Liberia, 2006

It is a great honour

for me to address the General Assembly at its sixty-

first session on behalf of the people of Liberia, not just

in my capacity as a leader, but as the first

democratically elected woman President in Liberia and

in Africa.

Let me congratulate you, Madam, on your

election as President of the General Assembly at this

session. We are proud of you, as the first Arab Muslim

woman and the third woman to occupy this noble

position. One of your women predecessors, Angie

Brooks, hailed from Liberia. I was pleased to honour

her last Friday in a moving ceremony here in New York

for her dedicated services to our country.

Let me also seize this opportunity to pay a well-

deserved tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson

of Sweden, for his insightful knowledge and

enlightened leadership in steering the affairs of the

General Assembly at its sixtieth session.

I wish also to welcome and congratulate the

Republic of Montenegro for its admission as the one

hundred ninety-second Member of the Organization

and to assure its delegation of Liberia’s friendship,

solidarity and support.

Let me now pay special tribute to Mr. Kofi

Annan, the outgoing Secretary-General. I had the

privilege of working with him as a former senior staff

member of the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP), and I am personally aware of his

dedication and commitment to the Organization,

particularly the reform of the United Nations and the

strengthening of its institutions. As I said to him during

an honouring ceremony in Monrovia in July, we are

proud of his record of enhancing the responsibility of

the United Nations: the responsibility to protect the

poor from the rich; the weak from the strong; and the

humble from the arrogant. The Liberian people, and

indeed all the people of Africa, are proud of him and

his accomplishments.

Sixty-one years ago, when countries gathered in

San Francisco to address issues related to the scourge

of, and the scars left by, the Second World War, and the

need for peace in a post-conflict world, Liberia was

there and was a signatory to the Charter of the United

Nations. The purposes and principles of the Charter

have proved to be of durable value over the years.

Times have changed, and the world, too, has

changed, beyond what we could have imagined when

the Organization was established. Today we are truly a

global village, interconnected physically and

electronically, increasingly bound by a shared

commitment to confront and overcome the challenges

that threaten global peace, stability and the well-being

of our human family.

Yet the original aims and objectives of the United

Nations remain today as relevant as they were when

the Charter of the Organization was signed 61 years

ago. The need to maintain international peace and

security, to cultivate friendly relations among nations,

to achieve international cooperation in solving global

economic, cultural, social and humanitarian problems,

and to promote respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms constitute, and still remain, the

cardinal objectives of the Organization.

Thus the main focus of this year’s

deliberations — the implementation of a global

partnership for development — serves to remind us

that at this session the General Assembly must

vigorously consider how to bring equity to the present

international financial, trade and development

structures; how to do more to create the conditions that

will improve the standard of living of humankind

everywhere; how to be sensitive to the needs of

developing countries and assure them the dividends of

globalization.

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In the new millennium, the United Nations should

not operate on the basis of structures designed 61 years

ago. We must therefore review the issue of the

inequitable representation of the world’s peoples, as

reflected by the present structure of the Security

Council. It is in that regard that reform of the United

Nations is urgent, especially with respect to the

decision-making process in a Security Council which is

undemocratic and hegemonic. The apparent continued

violations of the United Nations Charter by some

Member States on account of national interests

represent a disguised threat to world peace and

security.

Hence we must now find an acceptable solution

under which nations large and small will receive equal

treatment, in consonance with the Charter. The United

Nations was conceived to promote world peace,

democracy and equity for all.

I strongly support women and gender equality,

and I look forward with interest to the report of the

High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence,

appointed by the Secretary-General earlier this year. It

is expected to submit its final recommendations on

United Nations reform. It is my hope that the

establishment of a new, independent United Nations

fund or programme for the empowerment of women

and gender equality will be fully supported by Member

States, and that such a fund will have sufficient

resources to support targeted programmes for the

empowerment of women.

Three years ago, representatives of contending

warring factions, political parties and civil society in

Liberia gathered in Accra under the auspices of

international partners and signed the Comprehensive

Peace Agreement. Under provisions of that Agreement,

a National Transitional Government was installed in

October, 2003, with a mandate to disarm combatants

and prepare our country for elections. In October and

November, 2005, legislative and presidential elections

were held, leading to our historic and landmark

election by the Liberian people. The United Nations

played a pivotal role in that national transformation.

For and on behalf of the Liberian people, I wish to

thank the United Nations and other international

partners for the mammoth role they played in securing

peace and bringing sanity to Liberia.

I wish also to express the deep appreciation and

gratitude of the people of Liberia and their friends

everywhere to the men and women of the United

Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) for their active

role in securing and enhancing peace and security in

our country. I am proud to say that the leadership,

commanders, men and women of the various

contingents of UNMIL have largely comported

themselves well and performed their mission with

diligence and dedication. They have sacrificed greatly

and persevered in a very challenging peacekeeping

environment. The Special Representative of the

Secretary-General deserves particular commendation

for his foresight and support of our country’s

reconstruction efforts. I thank them all sincerely on

behalf of the Liberian people.

There are others to whom we owe a huge debt of

gratitude. The Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS), the African Union, the United

States of America, the European Union and the

People’s Republic of China have been selfless and

generous in their material, financial and moral support

of our cause. I would be remiss if I did not single out

the sacrifices made by our West African brothers and

sisters to bring peace and sensibility to a suffering

people. We thank them.

While we are enjoying a semblance of peace, we

are particularly concerned about conflicts in other parts

of the world. Of notable concern is the protracted crisis

in the Middle East, which continues to create a state of

restlessness and threatens world peace and security.

From our experience, we have learned that no matter

how protracted a conflict, the parties must sit around

the table to iron out their differences and make peace.

Both the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities owe

their respective peoples, and the rest of us in the world,

an obligation to break out of their cocoon of pride to

resolve their differences harmoniously. We call for the

active engagement of the United Nations in the

peaceful and amicable resolution of the Middle East

crisis.

Elsewhere in Africa, and especially in

neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire, the standoff in the peace

process is troubling. We call on the parties in Côte

d’Ivoire to save their people from further punishment

by resolving their differences. We call upon the United

Nations to continue strong and decisive intervention to

prevent it from becoming a wider subregional and

regional crisis.

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The situation in Darfur and the slow pace with

which it is being addressed require urgent attention.

The continued stalemate over whether an African

Union or a United Nations force should be deployed or

maintained in the region exposes weaknesses in

international cooperation and collaboration and

demonstrates a lack of international will to address the

sufferings and yearnings of the citizens and residents

of Darfur, who plead everyday for international

intervention. Darfur represents a potential

humanitarian catastrophe. The world must not allow a

second Rwanda to happen. In the new millennium,

civilized nations must not be indifferent to any

conflict, internal or external, regardless of the factors

that fuel it.

The United Nations obligation to protect the

helpless and innocent must remain paramount in that

regard. My Government therefore calls on this General

Assembly and the Security Council to exercise

Chapter VII authority to restore peace, security and

stability to Darfur.

On the other hand, my delegation is pleased with

the successful holding of peaceful democratic elections

in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the first time

in 40 years. We look forward to seeing a peaceful

conclusion of the final stage of that process and the

ushering-in of a Government elected by the people of

that country. It is our hope that the democratic gains

made in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be

sustained to enable the new Government to employ the

vast national resources of that country for the benefit

and welfare of its people.

Globalization has significantly altered the world

and economic transactions among States. Africa will

remain on the periphery of the global village unless

we, as leaders, awaken to the imperatives of the ever-

changing requirements. The first step towards that

process of awakening is the promotion of democracy,

free enterprise, good governance, human rights and

social justice in our countries and across our continent.

There is increasing evidence that shows a direct

correlation between the material and moral well-being

of a people and their country, and the quality of their

democratic environment. My Government is keenly

aware of that reality. We have therefore promulgated

policies that support openness, transparency,

accountability and the equitable distribution of our

meagre resources, while endeavouring to address the

development and reconstruction challenges of the

country.

Five years ago on 11 September, 2001, a few

miles from this very Hall, terror of unimaginable

proportions struck, shocked the world and claimed

close to 3,000 precious and innocent lives. As the

people of the United States and the families of the

innocent dead remember their tragic and irreparable

loss this month, the people of Liberia join me in

affirming our identification with their loss. We

mourned with them then and we mourn with them now.

We also resolve, as all civilized nations should, to join

the global effort to fight terrorism anywhere in the

world, recognizing that it is today the most signal

challenge to world peace and collective freedom.

The world has witnessed a significant

achievement in science and technology, leading to

rapid industrialization and the improvement of the

standards of living of humankind. Although the gains

have led to the development of new medicines and

other scientific knowledge, they also pose a threat to

the environment and human survival.

Rapid industrialization and scientific discoveries

can have a damaging impact on the environment.

Unless there is a modification in our activities, the

pleasure derived from successes in scientific

achievement could, sadly, lead to tragedy and doom.

Thus, in the race for modernization and

development, we cannot ignore the potency of the

threats posed to our survival by environmental

degradation. Saving the planet is required for the

continued existence of its more than 5 billion

inhabitants.

It is in that regard that my delegation supports the

efforts of the Commission on Sustainable

Development, the Kyoto Protocol and the decision

reached on Agenda 21 during the 1992 United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development,

intended to raise international awareness about the

degradation of the environment and the need to reverse

the negative trend. We trust that environmental issues

will remain a priority on the global agenda.

Among the many impediments to social and

economic development in Africa are poverty, poor

health delivery systems, intraregional wars and civil

conflicts. The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS,

malaria and other diseases has contributed significantly

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to the slowing of progress on the African continent.

While countries in the developed world are leaping

ahead in science and technology, we are still groping to

find the means to combat curable diseases and to join

in the search to address incurable ones.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the emergence of

HIV/AIDS brought into focus the recognition that that

deadly virus has eluded the sophistication of science

and technology, thereby posing one of the greatest

challenges to our development effort. The political will

of Africa is challenged to act speedily to eradicate the

virus and combat this health crisis.

The Government of Liberia welcomes the partial

lifting of the arms embargo and the ban on timber

imposed by Security Council resolution 1521 (2003).

We also look forward to the lifting of the ban on

diamonds as we seek to meet the requirements of

Council resolution 1343 (2001). My Government

pledges its fullest cooperation in the attainment of the

objectives set out in those resolutions. We remain

grateful to the international community for the

continuous assistance and support provided to our

country in its search for peace, security and post-war

reconstruction and development.

Today, I stand here in testimony to the rebirth of

my country — to our re-emergence to assume once

more our enviable and critical role as one of the first

independent African republics. We are aware that we

face awesome challenges: the challenge of rebuilding

our infrastructure, including education, health and

other institutions; the challenge of addressing

generations of gender imbalance, especially as it

relates to the education of the girl child; and the

challenge of promoting democracy, participation and

fundamental freedoms and rights in an environment of

equal opportunity.

We have made important beginnings, and we

remain encouraged by the bilateral support provided by

our bilateral and multilateral international partners.

The recent visit of the Secretary-General and other

similarly important visits by leaders of our continent

and of international financial institutions clearly

underscore the commitment of the United Nations and

the rest of the international community to working with

our Government to nurture and strengthen peace and to

foster development.

In closing, let me say that today, as in the past,

Liberia wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the

United Nations, this timeworn but irreplaceable

machinery and indispensable framework for

international peace and international relations. We

must all join our steadfast forces to make this

institution work for the good of humankind.