Equatorial Guinea, 1997

Mr. President, it is a pleasure

for me to join preceding speakers in congratulating you on

the high distinction bestowed upon you and your country

through your election to preside over this regular session of

the General Assembly, to which we have all come imbued

with our shared aspirations for the future of mankind. Once

again, we come to this forum to convey the warmest

greetings of solidarity, peace and hope of the people and

Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and, in

particular, to express my country’s views on the issues to

be debated at this session.

We are three years away from a new millennium.

This waiting period is an opportunity to think deeply

about the challenges it has in store for us. We have

moved in a very short time from a bipolar world, marked

by the cold war and both strategic and ideological

confrontations, to the new dynamics of globalization and

the interdependence of States in their relations within the

international system.

Indeed, when we consider that the millennium is

about to end and that our Organization has now been in

existence for more than 50 years, we must admit that a

great deal has been achieved in terms of progress for

mankind, particularly in the spheres of economic,

scientific and technological development. Unfortunately,

however, there are still grey areas of uncertainty as

regards the future of mankind and the possibilities of

establishing peace and security throughout the world.

In third world countries such as ours, for example,

the lives of millions of people have been affected by a

halt to progress and development as a result of extreme

poverty, wars and armed conflicts and of the resurgence

of mercenary activities and organized crime. In brief, the

people are subjected to wanton violence, and as a result

social, political and economic systems are breaking down.

We believe that the burden placed on our peoples is

too great and that their problems require a lasting and

stable response from the United Nations, to include the

elimination of neo-interventionist practices; the prevention

of conflicts; the reduction of poverty; the elimination of

neo-protectionist barriers in world trade; and help in the

fight against terrorism, fundamentalism and anachronistic

nationalism. The preservation of the environment and the

fight against drug-trafficking and the consumption of

illicit drugs must also be prime objectives of our

collective action. These problems are not restricted to the

territory of a single State, and therefore their solution

demands the involvement and solidarity of all nations the

world over, in a context of consensus and more

coordinated international cooperation.

This, in turn, creates the need to ensure democratic

reform of institutions and organizations of a global scope.

The division of the world into categories must become a

thing of the past, although we agree that some among us

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must shoulder special responsibilities vis-à-vis mankind

since they, in a sense, are the ones responsible for certain

threats that face us: the nuclear threat, the large-scale

production and sale of armaments, the deterioration of the

environment and the exercise of absolute power over the

economy, finance and advances in science, technology and

information. For if a third world exists today, it is only

because someone exploited it to create a first world. We do

not intend to wait for the emergence of a fourth world

whose means and resources we can exploit to become

developed. The point is to make sure that the resources

amassed by the first world, the countries of the North, are

today made available to the developing countries. For that

to happen, the international trading system must be fair,

poverty must be reduced, the social development and

scientific and technological advance of developing countries

must be fostered and the debt problem must be alleviated.

In short, the differences in the quality of life that separate

the citizens of the North from those of the South must be

drastically reduced, in a spirit of open solidarity that will

work for the progress and development of all countries.

All these aspects are the real issues to be discussed as

we strive to attain lasting world peace and sustainable

development in the coming millennium. The United Nations

must therefore become a much more global and democratic

world Organization so that it can take a dynamic approach

to the problems weighing on mankind. It must be

modernized, brought up to date and in tune with the new

times, able to express the common will of all nations.

Therefore, it must be restructured.

In this connection, Equatorial Guinea feels, as do

many others, that it is time to reform the decision-making

body of the United Nations, the Security Council. With

regard to reform, we do not know whether it is the number

of the Council’s members that has prevented the United

Nations from functioning with greater flexibility and

efficiency. Nor are we sure that an increase in the number

of permanent members will make for a more representative

United Nations. What we must attempt to gain is more

voices expressing the will of the peoples to see a more

prosperous, peaceful and lastingly stable world. If this

cannot be achieved by returning to the General Assembly

its legitimate rights, it would be reasonable to have more

members of the Security Council representing the regions

and to ensure that the rules governing the use of the veto

take into account the interest of the majority.

Equatorial Guinea is interested in ensuring that we

have a properly functioning mechanism for agreement that

reflects, above all, the spirit of equity and justice within the

United Nations. For Equatorial Guinea, which is a small

country in terms of both area and population, the

democratic functioning of the United Nations provides a

guarantee of security and stability in international

relations and, above all, ensures scrupulous respect for

every nation’s right of sovereignty.

It is no idle claim that countries like ours do not

receive appropriate treatment in relations between States.

This applies, for example, to the vague demands relating

to the universal principle of respect for fundamental

human rights, which include political, economic and

social rights.

In the specific case of Equatorial Guinea, it is

neither understandable nor acceptable that, despite our

great efforts to achieve a participatory democracy and

respect for human rights, international public opinion is

still being manipulated by some in order to project a false

image of our country to the outside world for reasons that

are inconsistent with this universal principle. We do not

believe that anyone has a monopoly on values and virtues

in this respect.

However, some years ago my country reached the

conclusion that respect for human rights comes from a

continuous process and not from an immediate response

to criteria and demands imposed by groups or individuals

with partisan political interests. It is in this context that

the Government of Equatorial Guinea, of its own free

will, is participating in and cooperating with all the

initiatives of the United Nations and certain friendly

countries to consolidate respect for human rights in the

country. To that end, working with the United Nations

Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations

Centre for Human Rights, we have already organized

various training, educational and information programmes

relating to human rights.

My country is also proud to be one of the few

countries in the world that, of its own free will, has

agreed with another country — in our case, the United

States of America — a technical and financial assistance

programme for measures aimed at the better exercise

within our society of all human rights. In the context of

this programme, far-reaching legal reforms have been set

out to regulate this exercise of rights, as well as to

achieve better administration and governance by the State.

All these measures will be free from political interference

based on ideological or partisan interests.

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From this rostrum, therefore, I should like to confirm

to international public opinion that in Equatorial Guinea

human rights form an integral part of the priorities of the

Government and of all the political forces of the nation and

that we are critiquing and continuously assessing our

progress. We do not, therefore, need either the approval or

the guidance of any other society or institution in order to

evaluate this tangible reality. Nor do we need any

favourable or unfavourable propaganda from international

media that may be linked to interests and pressure groups

with hidden agendas.

We certainly agree that the same degree of pressure

that is brought to bear with regard to the political rights of

peoples must also be brought to bear in order to bring

about more concrete support for the right of peoples to

development and the progress of nations. It is our

unanimous desire that in the third millennium the millions

of men, women and children of the world will have the

right to health services, education, decent housing, drinking

water, electricity, food and clothing. But this objective

cannot be achieved through restrictive measures and

policies or through discriminatory economic blockades. We

also wish to note that even these policies are not applied

equitably throughout the international community.

Nevertheless, thanks to our strong conviction that we

must play the principal role in our own development, today

more than ever Equatorial Guinea is being targeted by

certain forces and is becoming a strategically and

economically significant zone in the subregion of central

Africa. At the economic level, our country has just attained

the status of oil-producing country, and attempts are being

made to destabilize it for purposes of hegemony and for

strategic reasons. Exactly five months ago, thanks to the

spirit of African solidarity demonstrated by our sister

republic of Angola, my country was saved from an

attempted invasion by mercenaries, which was organized

and financed by certain foreign political groups with murky

and undisclosed designs on our nation.

Instability in the subregion of central Africa is today

threatening the security of the region and the continent.

Plans, strategies and machinery for destabilization are being

fashioned from outside the region that are capable of

destroying the present incipient democratic regimes in the

region. Powerful communications media are actively

involved in systematically distorting, disinformation and the

misrepresentation of everything that is happening in the

region. The situation in Angola, the Republic of the Congo,

Rwanda and Burundi, as well as the recent conflicts in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, have been presented

to international public opinion as Dantesque and apocalyptic.

We ask the United Nations to follow up on

everything that is taking place in this region, particularly

in the area of the Gulf of Guinea, from the Niger river

delta to the enclave of Cabinda, as well as in the Great

Lakes region.

In the specific case of the Republic of the Congo, a

sister country with which we share common interests, the

Government of Equatorial Guinea fully supports the

international mediation efforts of the President of the

Republic of Gabon, Mr. El Hadj Omar Bongo and of the

special representative of the United Nations and of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU).

We have the feeling that a new cold war is being

waged in Africa based on cultural and linguistic

influences. The fact that English, French, Portuguese and

Spanish languages are spoken should only serve to enrich

our values and capacities in terms of international

cooperation and should be not a factor for confrontation

and antagonism based on hegemony. This phenomenon

has a serious adverse effect on our ability to achieve unity

at the continental level in Africa for the peaceful

resolution of conflicts. We therefore appeal to the United

Nations and the OAU to initiate consensus-based actions

that will lead to the reduction of such differences.

In this context, my Government is making efforts to

maintain an internal and regional balance by developing

a policy based on dialogue, consensus and good-

neighbourliness, which are indispensable tools for

ensuring peace and security in the continent.

In this process of political and economic change

there have been setbacks and difficulties, but we have

kept determinedly to the upward path that will enable us

to leave behind a past that produced severe economic

regressiveness and a breakdown of democratic principles

and values. We want Equatorial Guinea to be included

fully within the dynamics of change and globalization.

We want to ensure that we are incorporated into the

regenerative trend of free market economy with a strong

social component and dialogue based on patriotism,

flexibility and tolerance among all the political forces and

throughout civil society in our country.

Indeed, we have just held, from 8 to 13 September

1997, a national economic conference designed essentially

to bring about a national dialogue to achieve a definition

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of a consensus-based strategy involving all political forces,

civil society, non-governmental organizations and religious

associations, with the participation of international agencies

of the United Nations system, the World Bank, the

European Union and African regional and subregional

organizations, as well as friendly nations, aimed at

implementing structural reforms in the economy and

sustainable development of the country, through the rational

and transparent use of oil, forest and fishing resources.

In the political field, we will proceed with the free and

transparent reform of laws regulating the exercise of

democratic liberties to achieve better governance for our

nation. We have the firm political determination to attain

these objectives and to meet our commitments, and we

appeal for international solidarity.

I cannot conclude without expressing, on behalf of the

Government of Equatorial Guinea, our warmest

congratulations to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

on his wise and sound suggestions for reforming the bodies

of the United Nations.

Equatorial Guinea will continue to support those

efforts, aimed at achieving more dynamic and flexible

mechanisms and structures for peacekeeping and the

promotion of balanced and sustainable social and economic

development in the world.