Namibia, 2001

The fifty-sixth session

of the General Assembly is no ordinary one. We are

meeting in the aftermath of the despicable terrorist

attacks on New York, the seat of the United Nations,

Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Once again, we

express our deep condolences to the Government and

the people of the United States. Our thoughts go out to

the families of those who lost their loved ones in those

tragic and horrific events of 11 September. Namibia

reiterates its unreserved condemnation of these and all

other terrorist attacks, wherever they occur.

In the same vein, we express our condolences to

the families of those who perished in the American

Airlines accident on 12 November. We also convey our

condolences to the Government and the people of the

Dominican Republic.

Namibia also expresses its heartfelt sympathy to

the Government and the people of Algeria as they

mourn the deaths of those killed by the violent storm

and mudslides there. Our thoughts go out to their

families.

I would like to congratulate Mr. Han Seung-soo

on his unanimous election as President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-sixth session and to assure him of

Namibia’s cooperation during his tenure. I would also

like to congratulate his predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Harri Holkeri, for the skills he brought to the work

of the General Assembly while presiding over the fifty-

fifth session. Under his able leadership, we have made

a firm beginning to the implementation of the

Declaration of the Millennium Summit.

Our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and the

United Nations have earned a place among the Nobel

Peace Prize laureates. For this, as well as for his

unanimous, early re-election, Namibia extends warm

congratulations to the Secretary-General. This, indeed,

is eloquent testimony to the universal respect and

admiration he has earned from all Member States. We

wish him well and assure him of our full support

during his new term of office.

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Today we face multiple challenges, some of

which threaten the future existence of communities and

nations. With the adoption of the historic Millennium

Declaration, world leaders pledged their determination

to address old as well as new obstacles hampering

peace and security. A solemn commitment has thus

been made to enhance social and economic prosperity

for all people, thereby ensuring a better world.

Through the United Nations, and with strong

political will, no challenge is insurmountable. The

United Nations is the only international body capable

of serving the interests of all nations. It is an effective

consultative and organizational forum for world affairs,

and it can create trust and confidence among nations. It

can bring peace to war-torn areas and bring relief and

development to people who need it most. When

sufficiently funded, its programmes and mandates can

help developing countries to meet the challenges of

HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases threatening our

populations.

It is therefore important that we, the Member

States, reaffirm our commitment to continue to

strengthen our Organization in order to effectively

address the challenges of the new millennium. In this

context, we reiterate our call for the reform and

democratization of the Security Council. The Security

Council must be transparent and equitably

representative. Above all, it must be responsive and

accountable to all States Members, on whose behalf it

maintains international peace and security.

The outcome of the historic first Conference on

Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All

Its Aspects, held in July 2001, marked an important

first step and set achievable goals to address the

problems associated with this scourge, at all levels. It

will now require the combined efforts of the United

Nations, Member States and relevant international and

regional organizations to ensure that rapid progress is

made to stop the proliferation of small arms and light

weapons, which has wreaked havoc, especially on the

African continent.

Terrorism has assumed an increasingly alarming

globalized character. For some time now, the

Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries has been

calling for an international conference against

terrorism. The time is now right for Member States to

reach a consensus on such a conference. In this respect,

I wish to point out that Namibia signed, on 10

November 2001, the International Convention for the

Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, and we call

on others to do likewise.

At the 1990 World Summit for Children we made

a collective commitment to put children first, take care

of and educate them and protect them from harm,

exploitation, war and abuse. Yet too many children in

too many parts of the world are still deprived of a

peaceful childhood. Let us seize the occasion of the

twenty-seventh special session of the General

Assembly, on children, to take effective measures to

make the world fit for all our children.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has reached

catastrophic proportions. The Secretary-General

reminded us that nearly 22 million people have died of

HIV/AIDS and that out of more than 36 million people

infected worldwide by HIV/AIDS, 25.3 million live in

sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, if indeed we are to succeed

in reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, as world

leaders committed themselves to doing in so many

forums, then Governments, civil society and the private

sector must, in strong partnership, tackle HIV/AIDS. In

this connection, the establishment of the Global AIDS

and Health Fund to combat the AIDS epidemic and

other communicable diseases is a welcome initiative

which calls for generous contributions.

The World Conference against Racism, Racial

Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance,

held in Durban, South Africa, was the beginning of a

process undertaken by the international community to

address the inhuman and brutal treatment of the victims

of the dehumanizing practice of slavery and

colonialism, especially the African people. The trans-

Atlantic slave trade and the colonization of the African

peoples remain the darkest and most humiliating

episode in the history of the African continent. The

healing process will be enhanced only if and when

those who committed and benefited from slavery and

colonialism accept their full responsibility.

Namibia applauds the establishment of the

International Criminal Court (ICC), designed to bring

to justice those individuals accused of the most serious

crimes of concern to the international community.

Recently, the Southern African Development

Community (SADC) adopted the Windhoek Plan of

Action on ICC Ratification and Implementation,

designed to promote early ratification of the ICC treaty.

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Namibia is currently reviewing its national legislation

to prepare for the ratification of the treaty.

The knowledge-based global economy has

revolutionized the nature of trade, finance,

employment, migration, the environment and social

systems, as well as the concept and application of

governance.

Namibia, like other countries of the South,

expects tangible results from the International

Conference on Financing for Development, to be held

next year in Mexico. It is in the interest of North-South

and South-South cooperation that additional options be

explored to mobilize financing for development.

Similarly, the fourth Ministerial Meeting of the World

Trade Organization, in Doha, Qatar, could pave the

way to an equitable international trading system that is

mutually beneficial to all countries, provided that

political will prevails.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development,

to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, next year

should galvanize momentum for the full

implementation of Agenda 21, in particular the

principle of common but differentiated responsibility.

Desertification, land erosion and land degradation

should be given due and appropriate consideration.

Africa has recently taken an important step

towards greater unity and cohesion with the

transformation of the Organization of African Unity

into the African Union. This momentous step would

bring about closer integration of the continent and

would make Africa more competitive in an

increasingly global market. Furthermore, the heads of

State and Government adopted the New African

Initiative, now the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development, whose primary objective is the

eradication of poverty through sustained economic

growth and sustainable development. We call on the

international community to support and assist African

countries in the implementation of this New

Partnership.

Let me stress that the initiatives undertaken by

Japan, the People’s Republic of China, the United

States, under the third Tokyo International Conference

on African Development, the China-Africa Forum and

the African Growth and Opportunity Act respectively

can complement the efforts of African countries for

sustained economic growth.

We congratulate the people of East Timor on their

struggle for independence and on conducting

successful elections for their first Constituent

Assembly. We commend the United Nations for its

important role in East Timor. We wish the people of

East Timor every success in the reconstruction and

rehabilitation of their country. We call on the

international community to be generous in its support

of the East Timorese people in this most challenging

phase of their nationhood.

The eleventh of November this year marks 26

years of the independence of the Republic of Angola.

But for more than a quarter of a century, the people of

Angola have endured a brutal and devastating war.

They have suffered horrendous terrorist attacks against

civilian targets, including most recently attacks on a

passenger train, on school buses, the kidnapping of

schoolchildren, attacks on hospitals and the wanton

destruction of infrastructure; all at the hands of

UNITA. Tens of thousands of innocent men, women

and children have been killed. Their agricultural fields

are infested with landmines. Angola has acquired the

dubious distinction of having the largest number of

amputees and the greatest number of landmines. This is

not right; it cannot be right. These heinous atrocities

committed by UNITA, as well as that group’s

consistent record of duplicity and always negotiating in

bad faith, compelled SADC, in 1998, to declare

Savimbi, UNITA’s leader, a war criminal.

For its part, having determined convincingly that

UNITA is responsible for the violations of the Lusaka

Protocol and the resumption of the war, the United

Nations Security Council imposed sanctions against

UNITA. While sanctions have been effective in many

important respects, more concrete measures need to be

taken by Member States to strengthen them and make

them even more effective. African countries have a

bigger and special obligation in this regard. Sanctions

must be tightened in those areas identified by the

Monitoring Mechanism on Sanctions against UNITA,

such as the freezing of UNITA assets and bank

accounts and the closing down of UNITA

representations abroad, which now operate under

misleading and innocuous sounding appellations but

which in fact continue to promote UNITA activities

and advocate its wicked cause. The international

community should respond more decisively to repeated

defiance of Security Council resolutions by UNITA. By

acting more resolutely against UNITA, the

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international community will help end the prolonged

suffering, tears and agony of the people of Angola.

Regarding the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Namibia is encouraged by the progress made in

the implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire

Agreement. The ceasefire has been holding so far

despite some violations and infringements, particularly

in the eastern part of the country. The continued

occupation by forces of aggression has created

deplorable human suffering and large-scale human

rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo. Namibia, once again wishes to remind the

Members of the United Nations that a cardinal

principle of the Charter of this Organization has been

violated with impunity, when some of its Members

committed an act of naked aggression against the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is even more

deplorable when the aggressor countries are engaged in

the ruthless exploitation and plundering of the natural

resources of the Congo. We reiterate here that

aggression should be rejected and condemned

whenever and wherever it occurs. There should be no

double standards when it comes to the violation of the

principles of the Charter with regard to aggression. The

international community should also assist the people

of the Congo in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of

their country.

Now it is time for the Security Council to

implement its decisions without further delay and

approve the personnel for phase III of the deployment

of the United Nations Organization Mission in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), taking

fully into account the demands and requirements of

that peacekeeping operation — the size of the country

and the non-existence of the infrastructure. The United

Nations and the international community cannot fail

the people of the Congo this time around.

We are gratified by the increased efforts of the

Security Council and the serious attention paid by the

international community to Sierra Leone, which have

now started to pay off. The international community

should remain actively engaged and continue to assist

with the peace-building and reconstruction of the

peace-loving people of Sierra Leone.

History teaches us that no administrative Power

has relinquished authority as a gesture of good will,

that no peace process has been problem-free and that

parties to a conflict, naturally, will have differences.

This notwithstanding, however, no amount of

difficulties can justify abandonment of the United

Nations Settlement Plan for Western Sahara. Any

attempt to legitimize, in whatever form or shape, the

present situation in Western Sahara is unjustifiable and

is a departure from the United Nations Declaration on

decolonization and relevant General Assembly and

Security Council resolutions. Ignoring the legitimate

aspirations of the brave Sahrawi people will only delay

durable peace in the region. A departure from the

United Nations Settlement Plan will deny the Sahrawi

people their inalienable right to self-determination and

independence. Namibia will reject and will dissociate

itself from any plan, informal or otherwise, to deny the

Sahrawi people their legitimate right to express

themselves through a free, fair and impartial

referendum for self-determination.

No people can maintain peace and security or

build its prosperity on the helplessness and abject

misery of others, particularly their neighbours. The

people of Palestine and, indeed, the international

community are crying out for the establishment of the

Palestinian State. They are crying out for peace

between Palestine and the State of Israel. It is now time

to heed this call. The legitimate right of the people of

Palestine to self-determination and the establishment of

an independent State of their own cannot be denied and

cannot be compromised. A Palestinian State will be in

the best interests of Israel, of security and peace, of the

entire Middle East and of the whole world. The basis

for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East remains

Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338

(1973).

Let us make sustained and determined collective

efforts to promote peace and development in all corners

of the world, so that our children and grandchildren can

live in a peaceful world.