Equatorial Guinea, 1998

First of all, I would like to

express to Mr. Didier Opertti the sincere congratulations of

the delegation of Equatorial Guinea on his unanimous

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at this

session of the General Assembly.

I also wish to congratulate Ambassador Hennadiy

Udovenko of Ukraine and to express my appreciation for

the enormous amount of work he accomplished as President

at the last session.

May I also reiterate to the Secretary-General of the

United Nations, our brother Kofi Annan, my country’s

support for the efforts he is making to find viable solutions

to conflicts in various parts of the world, and particularly

in Africa. I would like to encourage him to continue with

the reforms he has undertaken to adapt and restructure the

United Nations.

Once again, we are gathered here to consider and

reflect on the great challenges humanity is confronting and

will have to continue to confront at the threshold of the

new millennium. Every year in this same forum we see that

the same causes produce the same effects, but solutions

are slow to arrive. The fact is that we are all victims of

our own contradictions.

From this rostrum, we have been repeating for the

past 50 years that humankind wants no more wars, that it

wants a lasting peace. Nevertheless, the large industrial

complexes continue to produce more weapons that are

increasingly sophisticated and deadly.

We are assured that the priority at the end of the

century is the fight against poverty and the

underdevelopment of nations in the framework of the

globalization of our economies. Yet the problems of

hunger, malnutrition, disease and unemployment are

assuming alarming proportions, and in many cases the

growth of these problems is even more apparent than in

the past. In the meantime, the peoples of the world

continue to wait, and their future is filled with

uncertainty.

Let us be honest: disarmament is possible only if the

large weapons-producing complexes are dismantled. To

claim the contrary is pure contradiction. Disarmament

requires the same approach as the fight against drugs —

in other words, the destruction of the centres of

production, distribution and sale. There is no need for me

to elaborate on this issue, since the solution is in the

hands of those who benefit from this illicit trade.

However, I do wish to refer to two questions that are

the subject of debate at this session of the General

Assembly: the phenomenon of globalization and the fight

against terrorism.

In connection with the former, we have serious

doubts and questions regarding the sincerity of this

dialogue among nations. On the one hand, we have those

who offer many pretexts for continuing to obstruct free

trade, the free circulation of goods and persons and the

transfer of technology, and who erect other barriers that

prevent the developing countries from achieving

sustainable economic growth.

As for the African continent, we all know that the

Uruguay Round is an instrument for marginalizing the

developing countries, nor are we unaware that the

payment of foreign debt remains a means of exporting

capital precisely to those who do not need it. Under these

circumstances, how can we devise an agenda for the

globalization of economic relations between the developed

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North and the developing South, in a framework of

fairness?

Globalization must begin with fair prices for our raw

materials. The immense opportunities and advantages

offered to the world markets by the developing countries of

Africa must be put to use in the context of a sincere

partnership between North and South. No one has chosen

marginalization. The question is, should it be forced on us?

Some detractors of the African continent apply

simplistic reasoning when they categorically state that the

principle causes of poverty and marginalization in Africa

are political in nature: poor governance, corruption and

armed conflict.

Without trying to discard these arguments, we believe

that they do not justify the unfair treatment of our raw

materials in the most profitable markets of the North. Nor

do we believe that the marginalization now suffered by the

African continent is an inevitable phenomenon. A great deal

is being done to inscribe our countries in the current agenda

of globalization. The ongoing processes of subregional and

regional integration are evidence of the political will that

today infuses African leaders.

We wonder about the degree of sincerity and

transparency in the dialogue aimed at facilitating the full

integration of the African economies into the mechanisms

for globalization of trade and into technological advances.

As for globalization, it should mean that everyone sells

what he has and wherever he wishes, without the customs,

administrative and tariff barriers that today prevent the free

access of the products of the South to the markets of the

North.

Furthermore, the ever present issue of foreign debt

remains an obstacle to economic growth in many

developing countries.

My country, Equatorial Guinea, sincerely believes that

this situation is not fortuitous, and far less is it due to a

lack of potential or a lack of opportunity. What we call for

is not simply assistance. We want our own efforts to be

valued; we want use to be made of the various

opportunities we can offer to the world of globalization that

lies ahead.

Nevertheless, all of this also requires the peace and

socio-political stability of nations. Unfortunately, it would

seem that everything is being done to create instability in

our countries. Today, we are seriously threatened from

outside and within our borders by terrorism and

mercenary actions carried out by individuals or groups

blinded by hunger for power, ethnic hatred, racism and

the desire for hegemony.

For the first time in its history, my country has

experienced, in the course of the past 18 months, two acts

of armed destabilization. One was on 17 May 1997, when

a ship carrying arms and mercenaries was detained by the

Angolan police in its territorial waters. The other was on

21 January of this year, when a group of individuals

attacked a number of towns in my country and murdered

six persons in cold blood.

What justification can there be for terrorist actions

such as those perpetrated against the United States

embassies in Kenya and Tanzania? What justification can

there be for a band of terrorists who murder peaceful

citizens in cold blood? What political claims can justify

the murder and mutilation of another human being, as

occurred in my country?

On this question, some countries present here are

acting with a double standard; depending on their own

interests, terrorist actions are justifiable or not. When

these actions take place within a developing country,

some powerful communications media invoke, among

other such fallacies, the “struggle for the freedom of

peoples” to do away with regimes that, according to them,

are dictatorial. But when similar actions of the same type

take place in any country of the North, then the story

changes, and those responsible for such actions are called

terrorists and enemies of society.

That double standard was evident when such actions

received the support and solidarity of certain Spanish

political groups and elements of the Spanish

communications media. Only the Government of that

country condemned those acts. On the other hand, a lobby

was formed from among several political parties — the

Basque Nationalist Party, the United Left and the Spanish

Socialist Workers’ Party — each of which published

communiqués expressing their solidarity with the

perpetrators of those terrorist acts. Since then, those same

groups have been trying to fabricate an ethnic problem in

my country. They have promoted a number of resolutions

against my country in various international forums,

including in recent meetings of the European Parliament

and the Joint Assembly of the European Union and the

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, in a clear

attempt to justify the terrorist acts in question.

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My Government, however, faithful to its commitment

to establish a State based on the rule of law in Equatorial

Guinea, held a public trial, with procedural guarantees and

international observers. Furthermore, the 15 death sentences

imposed on the main perpetrators of those crimes have been

commuted by the President of the Republic of Equatorial

Guinea, Mr. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in an effort to

preserve the social unity of the nation. But it seems that

such measures still do not satisfy the political circles that

are persisting in their attempts to destabilize the peaceful

people of Equatorial Guinea.

Nevertheless, I would like to assure the Assembly that,

thanks to the maturity of the people of Equatorial Guinea

and because of their peaceful spirit and openness to

dialogue and democratic debate, we have been free from

the serious upheavals experienced by some countries and

regions of our continent as a result of such actions.

The internal realities of Equatorial Guinea therefore

bear no relation to the systematic campaign of hounding

and harassment that has been waged against it for several

years. Peace and stability prevail, investments are flowing

in and there are real signs of growth. The political reforms

are irreversible, our State of law is being strengthened and

the better governance of the country is being promoted. To

that end, the Government of Equatorial Guinea has relations

of cooperation with several international organizations and

friendly countries for the establishment of technical

assistance programmes in the fields of economics,

democracy, human rights and governance. We are

continuing to cooperate with the United Nations

Commission on Human Rights, and our cooperation with

the international financial institutions is positive in the areas

to which I have referred.

We are clearly living during a time of promise and

rebirth in our country. We appeal here to the international

community to show its solidarity by supporting our efforts

to consolidate the democratic process and the

implementation of the plan for the socio-economic

development of the country, outlined by the national

economic conference, which took place in Bata from 8 to

14 September 1997.

With regard to the African continent, we urge the

international community to find mechanisms geared to

achieving a ceasefire and ending the hostilities in the Great

Lakes region and to restoring peace and order in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Guinea-Bissau,

Sierra Leone, Eritrea and Ethiopia. To that end, we wish to

reaffirm here the recommendations contained in the Bata

declaration for the promotion of democracy, peace and

sustainable development in Africa, which was adopted by

the subregional conference on democratic institutions and

peace in Central Africa, held from 18 to 21 May 1998

under the auspices of the United Nations, at which the

President of Equatorial Guinea recommended the creation

of a subregional parliament to deal with issues so as to

guarantee peace and security in the subregion. Equatorial

Guinea pledges to make its contribution to the attainment

of that objective.

Finally, my country reaffirms its support for the

necessary reform of the Security Council. With regard to

the increase of its membership, we are in favour of

equitable distribution so that our Organization will be able

faithfully to reflect the geopolitical realities of today’s

world. In this context, Equatorial Guinea associates itself

with the position, adopted at the twelfth summit of the

non-aligned countries held a month ago in Durban, South

Africa, that Africa should have two permanent seats and

five non-permanent seats, in the interests of the credibility

and democratization of the United Nations.