Ethiopia, 2013

It is with great pleasure

that I congratulate the President on his election to his

high office to preside over the General Assembly at

its sixty-eighth session, which is being held under the

theme: “The post-2015 development agenda: setting the

stage”. I wish to assure the President of the full support

and cooperation of my delegation in the successful

discharge of his heavy responsibilities. I would also

like to commend his predecessor for the able leadership

he demonstrated during the previous session.

Let me begin by condemning the terrorist attacks in

Kenya that claimed the lives of innocent civilians and

left many more injured. I wish to express my heartfelt

condolences to the people and Government of Kenya,

as well as to the families of the victims of that callous

attack. That incident once again demonstrates the need

for us to renew our commitment to fight terrorism and

extremism in all its forms and manifestations.

I am addressing the Assembly today not only on

behalf of my country but also as the representative of

the African Union (AU), which Ethiopia has the honour

of chairing this year. It is a welcome coincidence that

Ethiopia, which played host to the founding Conference

of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), 50 years

ago, has assumed the rotating chairpersonship of

that premier continental organization at a time when

its golden jubilee is being celebrated. We were very

pleased to host the Special Summit of African Heads

of State and Government, which marked the OAU/

AU jubilee on 25 May, and I would like to take this

opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all

those who sent delegations to Addis Ababa to take part

in the celebration and conveyed messages of support

and solidarity to the African Union. Since the fiftieth

anniversary will be a year-long event, we would like

to continue to mark the historic milestone during this

session of the General Assembly by reflecting on the

relations between the United Nations and the then

Organization of African Union and today’s African

Union over the past half-century.

When the Charter of the United Nations was

signed in 1945, much of Africa was under the yoke

of colonialism. Since then, our continent has been

liberated from the remnants of colonialism and other

forms of subjugation. Today, it is gratifying to note

that African countries constitute one of the largest

groups in the General Assembly. I would like to take

this opportunity to express my profound appreciation

for the invaluable contribution of the United Nations

to the decolonization process. However, we should not

lose sight of the fact that not all the challenges we faced

in that struggle have been definitively settled; nor can

we say that the process of decolonization has come to

an end in all its forms. We should therefore renew our

commitment to completing the decolonization process

in Africa.

In accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter,

the United Nations has indeed worked closely with

the African Union and other regional mechanisms

to advance its primary objectives. Over the past

five decades and more, cooperation and partnership

between the OAU/AU and the United Nations have

significantly expanded and deepened in a wide range of

aspects and fields. We acknowledge with deep respect

the meaningful cooperation that the United Nations has

provided to the then OAU and now to the African Union

in addressing our continent’s multifaceted challenges.

Despite that fact, we are also cognizant of the

fact that a lot remains to be done to further enhance

the cooperation and partnership between the African

Union and the United Nations in the context of the

changing dynamics within Africa and in the world at

large. I earnestly hope that this historic occasion will

afford us a unique opportunity to reflect seriously

on our challenges and shortcomings with a view to

strengthening our cooperation and partnership so as to

better respond to the changing environment. I believe

we should adopt a flexible and innovative approach

in implementing Chapter VIII of the Charter in order

to enhance our partnership and address our common

challenges.

We are celebrating the OAU/AU’s golden jubilee at

a time when the stereotypical narrative of Africa as a

continent afflicted by poverty, disease and conflict has

slowly begun to change. In spite of so many persistent

difficulties, Africa has indeed turned the corner in

reducing the number of conflicts plaguing the continent

and in promoting democratic governance, as well as in

fighting poverty through accelerated economic growth

and development. With its enhanced peace and stability,

rapid economic growth, natural resources and growing

middle class, Africa is definitely on the rise, and that

is attracting much attention from the rest of the world.

The twenty-first century will be an African one if we

do indeed harmonize our efforts to maintain — in fact,

speed up — the rapid economic growth that Africa has

been registering for the last decade or so. We have every

reason to be optimistic that an African renaissance is

around the corner.

That positive development is unquestionably

encouraging, but we recognize that we can achieve our

aspirations for a peaceful, prosperous and integrated

Africa only by bringing about structural transformation.

That is why we are capitalizing on the golden jubilee

celebration to chart a transformation agenda for Africa

to be implemented over the next 50 years. At our

most recent session, in May, we also adopted our AU

Commission’s strategic plan for the period 2014-2017,

whose main objective is to lay a solid foundation for the

realization of our vision in the short and medium term.

It is indeed opportune that we are crafting our

transformation agenda when intergovernmental

negotiations on the post-2015 global development

framework have begun in earnest. I am glad that the

Assembly will debate that issue at this session, and I

commend the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons

on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, co-chaired by

the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia and the Prime

Minister of the United Kingdom, for presenting their

comprehensive report, A New Global Partnership:

Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through

Sustainable Development, to the Secretary-General. I

hope that the report will provide valuable input for our

discussions of the theme “The post-2015 development

agenda: setting the stage” during this session.

Africa considers this issue to be of paramount

importance and has formed a high-level committee of

Heads of State and Government to develop a common

position and galvanize international support in order

to ensure that the successes achieved thus far in the

implementation of the Millennium Development Goals

are sustained and its development priorities beyond

2015 are fully taken on board. As the able Executive

Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission

for Africa (UNECA) has aptly put it, what Africa needs

is structural transformation, not structural adjustment.

The development agenda we are trying to set for Africa

over the next 50 years is also aimed at achieving that

fundamental objective, with a view to eradicating

poverty and ensuring sustainable development. With

respect to the work of the Open Working Group on

Sustainable Development Goals, we intend to come up

with a well-thought-out African position as an outcome

of the initiative of our troika: the African Union

Commission, UNECA and the African Development

Bank.

In that context, we want to achieve a green

revolution in Africa and ensure food security for our

peoples. The theme of the African Union in 2014 will

be “Agriculture and food security” and will promote

the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development

Programme, which will allow us to reinforce our

commitment to the transformation of the agricultural

sector in Africa.

We are also convinced of the need for Africa

to industrialize in order to accelerate its economic

growth, generate employment, increase income and

diversify exports. That can be done on the basis of our

factor endowments and taking into account the need

for us to increase added value and exploit forward

and backward linkages. It cannot be emphasized

enough that overcoming poverty is impossible without

structural transformation and value addition, which

makes industrialization not an option but a must — an

unavoidable necessity for Africa. Let me state here how

grateful we are to all those who have made partnerships

available to us to ensure that Africa develops the

capacity for modern and affordable energy, without

which industrialization would be impossible to achieve.

Furthermore, we would like to invest in

infrastructure, which has been neglected over past

decades, in order to promote intra-African trade and

fast-track regional integration. We are also committed

to redoubling our efforts to improve the overall well-

being of our society. In particular, we believe that Africa

should reap the benefits of its demographic dividend

by investing in its people. Educating our youth and

upgrading their skills is critical to the effective use of

our human capital. Therefore we very much hope that

the post-2015 global development framework will be

aligned to our development priorities and needs.

We in Africa certainly recognize that we cannot

realize our development aspirations in the absence

of durable peace and security. That is why we have

concentrated tremendous efforts in addressing the

scourge of conflicts on our continent. We are indeed

very pleased to note the drastic decline in the number

of conflicts in Africa during the last decade, with the

exception of a few situations. But we also understand

that there is a new security dynamic on our continent,

with the rise of popular dissatisfaction associated with

demands yet unmet.

In that regard, the African Union has been

exerting efforts to assist Egypt — a member State

whose contribution to the decolonization process on

our continent and to African unity has been second

to none — to overcome its current difficulties in the

spirit of African solidarity. The African Union is also

extending all the necessary support to Tunisia in order

to ensure a successful political transition through

the adoption of a new constitution and the holding of

elections.

On the other hand, we welcome the successful

conduct of elections in Mali that paved the way for the

restoration of constitutional order in that country. The

African Union is indeed firmly committed to continue

assisting Mali in its efforts to ensure lasting peace,

security and development. We derive satisfaction from

the significant progress made in Somalia towards

peace in the country, and we are also encouraged by

the agreement reached between the Federal Republic

of Somalia and the Juba Interim Administration, which

constitutes a significant milestone in promoting peace

and national reconciliation. The New Deal announced

at the Somalia Conference in Brussels on 16 September

will certainly strengthen the momentum for the

reconstruction of the country and building peace there.

The security and humanitarian situation in Central

African Republic is still a matter of serious concern. I

wish to reiterate our call to the United Nations to provide

multifaceted support to the African-led International

Support Mission in the Central African Republic, which

will be deployed in that country to protect civilians and

restore security and public order. On the other hand,

the escalation of tension in the eastern Democratic

Republic of the Congo also poses threats to the peace

and security of the Great Lakes region and the continent

as a whole. The only durable solution is for both the

Government and the armed opposition to conclude

their peace talks under the auspices of the International

Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). In

that connection, I would like to welcome the outcome

of the ICGLR Extraordinary Summit held in Kampala

on 5 September 2013 and High-level Political Forum

on Sustainable Development held in New York on

23 September in New York under the auspices of the

President of the Assembly.

With regard to relations between the Sudan and

South Sudan, the African Union, in close collaboration

with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development,

has established an ad hoc investigation mechanism to

verify allegations made by the two countries regarding

each country’s support for and harbouring of dissident

elements that act against the other. The team is carrying

out its work, and I am hopeful that the outcome of

the investigation will help the two countries to move

forward in the implementation of the agreements they

have signed and in the normalization of their relations.

On a more practical level, the summits and the regular

engagement that the leaders of the two countries are

having will go a long way in breaking the impasse and

resolving some of the difficult outstanding issues.

I would like to raise one important issue that has

been a matter of serious concern for us in our efforts

to promote peace, security and national reconciliation

on the continent and regarding which there is a strong

consensus in Africa. Time and again, we in Africa

have affirmed our unflinching commitment to fighting

impunity and promoting democracy, rule of law and good

governance throughout the continent, in conformity

with the Constitutive Act of the African Union. That

commitment has been empirically validated by bold

actions taken recently by the African Union.

When it comes to the International Criminal

Court (ICC), many of our member States ratified the

Rome Statute faithfully, subscribing to its cardinal

objectives and principles. Unfortunately, the manner in

which the ICC has been operating has left a very bad

impression in Africa. Instead of promoting justice and

reconciliation and contributing to peace and stability,

it has degenerated into a political instrument targeting

Africa and Africans. This is totally unacceptable,

and that is why Africa has been expressing its serious

reservations against the body.

It is regrettable that our repeated request to

the United Nations Security Council to defer the

proceedings initiated against President A1-Bashir

has been neither heard nor acted upon. We have also

received no response to our request for a deferral of

the ICC investigations and prosecutions in relation

to the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, in line

with the principle of complementarity, to allow for a

national mechanism to investigate and prosecute the

cases under a reformed judiciary provided for in the

new constitutional dispensation.

In light of the encouraging developments in Kenya

with the adoption of the new Constitution, the reform

of the judiciary and the holding of successful legislative

and presidential elections, we believe it is very critical

to support the peacebuilding and national reconciliation

processes in the country. The recent decision of the

ICC in relation to the Kenyan situation is unhelpful and

adversely affects the ability of the Kenyan leaders in

the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.

Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to once

again urge the Security Council to respond to our

requests.

In an increasingly globalized and multipolar world,

Africa obviously needs to forge multiple partnerships

to realize its development aspirations and assume its

rightful place in the international arena. It gives me great

satisfaction to note that Africa’s strategic partnership

with both developed and emerging economies has

expanded and deepened in recent years. That is the path

we wish to pursue. Africa needs the solidarity of all

sections of the international community, and it is our

hope that all the necessary support will be extended

to Africa in the spirit of the Millennium Declaration

(resolution 55/2), which underlined so emphatically the

special situation of Africa. That, in our view, should be

the spirit with which the deficit in the implementation

of Millennium Development Goal 8 must be treated

during the very short time remaining.

In conclusion I wish to underline Africa’s enduring

commitment to this indispensable global body — a

universal organization whose viability is an existential

necessity. It is in that spirit that Africa will continue to

nurture its close cooperation with the United Nations.