Ivory Coast, 2000

Allow me at the outset, Sir, to express my delegation's

satisfaction at seeing you preside over the work of the

General Assembly at this fifty-fifth session. You may

count on my delegation's support.

I should also like to pay an unqualified tribute to

your predecessor, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, for the

quality of the work accomplished during his term of

office, and to commend Secretary-General Kofi Annan,

a great African of whom we are all proud, for his

commitment to strengthening the universal role and the

credibility of our Organization.

The United Nations family is growing day by day,

for which we all rejoice. That is why my delegation

welcomes the Republic of Tuvalu.

Before addressing the situation prevailing in my

country, I wish to share some of our concerns about the

international situation.

The challenges of the third millennium are not

new. They have been broadly outlined by the

Secretary-General in his report, entitled “We the

peoples: the role of the United Nations in the twenty-

first century”. For the delegation of Côte d'Ivoire,

given the difficulties facing the international

community, the issue is above all the need to draw up

new solutions in adhering to carefully established

priorities.

As the Secretary-General stresses in his

millennium report,

“the 1 billion people living in developed

countries earn 60 per cent of the world's income,

while the 3.5 billion people in low-income

countries earn less than 20 per cent”. (A/54/2000,

para. 69)

Furthermore, the technological progress that has been

achieved in computer science and communications,

which we welcome, has unfortunately also created a

digital gap that has further marginalized the poor

countries.

If, for the time being, we acknowledge the

advantages of globalization, it does seem to us that it is

not taking sufficient account of the concerns of

developing countries, particularly those in Africa. In

fact, the rate of Africa's participation in international

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trade is still below two per cent. In sub-Saharan Africa,

particularly, the degree of poverty is almost the same as

it was 20 years ago. This is why we would earnestly

appeal for Africa's integration and involvement in

those efforts to build a new architecture of the world

economy. Poverty and deprivation, which are the daily

lot of peoples in the developing countries, are further

exacerbated by the debt burden on their economies.

In the particular case of my country, I would like

to emphasize that, even under the current difficult

circumstances, my Government continues to allocate

52 per cent of its budgetary earnings to paying off its

external debt, and, quite naturally, this is to the

detriment of the priority programmes relating to health,

education and food self-sufficiency. Adding to this, we

must not overlook inflation and speculation, which lead

to fluctuations in our commodity prices.

In addition to our main preoccupation, which is

combating poverty, Côte d'Ivoire believes that to

resolve conflicts, preventive diplomacy must be

strengthened and seen as a complementary dimension

to peacekeeping operations in the field. The conflicts

that beset the world have meant that peacekeeping

operations, which have become more and more

complex, are now in the forefront of United Nations

activities. Preparing for, organizing, setting up in the

field and financing these operations requires

considerable effort and considerable means. Those

conducted in recent years throughout the world,

particularly in Africa, have unfortunately not had the

results we had hoped for. The experience of the “Blue

Helmets” in Sierra Leone is illustrative of this.

We hope that the excellent report of Ambassador

Brahimi, who has put forward new guidelines for

United Nations peacekeeping operations in the twenty-

first century, will be given the attention by States

Members that they deserve, so that acting on these

recommendations will endow our Organization with the

means it needs to play the role which it should in

preserving international peace and security.

We very much welcome the conclusions of

Beijing Plus Five and the commitments which have

been entered into in order to bring about the

advancement of women. We are convinced that these

commitments will make it possible for women to fully

exercise all their rights and to finally achieve full and

complete equality. Côte d'Ivoire, which was actively

involved in the work of this important meeting,

commits itself, for its part, to working for the

implementation of the targets set.

May I, at this juncture in my statement, refer to

the question of the much-needed structural reform of

the United Nations, particularly that of the Security

Council. In these new circumstances, Côte d'Ivoire

would like to reaffirm the position held by the

Organization of African Unity (OAU), which is

claiming two permanent seats and two new non-

permanent seats in the Council.

To return to matters in Côte d'Ivoire, and the

situation prevailing there, I would like to recall that on

24 December 1999, my country underwent its first

experience of an institutional change taking place apart

from the balloting boxes. In fact, on the day before

that, a military mutiny, on the part of soldiers who were

claiming better living conditions, resulted in the

toppling of the existing constitutional order. This

unexpected speeding up of events in my country

aroused, and continues to arouse, major concern within

the international community, a concern and an anxiety

which points to the interest that the international

community attaches to my country. Up until now, Côte

d'Ivoire, considered as a haven of peace and an oasis

of stability, and recognized as a driving force in the

economy of the subregion, particularly of those

countries that constitute the West African Economic

and Monetary Union, has been playing an important

and irreplaceable part as a regulatory force in West

Africa. The millions of our brothers who have come

from countries in the subregion, and who live in my

country, are substantially responsible for generating the

money circulating in their countries of origin. If this

country, Côte d'Ivoire, were to implode, it would have

unforeseen consequences for the process of solidarity

and sharing.

On 23 July, the Ivorian people expressed

themselves through a referendum on the new draft

constitution and electoral code placed before it by the

transitional Government. It should be recalled that the

military arm was involved neither in the drafting of the

new constitution nor in that of the new electoral code.

The political parties, social and professional

organizations, the administrative regions of the

country, religious organizations, women's and youth

associations and non-governmental organizations — in

other words, civil society — were those who, through

their freely appointed representatives, drafted and

submitted to the Government these new fundamental

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texts that the Government, in turn, simply placed

before the populace for its approval.

This consultation, the transparency of which was

very much heralded by the international community,

was characterized by a massive turn-out of the

electorate of 86.23 per cent. We believe that this result

should, in itself, be enough to put an end to the

discussions and speculations that preceded and

followed the referendum, the tone of which, in many

respects, was not to the liking of the people of the Côte

d'Ivoire and their friends.

We welcome the efforts made by the United

Nations, the European Union, the OAU and the

Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) in order to try and bring about common

ground among the political circles in Côte d'Ivoire and

to support the transitional process. Therefore, the

international community should be reassured that the

people of Côte d'Ivoire will, on 22 October of this

year, express their wishes through fair and transparent

elections for candidates whose eligibility has been

established by the Constitutional Chamber of the

Supreme Court.

To spend time today still talking about the

requirements for eligibility, as contained in the texts

that have been adopted, would be an attempt

tantamount to trying to perpetuate a discussion whose

fate has already been definitely, once and for all, sealed

by the people of Côte d'Ivoire.

Trained in the school of the founding father of

modern Côte d'Ivoire, President Félix Houphouët-

Boigny, the apostle of peace, and belonging as we do to

a subregion that has been beset by conflicts, some of

which have taken place at the very gates of Ivorian

territory, the people of Côte of d'Ivoire are only too

well aware of the importance of peace. The people are

determined to preserve peace without backsliding or

compromise.

My country is not xenophobic, nor is it a place of

exclusion. Côte d'Ivoire is still the only country in the

world where foreigners account for more than 40 per

cent of the total population. The problems of all kinds

that arise from this unparalleled immigration — social,

economic and even political — are real. The country is

addressing and coping with them as best it can. We do

not wish our brothers and sisters, who are living on

very good terms with the Ivorian population, to leave.

In this respect, we are very proud of being the

most integrationist country of the Economic

Community of West African States and we intend to

remain so. That is why we believe that the desire of the

Ivorian people to offer one single political post, that of

President of the Republic, to a citizen of established

background should not serve as a pretext for spreading

malicious rumours about our country and its people.

In this connection, we are counting on the

understanding and support of the international

community to help us successfully through this

transition and, within our self-imposed schedule, to

achieve the state of constitutional normality that our

people so earnestly desires.