Comoros, 2006

Allow me,

first of all, on behalf of the people of the Comoros, my

Government and in my personal capacity, to sincerely

congratulate you, Madam President, on your election to

the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

first session. I am convinced that your eminent

qualities will enable you to skilfully guide the work of

this General Assembly. And I assure you of my

readiness to work with you towards the successful

accomplishment of the difficult mission entrusted to

you by our General Assembly.

I take advantage of this opportunity to address

our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and to express

my deepest gratitude for the total and resolute

commitment that he has always shown as head of our

Organization, in particular, in the promotion of its

ideals. We are all aware of the immeasurable efforts

that he consistently deploys to defend the noble causes

of our institution — the fight against poverty, the

maintenance of peace in the world, to list but the main

ones.

It is a great honour to take the floor today and to

address this Assembly in my capacity as the newly

elected President of the Union of the Comoros.

Allow me, therefore, at this historic time, to

address my deep gratitude to all of the brother

countries, to the United Nations system and to the

African Union, in particular, for having become

engaged in order to ensure that, for the first time, a

democratic and peaceful political transition was able to

take place in my country following free and transparent

elections. That was indeed a first in the Comoros in

30 years of independence.

At this junction, I would like to underline the

principal role played by the Republic of South Africa

and by its President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, in monitoring

the electoral operations during the last presidential

elections held in the Comoros. These elections are an

exemplary model for Africa, in spite of certain

imperfections.

I wish to convey to the Government and to the

brethren people of the Republic of South Africa the

sincere gratitude of the people of the Comoros and my

personal acknowledgment for the unfailing support that

they provided to the process of national reconciliation

in the Comoros.

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I wish to convey to France, a country with which

we have long-standing relations, the gratitude of the

people and the Government of the Comoros for the

constant support that it continues to provide to our

country. We are convinced that France, the home

country of human rights and freedoms, will meet the

request of my Government to ensure that together we

can guarantee a harmonious development in the

Comoros, with democracy, the rule of law and good

governance.

The People’s Republic of China also deserves our

deep admiration. With great vigour, this brother

country has supported the development of the

Comoros, ever since we gained independence more

than 30 years ago. Through the quality of its relations,

China has earned the friendship of all the people of the

Comoros, and I remain convinced that it will continue

to provide aid and support for my country’s socio-

economic development, a matter which remains a

priority for my Government.

The Republic of Mauritius deserves a special

mention for its invaluable support to my country

throughout the national reconciliation process. By

hosting the donor conference for the Comoros in

December 2005, this brother country has demonstrated

its great solidarity with the Comoros. We therefore

express to it our deep appreciation here today.

Madagascar is a country with which we enjoy,

over and above formal cooperation, very close relations

by virtue of good neighbourliness, blood ties, a shared

language and commerce, and it will remain a crucial

partner for us. Madagascar has consistently

demonstrated the importance of preserving common

values, in particular through closer ties. I know that

with this brother country we still have a long way to

travel together, as our destinies are linked.

From this platform, I would be remiss not to

convey our sincere gratitude to all other bilateral and

multilateral partners of the Comoros, in particular, the

League of Arab States, the International Organization

of la Francophonie and the European Union, which,

through the African Union, has provided valuable

support and assistance in recent years in the context of

the national reconciliation process.

I would like to thank sincerely the entire

international community for the spirit of solidarity

often expressed towards my country. Moreover, I

remain convinced that the entire international

community will continue to support the Comoros to

help it complete national reconciliation. This is the sine

qua non to ensure that a period of peace and political

stability can take root in my country.

The people of the Comoros hope to see an end to

the hellish cycle of coups d’état that have spoiled their

daily lives over the past three decades. Since my

election as President, my Government and I have

strived to find the ways and means to promote social

and economic development. We are aware of the need

to diversify our cooperation abroad and to create

conditions that are propitious to investment. On the

domestic level, my Government is resolutely

committed to fighting corruption and the

embezzlement of public funds, to reestablishing an

independent and equitable judiciary and we are

committed to improving public housing. In order to

achieve these goals, we require the backing our

partners in support of our own efforts. That is why I

make a solemn appeal to this Organization and to its

Members to provide diverse forms of aid in order to

ensure the success of this task.

I would be remiss if I did not also touch on the

major global issues that we face. The situation in the

Middle East remains critical. The conflict that occurred

in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah deeply hurt

us in our flesh and in our hearts. Once again, we

question the grounds for waging that war, the reasons

for the destruction of economic infrastructure in that

brother country, and finally the loss of thousands of

lives. My country deeply deplores the shedding of

innocent blood in Lebanon and in the Middle East.

Why is there so much violence? Why is there so much

suffering? Why is there so much inhumanity?

What is there to say about the situation in

Palestine where the same scenario persists with its toll

of martyrs, children and women who are victims of

blind bombing? It is high time for the international

community, working within the framework of the

United Nations, to respond and to put an end to that

conflict by ensuring that a negotiated solution is

reached promptly.

We have the right to ask why the situation in Iraq

remains catastrophic. It would be a shameful lie to say

that we do not awake each day, learning of a growing

number of deaths in each community in Iraq.

In Africa, even though some conflicts have been

settled, instability and the risk of war and the threat of

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war still persist in Chad, the Darfur region of the

Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia,

just to mention some instances.

The question of Moroccan Sahara in no way

leaves us indifferent. It is high time that the

international community uses the prestige of the United

Nations to expedite a solution based on law to that

long-standing dispute. In any such situation, only the

application of international law can guarantee the

restoration of legality.

Asia is not spared its share of armed conflicts, for

example those in Sri Lanka, Timor and southern

Philippines. To mention all such conflicts would be

tedious. Wherever or whenever war takes place, armed

conflict inevitably results in millions of displaced

persons, destroyed economic infrastructure and

irreversible human, social and economic tragedy and

damage. We must acknowledge and appreciate the vast

effort of the international community to ensure that

dialogue, discussion and negotiation prevail over force,

destruction and war. Our Organization plays a major

role in this respect. We must acknowledge that the

crucial missions undertaken by the United Nations are

irreplaceable.

We live in a time of paradoxes. On the one hand,

we are living through an exceptional period marked by

extraordinary growth of knowledge and know-how in

the areas of technology, science, economic output,

information technology and communications, just to

mention a few. Yet on the other hand, we continue to

devote almost unlimited financial and technical

resources to producing more and more weapons

capable of destroying our planet. Our countries are

caught up in an arms race, instead of concentrating on

development and combating disease and poverty.

At a time when science makes possible

considerable progress, as I said earlier, the

contradiction persists at the start of the twenty-first

century that millions of individuals do not have enough

to eat, millions of persons are totally destitute, and too

often abject poverty, famine and devastating pandemics

prevail. Many families live without shelter or in

precarious and unhealthy conditions. Side by side with

an increasingly prosperous world, more and more

people live in increasingly difficult situations. We must

ask ourselves how to overcome these contradictions in

order to meet the challenges of the future.

Without going into detail, I wish to touch on the

root causes of these problems, their consequences and

prospects for the future. In my humble opinion, the

reasons for these conditions are twofold. The first

concerns governance in countries themselves. It will

not surprise you to hear that in many countries,

especially in the poorest countries, there is injustice,

corruption and a lack of respect for fundamental human

rights. The second point concerns international

governance and all the related problems. While we live

in a globalized world, we must recognize that

degradation of the environment from uncontrolled

pollution by business motivated by easy profit

endangers the lives of future generations. In economic

terms, we stand by powerless, witnessing deteriorating

terms of trade, which plunge the poorest countries into

ever-deepening poverty while the richest countries

continue increasingly to prosper.

We believe that in order to achieve peace among

men, to seek peace among countries and to ensure

lasting peace for each and every one, we must prevent

and resolve the conflicts and ills that beset our world.

We meet in this forum to seek — and to find —

solutions to the problems that I have touched upon in

my statement. The permanent quest for material and

social well-being should guide us towards a guarantee

of better lives for our children. We must attack the root

causes of the conflicts breaking out everywhere in the

world. It is crucial that we combat pandemics such as

AIDS, which has destroyed millions of people

worldwide.

Mr. Majoor (Netherlands), Vice-President, took

the Chair.

Finally, I wish to use the words of Saint Francis

of Assisi who said, “Give us love, my God, so that we

might instil it where the forces of evil dominate”. May

God the almighty and most merciful inspire our

decisions to ensure that a time of peace comes upon us

and that we see an end to the spilling of the innocent

blood of people in countries at war.

(spoke in Arabic)

The Union of the Comoros has entered into a new

period since my accession to the post of head of the

supreme Council following the free and transparent

elections that were held in May and June. We hope to

strengthen our ties with all friendly countries on the

basis of mutual respect and common interests. We

reaffirm our firm commitment to all international

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conventions and agreements that seek to ensure peace,

well being, security and development for all peoples of

the world.

The Comoros occupies a distinct strategic

position and embraces many civilizations. In spite of

the challenges it faces, the Comoros has managed to

preserve its African and Arab identities, and its

affiliation with Islam: a religion of love, amity,

tolerance and peace.

Our country is among the world’s poorest, in

spite of the priceless natural resources that we enjoy,

such as agriculture, fishing and tourism, in addition to

our strategic position in the Mozambique Channel.

Incorrect economic politics applied since we gained

independence in 1975 and political instability have

been among the negative factors that made our country

especially poor and backward. Average gross domestic

product per capita stands at about $300 per year.

We have therefore developed a far-reaching plan

seeking to provide substantial shelter for our

population, in place of straw huts. We have sought to

establish an independent judiciary in order to ensure

the justice and equality of all before the law, and we

are combating unemployment and poverty. If we are

unable to provide decent and dignified housing and

unable to guarantee a minimum of justice, then we will

be unable to fight unemployment and poverty.

I would like once again to call upon the

international community to continue to provide aid and

assistance to my country. I assure members all that

their generosity and assistance will reach secure hands

and will be used properly and appropriately.