Niger, 2002

My delegation would like to say that the leadership

shown by the President in presiding over this session

makes us confident that our deliberations will continue

in a spirit of dynamism and optimism for the

development of international relations. Niger is very

happy to convey to the President and to other members

of the Bureau of the fifty-seventh session of the

General Assembly our heartfelt congratulations.

We remain convinced that President Kavan will

follow up the remarkable work done by his

predecessor, Mr. Han Seung-soo of the Republic of

Korea, with the same human qualities for the good of

the international community as a whole.

I wish to reiterate to our brother, His Excellency

Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United

Nations, the congratulations of the people of Niger for

the prestige and effectiveness of his deeply appreciated

work done in the service of humanity.

I also wish to congratulate the Swiss

Confederation on becoming a new Member, and Timor-

Leste, as an imminent Member of the Organization. We

are convinced that their participation will help enrich

our debates.

The American people have been mourning the

tragic events of 11 September 2001 for a year now. The

whole world has taken full measure of the threat that

terrorism poses to peace and security. In Niger, we

cannot stress the fact enough that, in order to be

effective, the fight against terrorism must avoid taking

a piecemeal approach. It must be long term and it must

be conducted within the framework of international

legality, which is epitomized by the United Nations.

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Niger agrees with the provisions of Security

Council resolutions 1368 (2001) and 1373 (2001), and

it is firmly committed to all subregional, regional and

international initiatives aimed at combating terrorism

in all its forms.

At the same time, in order to succeed in the fight

against terrorism, we must take into account the need

to develop a more just and equitable economic and

political order, since it has been shown that poverty,

ignorance, injustice and all kinds of frustrations are

factors that can produce blind extremism.

Speaking of international peace and security, I am

pleased to recall that Niger is a peaceful country that

contributes actively to efforts to achieve general and

complete disarmament. In that regard, I would like to

point out that in that field, my country, pursuant to

article 3 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons, has accepted an agreement with the

International Atomic Energy Agency, on a system of

monitoring and safeguards for its uranium production.

Regarding conventional weapons, Niger is happy that

the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in

Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects has

adopted a programme of action to combat that scourge.

Our concerns were taken into account in the

Bamako Declaration, but there is still work to be done,

particularly in terms of technical and financial

assistance measures to support disarmament

programmes and reintegration programmes for former

combatants. While it is true that no region of the world

has been spared, there is no doubt that developing

countries, particularly African countries, are the ones

suffering the most from the devastating effects of the

proliferation of light arms and small weapons in terms

of their security, stability and development. That is

why the bodies charged with monitoring, detecting and

prosecuting infractions committed along those lines

must be strengthened.

Since 1994, Niger has had in place the National

Commission for Collecting and Controlling Illicit

Weapons, whose task is to help the political authorities

at the highest level identify, design and put implement

strategies to fight the proliferation of light weapons.

In that context, the Government of Niger and the

Department for Disarmament Affairs of our

Organization are cooperating closely for the success of

a project to collect illegal small arms and light

weapons for the entire West African subregion. That is

a part of the regional and subregional initiatives aimed

at cutting off the illicit movement of small arms and

light weapons.

The peace that we wish for Niger is the same

peace we wish for the rest of the world. That is why

our country has always tried to make its modest

contribution to settling conflicts that threaten peace and

security in Africa and throughout the world. In spite of

our limited resources, we have sent contingents to

Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and civilian police officers to

Haiti, Timor and Kosovo, to support the efforts of the

Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) and the international community to restore

and consolidate peace.

The Government of Niger reaffirms its ongoing

availability to send contingents to all United Nations

peacekeeping operations.

For a few months now the international

community's attention has been focused on the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict, whose peace process is now more

paralysed than ever. Niger wants once again to reaffirm

before the Assembly that a permanent settlement of the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict necessarily requires

establishing the inalienable rights of the Palestinian

people, including the creation of an independent,

sovereign and viable Palestinian State. On the basis of

that conviction and in light of all kinds of false starts

that have characterized the peace process in Palestine

and the Middle East, Niger has made a sovereign

decision to break off its diplomatic relations with

Israel, which continues to deny the Palestinian people

their legitimate right to self-determination.

In Western Sahara, the Republic of Niger

supports the efforts of the United Nations, on one hand,

to enforce the settlement plan and, on the other hand,

the relevant Security Council resolutions, in order to

achieve a just and comprehensive settlement of the

conflict. The laudable action of the Secretary-General

and his Personal Envoy, Mr. James Baker, should be

followed up and supported until a positive conclusion

is achieved, in accordance with the relevant United

Nations resolutions.

In that context, we think that United Nations

resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir must be speedily

implemented so that the Kashmiri people can exercise

their right to self-determination, which would allow to

defuse that hotbed that involves two nuclear States —

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India and Pakistan — and to avoid a serious threat to

peace and security in the South Asia region. Therefore,

Niger, a member of the contact group established by

the Organization of the Islamic Conference, reiterates

the appeal already made to the two parties to step up

their negotiations in order to achieve a peaceful

settlement of that conflict.

Niger, like almost all African countries, faces a

number of major challenges, which require the

international community to provide the necessary

support to help them in the search for solutions and in

consolidating their economic renewal programme.

From that standpoint, the developmental strategy that

we have implemented gives priority to the culture and

the promotion of good governance through a good-

conduct mechanism and public affairs management that

focuses on concerns such as transparency and civil

society participation in all socio-economic decisions.

This is the time to sincerely thanks all the bilateral and

multilateral partners of Niger, particularly the United

Nations institutions, for having been kind enough to

continue to support the efforts of my country to create

an institutional environment conducive to giving us

social peace. That assistance is much appreciated and

is necessary in this critical phase of the national

construction process.

In economic terms, never before has mankind had

so much wealth and potential overall to generate

common benefit. The positive world economic

situation could give us hope to establish a more just

economic order that would be more conducive to

poverty reduction. In that regard, Niger welcomes the

new partnership, the New Partnership for Africa's

Development (NEPAD), and we believe that that

programme, which crystallizes the hopes of our

continent today, must be aimed at bringing together the

necessary conditions and means for the effective

participation of all African countries to the

multidimensional developmental process within the

framework of the African Union.

Poverty is an affront that can no longer be

tolerated in a world of abundance that has the means to

vanquish it if there is the necessary political will.

Today, we must note that 52 per cent of people who

live on less than a dollar a day are found in Africa,

which is the most indebted part of the world.

A clear look must be taken at globalization,

which in the 1990s gave rise to hopes but today is a

source of concern because of the growing inequalities

it is creating. In less than a year, we have discussed

global problems four times, and we know the true

remedies. We need a more elevated concept of

international cooperation that draws its essence from

strategic partnership. However, we can rejoice in the

unanimous will that the international community

affirmed in adopting the Johannesburg Plan of Action

in September.

The special session of the General Assembly

devoted to HIV/AIDS, held in July 2001, demonstrated

eloquently our degree of awareness of the terrible

danger that that disease represents for the human

species. The establishment of a special fund to fight

AIDS is an important step in the world crusade against

AIDS and other major epidemics. Progress must be

made within the framework of initiatives undertaken by

the world Summits held at Cairo, at Copenhagen and at

Beijing.

My country expects a greater degree of solidarity

from the industrialized countries, particularly with

regard to increasing the volume of official development

assistance, a traditional development source. At the

same time, we must unite our efforts to mobilize

financial resources and to establish a humanitarian

fund under United Nations auspices. It is indispensable

and urgent that we reverse the trend of declining

official development assistance, which, the Assembly

will recall, is at its lowest level in 50 years. In fact,

many difficulties have conspired to keep our countries

at the bottom of the human development index. The

state of poverty affects 63 per cent of our compatriots,

and 34 per cent of them live below the extreme poverty

line. Those populations, deprived of minimal basic

social services, are the victims of a continued

deterioration in their standard of living.

The growing scarcity of financial resources has

caused, among other things, a drastic decline in public

investment, particularly in the social sectors, thus

depriving 80 per cent of Niger's rural citizens of basic

social benefits. Niger has decided to undertake

measures to reverse that trend through its poverty

reduction strategy, which was formulated and

implemented after a participative process. Its goal is to

substantially reduce the suffering of 80 per cent of the

population. That strategy is now the only frame of

reference for Niger's economic, financial and social

policies.

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This year, under the direct supervision of the

President of the Republic, we have launched an

extensive programme, called Special Programme 2001,

which consists of building 1,000 classrooms, 1,000

dispensaries and 100 mini-dams to fight poverty. A

good part — more than 80 per cent — of that operation

has already been completed.

I should also like to express again from this

podium our deep appreciation for the support that our

developmental partners have continued to give us for

the implementation of our National Framework

Programme to fight poverty, which Niger formulated

and which is among our highest priorities. However,

the crucial problem of African debt, which is

annihilating all our development efforts, calls for an

effort by the entire international community to help us

to implement — without delay or any conditions other

than those of good governance — satisfactory policies

and mechanisms for its solution.

The United Nations remains the best instrument

for helping us realize the new world order to which we

all aspire, so long as we carry forward the so-called

quiet revolution begun by the Secretary-General four

years ago. In conclusion, I should like to express the

full confidence that Niger and its people place in the

United Nations, which remains an institution of hope

based on the principles of justice, equity, peace and

progress.