Madagascar, 1999

Sharing: this will be the theme of my statement

from this rostrum, because at the end of this millennium,

when globalization rhymes with poverty, insecurity, social

ills and natural disasters, the culture of sharing should,

more than ever, guide our actions.

I want to share, first of all, Mr. President, our

satisfaction at seeing you conduct the proceedings of this

fifty-fourth session. Along with everyone else, and on

behalf of the delegation of Madagascar, I would like to

share my profound conviction that your reputation on the

international scene is an asset that will guide our

discussions towards encouraging results. A talented

diplomat and a worthy representative of a people that has

become a symbol of heroism and patriotism, you enjoy

our confidence, our support and our admiration.

We would also like to pay tribute to your

predecessor, Minister Didier Opertti of Uruguay, for

having held and passed on the torch that he carried with

all the competence and determination one would expect

of him.

Furthermore, to the Secretary-General we offer

thanks and recognition for his devotion and wise

dynamism. He has known how to be the spokesman for

aspirations of harmony, justice and progress. Under his

enlightened guidance and leadership, our Organization is

today well prepared to order the twenty-first century.

I wish to join my voice to those of previous speakers

in greeting and welcoming the Republic of Kiribati, the

Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga, which

have just enlarged our United Nations community. Let

them share with us the noble ideals that brought us

together and keep us together: the equality of peoples

under the law, respect for the sovereignty of every State,

democracy and peace.

Sharing with everyone, our pride in belonging to the

great family of the United Nations, our forum for

meeting, discussion, decision-making and solidarity;

sharing the values that provide the foundations for our

international community; and sharing in the vital

programmes of cooperation carried out synergistically

among all the different actors and constituents of our

structure and system — these, specifically, are the sources

of our satisfaction.

Today, less than 100 days from the new century and

the new millennium, we are keenly aware of the

timeliness of our discussions. Our fifty-fourth session is

of particular significance in that it offers all of us the

opportunity not only to undertake a retrospective

examination of the major events of the century, but also

to seek ways and means to inject renewed dynamism into

future international relations.

The commitments we made at the fifty-third session

of the General Assembly must be implemented as rapidly

as possible. We can achieve this through concerted efforts

and our shared determination to succeed. However, to do

this, we must proceed urgently to apply the necessary

measures for the restructuring of our Organization.

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We reiterate our support for the position of the

Organization of African Unity regarding the need to expand

the Security Council. The restructuring of that organ must

be based on the principles of democracy, transparency and

equitable geographic distribution. On the question of the

veto, in our view there is no room for equivocation: either

it must be extended to all permanent members or it must be

abolished.

Our presence and our interactive participation in the

concert of nations prompts us to share our thinking on

certain subjects that constitute challenges of the highest

priority at the end of the century, particularly the questions

of armed conflict, the maintenance of peace, disarmament,

international terrorism, democracy and human rights, and

human and socio-economic development.

While accelerating the integration of our global

society, the end of the era of ideological confrontation has

been conducive to the proliferation of conflicts of a

political, socio-economic, ethnic, cultural or religious

nature.

Is there any need to stress that in all these conflict

situations the most vulnerable sectors of society —

especially children, women and the elderly — are the first

victims. Madagascar therefore shares the general

satisfaction with the adoption by the Security Council of

resolutions 1261 (1999) and 1265 (1999), on the protection

of civilians in armed conflict.

There are some signs of satisfaction and hope: the

signing last 4 September of the Sharm el-Sheikh

Memorandum; the signing in Lomé on 7 July 1999 of a

Peace Agreement for the conflict in Sierra Leone; and the

10 July 1999 signing of the Ceasefire Agreement between

the principal parties to the conflict in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo. Nonetheless, we note that,

unfortunately, many hotbeds of tension remain or are being

created throughout the world. The tragic situations in

Angola, Somalia, Afghanistan and Kosovo are clear

examples of this.

As regards East Timor, Madagascar pays tribute to the

courageous efforts of the United Nations Mission in East

Timor during the electoral process. We particularly

welcome the recent adoption of Security Council resolution

1264 (1999), on decisive measures to put an end to the

crisis and to ensure strict respect for human rights.

As regards Western Sahara, Madagascar endorses the

initiative of the United Nations to organize a free, honest

and impartial referendum, as well as the extension of the

mandate of the United Nations Mission for the

Referendum in Western Sahara until 14 December 1999.

We in Madagascar have lived in peace, but we have

always been aware of the need to preserve the Indian

Ocean as a zone of peace, and thus we are concerned

about the situation in the Comoros, our close neighbour.

We therefore welcome the opportunity to have hosted, in

April this year at Antananarivo, the Comorian inter-island

conference, under the aegis of the Organization of African

Unity (OAU). We urge the international community to

maintain the efforts to implement the Antananarivo accord

so as to bring about a democratic and unified Comorian

state.

Last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of United

Nations peacekeeping operations. We salute the initiatives

for cooperation between the United Nations and the OAU

and between the European Union, the OAU and

subregional organizations such as the Southern African

Development Community and the Economic Community

of West African States. Nevertheless, in our view these

actions should be in keeping with the principles of the

Charter of the United Nations, such as respect for the

sovereignty of States, respect for territorial integrity and

non-intervention in internal affairs.

While we recognize the usefulness of peacekeeping

operations, Madagascar considers that disarmament is

inseparable from any effort to consolidate peace. Indeed,

the increasing deadliness of conflicts is connected with

the excessive accumulation of light weapons, of which

there are now an estimated 500 million. In our view the

problem must be resolved upstream, because practically

all the hotbeds of tension are maintained by the

production and sale of such weapons and illicit trafficking

in them. As a party to the international conventions on the

non-proliferation of weapons and illicit trafficking in

them, Madagascar supports the idea of an international

conference on the illicit arms trade, in all its aspects.

As we turn the page on a millennium tarnished by

wars and conflicts, general disarmament must be a

common and shared objective. In this regard, on 25

August of this year Madagascar associated itself with the

ratification of the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel

landmines. Convinced that there can be no security in a

world teeming with nuclear, chemical and biological

weapons, Madagascar welcomes the holding next year of

the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

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Another concern of our times is the struggle against

international terrorism, a struggle in which we should be

steadfastly united. This is why we wish to we wish to

support the development of a draft international convention

to block the financing of terrorism. Our active participation

at the last OAU summit, held in Algiers, in the adoption of

a convention for preventing and fighting terrorism,

demonstrates our determination to eradicate this scourge.

Furthermore, this very day we have signed the International

Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings.

At a time when all the inhabitants of the planet share

the desire to live free from the horrors of violence,

discrimination and exclusion, respect for democratic

principles is no longer just a precept; it has become an

absolute necessity. We therefore exhort the international

community to condemn firmly any taking of power by non-

democratic means. As the principal guarantor of universal

values, the United Nations is called upon to take the lead

in this area.

At the threshold of the twenty-first century, working

together to promote human development and human rights

is an obligation. This year, 1999 — the International Year

of Older Persons — is crucial for the implementation of the

International Plan of Action on Ageing, adopted at Vienna

in 1982. Madagascar therefore welcomes the initiative to

convene in 2002 a special session of the General Assembly

devoted to the updating of this Plan of Action.

The right to development is inseparable from the

effective exercise of human rights. It must enjoy

international support and solidarity so that development is

extended to all human beings, not just to a privileged

minority. For its part, Madagascar has spared no effort to

strengthen its institutional capacities. A National Human

Rights Commission and an observer office for human rights

have been established. We have also signed agreements

with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human

Rights to assist in promoting human rights.

Aware of the revival of transnational traffic in women

and children as well as of modern forms of slavery,

Madagascar adopted on 25 January 1999 a law designed to

combat paedophilia. Furthermore, we welcome the

conventions produced under the aegis of the International

Labour Organization on the employment of children and

young people. Personally, I am happy to have signed the

letter addressed to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

from all the female Ministers for Foreign Affairs, a letter

that reiterates our unwavering support for the fight against

trafficking in human beings, particularly women and

children.

From one year to the next we are beset by the same

concerns. We do not wish to call it routine, but our

agenda nevertheless reveals that we must experience the

same concerns time and again. The century is drawing to

an end without the resolution of two major problems:

poverty and the increase in social inequality. One billion

people live in extreme poverty, while another billion are

enjoying a life of increasing luxury. Furthermore, a recent

study has shown that at the beginning of the next century

we can expect the ratio of income differential between the

rich and the poor countries to be on the order of 150 to

one.

Our claims are therefore as legitimate as ever, while

our efforts at development remain hampered by the

continuing and ever-growing deterioration of the terms of

trade, by our strict dependence on external capital, and by

the disproportionate concentration of direct foreign

investment in economic sectors to which access is

restricted.

Without wishing to belittle the advantages of the

inescapable phenomenon of globalization, our fears

remain profound in the face of the emergence of a

unipolar order, which in certain cases promotes

marginalization, precariousness and insecurity; reduces

our Governments’ room to manoeuvre or capacity to act;

and sometimes even affects our countries’ exercise of

their own sovereignty.

We therefore say “no” to selective globalization

when it comes to liberalization, inasmuch as we are being

called on to liberalize our trade, investments and financial

flows at an accelerated pace, while this impulse to

liberalize has not been nearly so strong in the case of

products of interest to our countries or in the promotion

of access to know-how and technologies.

The lack of consistency within the new world system

also applies to the links between our economic adjustment

programmes and the various social and environmental

objectives: the struggle against poverty, the establishment

of basic social infrastructures, the security safety net and

the protection and development of our environmental

resources.

While in no way calling into question the

commitments undertaken to its development partners,

Madagascar expresses its solidarity with all the

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developing countries in calling for improved integration

within the world economic system, allowing the promotion

of regular and socially harmonious growth with a human

and ecological face.

The challenges are numerous and varied. The

elimination of poverty remains our priority. We continue to

believe that this problem will be resolved only if the pace

of economic growth is accelerated and maintained. The

international anti-poverty strategy must include concrete

measures to strengthen national efforts in such areas as job

creation, improved functioning of markets and social and

political institutions, and the active participation of

vulnerable groups in development.

The problem of external debt is a political question of

the highest importance in international economic relations

and remains a genuine obstacle to the growth of most

developing countries. Arrangements and accords to date

have provided only limited solutions because of conditions

of eligibility, new conditionalities, selectivity in loan-

making, the excessive length of negotiations and constraints

connected to mandatory circulation.

We welcome the debt-reduction plan approved recently

at the G-8 Summit in Cologne, but the slow pace at which

the reduction would seem to yield benefits tends to erode

our hopes. This plan should be interpreted flexibly by the

international financial institutions so that it may benefit all

debtors without exception. The African debt warrants

particular attention because of these countries’ very limited

capacity for repayment. Indicators show that the African

can never be repaid. We therefore call simply for its total

cancellation.

We are deeply concerned by the reduction of official

development assistance, which today represents less than

one third of the international target agreed more than 20

years ago. It is urgent that this trend be reversed. Given the

importance of this question, Madagascar is following with

particular interest the preparatory work for the international

meeting on all aspects of development financing. The

discussion on reforming the international financial

architecture is of the greatest interest to us, the objective

being to free additional and foreseeable resources for

development and to strengthen the systems that control,

monitor and regulate financial flows.

With regard to international trade, we support the

message of the Group of 77 addressed to the forthcoming

meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, as well

as the Marrakesh Declaration with regard to the preparation

of the tenth session of the United Nations Conference on

Trade and Development (UNCTAD X), scheduled for

Bangkok early next year.

The question of commodities remains a subject of

major concern to our countries. We therefore support the

efforts of the relevant international institutions, UNCTAD

in particular, to find more effective machinery that would

allow us to increase our export earnings.

Recognized as a global nature sanctuary because of

the wealth of its biodiversity, Madagascar remains deeply

concerned by environmental problems. We follow with

interest all United Nations activities for sustainable

development and renew our appeal for increased support

from our partners in the implementation of our national

environmental programme, currently in phase 2.

To meet these challenges, we have two options.

First, we are convinced that the reform targets we are

contemplating can be achieved only within the framework

of revitalized international economic cooperation. This

would require a resumption of the North-South dialogue.

In this context, major international economic meetings

should be guided by a spirit of solidarity and a sense of

share responsibility between the various development

partners. We must therefore advocate a global and

integrated approach to replace sectoral schemes, which

are necessarily inadequate.

The second option, which we feel to be a

prerequisite, requires the strengthening of South-South

cooperation. In advance even of the process of integration

within the inevitable system of globalization, it is

natural — even imperative — for the southern countries

to organize themselves. Our progress in this area, being

dispersed and isolated, has proved slow. Of course, we

recognize that priorities, methods and schedules differ.

We must concede, however, that the implementation stage

of such cooperation now calls for the much greater unity

and genuine political involvement of member countries.

In this manner, we envisage a reorganization of the

South at all levels — subregional, regional, continental

and global — grouping together all developing countries.

Madagascar is firmly committed to this approach. That is

why, at the subregional and regional levels, we are

participating within the Indian Ocean Commission in the

implementation of a regional sustainable development

policy, to be endorsed by the forthcoming summit of

heads of State and Government on 3 December. As a full

member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern

8

Africa, Madagascar was among the first to decide to apply,

on a reciprocal basis, a tariff reduction of 80 per cent for

the products of member States. This tariff preference is a

prelude to a free-trade zone.

At the continental level, we welcome the appeal

launched at the recent fourth Extraordinary Summit of the

Organization of African Unity at Sirte for greater economic

integration in Africa. Indeed, participants in this conference

clearly affirmed that greater unity is one way to resist the

threat of globalization looming over the continent. Together

with all African countries, Madagascar urges the

international community to lend its material and financial

support and to share with our continent its own experiences

in its achievement of unity.

According to United Nations resolutions, Africa in the

1990s has been a priority for action against poverty and

insecurity. In this regard, I welcome the financial

commitment of $150 million, announced three days ago on

28 September by Mr. James Wolfensohn, President of the

West Bank, to its Partnership for African Capacity.

The contribution of every Member State to forging a

new Africa is an obligation. With this in mind, over the

past three years Madagascar has built a structure that will

promote democracy, human rights and multifaceted

cooperation. An entire field of activity has opened up today,

making our big island a major actor in regional, continental

and international life.

The principle of sharing has been implicit in the

activities of our Organization since its Charter was written.

Whatever reforms it has undergone and will undergo, we

agree that it is important to preserve among us this noble

principle, a rallying cry for our actions. There is also

sharing to be done to reduce economic discrepancies which

have been growing over the last two decades; sharing to

remedy the asymmetry of trade, if not actually to redefine

such trade, and to ensure that such progress is immanent;

and sharing to put an end to the role of war so as to finally

initiate the role of peace.

We remain convinced that only the United Nations

will be a true instigator of the culture of peace, prosperity

and humanism in this world which must be interdependent.

We share the wish for success in the forthcoming great

meetings in the year 2000; at Bangkok for the tenth session

of the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development, at Havana for the South Summit, and here in

this very Hall for the Millennium Summit.