Gabon, 2006

Madam

President, I should like at the outset sincerely to

congratulate you on your well-deserved election to

preside over the General Assembly at its sixty-first

session. Your election represents not only a mark of

considerable recognition for the Kingdom of Bahrain,

which has tirelessly worked to promote the purposes

and principles of the United Nations, but also, in

personal terms, the culmination of your long legal and

diplomatic career.

Above and beyond the usual courtesies, I should

like to encourage you, Madam, and to assure you of

our full readiness to cooperate to ensure the success of

your lofty mission.

I should like also to pay tribute to Mr. Jan

Eliasson for the talent, dedication and perseverance

with which he guided our work throughout the sixtieth

session. I should like in particular to acknowledge him

for his determination in leading the negotiations that

achieved considerable progress in implementation of

the decisions and recommendations of the 2005 World

Summit.

Lastly, I should like to convey to the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, our deep admiration for the

wisdom and courage he has consistently shown in

discharging his difficult mandate, and in particular for

the ambitious measures he initiated throughout his two

terms of office to adapt the United Nations to current

realities.

At a time when his tenure as Secretary-General is

coming to an end and many observers will be

reviewing and assessing his accomplishments, I should

like, for may part, to pay a well-deserved tribute to him

for having provided us with a clear vision of the work

of the United Nations in terms of the three pillars of

international peace and security, development and the

promotion of human rights worldwide.

The consensus adoption of the 2005 World

Summit Outcome Document (resolution 60/1) was an

unequivocal recognition by our leaders of the General

Assembly’s central role as the chief deliberative,

policymaking and representative organ of the United

Nations. I welcome the fact that since the Summit,

most of the important recommendations of the

Outcome Document have already been implemented as

part of the United Nations reform process.

Indeed, following the difficult negotiations, the

sixtieth session of the General Assembly established

two important bodies — the Peacebuilding

Commission and the Human Rights Council — both of

which, as we know, have been operational since June.

In addition, the Central Emergency Response Fund was

established, and a number of major resolutions were

adopted. I am thinking in particular about resolution

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60/42, on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on

the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel;

the resolution on development; and, most recently,

resolution 60/288, on the United Nations Global

Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

During the present session, bolstered by that

major progress, we must continue our efforts to

complete the reform process. For example, we must

intensify our efforts to conclude the negotiations aimed

at adopting a comprehensive convention against

international terrorism and at reforming the Secretariat,

the Economic and Social Council and the Security

Council.

The theme you proposed for this year’s general

debate, Madam President, “Implementing a global

partnership for development”, is very timely. That

theme, which echoes Goal 8 of the Millennium

Development Goals, will undoubtedly make it possible

to follow up and implement the decisions emanating

from the Monterrey Consensus and reaffirmed at the

September 2005 World Summit.

It is extremely urgent that all development

partners honour all their commitments. Our appeal to

them takes fully into account the primary responsibility

of all States to plan and carry out their own

development. It also addresses the many constraints

hampering the developing countries, in particular the

impact of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious

diseases on their populations and economies.

Therefore, I cannot fail to welcome the fact that,

in the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (resolution

60/262), adopted on 2 June 2006 at the end of the

High-level Meeting devoted to follow-up on the

implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on

HIV/AIDS, the international community stressed the

special situation of sub-Saharan Africa and recognized

the efforts made by African Governments to fight the

pandemic.

Gabon, for its part, has undertaken ambitious

initiatives ranging from awareness raising to the

implementation of action plans such as the

multisectoral strategic plan to fight AIDS. The

Gabonese head of State and his spouse, Ms. Edith

Lucie Bongo Ondimba, are personally involved in that

initiative.

Aware of the threat that the pandemic poses to

human development and security, we should advocate

more courageous measures aimed in particular at

increasing the contributions to the Global Fund to

Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, strengthening

prevention methods and improving access to treatment

for infected persons.

However, the many challenges facing African

States are not inevitable. That is the strong conviction

that led African heads of State or Government to

launch the New Partnership for Africa’s Development

(NEPAD), a comprehensive vision in which African

countries have pledged, through good economic and

political governance, to take control of the social,

economic and political destiny of their respective

nations. While NEPAD’s main goal is development, we

are fully aware that there can be no development

without a framework that fosters peace, security and

respect for human dignity.

Our world continues to be characterized by

tension and deep crises that aggravate the prevailing

instability and insecurity. Old and new conflicts

continue to threaten the peace and security of a number

of nations, and their effects have strong repercussions

at the regional and international levels.

The violent conflict that has once again shaken

the Middle East — a conflict that has claimed hundreds

of innocent human lives and caused enormous material

damage — has shown how essential it is to do

everything possible to establish a lasting peace in that

part of the world. With specific regard to the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict, only collective and sustained

efforts based on the principle of two States, Israel and

Palestine, living side by side in peace and security can

make it possible to achieve a just, lasting and equitable

settlement of that conflict. Gabon, for its part, endorses

the idea of urgently holding an international conference

on the Middle East.

In Africa, many hot spots of tension also remain

worrisome. While we should welcome the Darfur

Peace Agreement, signed at Abuja in May 2006, we

must acknowledge that the overall situation remains

fragile. The persistent divisions between certain parties

to the conflict even threaten to jeopardize the

Agreement, which was reached at considerable effort.

Here, I should like to pay a well-deserved tribute to the

international community, and in particular the African

Union, for their tireless efforts to achieve a peaceful

settlement of the Darfur crisis.

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The situation in Côte d’Ivoire also continues to

be a source of concern for Africa and the rest of the

international community. In the Democratic Republic

of the Congo, a historic and crucial phase has begun

with the holding of general elections in that brotherly

country. Here, I wish to pay tribute to the international

community, particularly the European Union — whose

EUFOR peacekeeping troops are stationed in Gabon —

and to the United Nations. Its support, together with

that of EUFOR, has thus far made it possible to hold

smooth general elections in that country, particularly

the first round of the presidential election, which took

place on 30 July 2006.

It is now essential that all Congolese political

actors continue, in a spirit of patriotic fervour, to

consolidate the gains of the democratic transition

process in an atmosphere of peace and harmony. In

order to do that, they will also need the active support

and sustained commitment of the international

community to ensure that the enormous sacrifices made

by all do not come to naught for lack of follow-up.

In that regard, the establishment of the

Peacebuilding Commission is an appropriate

institutional response to the many needs of countries

emerging from conflict. I take this opportunity to

congratulate Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins of

Angola on his election as Chairman of the

Commission’s Organizational Committee. I welcome

the fact that two African countries, Burundi and Sierra

Leone — which have experienced many years of

war — have been chosen as the first countries to

benefit from the Commission’s attention.

However, if our efforts to strengthen international

peace and security are to be effective, they must also

focus in particular on the area of conflict prevention.

The excellent report of the Secretary-General on the

prevention of armed conflict (A/60/891) offers us a

good foundation for our work as we consider this

important issue.

We achieved a major breakthrough in 2001 with

the adoption of the Programme of Action to Prevent,

Combat and Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms

and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. We regret,

however, that the June and July 2006 review

conference for the Programme of Action ended in

failure. Despite this, we need to pursue the

implementation of the Programme, as well as the

adoption of an international instrument on the marking

and tracing of these weapons. We also need to move

forward with consultations in order to begin

negotiations leading to the adoption of an instrument

on brokering. Similarly, we have the moral duty and

shared responsibility to renew disarmament

negotiations, particularly in the nuclear sphere.

One of the major trials facing our Organization is

the continuation and completion of negotiations on

Security Council reform, in accordance with the

recommendation made by heads of State or

Government at the September 2005 World Summit. We

also need to implement the resolutions regarding the

revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, the

most recent of which was adopted on 8 September

2006 as resolution 60/286. At the same time, major

negotiations in the Assembly over the past two sessions

have demonstrated, if such demonstration were needed,

how crucial a vitalized Assembly is for our

Organization. We also need to take the appropriate

measures to ensure greater transparency and

consistency in the functioning of the United Nations

system, ensuring improved implementation of its

missions.

As you are aware, Madam President, we have a

particularly heavy programme of work. I am certain

that, under your able guidance, the General Assembly

will make progress in the various areas of its agenda.

We will therefore need to continue to work with a

heightened sense of our collective interest. The very

credibility of our Organization depends on it.