São Tomé and Príncipe, 2003

I begin by joining previous speakers in

congratulating you, Mr. President, on your election. My

Government is deeply gratified by the recognition of

your accomplishments as someone from a country that

is a member of the Small Island Developing States

Network. We are confident you will lead the work of

fifty-eighth session with the same abilities as your

distinguished predecessor, His Excellency Jan Kavan

of the Czech Republic.

On behalf of the people of Sao Tome and

Principe, I would like to reaffirm the principles of the

Charter and its role in promoting peace and

development, and to pay tribute to Secretary-General

Kofi Annan for his dedication and leadership.

We all face daunting challenges. Violence has

inflamed international relations. On behalf of my

country, I would like to express our outrage and regret

that the United Nations Mission in Baghdad was

brutally attacked, with the tragic loss of such

outstanding United Nations professionals as Sergio

Vieira de Mello. We pay tribute to all those who died

defending the peaceful path to peace and development

in Iraq.

As we all are aware, Africa, perhaps more than

all the world’s continents, faces enormous challenges.

We are plagued by endemic diseases such as malaria,

which debilitate and kill our people needlessly. HIV/

AIDS is devastating Africa’s families, societies,

cultures and economies. How can we have economic

development when our people are too ill to work, or

when the main breadwinner in the family is dying of

HIV/AIDS, without any medical treatment?

Our economy has begun to feel the negative

effects of these two deadly diseases. We urge all

nations to work together to mobilize the necessary

human and financial resources for the critical task of

controlling these epidemics, which give rise to an

unrelenting cycle of death and suffering for our

peoples. There can be no hope for progress in Africa if

basic health is not first ensured, so that the people can

work and build their own prosperity.

Sao Tome and Principe, a small island State with

a fragile economy, is struggling. We are proud of our

democracy, our free and fair elections, our human

rights and our rule of law. But in July of this year our

proud and stable democracy came under threat from

forces seeking to topple our constitutionally elected

Government. They did not succeed, because the

international community quickly intervened to support

our elected authorities and to negotiate a peaceful end

to the coup attempt, which restored our constitutional

Government. I would like to take this opportunity to

thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his personal

concern for our country’s well-being. I wish also to

express my appreciation for the support of the African

Union, led by President Chissano of Mozambique, and

for the tireless assistance of President Obasanjo of

Nigeria, as well as that of officials from Portugal,

Brazil, the United States, Angola, Gabon, Cape Verde

and the Congo, and the many others who rescued our

democracy from peril.

But our democracy will remain under threat

unless the Government can mobilize resources

sufficient to provide basic services to our long-

suffering people. For this reason, the people and the

Government of Sao Tome and Principe ask for

continued international support, with development aid,

to improve the lot of our people and to ensure the

survival of our young democracy.

We must all work together to strengthen

multilateral cooperation and to ensure that the United

Nations and all its agencies continue to be the forum in

which all Member States can promote dialogue and

ensure world peace, security, democracy and

development.

My country regrets that international relations in

some parts of the world have deteriorated to the point

where extreme violence is the daily norm,

infrastructures have been destroyed, and human rights

are daily violated. We lament the plight of the refugees

that this violence creates, and especially the plight of

children, who often become the victims of those who

traffic in human beings.

The tragedies in Iraq, the Middle East, Liberia

and Afghanistan — to name only the most egregious —

can be overcome only within the multilateral

framework of United Nations. Unilateral actions are

doomed to failure in the long run.

At the same time, Sao Tome and Principe

supports an urgent reform of the Security Council, to

make it into a body that reflects current realities and

not those of the cold-war era. The Security Council

must be democratised, with the expansion of the

category of permanent members.

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We observe with great concern the spread of

terrorist acts across the globe, ranging from tragic

examples such as what happened at Bali in Asia, to

Palestine and Israel in the Middle East, to Spain and

the United Kingdom in Europe, to Kenya and Tanzania

in Africa, to Colombia in Latin America, and right here

to New York and other sites in North America. But

fighting violence with violence is not enough. We must

go to the root of the problem, and that is the task of the

United Nations.

The world is a less secure place today than it was

a year ago. The proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction continues, non-proliferation treaties

notwithstanding. We must ensure the universality of

those treaties and compliance with them under the

authority of the Security Council.

Sao Tome and Principe strongly supports the

Millennium Development Goals, but much remains to

be accomplished. The rules of the international

economy continue to be dictated by a small number of

countries that promote free markets while closing their

own. The latest World Trade Organization meeting in

Cancún is the natural result of this hypocrisy.

Developing economies like that of my country can be

competitive only if there is a level playing field, if all

markets are open and if subsidies and protectionism are

erased.

As an island nation, Sao Tome and Principe

continues to see its very existence threatened by global

warming. Our shorelines are eroding and our national

territory is shrinking as the seas rise. Is my small

country to end up as nothing but a tiny volcanic peak

sticking up above the waves, with the last of our people

clinging to the land left unclaimed by the rising sea?

The Kyoto Protocol must be implemented by all for the

benefit of all.

For many years, the people of Cuba have been

living under an unjustifiable economic embargo. That

economic embargo is hampering development, and

people’s lives would improve were it to end. The time

has come for both sides to improve confidence-

building measures by going back to the negotiating

table and normalizing relations.

Mr. President, my country would once again ask

for your attention with respect to the Republic of China

on Taiwan. This is a country with a democratically

elected Government which has built a strong economy

and which has strong ties with many Member States.

Taiwan was recently affected by Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), but it was beyond the

reach of the World Health Organization because

Taiwan is not allowed to be a member — simply

because Taiwan’s people do not accept the imposition

of the “one China” principle.

Despite its small size, Taiwan offers development

aid to a large number of countries. Taiwan also

contributes to international security by being a strong

proponent of the fight against terrorism.

I wish to call to the attention of the Assembly

that, under the universality rules set out in the Charter

of the United Nations, the Republic of China on

Taiwan must one day be here among us.

Our goal is to leave a better world for the next

generation. We cannot go along with the concept of

using force in international relations, and we denounce

human injustice.

We decry environmental degradation, which

ultimately threatens us all. Sao Tome and Principe

urges dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding on

the part of all Member States. We ask all to respect the

United Nations Charter.