Rwanda, 2004

Allow

me at the outset to convey to the President my

Government's congratulations on his election to

preside over the fifty-ninth session of the General

Assembly.

We have no doubt that his wisdom and experience

will be of great service to the Organization at a time

when it must make important decisions, in particular

concerning the reform of the Security Council. He will

surely do honour to all Africa.

I also take this occasion to express our gratitude

and congratulations to Mr. Julian Hunte for the

excellent quality of his presidency at the fifty-eighth

session of the General Assembly.

In April this year, the whole world joined

Rwanda in our observance of the tenth anniversary of

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the 1994 genocide, in which more than a million of our

citizens - men, women and children - were

massacred by the former Government, which

institutionalized hatred, discrimination and

sectarianism.

We thank in particular the General Assembly and

the Security Council for joining us in this Hall last

7 April to pay tribute to the memory of the victims in

Rwanda and to renew our commitment to ensuring that

the horrors of genocide do not occur again, in any part

of the world.

That tragedy of genocide and its many

consequences obliged us in Rwanda to undertake the

national and collective duty of examining our

conscience. We believe we have learned so much in

sorrow from that task that we have undertaken concrete

measures in that respect.

In the process, we created the National Unity and

Reconciliation Commission, which has led the national

dialogue over the last five years. We have also

undertaken vast reforms at all levels and in many areas

of national life, which, among other things, enable

people to develop initiatives and to participate in

decisions affecting their own development. We have

thus adopted a new constitution, which, for the first

time in the history of our country, was conceived by

the people of Rwanda themselves and drafted

according to the ideas, concerns, aspirations and

priorities of the people and not according to those of

so-called legal experts from other continents. This new

constitution guarantees the freedoms and fundamental

rights of the people, brings together universal

principles and national realities, but also, and above

all, offers measures to exclude once and for all from

our society the poor governance that led to the

genocide in 1994.

We have carried out important legal reforms that

have indeed restored our judicial system. In the search

for justice that will restore and reconcile our people,

we have introduced traditional participatory

jurisdiction - known as Gacaca - to judge the

thousands of those presumed to be implicated in the

crimes committed during the genocide.

We are also now transforming our economy by

emphasizing innovation, competitiveness, the role of

new information and communication technology and

the improvement of public services as the appropriate

way to achieve economic growth and lasting national

development. We have carried out other reforms in the

areas of education, health, security and the

advancement of women in public administration to

such an extent that today Rwanda leads the countries

having the largest number of women elected to national

decision-making posts.

Rwanda is contributing, albeit modestly, to all the

peace processes underway in our region and other areas

of Africa. In this context, my Government did not

hesitate to respond to the appeal of the African Union

regarding Darfur and sent a military mission to

contribute to the efforts of the international community

and the Sudanese Government to restore peace to this

sorely tested region of our dear continent.

We feel that the international community also

needs to engage in some soul-searching in order to

reflect on the lessons to be learned from the failures of

the past and to re-examine its responses to crisis

situations such as the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. We

should therefore ask ourselves if we really do have a

system of early warning in place to detect emerging

crises. Can we say that today, more than yesterday, we

have the political will necessary to respond decisively

and appropriately around the world to these emerging

crises? Is the world's division into major Powers'

zones of influence not continuing today ó just as it did

in 1994 in Rwanda - to prevent the United Nations

from formulating just and effective responses to crisis

situations?

Every Member of this Assembly is certainly

aware of the magnitude and the frightening scope of

terrorism as well as the challenge it poses to

international peace and security. Indeed, from the

Russian Federation, through Spain, Indonesia, Kenya

and to the United States, terrorists are causing

devastation, even using innocent women and children

to achieve their unspeakable goals.

The Great Lakes region in Africa is certainly

acquainted with terrorism. Indeed, the forces that

committed genocide in Rwanda, namely Rwandaís

former Forces armees rwandaises (ex-FAR) and the

INTERAHAMWE continue to bring death and

devastation with unsurpassed cruelty to the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. You all

certainly know of their most recent and sinister deed,

carried out barely two months ago, when this same

group, together with the Forces nationales de liberation

(FNL) rebels of Burundi, attacked a refugee camp in

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Banyamulenge in Gatumba, Burundi, and massacred

160 innocent people ó men, women and children ó

because of their ethnic origin.

The most incomprehensible and unacceptable

thing for us is the well-known fact that the bases of all

these groups are located in the east of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and that their leaders are well-

known, but that no serious international action has

been undertaken, to date, to destroy these bases and to

arrest their leaders. And yet, in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, almost in the very same

location as these genocidal forces, there is a well-

armed United Nations force, which is costing the

international community a mere $700 million per year.

We need to seriously ask ourselves whether the

international community has learned any lessons from

the tragedy of Rwanda. In our humble view, the United

Nations should assume its responsibilities and take the

necessary measures to disarm, demobilize and

repatriate the terrorist and genocidal groups in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, which continue to

destroy with impunity entire communities in our region

and which have been the source of two wars in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, directly involving

up to eight African countries.

My Government feels that, just as the

international community has the responsibility or

obligation to guarantee the protection of individuals in

serious danger, it is also responsible for protecting and

supporting those who have escaped from those

situations. It is in this context that, since 1994, the

Government of Rwanda has reserved 5 per cent of its

annual budget for priority contributions to the health

care and education needs of those who escaped the

genocide. In the same spirit, and during the current

session of the Assembly, a draft resolution will be

submitted, requesting the Secretary-General of the

United Nations to mobilize the entire United Nations

system to give financial support to our domestic

efforts, which remain, despite everything, insufficient

with regard to the real - if not vital - needs

particularly of the orphans, widows and victims of

sexual abuse. We hope that it will receive your support.

My Government has followed with great interest

the current discussions regarding reform in the Security

Council. Rwanda, which has been the subject of debate

almost continuously in the Council for 14 years, is

more sensitive than many other nations to the need to

make this powerful body of our Organization more

representative and democratic. We feel, in particular,

that it is high time to end the marginalization of the

continents of Africa and Latin America by granting

them permanent seats in the Security Council.

While emphasis is quite rightly being given to the

expansion of the Council and regional representation,

we firmly believe that equal attention should be

devoted to improving the Council's methods of work

and that emphasis should be placed on their

transparency. We hope that this aspect will be taken

into account by all the parties concerned; otherwise,

this reform will be cut short and will not have any real

impact. In particular, we are deeply concerned that an

unwritten rule, nowhere to be found in print, seems to

have reserved the initiative for making proposals only

to the permanent members of the Security Council.

Even more worrying is the apparent division of the

world into spheres of influence, with each permanent

member having the almost absolute and exclusive right

to propose draft resolutions and presidential statements

relating to its own zone of influence. This situation

does no credit to the Organization and seriously

undermines the credibility of the Security Council and

its decisions.

My Government has taken note of the

improvements which have been made towards greater

efficiency in the International Criminal Tribunal for

Rwanda, and encourages the Office of the Prosecutor

and the Registry to pursue their efforts to end the waste

and corruption which have characterized the Tribunal.

And it is from that standpoint that we guarantee our

full support for the Tribunal in the implementation of

its completion strategy. We are awaiting the upcoming

conclusion of agreements regarding the transfer of

certain accused to be tried, as well as some who have

already been convicted and who will serve their

sentences in Rwanda, which we feel is a token of trust

and of restored cooperation.

In conclusion, for us, support for economic

development remains one of the greatest raisons díÍtre

of the Organization. As I speak, as members know,

hundreds of thousands of people in Africa are facing

hunger, poverty and disease and are living in great

despair. The United Nations, therefore, needs to

mobilize, concentrate and guide all our collective

efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals

and to pull the African continent out of its current

political and economic difficulties. Here, the New

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Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is a

kind of reassuring road map and framework, that is

helping us to bring about the rebirth and prosperity of

Africa.

Thus, this universal family of nations should

reject the current situation with half of us living in

affluence, prosperity and good health, while the other

half is dying of hunger and disease, which all of us

together can prevent and eradicate. Let us, therefore,

work all together to change this situation.