Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2005

It is a pleasure to join

preceding speakers in congratulating Mr. Jan Eliasson

on his election as President at the sixtieth session of

the General Assembly. In particular, I welcome the fact

that the international community has given him the

honour of being elected President of the General

Assembly, at its present session at which we are

commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the

Organization. Moreover, at the present session we

shall, above all, work to implement the commitments

undertaken by the heads of State or Government to

strengthen United Nations reform and adapt the

Organization to the changes on the international stage

so that it can remain the forum for coordination and

debate, an irreplaceable instrument for conflict

prevention and management and the body for

upholding international law and the integrity of States.

I also congratulate the President at the fifty-ninth

session, Mr. Jean Ping, Minister of State and Minister

for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and la Francophonie

of the Gabonese Republic. With his great human

qualities and his skill as a statesman, he carried out his

mission with tact and personal engagement.

Finally, allow me to convey to Secretary-General

Kofi Annan the encouragement and the gratitude of

Mr. Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, for his commitment to finding

a solution to the crisis in the Great Lakes region and

for the importance that he attaches to the protection of

the values of human dignity.

Mr. Eliasson is presiding over the General

Assembly at a pivotal moment for our Organization. It

would be hard not to make a connection between the

history of my country, the President’s mandate and the

destiny of an eminent citizen of his country, Sweden,

who gained fame in my country for his commitment to

the cause of peace. I am referring to Mr. Dag

Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the

United Nations.

As the President has assumed his functions in

September, it should be recalled that on 20 September

1960, my country became a Member of the United

Nations. And on 18 September 1961, the late

Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld gave his life for

his commitment to the Democratic Republic of the

Congo. I pay tribute to the memory and the courage of

that hero, as well as to the civilian and military

members of the United Nations Operation in the Congo

who lost their lives alongside our soldiers while

defending the sovereignty and the integrity of our

territory.

A comparison of the United Nations involvement

in the Congo in 1960 and that of the present reveals a

number of similarities, including the tireless dedication

to the cause of peace demonstrated by the Blue

Helmets. My country has twice benefited from peace

operations, and we know the price paid by United

Nations forces to save us from disaster. Our first-hand

31

experience of United Nations intervention strengthens

our belief that now, more than ever, the world needs a

strong, reformed United Nations.

As discussions on Security Council reform have

reached a crucial stage, it is time for us to acknowledge

that, in spite of its limitations, the United Nations —

the forum of nations — has become the conscience of

humanity. Its present and future role can be addressed

only when one reflects on recent changes in the world

and on the Organization’s capacity to adapt to the new

challenges posed by development, the debt crisis, the

specific needs of the least developed countries,

terrorism and the issues of human rights, peace and

collective security.

In that context, it is desirable for the United

Nations to modify its structure in order to be better

able to face new and old challenges and promote the

values of our civilization, founded on the principles of

freedom and democracy.

The desired enlargement of the Security Council,

as envisaged, is now a requirement of the greatest

democratic importance. But while it is necessary, it is

not in itself sufficient to ensure the harmonious and

efficient functioning of the United Nations system. We

must go further, beyond mere expansion, to realize the

ambitions that Member States have for the United

Nations. Security Council reform should not

overshadow the need to review the other United

Nations organs, in particular the Economic and Social

Council, the Secretariat and the General Assembly,

with a view to strengthening their mandates, and

enabling the President of the General Assembly to play

a primary role in seeking solutions to international

problems.

Also in the context of reform, my country looks

forward to the establishment of the new Peacebuilding

Commission and to the creation of multi-year standing

funds. That would enable countries emerging from

conflict to receive real, substantial contributions in

support of rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts and

would help those countries lay the foundations for

sustainable development.

The international community has invested heavily

in the work of rebuilding State structures in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo and has provided

significant support through the United Nations

Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo (MONUC). I convey the deep gratitude of

the Congolese people.

In the context of the holding of transparent

multiparty elections to put an end to the crisis of

legitimacy and the endless loop of transitions, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo is taking giant steps

towards concluding the transition process. I would like

to assure the Assembly of the determination of the

Government of National Unity to carry out the

transition in accordance with the constitutional

timetable.

The adoption by referendum of a draft

constitution by the end of the year will make the

process irreversible. The elections must take place.

And it is certain that they will take place, because of

the great determination of the Congolese people and

the great commitment of the Government of National

Unity. The harmonious progress in the process, despite

some logistic constraints related to the immense size of

the national territory and the complexity of the voter

registration process, leads us to predict with confidence

that the various electoral deadlines will be met. To

date, nearly 12 million voters have been registered,

bearing out the enthusiasm that has been in evidence

since the start of the registration process.

It is now urgent to quickly stabilize the security

situation, including, in particular, through the prompt

resolution of the worrisome issue of the disarmament

of foreign armed groups, which threaten to disturb,

even compromise, the proper holding of elections.

It should be recalled that it is urgent to support

the efforts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to

put an end to the presence of armed groups in the

eastern part of the national territory and ensure their

repatriation, in accordance with the relevant

resolutions of the Security Council, the African Union

and the Economic Community of Central African

States. Adequate support for the training and equipping

of our restructured and integrated armed forces, as well

as the firm engagement of MONUC, will lead those

groups to disarm. However, the Democratic Republic

of the Congo has never preferred the military option or

ever felt that it was the only possible way to ensure the

repatriation of the foreign armed elements that have

proliferated in the North and South Kivus. Therefore

we have maintained contacts, through various

intermediaries, with representatives of the Front

démocratique pour la libération du Rwanda, which has

32

kept open the possibility of sustained voluntary

disarmament followed by the voluntary repatriation of

Rwandese armed elements. Two sets of consultations

were held — in March and in September 2005 — but

so far they have not led to the hoped-for results. If they

fail, we will have to reconsider the option of forced

disarmament, no matter what the cost for the

Congolese armed forces, to whom it will fall to enforce

it.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is

grateful to the Security Council for having authorized

MONUC to take action under Chapter VII of the

Charter of the United Nations, whose application has

had real results in Ituri. Recourse to Chapter VII in

other areas, however, in particular in the North and

South Kivus, has not yet had the full deterrent effect

anticipated. Therefore, is it not time to consider, as the

Security Council has wished, what assistance to

provide to the Forces armées de la République

démocratique du Congo to realize the forced

disarmament of the militias? Naturally, the successful

outcome of such an operation will also depend on the

determination of the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and of MONUC, and, above all, on the sincere

commitment of our neighbours. The latter must refrain

from any form of negative interference that would

compromise efforts to neutralize the militias and other

armed groups.

Beyond our security and strictly political

concerns, we must also meet the legitimate needs of a

population that for years has been deprived of its basic

subsistence requirements. The economic and social

policy of the Transitional Government seeks, in the

short term, to meet the requirements to combat poverty,

as well as to restructure the legal and financial sectors

and to help restart productive activities — areas where

a certain degree of success has been achieved. The

State budget has increased substantially, the exchange

rate has been stabilized, inflation is under control and,

for the past three years, growth rates have ranged from

6 to 7 per cent. Those favourable economic developments

have enabled us to launch a number of recovery plans

in the areas of basic infrastructure and education, as

well as in the field of health, by combating major

epidemics and pandemics.

But the pace of progress in the social sphere is

slow: very slow, in view of the people’s numerous

expectations. In order to consolidate the gains we have

made, we will need to pick up the pace of our activities

and rapidly institute social initiatives that will have a

visible impact. We therefore welcome the

commitments made by our bilateral and multilateral

partners to assist us in that direction.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of

the Congo is well aware of the importance of regional

cooperation and of good-neighbourliness. For that

reason, we support the Secretary-General’s initiative —

in conjunction with the Group of Friends of the Great

Lakes Region — to organize in Nairobi an

International Conference on Peace, Security,

Democracy and Development in the region.

My country has been the main battleground of an

armed conflict, with a toll of over 3 million dead,

massive infringements of human rights and of

international humanitarian law, the destruction of

hospitals, schools, roads and bridges and the looting of

natural resources and other forms of wealth. For that

reason, my country hopes to be one of the main

beneficiaries of the special reconstruction fund that has

been set up within the framework of the International

Conference on the Great Lakes region, and a priority

zone in the subregion for rehabilitation and

development.

The trials experienced by the Congolese people,

and by all the peoples of the Great Lakes region,

enable us to understand the aspirations for peace

voiced by other peoples. We therefore support the

peace process in the Middle East. The Democratic

Republic of the Congo welcomes the withdrawal of

Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. We believe that that

initiative is an important step forward, one that should

be consolidated in order to ensure peace and to put an

end to the cycle of violence in that region. The

sensitivity and the complexity of that situation further

emphasize the commitment made by the State of Israel

and by the Palestinian Authority to reach a negotiated

solution to the crisis in the Middle East.

I also wish to commend the United Nations and

the African Union for their efforts to bring the

elections in Burundi and the Central African Republic

to a successful conclusion. The positive outcome of the

reconciliation processes in those two countries, as well

as the prospects for positive developments in the

situation in the Congo, bode well for the emergence of

a new period of stability, democracy and prosperity for

Central Africa.

33

In view of new threats, I wish to reaffirm the

commitment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

to the principles upon which our collective security is

based. The coming years will be a time of increased

competition among nations in the areas of trade,

financial markets and research, including nuclear

research; rapid globalization, made possible through

information and communication technologies, has

given rise at times to sometimes uncontrolled

liberalization and bitter competition. It is thus our

historic responsibility to equip the United Nations with

the resources and structures not only to keep the

peace wherever necessary and to guarantee our

collective security wherever it is threatened, but also to

better address issues of economic and social

development, to establish more equitable rules of the

game for international trade, to fight collectively and

effectively against illiteracy, ignorance, intolerance,

epidemics, disease and natural disasters, and, naturally,

against terrorism, violence and injustice in all their

forms so that we can build a more brotherly, peaceful,

humane and just world.