Lesotho, 1995

Mr. President, it affords me

great pleasure to congratulate you on your election to

direct the work of this historic session of the General

Assembly. Such an honour bears testimony to your

undoubted dynamism and diplomatic skills, which will in

no small measure bear on the outcome of the work of this

Assembly.

Permit me also to pay tribute to your predecessor,

His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, of Cote d’Ivoire, for his

outstanding leadership of the forty-ninth session. We

congratulate him also on the many initiatives that he took

in the furtherance of the work of our Organization.

Lastly, may I refer to the sterling work that the

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros-Boutros Ghali, continues

to do against great odds. His report on the work of the

Organization in 1995 has painted in sharp relief the

awesome task that faces us at the threshold of a new

millennium and as we enter the second half-century of the

United Nations existence.

The United Nations has been, and will always be,

the symbol of humankind’s fervent desire to conduct its

affairs with the purpose of eternal survival. When the

dark clouds of war threatened to engulf the world with a

catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, humankind

found strength within itself to negate the Armageddon.

The pattern of large-scale wars involving many nations

has been reversed, and the worst that we suffered in

recent years was a cold war that was more

psychologically than physically damaging. Happily, that

is now behind us.

But, even as we stop to ponder and reflect on the

past, a new pattern of ethnic intra-State conflagrations has

emerged and continues to threaten the very survival of

humanity. This new scenario has posed a serious

challenge to the initiatives and peace-keeping capabilities

of our Organization.

The record of the United Nations in the recent past

in peace-keeping has been mixed. We have had

unqualified successes in some places, but then in others

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success has eluded us. Our resolve, therefore, has to be to

shift the balance in favour of greater success. Our

machinery for peacemaking and peace-keeping needs to be

fine-tuned to maximum precision. The implications of this

requirement are far-reaching and need to be appreciated in

their amplitude.

First, the financing of peace-keeping operations must

be put on a more secure footing. Persistent arrears, such as

those we are currently experiencing, especially when they

are incurred by major Powers, cannot but have an adverse

effect on the morale of the small countries, such as my

own, that make great sacrifices to meet their obligations to

the Organization.

Secondly, greater attention should be paid to peace-

making and preventive diplomacy, thereby reducing the

prospects of conflicts, with their attendant costs. In this

regard, the ideas contained in the Secretary-General’s

Supplement to An Agenda for Peace merit our close

attention. The strategy of pre-empting the eruption of

conflict is, of course, closely linked to the United Nations

efforts in the fields of social and economic development,

because it is in the soil of poverty that the seeds of national

upheavals take root and sprout.

Last, but not least, the changed nature of the

challenges facing the Security Council call for the

restructuring of that organ to reflect the changed realities of

present-day international relations. All the international

peace-and-security matters of which the Council is currently

seized pertain to developing countries or countries in

transition. Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that the

composition of the Security Council should include an

appropriate proportion of developing countries in both the

permanent and non-permanent categories.

My delegation therefore supports the view that the

reform of the Security Council should be in accordance

with the following principles: one, the reform of the

Security Council must not put in danger its effectiveness,

but, on the contrary, should strengthen it; two, the

enlargement of the Security Council should enhance its

representative character, taking into account the emergence

of new economic and political Powers as well as the

increase of United Nations membership; three, the

enlargement of the Security Council should enhance

equitable geographic representation; four, the possibility of

smaller Member States serving on the Security Council

should not be diminished; and, lastly, the enlargement

should take place in both categories of permanent and non-

permanent members.

The Open-ended Working Group on the Question of

Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council has continued to

address the question of the reform of the Council. It is

encouraging to note that discussions have shown a general

support for the need to increase the membership of the

Security Council, especially of developing countries, and

a subsequent need to review the Council’s composition.

The general view is that the size and composition of an

expanded Council should reflect more accurately the

universal character of the United Nations and present-day

realities.

It has further been recognized that the principle of

the sovereign equality of all Members of the United

Nations and the concepts of equitable representation and

distribution, legitimacy, effectiveness and efficiency

should serve as guiding principles for the reform of the

Security Council.

A number of political questions continue to

preoccupy us. In this regard, the leaders and people of

Israel, Jordan and Palestine deserve our congratulations

on having transformed the hopes and goals embodied in

the Middle East peace process into tangible achievements.

The people of Israel and the Palestinians have overcome

formidable obstacles. Yet the most difficult and divisive

issues still remain unresolved.

The peace process in that area of the Middle East is

of the utmost importance and must therefore be negotiated

against a backdrop of continuing and satisfactory

progress. Only that will help give both Israel and

Palestine the further confidence needed to make the

political decisions that will ultimately achieve a lasting

solution.

We also need to urge the international community to

respond quickly, appropriately, generously, practically and

flexibly to the needs of the Palestinian people.

Achievements must match expectations.

In the tragic situation of the former Yugoslavia, the

Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be

commended for accepting the peace proposal of the five-

nation Contact Group, which has been endorsed by the

Security Council. This peace proposal, as recent

developments have indicated, does not sufficiently

respond to the requirements of justice and equity, but we

are none the less encouraged by a number of positive

developments that have taken place.

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We therefore urge the international community, in

particular, the Security Council and the member States of

the European Contact Group, to respond effectively to the

situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We hope that the

logic of peace will finally overcome the logic of war, on

the basis of the cease-fire, which is yet to come into effect.

In Africa, many significant developments have taken

place in respect of peace-keeping that have to be

understood in the context of changes in the international

environment. The changes include the fatigue and

reluctance of the leading world Powers, especially those in

the Security Council, to participate in peace-keeping

operations in Africa. That reluctance was exemplified by

the events in Burundi, where the Organization of African

Unity (OAU) had to deploy a limited observation mission

because the United Nations could not.

On the other hand, however, some of the Western

countries have launched several initiatives aimed at

identifying ways in which the international community can

assist Africa to cope with the challenges of conflict

prevention and management. While Africa, in keeping with

its determination to combat conflicts on the continent, is

appreciative of these gestures from its outside partners, we

wish to remind the international community of the United

Nations primary role as the guardian of world peace and

stability everywhere, including in Africa. Africa remains

part of the international community, and the notion that

“African problems need an African solution”, as some

countries advocate, is erroneous. The determination of

Africa to address, through the OAU, the problem of

conflicts on the continent should not be misconstrued as

absolving the United Nations from its responsibility for

peace and security where Africa is concerned.

The Sahraoui people have a right to self-determination.

We therefore appeal to all parties to respect the decision to

hold a referendum in Western Sahara, to be held as

scheduled in January 1996.

My delegation believes that the key to attaining

nuclear disarmament and a nuclear-free world continues to

be the universality of the non-proliferation regime. In this

connection, therefore, I wish to register my delegation’s

strong rejection of nuclear tests, which are clearly

inconsistent with the decision of the Review and Extension

Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) regarding the

principles and objectives of nuclear non-proliferation and

disarmament, which committed all States to work towards

the elimination of nuclear weapons and to exercise the

utmost restraint with respect to nuclear testing. We call

on all nuclear-weapon States to refrain from any further

testing.

We express our deep disappointment at the lack of

concrete results on the question of the review and

appraisal of the implementation of the declaration of the

1990s as the Third Disarmament Decade.

It is important to note that at its forty-ninth session

the General Assembly adopted resolution 49/75 B of 15

December 1994, in which it decided to undertake, at its

fiftieth session, such a review and appraisal. The

Assembly requested the Disarmament Commission, at its

1995 session, to make a preliminary assessment of the

implementation of the Declaration and of suggestions that

might be put forth to ensure appropriate progress. We

regret to note that despite extensive efforts to agree on

consensus language, there was a divergence of views and

it was not possible to reach a consensus. It is

disappointing to note that delegations were not willing to

engage in serious negotiations to find even small areas of

common ground.

In recent decades the Organization of African Unity

(OAU) has also adopted a number of other resolutions on

disarmament and on the denuclearization of the African

continent. Convinced that the establishment of nuclear-

weapon-free zones can contribute to the strengthening of

the international non-proliferation regime, the sixtieth

ordinary session of the OAU Council of Ministers

adopted a resolution in which the OAU Secretary-General

was requested to convene a joint meeting of the

Organization of African Unity inter-governmental group

of experts and the Group of Experts to Prepare a Draft

Treaty on an African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone set up

jointly by the Organization of African Unity and the

United Nations. This initiative needs the unrelenting

support of the international community, in particular that

of the nuclear-weapon States, through their accession to

the protocols that concern them in connection with the

reduction and prohibition of the use and testing of all

weapons of mass destruction.

My Government, like the Governments of all African

States, is convinced that the establishment of nuclear-

weapon-free zones worldwide, through the encouragement

of the United Nations — especially in the Middle East, as

already proposed by Egypt — would enhance the security

of Africa and the subsequent viability of the African

nuclear-weapon-free zone.

6

In the social and human rights field, the United

Nations continues to make some progress. The World

Summit for Social Development, held at Copenhagen in

March, was a milestone in humankind’s quest for consensus

on universal standards for social development. The

implementation of the undertakings which the Heads of

State or Government made needs to be monitored closely

in order to assess the degree of progress being made in

achieving those undertakings. In this regard, the 20/20

compact is an important step in the direction of

international collaboration to achieve balanced development

of the social sector. It is the intention of my Government to

fulfil its commitment to allocate 20 per cent of its

development budgetary allocation to the social sector; we

expect our development partners to meet us half way in this

endeavour.

The outcome of the Fourth World Conference on

Women is still very fresh in our minds, having been

achieved only a few weeks ago. Although it was

unfortunate that some countries found it necessary to enter

reservations in respect of certain paragraphs of the Platform

for Action, we are encouraged that a significant step

forward was taken towards the goal of recognizing the right

of women to be equal partners with men and to have

complete control over all aspects of their lives. The triple

goals of equality, development and peace, enunciated 20

years ago in Mexico City, underscore the undeniable truth

that development and peace are not feasible while half of

the world’s population is discriminated against and not

allowed to realize its full potential. My delegation reaffirms

our Government’s determination to forge ahead with vigour

with the implementation of the Platform for Action until the

full emancipation of women is attained. In this connection,

I should like to call for an early follow-up and review

conference lest the momentum generated in Beijing be lost.

There is a widely held myth that the developing world

is experiencing a high growth rate because of the

remarkable economic performance of East Asia. How can

this be true when a total of 47 developing countries

classified as least-developed countries continue to fight for

survival? These countries account for 10 per cent of the

world’s population but earn only 0.1 per cent of the global

income. For over two decades now, they have continued to

experience serious declines in per capita income. Their

share of world trade has declined from 0.6 per cent in 1980

to 0.2 per cent in 1992.

Africa continues to be the region most in need of help.

The 1995 economic growth indicators, however, present an

encouraging picture. For the first time in over six years, the

economic-growth rate is projected to match the

population-growth rate, which is, unfortunately, the

highest in the world.

Africa has been used over the past 20 years, and is

still being used, as a policy laboratory for the Bretton

Woods institutions. It is regrettable that today, as the

United Nations celebrates its fiftieth year since the

signing of the Organization’s Charter in San Francisco,

many people in Africa continue to live under even harsher

conditions of poverty, hunger, disease, civil war and

natural disaster. The plight of the African continent

remains a major challenge for the emerging world order.

There is an urgent need for a stronger consolidated effort

to pull the continent out of the poverty trap into which it

continues to sink.

A few months ago at Geneva, the Economic and

Social Council, at the high-level segment of its 1995

substantive session, deliberated an item entitled “The

development of Africa, including the implementation of

the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of

Africa in the 1990s”. The high-level segment recognized

that, among all the five regions of the world, Africa

continues to be the only one lagging far behind in terms

of development and that it remains the most marginalized

in the world economy.

Allow me at this juncture to take this opportunity to

applaud the Government of National Unity of the

Republic of South Africa for having embarked on a

reconstruction and development programme as a strategy

for tackling the thorny issue of the economic imbalances

created by the policies of apartheid. It is important for the

international community to realize that the entire southern

African subregion was as much affected and that it still

suffers from the impact of the apartheid legacy. Any

international support for the implementation of the

reconstruction and development programme in South

Africa should take this fact into account.

The southern African States members of the

Southern African Development Community continue to

pay priority attention to closer and stronger integration of

their economies. The international community should

make its best endeavours to ensure that our efforts are

adequately supported through complementary financial

and technological support, including improved terms of

trade, increased flows of direct foreign investment and

appropriate debt relief measures.

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Lesotho, as a land-locked and least developed country,

attaches great importance to issues of concern to the least

developing countries, particularly their transit transport

problems. We welcome the adoption by the

intergovernmental meeting of the land-locked and transit

developing countries, donor countries and financial

institutions of a framework for cooperation to alleviate

transit transport problems of the land-locked States and of

their transit neighbours. It is our sincere belief that this

session of the General Assembly will seriously address

itself to the provisions of this framework, with a view to

speeding up their implementation.

The Programme of Action for the Least Developed

Countries for the 1990s remains largely unimplemented.

Lesotho, as a least developed country, is seriously

concerned about this.

In Lesotho, as in many other countries in Africa and

other regions, we have undertaken far-reaching political

reforms, thus heeding the international clarion call to

restore democratic administration, popular participation,

accountability and good governance. These reforms have

been undertaken amidst painful but necessary structural

adjustment programmes intended to improve our

macroeconomic policies and structures. The international

community needs to realize that the success and

sustainability of all these reforms cannot be guaranteed

unless they bring about tangible results and satisfy the

expectations of our people, particularly the most

disadvantaged.

Our cooperating partners, in the forefront of advocates

of democratic rule, seem to be relinquishing their

responsibility of seeing to it that democratic institutions are

sustained. In most of our countries our fledgling

democracies face the serious challenge posed by lack of

resources initially promised by our friends. We see

emerging in each of our countries pockets of discontent

which in essence challenge and destabilize the very shaky

foundations of our young democracies. We in Lesotho

understand very well the complementarity of democracy

and development, and it is on this basis that we call upon

our partners to carry out as a matter of urgency their

international responsibility, particularly in this area.

For two consecutive years now, Lesotho has been

experiencing an unprecedented devastating drought, which

has adversely affected food production. This year the

quantity of acreage cultivated was substantially reduced,

due to lack of rainfall. As a result of the drought, the

Government had to declare a state of food emergency and

send urgent appeals to our traditional and new food

donors for a helping hand. Unfortunately, not very

encouraging responses have so far been received. It is

therefore my humble duty and responsibility to renew this

appeal to the international community through the

Assembly.

Today’s world is increasingly being made smaller

and smaller by technological advances. Developments in

one part of the world are of direct relevance and interest

to other parts of the world. Closer cooperation and

collaboration between partners is more urgently needed

than ever before. South-South cooperation has to be

further strengthened and universalized. In this regard, the

importance of triangular arrangements for promoting and

expanding South-South cooperation cannot be over-

emphasized. Furthermore, increased transfer of modern

productive and efficient technologies is a necessary

condition for all the nations of the world to be able to

fulfil their obligations and commitment to leave man’s

common heritage — the Earth — in a condition that will

enable future generations to sustain life on it.

Many of us are doing our best to develop the full

potential of our human resources through education, good

health, a clean living and working environment and

nutrition. We have put in place appropriate policies to

ensure the realization of this noble objective. We are

worried about slow progress towards the discovery of a

permanent cure for the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and would

urge all humankind not to spare any effort or resources

until this menace has been vanquished. We therefore join

the appeals for increased political commitment and

financial and material support for scientific and other

research that will lead to the discovery of a cure for this

disease.

For a long time the nations of the world have

expressed their desire to enhance the international justice

system. The recognition that an international criminal

court was an essential element in building respect for

human rights throughout the world led the Members of

the United Nations nearly half a century ago to pledge to

create a new system of international justice. Progress in

this regard has, however, been slow.

The atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

provided an impetus to establish a permanent international

criminal court. Lesotho supports the view that a

permanent international criminal court should be

established by 1996. We believe that the most practical

method of establishing such a court is by a multilateral

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treaty that would enter into force following ratification by

a reasonable number of States. It is our fervent belief that

such a court would be the living embodiment of the

fundamental principles of international criminal law.

Besides being able to hold individual perpetrators of human

rights violations personally liable, the court would

complement prosecutions in national courts by acting when

States were unwilling or unable to bring perpetrators to

justice.

The commendable efforts of the International Law

Commission in preparing the draft statute for the court are

to be applauded. It now remains for Governments and other

organs of civil society to strengthen the draft statute to

ensure that it is a model of justice, fairness and

effectiveness.