Ivory Coast, 1994

Each

year’s session of the General Assembly provides us with an

opportunity to take a panoramic view of the world’s great

questions and to reflect on the prospects for its future.

For my part, I am honoured to be speaking for the

first time in this Assembly as President of the Republic of

Côte d’Ivoire. This experience is all the more stirring for

me since I am returning to this lofty site of modern history

where I participated in numerous sessions when I was my

country’s young Ambassador in Washington to the great

American nation. My vivid memory of those years is of

having all alone represented my country on the day of its

admission to the community of sovereign nations through

the Security Council. That was 34 years ago.

I am equally proud that you, Mr. President, a worthy

son of Côte d’Ivoire and of Africa, are presiding over this

forty-ninth session of the General Assembly. My pride is

shared by the entire people of Côte d’Ivoire, on behalf of

which I extend warm congratulations on your noteworthy

election to this prestigious post.

This election attests to the confidence and esteem

which you enjoy in this forum thanks to your qualities as

an experienced diplomat and to your great knowledge,

acquired over more than two decades, of international

relations, in particular in Geneva and New York. It also

expresses recognition of the balanced pragmatism with

which, for 34 years now, Côte d’Ivoire has been

conducting its foreign policy.

I am therefore convinced that you conduct the work

of this session with competence and skill.

Mr. President, allow me to thank your predecessor,

Ambassador Samuel Insanally, for the outstanding work

he accomplished throughout his mandate, as well as all

the members of his General Committee.

Finally, on behalf of my delegation and in my

personal capacity, I should like to pay a well-deserved

tribute to Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General

of our Organization, for his courageous action and his

tireless efforts for peace and for understanding among

peoples. We should like to assure him once again of our

full confidence and of our total support in his quest for

peaceful solutions to the problems the world is

experiencing.

May I also take this occasion to voice, on behalf of

all citizens of Côte d’Ivoire, our deepest, most sincere

gratitude to the eminent representatives of the States

gathered here for the outstanding demonstration of

friendship and solidarity shown toward my country at the

time of the death of President Félix Houphouet-Boigny.

The tribute to his memory in this very Hall, on 9

December last, and the moving expressions of sympathy

on the day of his funeral, 7 February 1994, will remain

forever enshrined in the collective memory of the citizens

of Côte d’Ivoire.

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I am gratified to take this opportunity solemnly to

assure the international community of my determination to

pursue the policy of openness and the search for peace

begun by my illustrious predecessor.

The end of the Cold War had given rise to hope for

fruitful relationships based on peace and on shared

economic and social development. Now there is general

astonishment at the fact that the world, which the United

Nations is destined to serve, has entered a stage of

uncertainty. No one imagined that the fall of the Berlin

Wall, whose symbolism marked the beginning of those

great changes that we have been witnessing since 1989,

would expose such serious defects, which today are making

their appearance in the most untenable forms in human

relations. In fact, we are ashamed at the idea of being

witness to political, ethnic and religious tensions and armed

conflicts that we believed belonged to a bygone age.

The painful examples of the former Yugoslavia, of

Angola, Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda and Somalia show us the

intensity of the tragedies that we are experiencing.

As concerns Liberia, the implementation of the

Cotonou Agreement of 25 July 1993 is encountering

difficulties on the ground. Indeed, aside from the

difficulties which occurred in the establishment of

institutions and the formation of the transitional

Government, this Agreement has come up against the

sensitive issue of the disarmament of the factions. That

disarmament was the precondition for the elections

originally planned for 7 September 1994.

Unfortunately, out of a force assessed at approximately

60,000 troops, only 3,000 soldiers of the United Liberation

Movement for Democracy (ULIMO) and the National

Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) have laid down their arms

since the first days of the disarmament operations. Since

then, the proliferation of factions and mutual distrust have

frozen the positions. We hope that the agreement just

concluded in Ghana on 12 September 1994 will experience

a better fate, leading to general elections and to the exercise

of democracy in Liberia.

It is well known that Côte d’Ivoire has made great

efforts for years now to find a peaceful solution to this

conflict, which has repercussions of all kinds in the

subregion, especially in my country.

As to the tragedy in Rwanda, despite the burden of the

Liberian conflict on our economy, we are ready to

participate, as long as we receive the necessary logistical

support, in the efforts of the international community to

restore peace in that ravaged country. Here we should

like to hail the courageous initiative undertaken by France

to render humanitarian assistance to all those who have

fallen victim to this tragedy.

Other actions, particularly those undertaken by our

Organization and other Member States within the

framework of the United Nations Assistance Mission for

Rwanda (UNAMIR) also deserve our encouragement.

Concerning all hotbeds of tension, be they on the

African continent or elsewhere in the world, we launch

the same appeal for peace, tolerance and understanding.

As my illustrious predecessor, the late Félix Houphouet-

Boigny, used to say, a hungry man is not a free man.

These social and political difficulties that have arisen in

a number of States are caused for the most part by

misery, extreme poverty, hunger, fear, injustice, exclusion,

ignorance and intolerance. That is why, now that the

Cold War is over and the fiftieth anniversary of our

Organization is fast approaching, Côte d’Ivoire would

propose to this Assembly that 1995 be proclaimed the

International Year of Universal Solidarity.

Every man and woman should not only eschew

tribal, religious, political and ideological hatreds, but

should also contribute individually and collectively to the

campaign against hunger, disease, ignorance and in favour

of the implementation of the ideal of shared welfare.

While the world continues to rend itself apart,

several particularly positive events are genuine sources of

satisfaction and give grounds for hope.

In this regard, it gives me great joy to extend, on

behalf of Cote d’Ivoire, a warm and fraternal welcome to

the South African delegation. As I did in Tunis during

the thirtieth Summit of the Organization of African Unity

(OAU), I should like to take this opportunity to reiterate

to President Nelson Mandela our sincere congratulations

on his outstanding and historic election to the presidency

of a democratic and multi-racial South Africa.

Another reason for satisfaction is the Middle East,

with the signing in Washington on 13 September 1993 of

the Gaza-Jericho autonomy agreement between Israel and

the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), whose

implementation began with the arrival in Palestine of

President Yasir Arafat and the formation of the first

Palestinian Government.

15

May I here hail the Israeli and Palestinian builders of

this process, as well as all those who encouraged this event,

which was welcomed unanimously. We also extend our

best wishes for the success of this great and noble

enterprise and we hope that this highly sensitive region of

the Middle East will enjoy a just and lasting peace.

Now more than ever, the world needs peace to release

the energies mankind needs to flourish. That is why

democracy, perceived as one of the ways to guarantee

freedom, promote private initiative and the participation of

all citizens in development, is something I particularly

cherish.

In this regard, my Government and I have decided, as

a priority in Côte d’Ivoire, to promote genuine political

pluralism and the strengthening of democratic institutions,

while guaranteeing their proper functioning, for in our times

democracy is irreversible and is an imperative for all of

human society - and our prestigious universal Organization

itself is no exception.

Hence, discussions begun several years ago on the

restructuring of some of its bodies, in particular the

Security Council, seem to us timely in providing broader

representation for Member States without, however,

damaging its effectiveness.

Moreover, in October 1995, the international

community will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of

our Organization. This will provide an opportunity to

proceed to a review - in our judgement, positive - of this

institution to which mankind owes so much. It will also be

the time to recall that the founding fathers had risen up

against the injustice of unequal development. They foresaw

its tragic consequences which, unfortunately, we note today.

Efforts to establish greater justice in international

economic relations have not yielded the expected results,

and there is now an exponential increase in the gap between

the developed and the developing countries. While the

former continue to enjoy continually rising standards of

living and welfare, the latter, on the contrary, are now

experiencing a more serious deterioration of their

economies - if not generalized impoverishment. The

growth rates noted in some of these countries cannot

conceal or substantively reverse this deplorable trend.

The frontiers of poverty in Africa, as elsewhere, can

be made to recede only if the international community and,

in particular, the United Nations rethinks the machinery for

international cooperation and firmly commits itself to

promoting development in these countries.

The economic and financial crisis Africa continues

to experience since the beginning of the 1980s has led to

a setback in growth in nearly all of the countries of the

continent. Nearly all these countries’ economic

parameters and indicators are today negative despite all

the bold recovery and economic restructuring measures

that have been undertaken.

That is why we call for ever closer solidarity

between North and South, by which I mean a real

partnership taking into account their genuine interests in

an international economy of sharing.

Did not the international community very early on

grasp this need for complementarity and solidarity by

advocating as long ago as 1974 a new, more just and

equitable international economic order?

Faced with geopolitical upheavals and new

formations of economic blocs, and given the severe trials

which have struck them specifically, the African States

demonstrated their joint will to integration by signing the

Treaty creating the African Economic Community on 3

June 1991 in Abuja. The Treaty entered into force on 3

June 1994, and this demonstrates our determination to

cope with these problems.

However, all our efforts will be in vain without a

favourable international economic environment and

substantial support by the international community.

For its part, Côte d’Ivoire, sorely tried by the

economic crisis of the past few years, has, since 1981,

engaged in several successive programmes of structural

adjustment. These sacrifices, which followed 20 years of

sustained economic growth, clearly highlighted the need

to make further use of the abilities of our nation in the

creation and implementation of a development policy.

The economic reforms undertaken under the aegis of

international institutions have called for significant efforts

by the rural sector on which our development was based,

without granting it social investments on a proportionate

basis.

The change in parity of the CFA franc, which took

place at the beginning of this year for 14 African

countries, is aimed at guiding the national economy

toward exports in order to achieve an economic take-off.

16

This return to growth cannot be accomplished without the

appropriate integration of the concerns of the various social

groups.

Côte d’Ivoire is considered one of the African

countries that have made the most significant human

investment during the first years of independence. On the

average, almost 7 per cent of its gross national product has

been devoted to education. In our subregion, it remains the

country with the greatest number of personnel with higher

education in all areas of economic activity. It is therefore

incumbent upon us to proceed to an appropriate use of our

human resources as the sine qua non for new growth and

development.

That is why it is important that increased efforts be

made and that the appropriate means be provided to

strengthen the campaign against the terrible scourges

afflicting various regions of Africa that are dangerously

jeopardizing the future of our societies. Malaria, the

traditional affliction of our continent, and AIDS, which

appeared a decade ago and whose brutal force is well

known, are today the most significant of the epidemics

crippling Africa, which nevertheless aspires to development

and makes no secret of its determination to succeed.

If we look at the past three decades, we see an African

continent that has gone from a period of growth to one

characterized by a constant decline in productivity, a

general exacerbation of the problem of poverty and the

weakening of social parameters - in short, a progressive

deterioration of the economic situation.

The international community, it must be said, has not

abandoned Africa. On the bilateral level and in multilateral

bodies, policies have been devised to cope with the specific

situations experienced by the countries of our continent.

These efforts are commendable, for they are a concrete

demonstration of an all-important human solidarity.

But the world is changing, and Africa knows that it

must, through its own abilities, win its own place in world

trade and play an outstanding role commensurate with its

immense potential. It is aware today more than ever of its

assets as well as of the challenge posed by its nearly

marginal position in relation to other regions of the world.

It will know how to take advantage of the many

opportunities open to it by relying first and foremost on the

will of its peoples, their intelligence and creativity, and

their capacity for reflection and initiative, in order to

participate in the drafting and implementation of long-term

development policies. It will also rely on the rest of the

international community, its indispensable partner, to

create new forms of active, mutually beneficial solidarity

implemented in full respect for the dignity of all

participants.

Of course, problems remain. Some, linked to the

recent past, such as the problem of debt, seem to be

obstacles to the development of new initiatives. The

international community and friendly countries must

understand that indebtedness, which is designed

specifically to ensure a country’s development, should not

be turned against it and transformed into a deliberate

restraint on its growth. Solutions to this problem have

already been put forward; all have the potential to

promote a return to growth and renewed forms of

cooperation.

But Africa must turn its attention to new challenges.

It must, for example, consider how to preserve and

protect its environment in order to ensure present and

future generations an adequate and healthy framework in

which all forms of life can develop in harmony. It must

take advantage of the great potential of recent agreements

on the organization of world trade in order firmly to

integrate itself into the flow of global exchanges. As the

continent most blessed with reserves of raw materials, it

must master the technology to adapt them to its needs.

That will be the basis for its true resurgence. It has long

been aware of all these imperative needs. Through

successive steps, particularly by regrouping on the

subregional and continental levels, it has begun to acquire

the means necessary to its reawakening.

Africa will succeed. It will succeed in warding off

the dark fate that seems to loom over it. It will succeed

in ridding itself of underdevelopment in order to be a

positive participant in the immense task of building a

prosperous future for all humanity.