Nigeria, 2004

On behalf of the

Government and people of Nigeria, and in my capacity

as the current Chairman of the African Union (AU), I

would like to extend my sincere congratulations to you,

Mr. President, on your election as President of the

fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly. I assure

you of the support and cooperation of Africa, of which

10

you are an illustrious son. I would also like to express

appreciation to your predecessor, His Excellency The

Right Honourable Julian R. Hunte, Minister for

External Affairs of Saint Lucia, for the dedication and

skill with which he presided over the affairs of the

fifty-eighth session. I commend Secretary-General

Kofi Annan for his effective leadership and for his

efforts to maintain the status of the United Nations in

the face of enormous global challenges.

Nigeria remains unshakeable in its commitment

to and support for the strengthening of the United Nations

and the protection of its cherished ideals, in particular the

maintenance of international peace and security and

cooperation among States to resolve international

economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.

The problem posed by the unremitting conflicts in

various regions of the world and the increasingly

difficult task of finding solutions to them continue to

pose serious challenges to the world body.

Nigeria and the African Union (AU) commend

the United Nations for its determined engagement in

crisis resolution and peacekeeping, particularly in

Africa. We have noted with appreciation the changes in

the concept of peacekeeping. Nevertheless, we believe

that some improvements are still necessary to enable

United Nations peace operations to address the social

and economic challenges that inevitably confront

countries emerging from conflict. Those socio-

economic issues invariably form an important part of

the original causes of the conflict.

We also appeal for continued enhancement of the

capacity of regional organizations to undertake initiatives

on crisis resolution in their respective regions. For its

part, the African Union has worked to improve its

Mechanism for Conflict Resolution, and in May this

year established a Peace and Security Council.

The first challenge the AU Peace and Security

Council has faced has been the situation in the Darfur

region of western Sudan, which aroused world attention

because of the reported carnage there. On behalf of the

AU, I want to thank the international community for

the humanitarian intervention being undertaken. As is

well known, the AU has deployed troops to the region

to monitor a ceasefire between the Government of the

Sudan and the opposing movements — the Sudan

Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and

Equality Movement. Moreover, the first substantive

peace talks took place under the auspices of the AU in

the Nigerian capital of Abuja from 23 August to

18 September 2004. At that meeting, the Sudanese

parties reached agreement on the first of the four points

on the agenda, namely, humanitarian issues. They also

made progress on the second point, security issues,

before adjourning for consultations. A follow-up

meeting is expected to be convened in Abuja around

21 October 2004 on the other issues: political and

economic and social issues. I am closely following the

developments, in consultation with the Chairperson of

the Commission of the African Union and others, and I

now call upon the international community to continue

to lend us its support in resolving the Darfur conflict

and its consequences.

It is cheering to note the progress being made in

Somalia, particularly in constituting the Parliament.

The efforts of the regional countries, which are

demonstrating unprecedented collaboration in helping

the Somalis to move the process forward, should be

applauded. The Somalis themselves must continue to

demonstrate their commitment to repair past errors and

to make their country a respectable member of the AU

and the United Nations.

The Great Lakes region remains a flash point of

violence, as exemplified by the recent massacre of

more than 150 persons in a refugee camp in Burundi.

On 25 June 2004, President Kabila of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and President Kagame of

Rwanda met in Abuja at my invitation and agreed to

activate the Joint Verification Mechanism. Thereafter,

with the participation of the Secretary-General, a

meeting of all stakeholders was held during the third

African Union Summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,

from 6 to 8 July 2004, in order to accelerate the

activation of the Joint Verification Mechanism. I am

hopeful that this renewed process will facilitate a better

understanding of how to stem the spate of massacres

and engender a peaceful resolution of the protracted

crisis in the Great Lakes region.

With regard to the West African subregion, the

African Union and the Economic Community of West

African States (ECOWAS) are continuing their efforts,

with the constant support of the United Nations, to

ensure steady progress in the peace processes in Côte

d’Ivoire and Liberia. To that end, and in order to

address the standstill in the implementation of the

Linas-Marcoussis Agreement on Côte d’Ivoire, an

extraordinary summit was held under ECOWAS

auspices in Accra, Ghana, on 29 July 2004. The

11

meeting benefited from the presence of Secretary-

General Kofi Annan and some non-ECOWAS African

heads of State. If the agreements reached at that

summit are faithfully implemented, an end to the

conflict should be in sight.

In the margins of the Accra summit, we also

addressed problems that were retarding the

implementation of the Liberian Comprehensive Peace

Agreement. In discussions with all the Liberian

leaders, we agreed decisions on the main issues, and

we have since witnessed encouraging signs that those

decisions are being implemented.

Here, I should like to remark once again that the

delay in providing the resources promised by countries

during the Liberian pledging conference held at United

Nations Headquarters in February 2004 constitutes an

avoidable hindrance to the advancement of peace in

Liberia. I therefore call on all our well-meaning

partners who were kind enough to make pledges to

kindly redeem them.

While the United Nations is justifiably seized of

the issue of weapons of mass destruction — such as

nuclear, chemical and biological weapons — the question

of small arms and light weapons can no longer be

ignored. While the threat of weapons of mass

destruction is awesome, small arms and light weapons

are killing people every day at a rate that,

cumulatively, amounts to monumental destruction.

Nigeria and the African Union welcome the

commencement of negotiations on a legally binding

international instrument to enable States to identify and

trace illicit small arms and light weapons globally. Of

particular interest to Africa is the enormous potential

that such a legally binding instrument can have on

peace and security in our region. We should therefore

not relent in our efforts.

Let me take this opportunity to soundly condemn

the totally unacceptable role of mercenaries and their

sponsors in Africa. The recent attempted invasion of

Equatorial Guinea and other such attempts go against

every imaginable rational effort at promoting stability

and democracy on the continent. We call on the United

Nations to join the African Union in sending the right

signals of condemnation to those mercenaries and their

sponsors.

Our quest for global peace and security will

prove unsuccessful unless we intensify international

cooperation for development and the reduction of

poverty. Just four years ago, we adopted the

Millennium Development Goals, which pointedly fixed

the target of reducing by half the number of those

living in poverty by 2015. Yet by now, the alarm is

being raised that, if present trends continue, that target

may not be met, particularly in Africa, which aside

from the challenges of development, is also being

ravaged by pandemic diseases.

Speaking on behalf of the African Union as its

current Chairperson, I should like to assure the General

Assembly that we Africans are determined to exert all

our efforts to overcome those obstacles to development

that are within our control. To that end, we are

pursuing, with the personal commitment and

involvement of our heads of State and Government

themselves, the implementation of the priorities set out

in our flagship programme, the New Partnership for

Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

In that context, we appreciate the conclusion in

the Secretary-General’s second consolidated report on

progress in implementation and international support

for NEPAD that

“African countries have demonstrated their

commitment to advancing the implementation of

NEPAD by earmarking financial allocations to

selected sectoral priorities.” (A/59/206, para. 67)

The report also concludes that

“The development partners of Africa can

give further practical expression to their support

for the efforts of African countries by taking

action in three important areas: first, by creating

an enabling international environment that is

supportive of growth and development in Africa;

second, by bringing much needed coherence to

trade, aid and debt policies, so that African

countries are the net beneficiaries of international

actions in those areas; and third, by undertaking

concrete measures to accelerate the

implementation of NEPAD by making significant

financial outlays to fund the key sectoral

priorities of NEPAD.” (ibid., para. 68)

I believe that the message to our development

partners is very clear. To demonstrate our commitment

to the principles of good governance, transparency and

the rule of law, 23 African countries have already

subscribed to the African Peer Review Mechanism. It

should be recalled that the Mechanism represents

12

Africa’s voluntary commitment to a set of performance

codes and standards to foster best practices and share

lessons in the management of national affairs. The

promotion of agriculture is being vigorously pursued

both for its export potential and for poverty alleviation.

Encouraging growth rates in agricultural production

are already being recorded in several African countries.

Simultaneously, we are intensifying our efforts in the

promotion of agro-based industries.

To further our efforts at self-help, the heads of

State and Government of the African Union held the

Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty

Alleviation in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 5 to

9 September 2004. We adopted a far-reaching

declaration and programme of action. We also adopted

mechanisms for implementation and monitoring at the

national, regional and continental levels.

What may act as an obstacle to implementation in

this most important area for lifting the African

population out of poverty and misery is the inevitable

issue of having adequate resources for meeting our

otherwise realistic goals. On behalf of the African

Union, I appeal to our partners to act once again in the

interest of our shared, common global interdependence

and common humanity.

Africa requires a genuine partnership anchored on

the principle of mutual benefits to ensure the

attainment of sustainable development. One area of

partnership concerns Africa’s external debts. The

negative impact of debt on the economic situation of

African countries, particularly the least developed

countries, can no longer be denied. We remain

convinced that comprehensively resolving the lingering

debt crisis through innovative action would brighten

the prospects of development in Africa.

Africa welcomes the consensus that emerged

from the recent meeting of the United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development in São Paulo,

Brazil. That consensus reflects a shared conviction that

the Organization can continue to coordinate our views

on trade and development matters. This cannot be

otherwise if the Millennium Development Goals are to

be achieved and the benefits of expanding trade are to

be enjoyed by all peoples and societies.

By launching a new initiative to commence a new

round of multilateral trade negotiations, developing

countries have issued a challenge to our development

partners to exploit global opportunities for growth and

development. We hope they will respond.

Africa remains committed to the fight against the

HIV/AIDS pandemic, malaria, tuberculosis and related

diseases. Since the last series of high-level plenary

meetings on implementation of the Declaration of

Commitment on HIV/AIDS, we have taken bold steps

to deal with the pandemic. Towards that end, we in

Nigeria have established a national scientific institute

for research on HIV/AIDS and intensified public

awareness programmes. In that connection, we

welcome the outcome of the recent International

Conference on HIV/AIDS in Bangkok, Thailand. We

thank the United Nations agencies and all stakeholders

for their collective efforts to stem the spread of the

disease worldwide.

With regard to other deadly preventable diseases,

such as malaria, tuberculosis, polio and whooping

cough, my Government has stepped up its efforts. In a

few days, on 2 October 2004, my Government will

once again embark on a polio immunization

programme, in coordination with six African States —

Chad, the Sudan, Cameroon, Niger, Burkina Faso and

Côte d’Ivoire — to ensure maximum effectiveness.

These are countries where polio has been reported

fairly recently. Significantly and symbolically, the

programme’s launch, with all my brothers and

colleagues present, will take place in Kano.

Last year, the Secretary-General launched a

United Nations reform initiative that we all warmly

commended. In pursuit of that initiative, the Secretary-

General appointed last year a high-level Panel of Eminent

Personalities to examine ways of strengthening the

United Nations through institutional reforms and

processes. We are looking forward to the report of the

Panel. Nigeria — and indeed the rest of Africa — holds

the view that the Security Council should be expanded in

its permanent and non-permanent categories to make it

more representative, more effective and more

acceptable. We hope that those regions of the world

that are not currently represented in the permanent

membership category will be given membership.

Africa, whose issues occupy a substantial part of the

Security Council’s time, ought to be accorded priority

consideration for permanent membership, and Nigeria,

I strongly believe, is a well-qualified candidate.