Comoros, 1994

At the outset, I should like, on behalf of the delegation of

the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, to extend to

Mr. Essy my warmest congratulations on his election to the

presidency of our Assembly. I am convinced that his

wealth of experience in international relations will be for us

the best guarantee for the success of our work. Through

him, the Assembly has also paid resounding tribute to his

country, Côte d’Ivoire, and to one of its illustrious

departed sons, the late President Houphouët-Boigny, a

great statesman and acknowledged visionary whose

wisdom and intelligence made a great contribution to the

advent of a world of peace and progress.

I wish to join previous speakers in expressing

profound gratitude to his predecessor for the effectiveness

with which he presided over the General Assembly at its

forty-eighth session.

I also take this opportunity to convey to Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, our Secretary-General, our high esteem

and fraternal gratitude for his tireless efforts to reduce

pockets of tension and strengthen international peace and

security. His devotion and talent reinforce the role of our

Organization.

These past five years, the world has seen great

upheavals that have put an end to the cold war and

ideological blocs. Despite the emergence of certain

conflicts, the world is on the threshold of a new, more

promising era in which dialogue and joint action seem to

be prevailing over confrontation.

We are one year away from the fiftieth anniversary

of the establishment of the United Nations, and in the

present circumstances we must think about defining the

new missions our Organization has to carry out, in

addition to those bestowed on us by history. Even if the

goal of a peaceful world society has not yet been reached,

it is acknowledged that our Organization has contributed

broadly to decolonization and the progressive

development of international law. Of the positive results

achieved by the United Nations, the definition and

promotion of human rights is inarguably the most

important. This world forum has made it possible for

developing States to make the international community

more aware of their difficulties and to express their

demands. Thanks to the United Nations, some global

problems, such as those of population and environment,

have become priority concerns for all nations, small or

large, rich or poor.

The climate of détente and the easing of tensions in

international relations undoubtedly made it possible to

resolve the conflict that beset South Africa for so long.

The first non-racial, democratic elections held in South

Africa, resulting in the election of President Nelson

Mandela, are the best evidence of the positive

development of law there. My country is particularly

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pleased to see the Republic of South Africa occupying its

seat in our great family. All Africa places its hopes in

South Africa, whose leaders have demonstrated wisdom and

determination. We earnestly hope South Africa will be able

to pass peacefully and harmoniously through its new stage

of transition.

One of this year’s felicitous events is clearly the

concretization of the peace process that started with the

Washington agreements between the Palestinians and the

Israelis. Their mutual recognition has provided fresh

impetus, and it heralds an era of peace in that part of the

world, which has for so long been bloodied by war. I take

this opportunity to congratulate President Arafat and the

Palestinian people on their tireless efforts to give Palestine

a sovereign, independent State within internationally

recognized boundaries.

If peace is to be established in the Middle East, there

must be a comprehensive settlement of the differences

between the State of Israel and the Arab States of the

region. The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, an

Arabic-speaking and French-speaking African State, will

spare no effort in sincerely encouraging all the parties

concerned to strive for peace. We therefore welcome the

agreement reached between the Kingdom of Jordan and

Israel.

My country has always respected our Organization’s

principles, and therefore has always advocated dialogue and

concertation in the settlement of conflicts. In that spirit, it

endorsed the General Assembly’s recommendations on the

question of the Comorian island of Mayotte. Need I recall

that in this regrettable dispute, which started 19 years ago,

[between the Comoros and France], in 1975, the Comorian

authorities have always expressed a willingness to negotiate

with France on the legal and practical modalities for the

return of the Comorian island of Mayotte to its natural

community. Unfortunately, France has always opposed

concertation on this issue. Quite the contrary: that great

country, an unchallenged defender of human rights, is

prolonging its administrative and military presence in

Mayotte. It has also undertaken in this part of our small

territory reforms and socio-economic development plans

whose clear aim is to separate for all time the four sister

islands that geography, history, race, religion, language and

economy had joined together with ties that were both

identical and complementary. For Comorians, faith and

dignity have made this problem a cardinal point of our

sovereign existence.

While we take note of the tangible results of the

rebirth of democracy in Eastern Europe, the opening up

of Africa to multiparty politics and the easing of tensions

between Powers, we cannot be but concerned at the

appearance of conflicts that are undermining world

stability and equilibrium. The case of Bosnia and

Herzegovina is a constant and striking reminder that we

still have a long, long way to go on the road to lasting

peace. My country calls on the Serb and Bosnian parties

to comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions

and to accept the plan for territorial division proposed by

the Contact Group. Nothing would be more tragic than

allowing passion and pride to prevail over reason and take

precedence over the lives of thousands of women,

children and old people, who are the daily victims of this

incomprehensible conflict.

We are equally at a loss when we look at the

genocide that has ravaged Rwanda. We still wonder how

all the macabre events that have torn Rwanda apart could

have taken place. Fortunately, peace has been restored

and normalization seems to be gaining ground. I take this

opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to France for

"Operation Turquoise," as well as to all the States that

supported that operation, for without it Rwanda would

have ceased to exist. We express our gratitude to the

neighboring States for the very African hospitality they

showed in saving the lives of human beings in distress.

I urgently appeal to the new Government of Rwanda to

spare no effort to bring about national unity, without

which the reconstruction of Rwanda cannot be assured.

In addition, we salute the courage and determination

of the political authorities and the people of Burundi for

their avoidance of another tragedy with incalculable

consequences.

The international community must assist Africa -

particularly the Organization of African Unity, which has

never remained indifferent to the various conflicts that

have embroiled certain Member States - to prevent

conflicts and manage them better. It is imperative that

we finally wake up to Africa’s economic realities and

understand that its instability and destitution are a

standing threat to society throughout the world.

While we recognize that the world political situation

has eased considerably, we must also take note that the

international economic situation shows us no glimmer of

hope. Political stability will be fragile if there is not a

clear improvement in the economic sphere and, in

particular, if growth is limited to the wealthy countries.

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The developing countries are bearing the full brunt of the

ill effects of the crisis, in the form of deteriorating terms of

trade, rising protectionism, decreasing net flows of external

resources and, on top of all that, the debt burden, which

nullifies the efforts of the developing countries.

The widening gap between wealthy and poor countries

reduces the effects of the economic recovery in the

industrialized countries in recent years has seemed to be

clearly appearing on the horizon. In this context, it is our

collective responsibility to combat poverty, famine and

destitution in the developing countries.

Given the distress of the developing countries and an

international economic system in crisis, we must devise a

new and constructive vision, one capable of restructuring

the world economy while reflecting the interests of both

parties within the framework of sincere cooperation.

We place our hopes in a renewed United Nations that

will take concrete action to establish more balanced

international economic relations.

In the opinion of my country, the Federal Islamic

Republic of the Comoros, cooperation between North and

South is vital to the balance of the world economy. The

Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros also believes that

cooperation between the countries of the South is

imperative; indeed, we have made cooperation with the

developing countries an essential element in our relations.

For us, the development of South-South cooperation

is a bounden duty in order to insure the continuation and

strengthening of development assistance. We have chosen

a policy of regional solidary and integration as an effective

tool for economic and social progress. Our commitment to

the Indian Ocean Commission, and our membership in the

African Economic Community, as well as our participation

in the preferential trade area, ZEP, demonstrate the

importance the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

attaches to the General Assembly’s recommendations on the

need for the developing countries to cooperate on a regional

level in order to better confront their own problems. It is

in this spirit that our regional institutions have adopted a

strategy aimed, first and foremost, at strengthening trade

and industrial cooperation, and at improving transportation,

telecommunications and so forth.

Since the democratic election of His Excellency Mr.

Sáíd Mohamed Djohar to the Supreme Magistrature, the

Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros has committed

itself to working for a democratic, dynamic and open

society and to combating corruption, in order to

definitively bring about economic and financial recovery.

In this effort, the Comorian people adopted a new

constitution and, last December, democratically elected a

new Parliament composed of all the country’s main

political parties.

The Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

understands that international cooperation alone cannot

eradicate the evils of underdevelopment. Thus it has

signed a programme of structural adjustment with the

international financial institutions, with the aim of

achieving economic recovery and of improving public

finance. It is a trial that the Comorian people is enduring

with courage and sacrifice. But the recent devaluation of

the Comorian franc has exacerbated the crisis by seriously

undermining the Comorians’ purchasing power. In such

a difficult socio-economic context, how can one convince

starving people and demoralized State workers that

democracy brings hope? The measures taken as a result

of the structural adjustment programmes do not facilitate

the role the public authorities of a country must play in

the context of social renewal.

While it is true that the easing of international

political tension and of certain regional conflicts has

reinforced hopes for peace, the gravity of the international

economic situation is also creating doubt.

The victims of the world crisis are still the same:

men, women and children of the African, Asian, Latin

American and Caribbean regions.

Indeed, the same people are always the ones who are

confronted with famine, poverty, natural catastrophes and

desertification. Other modern scourges such as

fundamentalism, terrorism, epidemics and drug-trafficking

have been added to an already hostile socio-economic

environment. The harsh reality of the poor countries is

accentuated by their exclusion from the decision-making

process concerning the international economic situation.

As the twentieth century draws to a close, the long-

cherished hopes of the third-world peoples are giving way

to disappointment.

The special session of the General Assembly on

economic cooperation, the Paris Conference on the least

developed countries, the five years of the United Nations

New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s

and many other programmes and projects that have been

drawn up and carried out over the last 20 years have not

attained the goals set for them by the General Assembly

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in the area of development. Specialists in development

assistance and economic cooperation are unanimous in

finding that the current trend is towards stagnation and even

regression.

Our General Assembly must now find a solution to the

problem created by the failure of international economic

relations.

We must insist more strongly on our sense of

solidarity and shared responsibility.

My country has always advocated strengthening the

role of the United Nations in all areas of international

relations. But it also believes that the structures of the

United Nations system must correspond to the new world

scene. We are among those who believe that the victors of

the Second World War do not have a monopoly on the

maintenance of peace and on the socio-economic

development of nations.

The General Assembly must be the central body where

the relevant decisions of our Organization are taken.

It is difficult to understand why there is no connection

between the political determination expressed here by

States, the essential components of the protagonists of

international life, and the international financial institutions.

On behalf of His Excellency Mr. Sáíd Mohamed

Djohar, President of the Federal Islamic Republic of the

Comoros, and on behalf of the Government and the people

of the Comoros, I should like from this rostrum to make a

solemn appeal to the international community to provide

effective support to the Comorian people in its efforts at

socio-economic recovery and in its irreversible commitment

to democracy.

I should like to request that the Security Council

reconsider the sanctions adopted against Libya, because, as

a result of sanctions condemning inadmissible acts, an

entire people is being penalized. It is in this spirit that the

relevant resolutions adopted by the League of Arab States,

the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the

Organization of African Unity should be taken into

consideration, so that this fraternal country may enjoy its

sovereignty.

We welcome the imminent return of President Aristide

to Haiti. May the peace-keeping operation there bring

stability and security so that Haitians, in their renewed

unity, can work together to rebuild a free and prosperous

nation.

We also extend these wishes to our brothers in

Liberia, Somalia and Angola, so that, as in Mozambique,

they may resume dialogue and lay down their weapons.

We also wish to encourage the Algerian authorities

in their efforts at national reconciliation in the greater

interest of the Algerian nation.

According to several sources, it seems that there has

been a significant movement of Iraqi troops towards the

Kuwaiti border. We venture to hope that these

manoeuvers are intended for a purpose other than

aggression against Kuwait. Indeed, our Organization will

never accept a repetition of Iraq’s aggression of 1990.

It is difficult for us to believe that Iraq has not

learned the lessons of that famous, much-covered Gulf

war, from which the Iraqi people, the ultimate victims,

are still healing their wounds.

The aggression against a sovereign State and the

attack on its territorial integrity are a clear violation of

international law. It is an act that goes against the

fundamental principles of the Charter of this

Organization.

That is why, on behalf of the Government and

people of the Comoros and in the name of the sacred

principles of Islam, I appeal to the Government and

people of Iraq to halt any attempt to invade Kuwait. It is

up to the Security Council to use all peaceful means to

spare us a second Persian Gulf war. If it does not,

mankind will not be able to understand why each time

peace seems to be established another war looms.

May I conclude by repeating my delegation’s

fraternal congratulations to the President of the General

Assembly on his election. We are at his complete

disposal to assist him in any way in his discharge of that

lofty, noble mission.