Lesotho, 1994

On behalf of the people

and Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, and on my

own behalf, I have the pleasure to extend to you, Sir, our

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warmest congratulations on your well-deserved election to

the presidency of the General Assembly at the forty-ninth

session. Your election is a fitting tribute to the efforts that

your country has made and continues to make in

international relations, especially its mediatory role in

conflict situations on our continent. Our special thanks also

go to your predecessor, the Ambassador of the Republic of

Guyana, His Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally, whose

abilities and clear vision in steering the Assembly during

the forty-eighth session will forever be remembered with

appreciation.

We are also indebted to our distinguished

Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-

Ghali, whose track record is without parallel.

My delegation is proud to welcome the Republic of

South Africa, now free and democratic, back into the

international fold. The resumption of the right of South

Africa, a founding Member of the United Nations, to

participate in the deliberations of the General Assembly and

other organs of the United Nations, is very timely, coming

as it does as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the

founding of the United Nations.

Even as we approach the threshold of the twenty-first

century, our world is still mired in conflicts. Our

Organization must strive to contain these and other

situations, which are the legacy of the post-cold-war era.

We are entering a new era, one in which democratic and

inclusive global institutions can play a principal role in

building a better world. It is still difficult, however, to

have a clear vision of the future role of the United Nations

in the new international political order that is emerging

following the end of the cold war.

As it approaches its fiftieth anniversary, the United

Nations faces a number of challenges; it has to become a

real instrument of international legality, peace and security.

The Organization needs to have the means and the

flexibility to play an increasingly active role in these

unpredictable times. Unfortunately, however, the United

Nations of today still reflects the structure of the world of

1945 as seen by the victors of the Second World War.

United Nations organs such as the Security Council need to

be revitalized and democratized so that they may become

more representative of the regions encompassed in this

Organization.

The General Assembly, as one of the principal organs

of the United Nations, an organ that is universal in

character and one in which Member States enjoy sovereign

equality, needs revitalization as part of the current process

of the transformation and reform of the United Nations

system. The United Nations system should be able, at all

times, to respond rapidly to changes and new

developments as they occur around the world. In the last

few years we have witnessed significant events of historic

moment. We had not anticipated that the Iron Curtain

would be dismantled so quickly; nor could we have

foreseen the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the

eradication of apartheid in South Africa. The United

Nations may not possess the clairvoyance to predict

events before they occur, but it should have the capacity

to respond to developments and crises rapidly and

effectively as they arise. The events in Bosnia and

Herzegovina and, recently, in Rwanda starkly demonstrate

the sluggishness of the decision-making process and the

lack of responsiveness on the part of the system.

Disarmament, especially in the nuclear field, remains

an urgent concern of this Organization. Its relationship to

international peace and security is today more evident

than ever before. We are mindful of the fact that in

recent years, at the height of the cold war, the world

experienced a period of uncertain peace, a peace that was

sustained more by the fear of a nuclear holocaust than by

the existence of harmonious relationships among nations,

especially the opposing nuclear blocs, or by progress

towards complete and general disarmament. Today,

conditions exist for the establishment of a stable and

peaceful global environment. It is under such conditions

that the world can begin to enjoy what may be called the

peace dividend, whereby global expenditures will be

shifted away from preparations for war and unending

concern for national security towards investment in

development.

Solid groundwork for cooperation and

confidence-building has been successfully laid in a

number of regions. The progress in this regard bodes

well for the future. In our region, the continental

organization, the Organization of African Unity (OAU),

has established a mechanism for the prevention,

management and resolution of conflicts. The apparent

inability of the world community to act in a timely and

decisive manner during some tragic conflict situations in

our continent has taught Africa the cardinal lesson that we

cannot continue to delegate our responsibilities to the rest

of the world. We have seen evidence of this a number of

times, particularly during crisis situations in Rwanda and

Somalia. Africa is taking up more seriously the challenge

of fending for itself. We shall, however, continue to

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count on international solidarity and cooperation during the

trial stages of the mechanism.

In Liberia, the OAU, in conjunction with the

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

and the United Nations, continues to seek a solution to the

conflict on the basis of the implementation of the Cotonou

Peace Agreement. We are happy with the progress

achieved thus far in Mozambique. The situation in Angola,

however, continues to be of grave concern to us.

We urge the parties involved to show political will and

to negotiate in good faith in order to ensure the early

establishment of lasting peace, stability and development.

The complementarity between democracy and the

observance of human rights on the one hand, and

development on the other, can no longer be a subject of

debate. Democracy is the cornerstone of every civil society

and the preservation and sustaining of its institutions should

be binding on all of us. The expression by the international

community of the will to cooperate in this endeavour has

been clear in recent times. If it is necessary to look

backward to yesterday, it is only to draw lessons that will

enable us to march confidently and resolutely into the

future, a future in which our citizens will live in harmony

and enjoy prosperity.

The attainment of democracy, peace and development

as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in the

charters of the Organization of African Unity and other

organizations has become the responsibility of all nations.

Where these principles are threatened by those who are

reluctant to come to terms with the realities of today, the

international community has stood up resolutely in defence

of our fledgling democracies. This attitude augurs well for

the new world order we seek to establish.

The events in Haiti and our recent experience in

Lesotho demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that

young and fledgling democracies can be seriously

threatened or turned off their course. In the early morning

of 17 August this year, the people of Lesotho woke up to

hear an announcement over Radio Lesotho that shocked and

bewildered them. According to that announcement, certain

clauses of the Constitution of Lesotho had been suspended,

and as a result of that illegal and arbitrary act the

democratically-elected parliament and Government of

Lesotho had, it was said, been dissolved. The constitutional

crisis we faced has since been resolved; however, I recall

these events because of the important lesson they brought

home to all of us who were directly concerned.

First, it became abundantly clear that the support for

democracy among our people cuts straight across party

political lines. Secondly, the international community can

no longer countenance an open attack upon democratic

principles and the institutions of democratic governance.

The people of Lesotho rose up in large numbers to

demonstrate their displeasure and their abhorrence of the

disguised coup against their elected Government. Despite

the repressive measures taken by those who had brazenly

intruded upon the constitutional order of our country, the

people sent a clear signal that the powers of a tyrant are

forever circumscribed by the will and the determination

of the people to resist oppression and by their desire to be

governed only with their own consent.

I take this opportunity to thank the United Nations,

the Organization of African Unity and the commonwealth

of nations for supporting my Government and my people

in their struggle to maintain legality, constitutionality and

democratic rule in Lesotho. I need to mention

specifically the timely and principled intervention by

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, President Nelson

Mandela of South Africa and President Ketumile Masire

of Botswana. It is through their mediatory efforts that we

were able to emerge from the unfortunate constitutional

crisis that we experienced.

The people of Lesotho will always remember that

when they faced a critical test, when the foundations of

their young democracy were under attack and threatened

with wanton destruction, the friends of democracy stood

firm and remained resolute to the end. The member

States of the European Union and the Southern African

Development Community (SADC) never wavered in their

support for democracy in Lesotho. The Governments of

the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan,

the Federal Republic of Germany and Sweden took a

stand and immediately suspended all economic assistance

to Lesotho, thus sending a clear signal to the usurpers of

power that what is really here to stay is democracy, and

nothing else.

We in Lesotho believe that the observance of human

rights would go a long way towards eliminating hotbeds

of tension and civil strife. In almost every country

experiencing some kind of civil strife, it will always be

found that the first casualty of that strife is human rights.

It is in this context that, recently, Lesotho ratified

quite a number of international human rights instruments.

At the regional level, we all support the work of SADC,

which has recently decided to establish a sector to deal

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with human rights questions. We pledge to work with our

fellow SADC member States as we develop this new sector

of our organization. We also pledge to fulfil our

obligations at the international level through the various

United Nations bodies engaged in human rights work.