenomenon, the result of the end of the cold war and

numerous conflicts in the continent, has taken a disturbing

turn. If appropriate solutions are not found soon, peace,

security and stability in our countries will be constantly

threatened.

To address this situation, a conference on small arms

and drug trafficking will take place in Chad under the

auspices of the United Nations Standing Advisory

Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa; it

will be followed immediately by the twelfth ministerial

meeting of that Committee. Those two important meetings

will be held at Ndjamena from 25 to 30 October 1999.

Chad is honoured to act as host to the Committee and

will do everything in its power to ensure the success of

its work.

The United Nations was founded in a historical

context with which we are all familiar. It has been and

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remains a place for bringing people and ideas closer

together, and its very existence has helped avert more than

one catastrophe. But the international political and

economic environment has changed, and the great rivalry of

the cold war has disappeared, giving way to an international

system that is still finding itself. We now see an increased

desire by Member States to participate in the management

of international affairs in addition to the management of

their own. United Nations structures must therefore be

adapted to the new scope of today’s problems, which

requires an equal sharing of international responsibilities;

these must no longer be the monopoly of a few States,

however powerful they may be.

To respond to these concerns, the Security Council

must be reformed. Here, Chad wholeheartedly supports the

position of the Organization of African Unity that, inter

alia, there must be equitable and legitimate representation

on the Security Council for the African continent.

With respect to the global economy and world trade,

appropriate steps must be taken to ensure that the all States

will share equally in the benefits of globalization.

Globalization of the economy certainly can have the

advantage of eliminating all discriminatory and unfair

practices in world trade, but it must be recognized that the

lack of competitive power of the economies of the countries

of the South does not enable them to benefit fully from

this. Moreover, the unbridled liberalization of markets and

the lack of measures to consolidate certain gains are

weakening their economies and marginalizing them in the

world arena.

Similarly, the indebtedness of those countries places

a heavy burden on their meagre budgetary resources, and

wipes out all their development efforts. I welcome the

recent decision taken by the Group of Seven at its summit

held at Cologne, Germany, to ease the debt of heavily

indebted poor countries. Such initiatives are praiseworthy,

but they remain insufficient. Chad urges the wealthy

countries to make a greater effort to enable poor countries

finally to address the external-debt burden, which is a true

obstacle to economic and social development.