Niger, 2005

I

am very pleased, Mr. President, on behalf of the

delegation of the Niger, to express our warmest

congratulations on your election to the presidency of

the sixtieth session of the General Assembly. In

electing you, we recognize your outstanding qualities

as a diplomat and as an active player on the ground -

qualities that augur well for the success of the present

session. Rest assured, Sir, that you will have the full

support of my delegation. We wish you every success

in accomplishing your task.

To your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Jean

Ping, I wish to express our appreciation and our

gratitude for the wisdom, skill and insight with which

he guided the work of our previous session and

prepared for the High-level Plenary Meeting.

To Secretary-General Kofi Annan, I wish to pay a

well-deserved tribute for the decisive role he has

played at the head of our Organization. We pledge our

unswerving support for his efforts to reform the United

Nations system and adapt it to the concerns of today.

Need we recall the historic nature of our session?

It is taking place exactly 10 years after the Declaration

and Platform for Action were adopted by the Fourth

World Conference on Women in Beijing and the

Programme of Action was adopted by the World

Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen. The

Secretary-General, in his important report entitled "In

larger freedom: towards development, security and human

rights for all" (A/59/2005), made a comprehensive

diagnosis of the multiform and interdependent threats

and challenges facing the world and, at the same time,

made interesting recommendations to deal with them.

Equally historic is the outcome document (resolution

60/1) of the High-level Plenary Meeting, which we just

adopted. It is a source of great hope in our arduous

efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Among those threats and challenges, to which I shall

refer again presently, are terrorism, the inequalities of

the international economic and trade system, and

violations of human rights.

Terrorism continues to rage throughout the world,

seriously threatening international peace and security.

The recent attacks in London and Sharm el-Sheikh

attest eloquently to that fact. The fight against this

scourge must therefore be strengthened and carried out

over the long term, but within the framework of

international law. In that regard, we believe it is crucial

to accelerate the process of elaborating an international

convention to fight terrorism. Such a convention

should define the concept clearly to avoid ambiguity.

Moreover, the fight against terrorism cannot be

effective and fruitful without appropriate international

cooperation. It is because of such cooperation - which

has enabled us to strengthen the capacities of our defence

and security forces - that my country has recently had

considerable success in combating this phenomenon.

Peace and security also require the adoption of

effective measures against the proliferation of weapons

in general. Here, I welcome the initiative of the

Economic Community of West African States - which

the Niger currently chairs - aimed at establishing a

legally binding instrument: its moratorium on the

manufacture, import and export of weapons. That

approach has led us to regret the failure at the most

recent review conference of the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Today, international peace and security are being

sorely tested by a steadily rising number of conflicts,

some of which seem to be endless quagmires because

of their persistence and recurrence. In West Africa,

although some hotbeds of tension are in the process of

being defused - such as in Sierra Leone, Liberia and

Guinea-Bissau - the subregion is still not completely

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free of insecurity and instability. We hope for positive

developments in Cote d'Ivoire that will permit a swift

return to normalcy in that country, formerly a harbour

of peace and prosperity.

In Western Sahara, the Niger reaffirms its support

for the Secretary-General's efforts to bring about a just

and lasting settlement of the conflict in accordance

with the relevant United Nations resolutions.

In Burundi, we welcome the positive outcome of

the peace process culminating in the legislative and

presidential elections.

Peace must not only be re-established and

maintained; it must also be consolidated. In that regard,

the Secretary-General's proposal concerning the

creation of a Peacebuilding Commission is of capital

importance, in that it will enable many countries

emerging from conflict to break the vicious circle of

violence and devastation.

Concerning the Middle East, my country wishes

to reaffirm once again that settlement of the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict necessarily depends upon the

realization of the rights of the Palestinian people,

including the creation of an independent, sovereign and

viable State. In that regard, Israel's withdrawal from

the Gaza Strip is a positive step that, we hope, will

permit the resumption of negotiations within the

framework of the road map.

With regard to Jammu and Kashmir, we remain

convinced that the relevant United Nations resolutions

must be implemented to enable the Kashmiri people to

exercise their right to self-determination. That should

further reduce the tensions between India and Pakistan.

The Niger, a member of the contact group of the

Organization of the Islamic Conference on that issue,

encourages the two parties to move forward in their

talks aimed at a definitive settlement of this problem.

This year, as we assess the progress made in

honouring the commitments made at the Millennium

Summit, the outcome document of the High-level

Plenary Meeting, which we just adopted, once again

emphasizes the interdependence of States and

highlights the need for increased solidarity. To that

end, solidarity and international cooperation must,

more than ever before, go beyond professions of faith

if they are to be more effective. In any event, solidarity

must no longer be infinitely variable, as is

unfortunately the case today.

The Niger, recently the victim of an acute food

crisis, would like international solidarity to be

rethought so that we can invest in the future by

implementing lasting solutions that will ensure

permanent food security for our people. Without a

rethought solidarity, many African countries, including

mine, may unfortunately never be able to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals by 2015. That would

require an increase in official development assistance,

from both a qualitative and a quantitative perspective.

In that regard, we welcome the decision of those

developed countries that have elaborated a timetable

enabling them to achieve the set objective of 0.7 per

cent of their gross domestic product by 2015. A

rethought solidarity would also require the

establishment of innovative financing sources that

would not place an excessive burden on developing

countries.

We welcome the recent decisions taken by

partners, particularly the Group of Eight and the

European Union. We urge the international community

and the United Nations to further strengthen their

cooperation with the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development and with new initiatives for Africa,

including the Blair Commission's International

Finance, Facility, President Bush's Millennium

Challenge Account and the Chirac-Lula initiative.

With regard to international trade, we hope that

the multilateral negotiations under way will lead to

mutually advantageous results by 2006, as planned.

However, in the interest of mutual and shared

development, there must be an end to all agricultural

subsidies on exports. In that regard, the Hong Kong

Ministerial Conference planned for December is a

crucial event for us that, once again, should be

attended with this rethought solidarity in mind,

particularly with regard to the poorest countries.

Concerning institutional reform of the United

Nations, my country wishes to pay tribute to the far-

sightedness of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

in identifying the stakes of such reform and in making

his interesting and important recommendations.

The Niger is fully committed to the role played

by Africa in the international arena. That collective

commitment has led us to forge a common position on

United Nations reform, which my country

wholeheartedly supports. In fact, our continent, whose

importance is more apparent every day, must pursue

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with determination and in unity its fight for the

democratization of international relations.

The United Nations is the only world body with

the mandate of addressing issues of security,

development and human rights. To be equal to that

immense and delicate mission, it must be fair,

representative and democratic. It must also base its

actions on multilateralism and consultation,

particularly within the General Assembly.

The long-awaited reform of the Security Council

must be pursued in transparency so that a renewed

United Nations can be more democratic and more

representative of today's world.

The Economic and Social Council, for its part,

must be the forum for coordinating and drafting

strategies so that the excellent opportunities created in

this increasingly globalized world will also be

accessible to the poorest countries.

The establishment of a Peacebuilding

Commission has filled a significant void, because it

constitutes a formerly non-existent link between

security and development.

We welcome the creation of the Human Rights

Council, based on the principles of universality and

non-exclusion. These are the prerequisites for

strengthening and improving our shared House.