Eritrea, 2002

Let me start by

congratulating the President on his unanimous election

to preside over the fifty-seventh session of the United

Nations General Assembly. His election is an honour to

him and to his country, the Czech Republic. The

delegation of the State of Eritrea assures you of its full

cooperation and support.

Allow me also to extend to his predecessor, Mr.

Han Seung-soo of the Republic of Korea, my

delegation's deep appreciation for a job well done

during the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly.

Profound appreciation is also due to our Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his tireless efforts to

make our United Nations more responsive and

effective.

On this happy occasion, my delegation welcomes

the Swiss Confederation to the family of nations with

great pleasure. We commend the decision taken by the

Swiss people in allowing their great country to become

a full Member of the United Nations. The same words

go to the soon-to-be 191st Member of our

Organization, the Democratic Republic of East Timor,

a country whose sovereignty and independence has

been won with sweat and blood, like that of my own

country. Warm welcome from Eritrea, East Timor!

The fifty-seventh session of the General

Assembly is taking place at a time when the wounds

and scars from the 11 September terrorist attack one

year ago, in three locations over the soil of the United

States, are still healing. Grief, pain and anger are still

lingering.

At a gathering here at Headquarters this 11

September to commemorate the first anniversary of the

attack, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said,

“On 11 September grief enveloped the

world, not only out of solidarity with the people

of the United States, but out of shared loss. More

than 90 nations lost sons and daughters of their

own — murdered that day for no other reason

than that they had chosen to live in this country.

Today, we come together as a world community

because we were attacked as a world

community.”

The loss of almost 3,000 innocent lives in a single

day is so painful. The Eritrean people share the pain

and the grief. They reiterate their condolences to those

who lost their loved ones, and they stand in solidarity

with the American people at this trying time. Indeed,

the attacks of 11 September have inevitably changed

the way we live and the way we see our world. This

day has symbolized the alarm clock that rung around

the world to wake us all. My delegation regrets that it

took attacks of such magnitude to shake us from our

unwatchful sleep.

22

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon in my

country. The State of Eritrea has suffered it since its

formal independence, in 1993, as the youngest country

in Africa. The Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement and

the so-called Eritrean Popular Islamic Conference were

created and sponsored by Al Qaeda and other regional

and international Islamic groups to perpetrate

subversive acts in Eritrea for the last 10 years. In 1994,

Eritrean security forces intercepted a mixed group of

terrorists that included in their ranks Al Qaeda-trained

nationals from several countries. In 1995, this group

murdered four Belgian tourists inside Eritrea in cold

blood. Sporadic cross-border acts of terror and

subversion continue to this day.

In a statement contained in document S/1997/517

of 7 July 1997, my Government first warned the

international community, and subsequently the then

Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Security

Council, that international terrorist threats from

extreme fundamentalist Islamic groups were on the

way.

The Eritrean Jihad terrorist movements, which are

members of the Al Qaeda network, are now part of the

so-called Alliance of Eritrean National Forces. This

umbrella organization has bases and physical presences

in some neighbouring, and a number of Western,

countries. These groups continue to obtain sanctuary,

as well as financial and other forms of assistance, from

Western capitals.

As the fight against international terrorism

assumes high priority and warrants concerted action,

the Government of Eritrea requests full cooperation

and joint action from the countries where these terrorist

elements live, plan and launch their operations. At this

juncture, I also wish to reiterate to the Assembly that

the people and Government of Eritrea will continue to

fight terrorism in all its forms.

Despite the declaration by the 1999 Algiers

Summit of the OAU to make the year 2000 the year to

end conflicts and to start a new momentum for peace in

Africa, conflicts have continued to take a heavy toll on

African peoples in many countries of the continent.

This is indeed disappointing.

I come from the Horn of Africa, a subregion

where conflicts and wars have been a way of life for

many decades. The Horn of Africa is also a place that

has seen many misfortunes. Recurring conflicts over

past decades have claimed hundreds of thousands of

lives, displaced a staggering number of people and

forced millions out of their countries to live as refugees

in foreign lands.

The internal conflict in the Sudan is now the

longest running one in Africa. Under the framework of

the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development

(IGAD), a subregional entity, the State of Eritrea,

together with the other member countries, is doing its

best to bring about a resolution to this conflict. We

have come a long way in bringing the conflicting

parties to face-to-face talks. There are encouraging

signs, but we cannot congratulate ourselves yet. Our

efforts may be considered a success once quieter days

of peace, stability and sustained prosperity prevail in

that sisterly country. I must admit that we need the help

of the international community to end the suffering of

our brothers and sisters in the Sudan.

In the same vein, the problem in Somalia, another

sisterly country in the Horn, continues to be a serious

one that the international community cannot ignore.

The vicious conflict in Somalia will have long-term

catastrophic humanitarian consequences if the

international community abandons this unfortunate

country. The United Nations and the world community

at large must help the Transitional National

Government of Somalia to stabilize peace and security

in the country. The international community should

rush to save Somalia.

Now, on a positive note, let me tell the Assembly

the good news regarding the border conflict between

my country and Ethiopia. On 13 April this year, the

Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, a panel of five

judges established by the Algiers agreement, made a

judicial ruling on the entire 1,000-kilometer border

between the two countries. The people and

Government of Eritrea are pleased to see a legal

solution to a conflict they never chose.

My Government believed from the very

beginning that this conflict could not be settled by

might, but by peaceful means alone. The pacifist A. J.

Muste said it all: “There is no way to peace. Peace is

the way”.

The Boundary Commission has drawn the new

border and is currently in the process of physically

demarcating the lines on the ground. Completion of the

demarcation is expected in the next few months.

According to the Algiers agreement, which both

countries signed, the decision of the Commission is

23

final and binding. Eritrea has reiterated its acceptance

of the Commission's decision of 13 April 2002. Eritrea

therefore believes that territorial claims and counter-

claims ended on that day. In legal terms, the conflict

ended then too.

Now that the conflict has legally been put to rest,

the people of Eritrea want to leave this awful

experience behind them and move on with life afresh.

As Carl Bard said, “Though no one can go back and

make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and

make a brand new ending.” What matters is the

destination point. The people and Government of

Eritrea are committed to turning things around.

At the end of this saga, my delegation finds it

fitting to pay tribute at the General Assembly to our

peace-loving friends and partners who helped us to get

here. Allow me therefore to particularly thank the

former Organization of African Unity, now the African

Union; President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria; the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi

Annan; the Government of the United States of

America; and the European Union. We are grateful to

them all for their valued efforts in this difficult and

long peace process.

The year 2002 saw five important international

gatherings aimed at bringing peace, security, human

dignity and economic prosperity to the peoples of the

world, big and small alike. Those meetings included

the International Conference on Financing for

Development in Monterrey, the Second World

Assembly on Ageing in Madrid, the special session on

children in New York, the World Food Summit in

Rome and, lastly, the World Summit on Sustainable

Development in Johannesburg. The promises and

declarations of all these international events are tied in

with the goals of the 2000 United Nations Millennium

Declaration.

As we all know, those goals embrace the key

dimensions of human development — related to

poverty, hunger, education and health — stated as a set

of time-bound targets. Those targets are: halving

poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary

education and gender equality, reducing under-5

mortality by two thirds and maternal mortality by three

quarters, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and halving

the proportion of people who lack access to safe water.

With 1990 as the base year, those targets are to be

achieved by 2015.

Despite the promises of globalization and the

many initiatives launched at various times to help the

continent, Africa's economic growth is still lagging far

behind. The success of development in Africa still

depends on the political will of rich countries to

provide financial assistance, on the one hand, and on

the full ownership and effective execution of national

development programmes by African countries

themselves, on the other.

Having said that, I shall now, for the benefit of

our partners, reiterate the five core principles

underlying Eritrea's development strategy: first,

developing the capabilities of our people as the

principal asset and driving force of our development

endeavours; secondly, establishing strong public-

private sector partnerships; thirdly, striving to achieve

self-reliance and avoiding chronic and debilitating

dependency; fourthly, protecting the environment from

the adverse effects of development programmes; and

fifthly, establishing effective development partnerships

with multilateral and bilateral development agencies,

with Governments and with non-governmental

organizations.

I would be remiss if I failed to bring to the

attention of the Assembly the looming drought that

threatens the lives of more than 1 million men, women

and children in Eritrea. The failure of vital rains

expected in the months of April and May has put their

lives at risk. Famine is imminent if international aid

does not reach the Eritrean people soon. I wish to use

this occasion, therefore, to appeal to the donor

community to respond to this pressing humanitarian

need.

In conclusion, I wish to express my delegation's

confidence that, under your able leadership, Mr.

President, the fifty-seventh session will see much

success.