Madagascar, 1996

In common with the speakers preceding me, I

should like to congratulate you upon your election to the

presidency of the fifty-first session of the General

Assembly. We see it not only as a recognition of your

personal qualities, but also, and above all, the consecration

of the distinguished part played by your country in the

international arena. Through your person, the honour that

derives from your election is shared with the member

countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, which gives us

particular pride. I would like to assure you of the complete

cooperation and full support of the delegation of

Madagascar, which it is my privilege to lead.

My congratulations also go to the other members of

the General Committee, to whom we wish every success in

their work.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to express

to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do

Amaral, our warm gratitude for all the efforts that he made

during his term as President of the Assembly at its fiftieth

session. I would like to assure him that we followed

closely and with interest the activities and contacts which

he undertook on behalf of our Organization and in order

to further its objectives.

The disappearance of the political and ideological

divisions arising from the cold war gave birth to hopes

for greater international security, stability, peace and

prosperity, so that the international community could

henceforth focus its efforts on the establishment of a just,

equitable and truly multilateral and non-discriminatory

international order, and on the strengthening of

cooperation for international development. These hopes,

however, not been fulfilled. A feeling of anxiety prevails

in the face of the imbalances, insecurity, tensions and

contradictions clouding the prospects for peace and

economic development. The forces of conflict have grown

to dangerous proportions as they have spilled over

frontiers, and have assumed various forms such as

terrorism, separatism, fundamentalism, intolerance and

xenophobia.

Similarly, the interdependent world economy

continues to be dominated by uncertainty, imbalances and

recession. Negative economic growth rates, persistent

imbalances in the commercial and financial fields,

increased transitional or structural unemployment, and an

absence of coordination in exchange rates and trade

policies — these are some of the problems connected

with the system of the developed world which have an

adverse impact on the developing countries. For in fact

the resources allocated to cooperation for development

have fallen, on the pretext that up to now this has achieved

nothing for the beneficiary countries, including our

countries in Africa, whose priorities, at both national and

continental level, have been to relieve absolute, endemic

poverty, to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, to overcome

disease and illiteracy, and to meet the needs for housing

and sanitation.

In this connection, just as we welcomed Habitat II last

June in Istanbul, we commend the initiative of the Director-

General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the

United Nations (FAO) to convene the World Food Summit

next November in Rome, to sensitize international opinion

to the problem of hunger in the world, thereby reviving

interest in the subject that has apparently waned.

Thus it is clear that the world today is confronted with

urgent social and economic problems which, at the national,

regional and international levels, require efforts and the

implementation of policies and measures that can provide

urgent solutions. The future of world trade, financial and

monetary regimes, economic growth and social

development, as well as human rights, the environment and

population in relation to development, are vital issues that

inextricably link the fate and destiny of all countries.

It is therefore comforting to recall the solemn

commitment made by the international community on the

occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations,

on the night of 24 October 1995, to mobilize in the quest

for peace, security, development and stability. In order to

attain these objectives and successfully discharge the

functions assigned to it in the Charter, the United Nations

needs to be reformed in order to adjust to a world in

constant change.

With respect to the increase in the membership of the

Security Council, the principle is accepted in general, if for

no other reason than to respond to the increase in the

number of United Nations Member States. The proposals

put forward in this context are as interesting as they are

varied, each invoking praiseworthy objectives, depending on

one’s viewpoint. Thus the Italian proposal, drawing on the

principle established in Article 23 of the Charter, highlights

the need to favour the geographical regions that are

currently under-represented. This comes close to the

concern of countries such as Madagascar, which wholly

subscribes to the decision taken by the African summit in

July 1996, namely that the Security Council must become

more representative in nature and reflect the composition of

the Organization in a new international system, so as to

correct the geographical imbalance that now characterizes

it and make it a genuine organ for the execution of the

General Assembly’s resolutions.

The African position gives priority for the time

being to an increase in the number of members. both

permanent and non-permanent. This restructuring of the

Security Council should allocate two new permanent seats

to Africa, three to Asia, two to Latin America and the

Caribbean, and one to the European and other States.

With respect to the post of Secretary-General of the

United Nations, Madagascar associates itself with the

chorus of all African countries, through the Declaration of

Yaoundé, which reaffirmed Africa’s right to a second

term in the Secretary-General’s post, as has been the

practice since the creation of the Organization.

Accordingly, Madagascar supports the re-election of

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, one of whose main objectives

has been to identify and elaborate concrete proposals for

the recovery and development of Africa so as to make the

United Nations system’s support to the continent as

effective as possible. In that context, the support of the

international community as a whole is a must.

We take note of the progress achieved in resolving

the debt problem and in the implementation of the Naples

terms, as well as the recommendations made by the

Group of Seven summit convened in Lyon in June 1996.

The developing countries, particularly in Africa, certainly

need substantial international support, but it is above all

the responsibility of our leaders and peoples to make the

necessary changes to create a suitable sociopolitical

climate for development on a large scale. Thus we have

no choice but to continue to work, by ourselves to begin

with, to achieve collective self-reliance at the national,

regional and continental levels. For its part, Madagascar,

which has just completed its economic policy framework

document, hopes in the near future to benefit from

additional measures from its creditors going beyond the

Naples terms to give a fresh impetus to its development.

Indeed, in today’s world of multidimensional

interdependence, any failure in development can only

harm us all, rich and poor alike, since poverty is defined

in terms of collective responsibility and the rights of

every individual.

In the field of human rights, efforts must be stepped

up to translate into real action the 1992 Declaration on

the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,

Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the

General Assembly.

2

With respect to the challenges arising in the Middle

East, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, we note that we are

advancing in the right direction. Madagascar is attentively

following the recent phases, particularly as regards the

peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Moreover, like all peoples of the world, we reaffirm our

wish to see the peaceful reunification of Korea.

In the face of the situation obtaining in the Western

Sahara after the Security Council’s decision of May 1996,

Madagascar remains concerned.

The frequent setbacks experienced by the conventional

approach to peacekeeping should persuade us to persevere

in our efforts to prevent conflict and give subregional

structures responsibility for the maintenance of peace, as

advocated in the United Nations Secretary-General’s

Agenda for Peace, and as applied by the Organization of

African Unity (OAU) Mechanism for Conflict Prevention,

Management and Resolution.

Against this background, the General Assembly should

be given appropriate powers to have access to mechanisms

for the peaceful settlement of conflicts. The mechanisms for

the peaceful settlement of conflicts should be strengthened

in the light of the provisions advocated in the Agenda for

Peace. When peace is restored, the role of United Nations

forces as a buffer in international, civil or ethnic conflicts

should also be strengthened. Madagascar intends to

participate concretely in peacekeeping operations. Regional

structures for conflict resolution, such as those that exist

within the United Nations, the Organization of African

Unity and the Non-Aligned Movement, should again be

strengthened.

For us, the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention,

Management and Resolution has proved its usefulness in

Africa in a number of cases, inter alia, through the

intervention of regional units of the Economic Community

of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Inter-

Governmental Authority on Drought and Development

(IGADD), which have operated respectively in sub-Saharan

Africa and in the Sahel. Madagascar fully subscribes to this

approach, as is borne out by its direct involvement in the

mediation process for the settlement of the Comorian

conflict in 1995.

The signing of the Pelindaba Text of the African

Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty this year attests to the

willingness of the African countries to banish all nuclear

weapons from their soil. Madagascar, faithful to its

principles, is now initiating the procedure for accession to

this Treaty. It is in this connection that Madagascar has

just signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

Similarly, my country also considers that the extension of

the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

(NPT) is an initial response to the major challenges of our

time in the area of nuclear proliferation and arms

limitation.

In the environmental sphere, after the legitimate

concerns expressed by Heads of State and Government at

the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, energetic

measures must be taken through a common commitment

by all countries. There is no need to demonstrate that

environmental problems know neither political nor natural

boundaries. Nevertheless, at the domestic level, it must be

emphasized that people are not always sensitive to the

almost irreconcilable concepts of conservation and

protection and meeting basic needs (heating, fuel,

fisheries resources, etc.).

It is in the light of these considerations that

Madagascar has opted for a gradual approach regarding

its accession to international environmental conventions.

Thus the country has set up a basic framework for

environmental policy, termed the Environmental Charter.

It has drawn up an environmental programme in three

stages phased over a 15-year period; negotiations for

multi-donor financing of this programme have just been

completed in September in Paris.

With respect to international conventions,

Madagascar has ratified the main Conventions, including

the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United

Nations International Convention to Combat

Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious

Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, the

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer,

and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the

Ozone Layer. As it implements these various

Conventions, Madagascar wishes to enlist the

participatory involvement of its people, and thus apply the

principle of “Think globally — act locally”.

Lastly, one year after the Beijing Conference and

one year after the Copenhagen summit, I would not wish

to conclude without recalling Madagascar’s efforts in the

social sphere, as demonstrated by the permanent

structures within successive Governments for the benefit

of women, children and social problems in general.

3

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Madagascar,

like all nations on earth, aspires to a world of peace and

progress in which the scourges of war, poverty and

destruction will be banished forever. The United Nations is

the ideal place to build such a world, provided that all

peoples and all leaders have the necessary political will and

transform into reality all the promises made. That is the

Malagasy delegation’s ardent hope.