Madagascar, 1995

I must begin my statement by echoing the words of

previous speakers who have congratulated Mr. Diogo

Freitas do Amaral on his election by acclamation to the

presidency of the fiftieth session of the General Assembly.

On my own behalf and on behalf of the delegation of

Madagascar, which I have the honour to head, I have

pleasure in saying that we rely greatly on his experience

and wisdom in ensuring that our work will be crowned with

success at the conclusion of our debates. Whilst assuring

him of the cooperation and support of my delegation, I

would also like to congratulate the other officers of the

Assembly.

It gives me particular pleasure to pay tribute to our

colleague, His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, Mr. Freitas do

Amaral’s distinguished predecessor, for the enthusiasm and

dynamism he demonstrated in the service of the General

Assembly, which under his presidency carried out its

mandate well and always to the satisfaction of countries

like my own.

Lastly, may I express our appreciation for the efforts

made by the Secretariat to ensure the efficient organization

of our work, under the competent leadership of the

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros-Boutros Ghali.

Since our current session coincides with the

commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United

Nations Charter, it goes without saying that, as the

Secretary-General stressed in his report on the work of the

Organization, it is an occasion not only to take stock of the

first half-century of our Organization and to prepare for the

second, but also to seek ways to keep up the momentum of

the first years of the decade in world affairs.

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, a true symbol of

the cold war, history has witnessed a series of events that

strengthen confidence in the principles and agreements

enshrined in the Charter: the independence of Namibia; the

formation of the first democratic multiracial Government in

South Africa; the holding of democratic elections marking

the end of a long period of civil strife in Mozambique and

one-party rule in Malawi; the promising steps taken by

several southern African countries towards reconstruction;

the process of reconciliation in the Middle East, recently

added to by the agreement — welcomed by Madagascar,

along with all other peace-loving nations — extending

autonomy in the West Bank; and, lastly, certain

encouraging signs with regard to the situation in the

former Yugoslavia.

Paradoxically, however, the end of the era of

ideological confrontations, while accelerating the

integration of world society, has also promoted an

increase in conflicts, sources of outbursts of violence and

savagery, resulting not only from conflicts between States,

but also, unfortunately, from ethnic, civil, religious and

other deep-rooted causes within a collapsing State or

States. This trend, one of the most marked of the post-

war period, seems to be growing, in the context of an

international community that is powerless, disarmed and,

above all, disillusioned.

As regards Africa, to which Madagascar belongs, I

refer in this regard to the genocide in Rwanda, whose

impact is still felt by international public opinion; the

continuation of civil war in Liberia, in Sudan and Angola;

and the spiral of violence and violations of human rights

in Gambia, one of the oldest democracies in West Africa,

following a coup d’état.

Other conflicts still continue in Europe and

elsewhere.

At the risk of offending some, I must say that most,

if not all, of these hotbeds are fuelled in particular by

sales of illicit weapons — I should rather, say “authorized

sales of weapons”. Their proliferation shows the

ineffectiveness of the relevant international conventions

and of the measures enacted by the international

community. They also run counter to the efforts made to

reduce worldwide expenditures on armaments since 1987

in order to obtain the peace dividend.

International public opinion was also deeply shocked

by the coup d’état carried out by mercenaries against the

Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros. Madagascar

strongly condemned that putsch, and congratulates France

on the happy outcome of Operation Azalea to re-establish

institutional legality in the Comoros.

The disillusionment that I have described,

disillusionment bordering on hopelessness, has other

aspects which are even more threatening to the world’s

security. Indeed, both in the North and in the South we

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are witnessing an upsurge of intolerance, of xenophobia —

in brief, of fear or the rejection of difference, of all

differences. These feelings are exacerbated by individual

and collective frustrations born of poverty, of

marginalization and of social injustice. This picture is

complemented by environmental degradation, a sluggish

economy, the depletion of natural resources, the

disintegration of the social fabric, the spread of drug use,

international terrorism, pandemics, natural disasters,

unemployment and famine. To sum up, there is a whole

range of global threats which are no longer confined within

national borders.

It would be a truism to assert that solving these

problems calls for us to be farsighted, to step back so as to

get a global view and go beyond the outdated approach of

resolving the challenges facing us case by case. That is why

Madagascar must support all the efforts to implement the

globalizing structural approach in the Agenda for Peace.

However, we must recognize that any initiatives in this

field will be in vain if there continue to be contradictions

between the diplomacy of States and the diplomacy of the

United Nations, because it is quite obvious that the future

of today’s societies lies within a space that is broadening to

encompass the dimensions of the universe.

This fundamental refocusing must be the purpose of a

rational reorganization of our organs and institutions, which,

given the social, political and economic conditions

prevailing when they were established, now have

limitations, gaps and shortcomings when it comes to

responding to the expectations of today’s world.

In Madagascar’s view, what is needed is, first, to

enlarge the Security Council on the basis of equitable

geographical distribution in order to ensure the

democratization of international relations. Secondly, the

General Assembly must be given greater means, and

especially more powers, to put an end to the old cliché that

this organ is merely a forum for rhetoric and orotund

speechmaking. Thirdly, as indicated in “An Agenda for

Peace,” there must be a considerable strengthening of the

mechanisms for the pacific settlement of disputes set forth

in Chapter VI of the Charter, which would seem in practice

to have become the poor relation of Chapter VII, with its

authorization of the use of force as a last resort. Indeed, in

this connection, I would make so bold as to say that any

and all reform of the United Nations must also entail more

careful attention to the provisions of Chapter VII.

This strengthening should include giving first

priority in United Nations bodies to the prevention of

violence by developing a policy and strategy centred on

development. There, the General Assembly could play a

more important role, in conjunction with the Security

Council, by, for example, in the framework of

re-establishing peace, strengthening the role of United

Nations forces used as buffers in international, ethnic or

civil conflicts. Paragraph 7 of Article 2 of the Charter

expressly excludes any intervention in matters which are

essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State.

The settlement of national conflicts, which falls within the

competence of the United Nations and which still requires

the support of the country concerned, must be viewed as

the carrying out of efforts to establish democracy and the

rule of law and to inculcate a spirit of tolerance and non-

violence.

There is also the question of strengthening regional

structures for the peaceful settlement of disputes, such as

those that already exist within the United Nations, the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the

Non-Aligned Movement. Lastly, there is the question of

strengthening regional cooperation in the sphere of

disarmament so as to block the uncontrolled movements

of weapons and the proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction.

It is in this spirit that Madagascar supported the

indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation

of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and is about to ratify various

international conventions, such as the Convention on the

Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling

and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction

and the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the

Use of Certain Conventional Weapons.

In the economic and social sphere, there is no need

to stress that world development also presents a scenario

of contrasts and disparities, whereas there had been

reason to hope that the post-cold-war period would see a

de facto mobilization of the international community in

support of development. Even worse, the outlook is far

from encouraging. Poverty and hardship have become

endemic in the so-called fourth world — the “storm

zones”, to use an expression borrowed from the jargon of

today’s experts — which is also prey to natural disasters

in addition to its internal problems, resulting from

political instability and imbalanced economies. The

balance of payments continues to show a deficit because

of the crushing burden of external debt and the

fluctuations in the prices of raw materials, accompanied

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by — to cap it all — a stagnation and even a decline in

development assistance.

We are also witnessing various forms of protectionism

in the countries of the North, while the countries of the

South are being urged to liberalize trade. The result is

increased marginalization of the poor countries, which are

deriving absolutely no benefit from the globalization of the

world economy, and increased social disparities both

between and within nations. That adverse trend is leading

to the formation of an international social apartheid.

In the United Nations, the establishment of the

Economic and Social Council embodied the poor countries’

hopes for recovery, but it has become clear that its

administrative machinery is still cumbersome and unsuited

to its task. It has gradually become paralysed by the

multiplication of its organs, without any real follow-up or

control, and its high operating cost. At last July’s session of

the Council in Geneva, emphasis was put on the need to

give it greater vigour by strengthening its competencies and

powers.

If development is today recognized as a human right,

Madagascar believes that that it is largely thanks to the

United Nations, which has advanced the notion of

interdependence between economic development,

democracy and respect for human rights. Therefore, one of

the United Nations primary duties is to create and

strengthen the institutional structure needed to implement

the norms it has identified for the promotion of

development. In that connection, Madagascar will

participate with attention and interest in the General

Assembly’s debate on An Agenda for Development.

Similarly, we shall follow with interest the

implementation of the proposals contained in the

Communiqué of the G-7 Summit held last June in Halifax,

proposals designed to promote sustainable development and

better share the fruits of growth. We welcome the G-7’s

express offer to cooperate in formulating a new approach

to international cooperation and in defining the contribution

expected of the United Nations system, which is seeking

through a series of world conferences — recently in

Beijing, previously in Rio, Copenhagen and Vienna, and

next year in Istanbul — to engage, beyond national borders,

in combined, effective action against poverty,

unemployment and social disintegration. Those conferences

are part of the attempts to renew and improve United

Nations methodologies and strategies in the sphere of

cooperation for development.

I cannot fail to refer to the beneficial activities in

Madagascar coordinated by the United Nations

Development Programme and carried out through the

United Nations system of operational activities and

especially by the United Nations Children’s Fund. Nor

must I forget the United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization and the United Nations

Population Fund, whose mid-term review of the third

country programme with Madagascar was completed at

the end of August.

In the same context we welcome the Secretary-

General’s initiative on a steering committee to prepare

specific short-term and medium-term projects for the

development of Africa in such priority areas as food

security, the strengthening of institutions, the development

of the private sector, desertification and social

development.

The viability and survival of our planet depend,

beyond cooperation, on our ability to adapt to the new

realities and constraints we face. As we approach 1996,

declared by the General Assembly as the International

Year for the Eradication of Poverty, my delegation

wanted today briefly to outline some of the proposals my

country is presenting to contribute to making the dreams

of the founding fathers of the Charter come true, although

we know full well that our proposals are incomplete and

that even an improved and ideal United Nations would be

unable on its own to solve all the problems before it.

The building of a better world, to which we all

aspire, remains dependent on establishing international

relations based on the principle of cooperation and

solidarity and on respect for the principles and norms that

govern international relations.

In that connection, let me conclude by noting a great

step forward in international relations: on the occasion of

the fortieth anniversary of the Organization, speakers in

this Hall stressed the concept of the balance of forces in

general and of strategic nuclear parity in particular, while

today, 10 years later, we all recognize that security and

peace cannot exist without cooperation and solidarity, and

in the absence of all violence.