Eritrea, 1994

At the outset I wish to seize

this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Amara Essy on his

election as the President of the General Assembly at its

forty-ninth session. I am confident that he will guide our

deliberations with wisdom and skill.

Permit me also to rejoice with the people of South

Africa, who have at long last eradicated apartheid and

created a plural society in which all citizens of South

Africa shall live in harmony, freedom and equality,

irrespective of their ethnic, religious or class backgrounds.

Their victory is a victory of good over evil and a tribute to

the concept of unity in diversity, as well as a unique

example of the concerted, unremitting and successful

struggle of humanity against a pernicious assault on human

dignity and nobility.

We are also happy to note that in the Middle East age-

old adversaries have come close enough to resolve some of

the most intractable problems of our time by negotiations

based on understanding and the accommodation of the

interests of all parties. We welcome the agreements

reached between Israel and the Palestine Liberation

Organization (PLO), as well as subsequent agreements

reached between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of

Jordan. We hope that this initial move, whose

momentum must be maintained, will augur well for a

comprehensive, permanent and enduring peace in the

region as a whole.

We have now entered a new era of renewed hope.

As the United Nations approaches its golden jubilee, it

has become increasingly evident that the majority of the

nations and peoples of the world believe that the world

Organization is essential and are reposing renewed hope

and confidence in it. In the aftermath of the cold war, we

are witnessing a transition towards a new pattern of

international relations. With the uncertainty of the

historical process that is establishing a new world order,

the United Nations has once again become the eminently

relevant, perhaps even the indispensable, Organization

that its founding fathers wished it to be.

The emerging new international system and the

universality of the membership of the United Nations, as

well as the abundant good will it has garnered, offer it the

unique opportunity not only to establish new guidelines to

address international challenges but to ensure that the

coming new world will be permeated with the values of

collective security, peace, democracy, social justice and

cooperation for mutual benefit. This is also a favourable

time for the United Nations to raise global awareness,

fashion a common world outlook, probe new frontiers and

create new standards, particularly in the realms of

sustainable and equitable global development; conflict

prevention, management and resolution; human and

democratic rights; and social justice.

Those great tasks, my delegation is convinced, will

inevitably require commensurate changes in the structure

and functional modalities of the United Nations system

itself, if it is to cope with the challenges of the new

international order. The institutions and agencies that

reflected the exigencies of the last half-century must be

modified or yield to new ones that mirror not only the

optimism and needs of the present but also the hopes and

aspirations of the future. The international system must

turn — obviously, at a gradual and measured pace —

towards a fairer and more equitable representation of its

constituencies in all the organs of the system, and

especially in the Security Council. This may indeed be

the most opportune time to review structural issues with

new vision and boldness, the ultimate purpose being to

instil and build into the system a dynamism that will

enable it to respond and adjust promptly to changing

global realities.

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General Assembly 22nd meeting

Furthermore, we feel that the United Nations must

place significant emphasis on the creation of a reliable early

warning system that would enable it to avert disasters and

conflicts. An active, rather than a reactive, role on the part

of the United Nations can go a long way towards reducing,

if not preventing, human suffering and towards mitigating

disasters and conflicts at reduced cost to the international

community.

Secondly, all available evidence on the structure of the

United Nations emphasizes the need to restructure it on the

basis of equilibrium between the forces of centralization

and decentralization. Certain problems, such as the

environment, population and disarmament, may necessitate

coordinated international action and centralized authority.

Others, including the breakdown of political systems and

regional inter-State conflicts may be better and more

correctly understood and solved by regional actors,

institutions and approaches. There is thus an imperative to

set in motion a dynamic arrangement balancing

centralization and decentralization to create the desired

juridical basis for a new world order underpinned by a

political culture of peace, justice, economic well-being and

a healthy environment. Playing such a catalytic role should

be the major preoccupation of the United Nations. Only

such an environment can make the Organization an

effective actor that protects and promotes peace,

development and human rights.

The situation in the Horn of Africa is far from

satisfactory, although it may be improving day by day. I

must perhaps emphasize here that the impoverishment that

stalks the region as a whole is largely man-made and

cannot be attributed to the vicissitudes of nature, as is often

done. Decades of war and civil strife have sapped the

energy, productive capacity and problem-solving

mechanisms of the populations, leaving them easily

susceptible to even minor imbalances in rainfall patterns

and natural calamities.

Hence, international emergency assistance and, even

more, development assistance will remain vital for years to

come in overcoming the consequences of decades of war

and turmoil. We in the Government of Eritrea, along with

our regional partners, realize that reliable and sustainable

economic development will lie in effective regional

cooperation hinging on durable peace and stability. It is in

this spirit that we and our partners are prepared to pool our

resources to secure regional peace through mechanisms of

close consultation and coordination for conflict prevention

and resolution, and by broadening areas of economic

interaction and cooperation.

It is against this backdrop, and within the framework

of a regional approach, that we have attempted to address

the quest for collective security in our region. In Somalia

the countries of the region, under the chairmanship of

President Melles Zenawi of Ethiopia, have done much to

restore normalcy to the country by bringing the warring

factions to the negotiating table. This regional effort has

complemented and acted as a vital linkage to international

intervention at a number of crucial junctures.

In this connection, we believe that this is an

auspicious moment for the United Nations to decide to

focus in the period ahead only on the provision of

assistance for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the

devastated country of Somalia. The opinion advanced by

some in the last few days that the extension of the

mandate of the United Nations Operation in Somalia

(UNOSOM) is vital for and will enhance political

reconciliation is, we are convinced, seriously flawed.

Indeed, all evidence from the country indicates that such

action is likely to complicate or delay the process. On

the other hand, the Inter-Governmental Authority on

Drought and Development (IGADD) should take upon

itself, and be encouraged to continue, the political

reconciliation it has facilitated in the past.

In the Sudan, the countries of the region have

applied the same regional approach and have proposed

different frameworks of conflict resolution to facilitate a

comprehensive political settlement that takes into account

the best interests and welfare of both sides. Here, too,

the international community should encourage and support

the regional efforts undertaken under the auspices of

IGADD.

Some of the major problems that have existed for

many years are still with us and, indeed, there are now

new ones. Thus, the crisis in the former Yugoslavia does

not appear to be any nearer to solution. The events in

Rwanda are a tragic reminder of human folly and have

etched an indelible mark on the collective conscience of

humanity. These events no doubt reinforce the necessity

for preventive measures and perhaps the need to make a

fresh assessment of the conventional limitations of the

United Nations in peace-keeping.