Republic of the Congo, 1999

I wish to join

the many previous speakers who have congratulated the

President. I congratulate him most warmly on behalf of the

Congolese delegation on his election to preside over the

fifty-fourth session, which is a tribute to him personally and

to his country, a symbol of the struggle for decolonization

in Africa. The Congo, an old friend of Namibia, welcomes

his election. I am convinced that thanks to his human

qualities and his wealth of experience forged in the

liberation struggle and at the head of his country's

diplomacy, the work of this session will be carried out

harmoniously and successfully. I assure him of the support

of my delegation in the discharge of his heavy

responsibilities.

To his predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, we express our

profound gratitude for the ability and skill with which he

conducted the work of the last session.

To the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr.

Kofi Annan, we pay a well-deserved tribute for his

profound commitment to the service of peace and

development.

Lastly, I would like to welcome warmly the new

Member States of Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga, whose

admission can only strengthen the universal nature of the

United Nations.

Has not the time come to take stock of our common

labour? Will the great family of the United Nations enter

the third millennium convinced that it has contributed to

promoting the noble ideals contained in the Charter of our

universal Organization? Have international peace and

security, the development of nations and the rights of

citizens been treated in a way that allows us to enter the

next century calmly and with hope?

In Africa there are still far too many causes for

concern. Far too many challenges leave us doubtful, despite

some positive events in the continent, in particular the

political changes in South Africa and Nigeria.

In Angola, the many statements and decisions of the

international community remain unimplemented because of

Jonas Savimbi's stubborn adherence to the logic of war. The

war in Angola, which has rendered fruitless the efforts of

an entire generation of diplomats, has revealed the limits of

our Organization in the restoration of peace. This is the

occasion to reaffirm that the solid base for a definitive

resolution of the conflict remains the effective

implementation of comprehensive mandatory sanctions.

They alone will lead to the complete isolation of Mr.

Jonas Savimbi and UNITA, so long as the international

community truly complies.

With regard to the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, we welcome the conclusion of the Lusaka

Agreement, which opens the way to resolving the political

and military crisis in that fraternal country. My country is

counting on the commitment of the various protagonists

for the Agreement's implementation. We strongly hope

that the observer mission planned by the United Nations

will be effective and that it will create favourable

conditions for the holding of a Great Lakes regional

conference, which the international community is calling

for wholeheartedly.

The conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea is another

major concern in Africa. We invite those two fraternal

peoples to rise above the situation by fully supporting the

peace plan of the Organization of African Unity to put an

end to that war.

Lastly, we cannot fail to pay tribute to the courage

displayed by the authorities of Sierra Leone, who have

agreed to pay a very high price for the restoration of

peace in that country.

In this world, in which the universality of principles

is often limited by force, great men can be guided only

by the interests of their peoples. A year ago, from this

very rostrum, I proclaimed our faith in the future of our

country following the civil war that started on 5 June

1997. I said then that for the Congolese Government the

future was national reconciliation, the restoration of

peace, the reconstruction of the country and the

resumption of the democratic process. We have explained

this great project wherever and whenever we could — at

the United Nations, at the Organization of African

Unity and in all our contacts with all of our partners —

and we have found understanding and attention

everywhere.

In the context of the resumption of the democratic

process, we have carried out an administrative census of

the population in order to identify the electorate; we have

elaborated a draft Constitution; and we have established

our higher courts — the Supreme Court and the High

Court of Justice.

13

Regrettably, this impetus has been hampered by a

resumption of violence, orchestrated once again by those

who on several occasions plunged our people into

mourning — first in 1993-1994 and then in 1997 — and

whose only aim is the partition of Congo into ethnic

ghettos.

The consequences have been catastrophic for the entire

country. These have included heinous crimes such as the

assassination of officials and leaders of local communities,

the kidnapping of tens of thousands of people to serve as

human shields for the armed groups, and the systematic

destruction of infrastructures vital to the economy of the

country.

But those plans to overthrow institutions have failed.

Today the pacification efforts made by the Government

have borne fruit. The fighting has ended. Several former

militia members of the failed regime have laid down their

weapons and have given themselves up to the authorities.

We are also seeing a mass influx of civilians back into

Brazzaville and to the main towns in the interior.

The guests who did us the honour of participating in

the Pan-African Music Festival that the city of Brazzaville

hosted from 1 to 8 August 1999 witnessed the

determination of the Government and the entire people to

rebuild this country as a haven of peace. That event — a

time of great joy and reunion for the Congolese people —

strengthened our conviction that the worst was behind us

and that henceforth we could look to the future with

calmness and optimism.

All of these steps forward on the path of peace are to

the credit of one man, President Denis Sassou Nguesso. His

faith in reconciliation and national unity was again made

clear on 14 August 1999 on the occasion of the national

holiday, when, on behalf of the fraternal republic, he

solemnly reaffirmed his desire for dialogue and decided to

grant amnesty to all combatants guilty of war crimes who

agreed to renounce violence and definitively to lay down

their weapons.

In this same context of a return to a stable situation

under full control throughout the national territory, the

Government reiterates its firm and unswerving will to

resume the inter-Congolese political dialogue with a view

to pacification and reunion in order to consolidate the

newfound peace and security, strengthen national unity and

the reconciliation of all the sons and daughters of the

Congo, rebuild the country on a lasting basis, and resume

the democratic process, which had been interrupted by

violence.

The offer made was favourably received, leading in

particular to the return to Brazzaville of many political

leaders who had gone into exile following the war of 5

June 1997. We are confident in the positive outcome of

this process.

In the wake of such a tragic period, naturally we are

striving to cope with emergency situations. These include

the shelter, management and social reintegration of tens

of thousands of displaced persons, a humanitarian tragedy

whose scale has not always been clearly perceived by the

international community; the protection of people and

property; the respect of human rights; and the restoration

of normal living conditions in many war-torn

communities — an overwhelming task that anyone would

agree requires means exceeding by far the capacities of a

State bled dry such as Congo is today.

We are assuming all of our responsibilities, and here

we call on the international community, which should

accompany our efforts with greater commitment and

contribute, as it wishes to do, to the restoration on a

lasting basis of peace, security and democracy and to the

reconstruction of Congo.

At a time when our people are suffering from

poverty and destitution and from the economic crisis,

there is no place for conflicts that are both fratricidal and

suicidal.

In the context of the quest for sustainable and lasting

peace and development in Africa, specific and practical

measures must be resolutely taken along the lines of the

conclusions contained in the report of the Secretary-

General of our Organization. Among those conclusions,

which we unanimously supported, I would like to mention

those relating to the proliferation of, and illicit traffic in,

small arms, which is an important factor in the increase

in terrorism and crime in our States.

That is why, at the thirty-fifth Summit of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU), held last July in

Algiers, the African Heads of State and Government

devoted most of their consideration to ways and means of

consolidating peace in order to create modern States

based on the primacy of law, respect of the fundamental

rights and freedoms of citizens, and the democratic

governance of public affairs.

14

Along the same lines, on 20 September last, at the

opening of the general debate, the current Chairman of the

OAU, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the People's

Democratic Republic of Algeria, clearly set out in this very

Hall Africa's views on the key questions of peace, security,

economic development and international cooperation. The

Congo associates itself fully with that important declaration.

I cannot conclude this political analysis without

mentioning other areas of tension that are a source of

concern for us at this session. Thus we express the hope

that the impetus provided by the Wye River accords and the

Sharm el-Sheik Memorandum on the Middle East will be

consolidated. The Government of the Congo is also closely

following the evolution of the situation in East Timor and

welcomes the efforts of the international community, which

led to the dispatch of an international force to restore peace

in that territory and to ensure the respect of the political

will clearly expressed by that people during the referendum

organized by the United Nations.

On the threshold of the twenty-first century, building

peace and security in the world requires real commitment

on our part to work for economic and social development.

In this context, our planet can never be certain of lasting

peace so long as there is destitution and poverty, which not

only affect the quality of human life but are also a cause of

political instability.

But how can we achieve lasting sustainable

development when the world economy is opening up no

encouraging prospects for developing countries, when debt

receives discriminatory treatment in initiatives whose

conditions for implementation show how illusory they are,

when resources allocated to official development assistance

are constantly declining, and lastly, when there is a clear

refusal to grant developing countries opportunities to

integrate their economies into the new trade system.

In any case, because of what is at stake, globalization

will be the main challenge of the next century. Today it is

giving rise to fears because of the threat it implies to the

sovereignty of our States and to our cultural and historical

characteristics, and because it raises grave questions about

our countries' prospects for development. Its implementation

calls more than ever for the creation of appropriate, agreed-

upon mechanisms so as to translate into reality hopes for

humankind's unified development and for prosperity shared

among peoples.

It was in this context that recently, at Algiers and at

Sirte, that the Heads of State and Government of the

member countries of the Organization of African Unity

resolutely committed themselves to working for the

strengthening of subregional economic groups, in

accordance with the spirit of the Abuja Treaty.

The coming century will bring with it challenges for

our Organization. Overcoming them will require

harmonized approaches taken in a representative context.

Thus my country attaches particular importance to the

strengthening of the role of the United Nations and to the

restructuring of its main bodies, so as to combat the

uncertainties born of an unequal world and to take firm

steps to make multilateralism truly democratic. The

United Nations remains an irreplaceable tool. However, it

deserves to be rethought and revitalized so that it will be

equal to the challenges confronting us.

To succeed, we will need to join together the will,

the efforts and the means of the whole of the international

community. Congo reaffirms its commitment to make its

full contribution to the achievement of that goal.