Comoros, 2025

The Assembly will now hear address from His Excellency President Abdullahi As-Soleimani, President of the Union of the Comoros. I invite the protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly. President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Secretary General of the United Nations, Your Majesties, Royal Highnesses, Heads of State and Government, Heads of Delegation, Distinguished Guests, allow me first of all, on behalf of the Comorian delegation, to address our warmest thanks to the American authorities for the hearty welcome and the excellent organisation of the 80th session of our Assembly. I would also wish to congratulate Her Excellency Madame Annalena Baerbock on her election to preside over this session of our Assembly and wish her every success in this noble mission and also at the same time pay tribute to His Excellency Mr. Philemon Young and note the wisdom and rigour with which he led the work of the previous session of the General Assembly. Finally, I wish to commend the enlightened leadership of His Excellency Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, whose tireless commitment to peace and development accurately embodies the ideologies enshrined in our Charter. At a time when the international order is unfortunately facing severe turbulence, President, the theme of this 80th session, Better Together, 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights, is as urgent and relevant as ever in the current global context. Ten years ago in this very room, we set the ambition to build a better world by 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals were supposed to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and provide everyone with peace and prosperity. However, with five years to go before the deadline, it is notable that the world is not more just, more peaceful or more equitable. On the contrary, inequalities have increased, conflicts multiplied and humanity is moving further and further away from the vision that once drove us. This is the case in Europe with the conflict in Ukraine, in Africa the situation in the Sahel and the crisis in the Great Lakes region. The Palestinian tragedy is perhaps the most shocking demonstration of this. For more than 70 years now, and today even more so than before, the Palestinian people have been suffering the pillaging of their ancestral lands, suffering exile, torture and humiliation. Their recent history is simply a succession of pages written in blood, indifference and scorn. When faced with this tragedy, rightly qualified as a genocide by many experts, the international community is far too often simply verbally condemning this without any concrete action. We rightly condemned the barbaric acts committed on the 7th of October in Israel, but the disproportionate response that has been unleashed in Gaza since then is indeed a genocide. 80% of the victims are children, older persons or the ill. They have been killed by shelling which does not spare hospitals, aid distribution centres, schools, UN staff or journalists. The crimes perpetrated against Palestine stem from an untenable contradiction. Indeed, how can a government elected by a people who are a victim of the Holocaust, how can they commit a genocide before the very eyes of the entire world and inflict similar trauma on others today, war, exile and oppression? How can Israel, in addition, take it out on everyone else, entering into deadly conflict with all of its neighbours? As the old adage goes, we don't choose our but we have to live in peace and security with them. Thus, we must welcome the courage and the humanity of the Israelis, friends from Israel who are raising their voices against this barbarity. Bravo and thank you to you, dear friends. And as history reminds us, when we look at the tragedy of the Holocaust, Arab, African and Muslim countries have never been on the side of the perpetrators of genocide. On the contrary, our forefathers and our ancestors were risking their lives. They fought alongside the Allies to defend the Jewish people and hosted them, welcomed them, welcomed the survivors into their country. The President of the Union of the Comoros, loyal as it is to its principles and respecting international law, reaffirmed his tireless support to a two-state solution, living side by side with East Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine, which is the only solution for peace and security for Israel and for the entire Near and Middle East region. Unlike the argument put forward whereby recognising the state of Palestine is a gift to Hamas, having a Palestine state that is recognised will allow the Palestinian people to accomplish their duties and obligations under international law. This is the best gauge of establishing peace, rather than having groups as interlocutors and negotiators. Thus, we welcome the historic decision taken by France and we pay tribute here to President Macron and also to the leaders of many other countries, who on Monday 23rd September recognised the state of Palestine at this UN rostrum. We welcome this positive initiative, which comes following the New York Declaration, which was adopted also in September by the General Assembly, in a continuation of this international conference organised in August by France and Saudi Arabia under the aegis of the United Nations. We called on this Assembly to put the future of the Palestinian state once and for all on our common agenda. It is our moral responsibility to act, because with every day that goes by without action being taken, thousands of innocent people, women and children, die. No one will be able to say anymore, I didn't know. History will be our judge. It will not forgive silence nor inaction. Let us think of the future generations so that tomorrow they could be proud of what we did. President, peace and development cannot be built without justice and inclusion. That is why, 65 years after a wave of independence, Africa is a continent of more than two billion people. Now Africa must finally obtain its legitimate and rightful place within the Security Council of the United Nations. The vision of the African Union, a united, prosperous, peaceful Africa that is master of its own fate, fully echoes the spirit of this session. During my presidency of the African Union, I prioritised conflict resolution and mediation to, once and for all, silence the guns. This is a flagship initiative of the African Union as part of the 2063 Agenda, the Africa We Want, and it is in line with the norms and principles and protocols of the African Union regarding the African Peace and Security Council. This commitment is the key for the effective implementation of the African Free Trade Area, which itself is a pillar for a strong Africa within the concert of nations. President, distinguished guests, in the same vein, I wish to recall that the declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its 26th session declared the Indian Ocean a zone of peace, free from nuclear weapons and military bases. However, still today, competing ambitions are threatening this stability. Thus, I strongly condemn and denounce any project to install a military base in Mayotte, a Camorian island which, unfortunately, is still under French administration. The Union of the Camoros, who just celebrated 50 years of independence and accession to the United Nations, will remain committed to the full entirety of our national territory, Anjouan, Grand Camor, Morelis and Mayotte, all of it. I wish to reiterate the gratitude of the people and the government of the Camoros to all of those who, as we mark this half-century anniversary, have congratulated us and sent their best wishes. In this context, from this rostrum, I cannot ignore the question of Mayotte, a Camorian island which is still under French occupation, despite clear and repeated resolutions of the UN, of the African Union and from other bodies too. The dialogue that has begun with France, what the late President Mitterrand called an unfortunate dispute, must reach a successful conclusion because this dispute has gone on far too long and every year it costs the lives of thousands of our compatriots in the stretch of sea that separates Mayotte and its sister islands. This week, very serious facts were unveiled by an investigation from the French newspaper Le Monde, which reported on deliberate manoeuvres on the part of the police operating in Mayotte, who were carrying out regularly sinking boats which cost the lives of several Camorian citizens. Thus, the Union of the Camoros calls on the French state, the occupying power, to stop these operations, to launch the appropriate investigations and to punish the perpetrators of this barbarity so that justice be served and so that the dignity of human lives be respected. On our side, the Union of the Camoros will tirelessly continue its diplomatic and legal action so that justice can be served and so that a just solution can be found to the question of the Camorian island of Mayotte, which is one of the last open wounds of decolonisation in Africa. We thus regret that some prevalent countries in Africa who have always defended international law and the Camorian cause are today prevaricating and undertaking unfortunate initiatives with France to establish relations with Mayotte in spite of international law and our national sovereignty. We call on the European Union to act, to recall the duty and necessity for the respect of international law and the respect for unity of our archipelago. President, distinguished guests, as many, much like many small island developing states, Camoros are on the front line of climate change and we remain a vulnerable but determined country. Rising seas, coastal erosion and the increased frequency of cyclones are posing a threat to our villages, our ecosystems and our lives. We call for equitable and simplified access to climate financing. We call for increased solidarity too so that our people can not only survive but prosper. In recent years, the Union of the Camoros has launched an Emerging Camoros Plan, which seeks to transform our economy, strengthen our infrastructure, modernise our education system and improve our people's health. Our country has a vast potential in terms of renewable energy, including geothermal energy. We invite our bilateral and multilateral partners and the private sector to join this promising development project. It is based on three pillars, inclusive growth, the energy and digital transition and the blue economy, one of the great riches which is the Indian Ocean. The security across our region depends on the stability of each and every one of its states and thus we condemn strongly all forms of terrorism and transnational crime. We advocate for strong and just multilateralism and solidarity based on the UN Charter and the respect for the sovereign equality of states. We must reaffirm also our commitment to a fairer world order where small states have a voice and can fully participate in global governance. And to turn back the tide of protectionism and stop people looking inward, we advocate for reform of the international financial architecture. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the increasing debt of developing countries, it is crucial to adapt the global financial system to the economic, geopolitical and social realities. Fifty years after its independence, the Camorian nation is still a young one, but it is buoyed by its experience and by its dreams. The Camorian people are proud of its history and confident in its future and they remain committed to this assembly which embodies our common aspirations for peace, justice and development, which must be consistently consolidated. I therefore solemnly appeal to the international community and our development partners to support our efforts so that we can have a world that really is for peace, development and human rights. Thank you for your kind attention.