Guinea-Bissau, 1997

Allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on behalf

of my country, Guinea-Bissau, on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly and to reiterate our

confidence in your ability to conduct the work of this

session successfully. You can rest assured of the

willingness of the delegation of Guinea-Bissau to cooperate

with you.

I should also like to pay a well-deserved tribute to

your predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia,

for the innovative and constructive manner in which he

carried out his task.

Congratulations are also due the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, who, since his assumption of the

Organization’s highest office, has shouldered his important

responsibilities with great resolve, inter alia with regard to

United Nations reform. We encourage him to continue his

work with the same dynamic spirit in order better to adapt

our Organization to the current and future needs of a

world in flux.

The General Assembly is meeting at a time when the

Organization is going through a period of complex

transition that has brought several questions to the fore.

Guinea-Bissau is nevertheless convinced of the ability of

the Organization and of Member States to define new

policies and to develop suitable structures to deal with the

new challenges that are being posed by international

problems.

During the observance of the fiftieth anniversary of

the United Nations the leaders of the entire world

solemnly reaffirmed the irreplaceable nature of the

Organization’s role as well as the need to reform and

modernize the United Nations. The historic Declaration

adopted at that time should continue to form the basis of

the Organization’s work, laying down as it does a

framework for global action based on the principles and

ideals of the Charter.

Accordingly, we welcome the important initiatives

for reform taken by the Secretary-General, which in my

delegation’s view are deserving of the support of Member

States.

My delegation believes that the expansion and

democratization of the Security Council are also priority

matters. That important body must reflect, both in its

composition and in its decisions, the concerns of all

Members and should have a more transparent basis and

a more equitable geographical representation.

Therefore, in keeping with the Harare Declaration of

Heads of State and Government of the countries members

of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), we believe

that Africa should have two permanent seats in the Security

Council, with the same privileges as the current members.

Similarly, we believe that the candidacies of Japan,

Germany and Brazil to be permanent members of the

Security Council deserve the serious attention of Guinea-

Bissau, without prejudice to other proposals before us for

consideration.

The United Nations has played a decisive role in

international affairs since its founding. However, the

challenges we are facing at the threshold of the twenty-first

century are unprecedented and call for greater efforts from

the Organization and all its Members, particularly in

seeking the solution to financial problems, a sine qua non

for effective progress in the reform process.

Despite the Organization’s commitment to

international peace and security, conflicts and fratricidal

wars continue in various parts of the world, causing loss of

life, massive displacements of population and floods of

refugees. Africa, unfortunately, continues to furnish tragic

examples of such scourges. The seriousness of these crises

on our continent prompted the Security Council to devote

a ministerial meeting to such problems on 25 September of

this year in an effort to analyse their causes and propose

suitable solutions.

In addition to conflicts in Angola, Burundi, Rwanda

and Somalia, there are new tensions and crises in Sierra

Leone, the Republic of the Congo and the Central African

Republic.

In respect to Angola, a country with which Guinea-

Bissau enjoys a relationship of deep friendship, we

welcome the progress made there towards restoring peace

and achieving national reconciliation, and we encourage

UNITA to make the efforts necessary to bring to

completion the tasks set forth in the Lusaka Protocol.

In Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, the Central

African Republic and Somalia dialogue must prevail in the

search for solutions to the problems that affect those

countries.

In Sierra Leone, the United Nations — the Security

Council in particular — must support the efforts of the

Economic Community of West African States and OAU to

restore the democratically elected Government.

In Liberia, we welcome the holding of free and fair

elections and the return to peace. We urge the

international community to continue to provide aid for

reconstruction and the consolidation of peace and

democracy in that country.

Turning to Western Sahara, Guinea-Bissau welcomes

the recent agreement concluded between the various

parties and hopes that this new understanding will lead to

a definitive solution to this question through the holding

of a referendum on self-determination.

The sanctions imposed on Libya by the Security

Council in 1992 seriously affect innocent people. Guinea-

Bissau encourages the parties concerned to seek, through

negotiations, a just solution to that question. The joint

proposals of OAU and the League of Arab States merit

the attention of the international community.

Recent events in the Middle East have weakened the

peace process. We urge the State of Israel and the

Palestinian Authority to continue their dialogue to restore

a climate of confidence, which is so essential to the

establishment of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace

in the region.

We are also concerned at the slow pace of the

implementation of the peace agreement in Bosnia and

Herzegovina, and we appeal to the various parties to show

greater determination to resolve the conflict.

In East Timor, we continue to support the

negotiations conducted under the auspices of the

Secretary-General to find a just and definitive solution to

this question.

The embargo imposed on Cuba continues seriously

to affect that country’s people and development process.

We appeal to the parties to take the necessary steps

towards a definitive and satisfactory solution to this

problem.

On behalf of our Government, we should also like

to reiterate our conviction that the Republic of China on

Taiwan deserves to regain its rightful place in the United

Nations on the basis of respect for the principle of

universality and the sovereign equality of States. The

Republic of China on Taiwan, a democratic country of

over 20 million people that has made enormous progress

in the economic and social field and with regard to

respect for basic human rights, is today a reality that

cannot be ignored. The readmission of the Republic of

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China to the United Nations and to all its specialized

agencies would be an important factor for peace, stability

and international cooperation.

Mindful of the fact that the United Nations, and the

Security Council in particular, play an essential role in the

maintenance of international peace and security, we attach

special importance to regional bodies with respect to

conflict prevention and resolution.

In our subregion, the Economic Community of West

African States has, with unprecedented success, been

managing the crisis in Liberia through the establishment

and deployment of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group. The

steps undertaken through the Mechanism for Conflict

Prevention, Management and Resolution of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) deserve special

mention. Given the magnitude and complexity of the

problems to be resolved, that organ needs increased support

from the international community to complete its mission.

In this context, we believe that any approach to

strengthening the capacities of African countries to prevent,

manage and resolve conflicts must be supported. Thus, we

welcome with interest the joint initiative of the United

States, France and Great Britain in this area under the aegis

of OAU.

Guinea-Bissau welcomes the adoption in Oslo of a

draft convention for the complete elimination of anti-

personnel landmines and urges all countries to accede to it

so that it may enter into force as soon as possible.

The intolerable persistence of poverty in the world,

particularly in Africa, requires the ongoing mobilization of

the international community and the elaboration within

international bodies of coherent policies to confront the

major problems of development. Given the fact that Africa

has more least developed countries than any other continent

in the world, the General Assembly’s recent adoption of the

Agenda for Development is of the greatest interest to us.

Africa continues to suffer the negative effects of the

problems of external debt, deteriorating terms of trade,

difficult access for its products to international markets and

decreased investment. Moreover, the effects of the

globalization of the economy and the drop in official

development assistance have reduced the capacity of

African countries to tackle socio-economic problems

successfully. The initiatives of the Paris Club, the World

Bank and the International Monetary Fund to provide debt

relief — initiatives that have already benefited some

African countries — meet our concerns and we hope that

Guinea-Bissau will soon be able to profit by them.

Respect for and the full exercise of fundamental

human rights are factors for freedom, peace and

guaranteed internal stability. Guinea-Bissau, which

recognizes the importance of good governance, pluralistic

democracy and a state of law, continues to work for the

preservation of values intrinsic to the dignity of the

individual and his full, harmonious development. In this

regard, we wish to congratulate Mrs. Mary Robinson on

her timely nomination to the post of United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights. We wish her every

success in the performance of her duties and call on all

Member States to lend her the support she needs.

The rational use of our world’s natural resources and

environmental protection are responsibilities which, to

varying degrees, fall to all mankind. Guinea-Bissau has,

together with its partners, defined a strategy for

sustainable development that respects ecological balances.

The disappointing results of the review of the

implementation of Agenda 21 at last June’s special

session of the General Assembly is clear proof that the

international community must be much more committed

to defining agreed policies for environmental protection.

The achievement of the ideals of the United Nations

to which our peoples aspire, the need to reform and

modernize our Organization, and international cooperative

efforts are all the subjects of our collective thinking and

the inspiration of our ongoing commitment. Indeed, given

the challenges of the late twentieth century, our

Organization continues to embody the greatest hopes of

our peoples for a future of progress, well-being, social

justice and understanding among all peoples.

As Mr. João Bernardo Vieira, President of the

Republic of Guinea-Bissau, said during the celebration of

the United Nations fiftieth anniversary:

“I would call for greater ... coordination of our

efforts in order to forge a world Organization

capable of preserving future generations from the

scourge of war and to give the poorest and most

helpless true reasons for hope, thus safeguarding the

common interests of mankind.”