Liberia, 2008

I am honoured to

address the General Assembly on behalf of the

Government and the people of Liberia, the second time

I am doing so since I assumed office in 2006.

I congratulate you, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto

Brockmann, and your country, Nicaragua, on your

election as President of this historic sixty-third session.

There is no doubt that you will bring your vast

experience to bear in guiding this session to a

successful conclusion. You can rest assured of the full

cooperation and support of the Liberian delegation.

Let me also seize this opportunity to pay tribute

to your predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim of the Republic

of Macedonia, for the exemplary leadership he

provided this body over the past year.

By the same token, I would like to commend the

Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his

farsightedness and wisdom in carrying out his mandate.

The Liberian people still recall with fondness his visit

to Monrovia earlier this year, when they shared with

him their respect and appreciation for the United

Nations, which has provided exceptional support as a

guarantor of the peace we now enjoy in our country

after 14 years of war.

In our 161 years as the first independent republic

in Africa, we navigated for nearly a century among the

sharks of racism, colonialism, prejudice, human

degradation and underdevelopment. We have

experienced a war that killed nearly 8 per cent and

displaced 40 per cent of our population, a war that

destroyed our underdeveloped economy and inadequate

infrastructure. Through it all, Liberia has come to

appreciate the United Nations as a truly fundamental,

relevant and important forum and instrument for world

peace.

In its 63 years of existence, the United Nations

has expanded in scope, form and content. It is,

correctly, still primarily concerned with the promotion

of international peace and security. On the basis of our

experience as a founding Member, Liberia is

committed to contributing to the redefinition of that

international peace and security that it is very strongly

linked to and demands the promotion of economic

growth and sustained development, particularly food

security, relief from the debt burden, globalization and

fair trade.

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We believe in a peace and security environment

that combats HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

and that promotes poverty eradication and human

rights, especially the rights of women and children. We

believe in the fight against international terrorism,

drugs and other international crime, and we believe in

disarmament, especially the elimination of nuclear

weapons and the control of small arms and light

weapons.

The history and experience of Liberia have taught

us to have faith in the United Nations, which today

maintains nearly 11,000 men and women from all over

the world helping our country consolidate its newly

won peace. We wish to thank the Security Council,

which has correctly seen the necessity to renew the

mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia

(UNMIL). We particularly thank the resource-

contributing countries, for, without them, we would

never be able to save the lives we are saving and

promote the development we are promoting.

Our history and experience have taught us to

believe in regional peace and security and cooperation.

Liberians still say, with passion: “Thank God for

ECOMOG” — the Monitoring Group of the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) —

referring to the period of our war when young men and

women from ECOWAS countries, led by Nigeria and

including Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali

and Benin, laid down their lives to save our country.

Subsequently, a Nigerian-led military mission, the

ECOWAS Mission in Liberia. provided the beachhead

for the establishment of UNMIL. We shall always be

grateful to ECOWAS, which is now dedicating itself to

its prime objective of economic integration and

development.

We also believe in our subregional entity, the

Mano River Union, which comprises the countries of

Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and now, Côte

d’Ivoire, which joined us earlier this year. The Mano

River basin, as is well known, had been the epicentre

of the conflict system in West Africa since 1990. As the

current Chair of the Union, I can say on behalf of my

colleagues that the countries of that basin have

declared never again to war and all forms of armed

violence. The Mano River Union will henceforth be a

net exporter of peace and all the dividends that come

with peace in West Africa.

I am proud to say that Liberian history and

experience have taught us never to shirk in our

opposition to wars and the causes thereof, to man’s

inhumanity to man, to oppression, racism, human

rights abuses, especially those against women and

children, and abuses inflicted on the basis of race,

creed and religion.

In doing so, we know that we may at times not be

seen as following the party line, be it in Africa or on

African issues, or the positions of some close allies.

We continue to ask our friends to realize that we will

be guided by our principles, history and experience to

act in the best interest of our people and of the greater

world community.

It is in this connection that we took a stand on the

situation in Zimbabwe, because we had faith that the

leaders of that wonderful and great country needed to

know that fairness in elections and justice in political

participation were the best ways to ensure durable

peace. My Government wishes to thank the

Zimbabwean leaders and their people for choosing the

path of negotiation for the comprehensive agreement

that has now been reached. We thank the leaders of the

Southern African Development Community —

especially South African President Thabo Mbeki, for

his role in facilitating the peace deal. May all

Zimbabweans work to ensure full implementation of

the agreement.

Over the past year, Africa has registered

unprecedented economic growth and has experienced

relative peace in many hitherto-turbulent regions and

countries. Unfortunately, people in Somalia, in parts of

the Sudan — especially the Darfur region — Chad,

Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other

countries have yet to breathe the air of relief and peace.

They need the concerted efforts and support of the

United Nations for the African Union and subregional

bodies to take the actions necessary for peace. Where

there is evidence of non-cooperation and even

aggression against peace forces, the world must move

into gear under Chapter VII of the United Nations

Charter.

As we have seen in Liberia and throughout the

world, armed conflicts are exacerbated by easy access

to small arms and light weapons. Thus, as part of the

efforts for durable peace in conflict zones, we must put

in place rigid measures to ensure effective control of

such weapons. In that connection, my Government

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supports an arms trade treaty. We continue to champion

the call for total and complete nuclear disarmament in

order to prevent the world from annihilating itself.

Those fears are not unfounded if we imagine such

weapons in the hands of a terrorist. But the threat of

terrorism — the senseless destruction of innocent lives

and property — oftentimes even defies the

imagination. The world must unite to fight that

scourge. No nation or person is protected against it.

Those who feel angry enough to carry out such

dastardly acts defeat their own purposes because they

end up killing those who may be ready to let the world

hear about their causes. They actually end up losing

everything. We grieve with those who lost their loved

ones during the terror attacks in Pakistan even while

the world was meeting here.

While some plot evil deeds, there are those who

are committed to working with Liberia and Africa and

the rest of Africa to fight poverty and to promote

positive, all-around international cooperation. We are

grateful for the many avenues for cooperation that have

been provided. We thank the United States for its

African Growth and Opportunity Act, which aims to

promote trade rather than aid; we thank the European

Union for its Everything but Arms facility; we are

grateful for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation;

we thank the Japanese Government and its partners for

leading the Tokyo International Conference on African

Development; and we thank others to whom the

continent is looking for new avenues for sustained

development. We are pleased to note that our

cooperation efforts have included intra-Africa and

South-South endeavours, with great successes having

been achieved so far.

Beyond Africa, my Government believes, with

great interest, that a durable solution can be found to

the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflict. Late

last year, I had the opportunity to visit and hold talks

with Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike in Tel Aviv

and Ramallah. I gathered from conversations and

reports regarding other sustained efforts in search of

peace that the solution of two States, with secure and

recognizable borders and mutual recognition of each

other, is the way forward. We must never give up

working for a formal end to the conflict and for a

durable peace for all in the region.

I should now like to report briefly on Liberia, the

country for which, we dare say, the United Nations is

most likely to receive its best-ever performance record.

On 19 September 2006, approximately eight months

after I had assumed the presidency of Liberia as the

first woman to have been so elected in Africa, I

addressed this body, laying out my vision for a country

that had suffered near-total devastation — a country

that was the best example of a State that had nearly

collapsed. At that time, I said that Liberia was back,

moving forward on an irreversible path of peace and

development.

Today, I have come to renew that pledge. I have

come to report how much progress has been made in

the light of what we inherited. It should be

remembered that we inherited a situation in which

nearly two thirds of Liberians lived below the poverty

line, with an even higher poverty rate in rural areas.

The economy collapsed, with gross domestic product

falling 90 per cent from 1987 to 1995 — one of the

largest economic free-falls ever recorded in the world.

Indicators in the areas of health, education, water,

sanitation, food security and infrastructure were very

poor and sometimes beyond measure.

My Government, with the support of international

partners, began to take steps to move the whole

country into gear. There was a need, first, for clear

direction in the form of a national vision or agenda,

formulated and contributed to by the people as their

own; secondly, to restore the international reputation

and creditworthiness of the country; and thirdly, to

demonstrate the necessary leadership — strong,

committed and focused — for the people.

The Government, in collaboration with civil

society, undertook broad consultations with people in

all parts of the country. That resulted in a framework

for reducing poverty and making progress towards the

Millennium Development Goals. Our poverty reduction

strategy for the period 2008-2011 is now in place,

anchored on the pillars of consolidating peace and

security, revitalizing the economy, strengthening

governance and the rule of law, and rebuilding

infrastructure and delivering basic services.

Clearly, those three years are not enough time to

accomplish the daunting tasks laid out in our poverty

reduction strategy; they are part of a process aimed at

long-term development that will continue far beyond

2011. They are part of a process that must identify

effective responses to the food and energy crises and to

the as-yet-undetermined effects of climate change.

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However, the Liberian people are gaining confidence in

the strategy, for they are seeing that our national

security policy, supported by the United Nations, is

now producing the desired results.

They also know that, starting at a low base, we

saw growth of more than 9 per cent in 2007. Roads and

buildings are sprouting up in many places; health

clinics are reopening or being established where they

did not exist before; agricultural production is

increasing; and a huge external debt is well on the way

to being cancelled, with exceptional support from our

partners.

We believe that that is truly a success story for a

country emerging from so much destruction in so short

a period of time. But we owe it first to our people —

the Liberian people — and, very strategically and

importantly, to the international community, led by the

United Nations. The presence of the United Nations

Mission in Liberia has given hope to the people that

they need not surrender to the threat to peace and

development represented by the large percentage of

unemployed youth who cannot be absorbed by an

economy that is still too weak, despite its high level of

growth.

I come from a continent where female

leadership — particularly a female head of State or

Government — is still unthinkable in some quarters. I

have only a handful of female colleagues at the global

level. To help sensitize and energize the world with

regard to the reality of female leadership, my friend

and colleague Ms. Tarja Halonen, President of Finland,

and I are organizing an international colloquium on

women’s empowerment, leadership and development

that will be held on International Women’s Day in

March 2009 in Monrovia. I believe that this will

provide us with the opportunity to make special efforts

in support of women who are desirous to seek elective

public office and to encourage other women to seek

such office.

Mr. Golding (Jamaica), Vice-President, took the

Chair.

As I conclude, let me thank the President for the

great work he and his colleagues are doing for a world

meant for succeeding generations. Let me also say

unequivocally that not only is Liberia back, but we are

lifted and we are blessed. We thank all who have

contributed to this progress.