Chad, 2000

It was by

unanimous vote that our Assembly elected our

President to be in charge of our work. Whereas we are

already aware of his professional skills and his human

qualities, may I take the liberty of congratulating him

and assuring him of the support and the cooperation of

the delegation of Chad to assist him in performing this

difficult but very inspiring task.

His predecessor, the Minister for Foreign Affairs

of fraternal Namibia, very tactfully and effectively

guided the work which was entrusted to him during the

fifty-fourth session. He is now deserving of our

congratulations.

Our words of congratulations and our

encouragement are likewise addressed to our brother,

Mr. Kofi Annan, whose devotion to the cause of peace

and development in the world undoubtedly represents a

guarantee for the success of our Organization.

Last year during a visit to the headquarters of the

United Nations Development Programme in New York,

the President of the Republic of Chad, His Excellency

Mr. Idriss Deby, declared:

“A new world is being built before our very

eyes. New standards are being set which are

giving lasting shape to the behaviours of

individuals and relations among States. New

technologies are pressing us forward to even

greater progress in those societies which possess

them. Those which are closed to change are being

marginalized, since they are incapable of making

their ambitions come to life in the context of the

new world. This frightening prospect, since it is

synonymous with being left behind, is very real

for many developing countries. But, I reject this

prospect for my country.”

The President of the Republic is here referring

specifically to a world which is in constant change

because of rampant globalization, which has become a

fact of life that is sometimes highly praised for its

benefits and sometimes shunned because of the harm it

does. Meanwhile in Chad, men and women are doing

everything they can to derive benefit from

globalization and to avoid the downside in order not to

miss the train of political, economic, social and

technological progress.

In other words, faced with the threat that

globalization represents to stability, security and

development of the weaker, Chad is waging an out and

out struggle to occupy its proper place in the concert of

nations.

Yes, the men and women of Chad are struggling

courageously and with resolve to emerge from

obscurantism, from poverty and from domination. The

results of their daily struggle speak for themselves

when you look at what has been achieved in the various

36

areas of national life. Politically, the democratic

experiment which began on 1 December 1990 is being

further developed and consolidated. Thus, political

pluralism is functioning while respecting diversity on

the basis of consensual and participatory democracy.

The various fundamental freedoms which

underlie and which breathe life into any democratic

political system are being fully exercised. The freedom

of expression of the private press, which gives no

quarter in its criticism of the action of the Government,

as well as the burgeoning of associations of civil

society, particularly those dealing with human rights,

young people and women, bears witness to the political

determination of the Government of Chad to promote a

culture of democracy.

In this connection, particular attention should be

paid to strengthening the role of women in public life,

as well as the rights of and the protection of children.

Likewise, through the establishment of a supreme

court, a constitutional council and a superior council of

judges, the final touches have been put on the judicial

institutions that underpin our democratic system.

Furthermore, I am pleased to recall that the first multi-

party elections took place in Chad in 1996 in a climate

of calm and transparency, as the international observers

noted. The next elections will take place in six months.

In general, the political authorities in Chad are doing

all they can to ensure their success.

I would therefore like to emphasize from this

rostrum that Chad's attachment to pluralistic

democracy cannot be unseated, because the people of

Chad as a whole are profoundly convinced that this is

the only way — indeed their unique opportunity — to

improve their living conditions. The most recent

meetings in Syrte, Libya, and the various declarations

made by Chadian political actors are all encouraging

signs that, as we would like, this attachment is firm. In

all events, the Government of Chad welcomes these

new arrangements, which are to be seen as part and

parcel of the policy of outreach that has been

advocated by His Excellency Mr. Idriss Deby, the

President of the Republic of Chad.

After gaining this hard-won peace and this firm

attachment to democracy, the Government of Chad

quite naturally then proceeded — with the support of

international institutions and Chad's bilateral

partners — to tackle the question of economic and

social development. A genuine plan to fight poverty

has been created. This plan includes the elaboration of

a national strategy for the reduction of poverty. This

strategy has been further strengthened by the fact that

the objectives of poverty reduction and economic

growth during the 2000-2002 period have been made

part of the major, high-priority social and sectoral

programmes that were adopted at the Geneva IV round

table on the development of Chad.

Part of this struggle against poverty is the

struggle that the people of Chad have waged to

complete the project for the extraction and export of its

oil. This success was achieved thanks to the

determination of the President of the Republic, His

Excellency Mr. Idriss Deby — but also thanks to

unflagging support of the Bretton Woods institutions

and of friends and other partners of Chad. Here we

would like these supporters to know that the

Government and people of the Republic of Chad

recognize and are grateful for their assistance.

Chad nevertheless does not see its

development — and even less its security and

stability — in an isolated fashion. Therefore Chad is

doing everything possible to make its contribution to

creating a climate of peace and prosperity in Africa —

particularly in Central Africa. The subregion of Central

Africa — despite its immense potential, and perhaps

because of this immense potential, I might add — now

appears to be the region of upheaval par excellence, a

region characterized by armed conflicts and crises of

all sorts. Undoubtedly some hotbeds of tension have

been slaked. This is true of the Central African

Republic and of the Republic of the Congo, which are

gradually regaining their stability. But this stability

remains fragile. The international community therefore

must help these countries to consolidate this peace by

actions in support of reconstruction and assistance.

Two other conflicts, unfortunately, persist and

also dangerously threaten the subregion. One of these

is the conflict occurring in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo, where the belligerents' failure to respect the

Lusaka Agreement has unfortunately resulted in

exacerbating the rivalries among the foreign forces in

the Congolese territory, further complicating the

situation and holding up the effective implementation

of that Agreement.

As far as the Angolan conflict is concerned, it has

certainly become even more complex because of its

duration, the resources that nurture it and all the

37

international complicity that Mr. Jonas Savimbi has

taken advantage of. But we must support the efforts of

the legitimate and legal Government of Angola, as well

as the efforts of the international community, so that

this long-suffering people can recover the peace and

tranquillity that they have not known since they

acceded to independence.

In the framework of the United Nations Standing

Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central

Africa, the States of this subregion have not remained

inactive. They are devoting themselves to exploring

ways and means of establishing peace and tranquillity

through measures designed first and foremost to create

trust among themselves.

The first of these steps is the possibility offered

by the periodic meetings of the Committee. These

provide an opportunity for political dialogue in the

interest of preventive diplomacy. For having created

this Committee, the Security Council is deserving of

our gratitude.

Furthermore, structures and mechanisms to

promote peace and stability are gradually being

established. Among others, we might note the

establishment of an early-warning mechanism in

Libreville and of the subregional centre for human

rights and democracy in Yaoundé. The creation of the

Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa is

under way with the signing, by the heads of State or

Government, on 24 February at Malabo, Equatorial

Guinea, of the protocol regarding this Council and the

mutual assistance pact.

In the area of security there is a plan to organize a

joint military exercise for the peacekeeping operations

of the armed forces of the States of the subregion. As

for the other contributor to instability — the

proliferation of small arms and light weapons — the

member States held a subregional conference on this

topic in N'Djamena in October 1999. A number of

measures were advocated; among them, we might

mention the project of “arms for development”, which

was initiated by Canada and certain donor countries —

a project that is intended to set up micro-projects to

help those who turn in their arms. For the time being

this project involves the areas along the borders of

Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Chad. In

this connection, a mission of evaluation visited the

countries concerned in July 2000. The initiative is only

at the conceptual stage, but it is to be hoped that it will

take concrete form as soon as possible. I would

therefore like to make an appeal to the other partners to

join with Canada in order to broaden the scope of these

projects to include the entire subregion.

Instability and insecurity in Central Africa are

also among the major causes of refugee flows, a

phenomenon that has spared no State. Aware as we are

of the negative effects of this phenomenon, member

States took this matter up during a conference that was

held last August in Bujumbura. The relevant

conclusions of this conference deserve to be supported.

The political situations in other subregions of the

African continent also concern us. Certainly there has

been a definite improvement with the consolidation of

democratic institutions, good governance and respect

for the fundamental rights of the African people.

Nevertheless, several crises are persisting and must be

a subject of concern for the entire international

community. Thus in West Africa, Sierra Leone has not

yet achieved peace, despite the commitments entered

into by the parties to the conflict. Chad, for its part,

gives its total support to the efforts of the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the

United Nations to seek peace in this embattled country.

Likewise, we have every confidence in ECOWAS to

smooth out the difficulties between Liberia and Guinea.

With regard to the conflict between Ethiopia and

Eritrea, His Excellency President Idriss Deby has

personally dealt with this matter as current President of

the Community of the Sahel and Saharan States by

setting up a good offices mission to the leaders of the

two fraternal countries, in support of the mediation by

the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The Government of Chad is very pleased to see

that the two parties have finally reached a peace

agreement. We encourage them to respect their

individual commitments in order to bring lasting peace

to this part of the African continent.

Regarding the Somali crisis, Chad welcomes the

fact that the people of Somalia have awakened to their

destiny through the recent conference of national

reconciliation which was held in Alta, Djibouti, thus

demonstrating courage and imagination in their

determination to endow their countries with republican

institutions. The international community must help

them and encourage them to build further on this

initiative in order to reach total and just peace.

38

The presence here of a delegation bearing the

name of the Republic of Somalia, whose seat has been

vacant for almost 10 years now, is a matter of pride and

satisfaction for the friends and the partners of this

fraternal people.

It is an example that should edify our brothers of

the Comoros and Burundi.

We should also congratulate the Government of

Djibouti for their contribution and devotion to the

cause of peace in the subregion.

We believe it is time to lift completely the

embargo against the Great Socialist People's Libyan

Arab Jamahiriya, because it is no longer justified and

arbitrarily penalizes the fraternal Libyan people and,

indeed, beyond them the entire subregion.

Chad has not lost sight of the crisis situations

prevailing in other parts of the world.

In the Middle East, it is following with interest

the negotiations underway between the Palestinian and

Israeli authorities and believes that the time for the

peace of the worthy has now come. The parties to the

conflict should seize this historic opportunity and, as

President Clinton said: the world should help them to

take the risk of embarking on peace.

In Iraq, Chad believes it is urgent to put an end to

the embargo whose consequences have been so

disastrous for the civilian population, which is

suffering the atrocious evils resulting from this unjust

decision. Quite clearly any solution should also cover

the very pertinent matter of the prisoners from Kuwait

and other countries.

The Korean peninsula is showing encouraging

signs of the two fraternal countries drawing closer to

each other. The historic inter-Korean Summit, which

took place between the leaders of these countries last

June, has laid the foundation for trusting relationships

that are so central for any dialogue.

The international community should encourage

both of these countries to press on in order to

eventually sign a peace agreement which would pave

the way to peaceful coexistence.

The inter-Korean dialogue might also arouse

some interest on the part of the Taiwan Strait where

tension unfortunately continues to be abnormally high.

Whereas economic and trade relations between the two

countries are being developed on a regular basis,

political relations are non-existent, despite the fact that

on both sides of the Strait semi-official structures have

been set up which serve as channels of communication

between the People's Republic of China and the

Republic of China, Taiwan.

Both parties should show political determination

and imagination in exploring ways and means of

reducing tension and opening a genuine dialogue. In all

events, the international community is duty bound to

reconsider the whole question of admitting the

Republic of China, Taiwan to membership of our

Organization, particularly in light of the weight and the

importance of the economic role it plays internationally

and the fact that it is so closely involved in actions for

development and the reduction of poverty.

For its part, the Government of Chad supports the

request by the Republic of China, Taiwan, to seek

membership in the United Nations and its specialized

agencies.

I could not conclude my remarks without

referring to other ills which undermine and sap all the

development efforts of countries like mine. These ills

include indebtedness, protectionist measures in the

markets of the northern countries, deterioration in the

terms of trade and various kinds of trafficking.

Those countries which hold the key to the

solutions to all these ills, particularly the northern

countries, must go beyond simple declarations of

intention and take concrete steps to relieve countries

from the burden of indebtedness, to throw open their

markets and to pay a fair price for our exports.

As if this were not enough, another evil which is

even more insidious and devastating, has made our task

even more difficult. The prospects for solution are

remote indeed and it is to be feared that this will reduce

to nothing our hopes to relieve our peoples of poverty.

I refer to the HIV/AIDS pandemic which brings death

and bereavement to families on a daily basis.

Not only is it a burden for our meagre financial

resources, but also on our human resources,

particularly young people who are the spearhead of our

nation.

We have the collective responsibility to

effectively mobilize ways and means to conquer this

scourge which defies the entire international

community as a time when there is so much

technological and scientific progress being made.

39

In the light of all these challenges, Chad believes

that its development should also benefit from the

political and economic integration of Africa, which is

an important and determinant dimension of this global

village. Therefore we would welcome and salute the

major political acts which have been taken by the

Conference of Heads of State and Government of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) on 12 July in

Lomé: I refer to the adoption of the Constituent Act of

the African Union.

This major historic event, which is the result of a

collective commitment on the part of the African

peoples, is a responsible reply on the part of today's

Africa to meet the number of challenges of the twenty-

first century by means of political, economic and social

integration.

The African Union will create the necessary

conditions for genuine partnership in irreversible

globalization, but a globalization that would not be

synonymous with exclusion and the dictatorship of the

marketplace. This globalization, we believe, should be

synonymous with sharing and openness. It should have

a human face or it will not exist at all.

But none of this can be achieved without further

democratization of the United Nations starting with an

enlargement of the Security Council so that it can be

more effective and, particularly, more legitimate.

In other words, it is in our interest — in the

interest of us all — that the Security Council be more

representative of the international community in whose

name it claims to act. What we are referring to here is

the credibility of its decisions which, unfortunately,

have long been used against the weaker with its policy

of double standards.