Sierra Leone, 2009

I feel highly honoured to

address the Assembly once again. I would like to start

by congratulating Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki on his

assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly

at its sixty-fourth session and to assure him of my

delegation’s support and cooperation as he performs

the demanding task of presiding over our deliberations.

Through him, I would also like to convey my sincere

gratitude to His Excellency Monsignor Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann for the efficient and effective

manner in which he conducted the previous session. In

addition, my appreciation goes to the Secretary-

General for his comprehensive account of the work of

the Organization and his analysis of the challenges

facing the global community.

The theme for this year’s session is apt and

timely. It is only through dialogue among the various

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civilizations of the world represented in this

deliberative body and the strengthening of the

institutions and architecture responsible for promoting

such dialogue that we can effectively meet the

challenges posed by the current global crisis. Dialogue

promotes understanding; understanding enhances

cooperation; and cooperation gives vitality and

legitimacy to the institutions and mechanisms that have

been structured to meet our common challenges and

goals.

Civilizations began as magnificent blueprints for

meeting challenges that were specific to particular

regions of the world, but advances in technology and

communications have made problems no longer

specific to particular regions. Climate change; the

HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and swine flu pandemics; the

food and fuel crises, including the present global

economic meltdown; terrorism; nuclear proliferation;

and drug trafficking are all beyond the capacity of any

of the world’s civilizations to tackle without

international cooperation. While the major causes of

those challenges may arise from particular regions,

their impacts are global and affect the lives and

fortunes of peoples of all civilizations. Dialogue

among civilizations will create the synergies required

to tackle the causes and impacts of the global crises.

My Government fully subscribes to and supports

the promotion of dialogue, as well as the facilitation of

mechanisms that will help to ameliorate the impact of

the global crises. Among some population groups, that

impact may be on the size of their bonuses; among

others, it may be on whether they acquire a second car

or not. But for the vast number of people —

particularly in Africa — the impact of the crises is

creating life-threatening situations.

Years of conflict had increased the number of

poor and vulnerable people in my country. However,

stable economic growth, remittances and international

financial and security support were increasing

prospects for ameliorating the situation, but the present

global crisis has suddenly decreased those prospects,

pushing greater numbers of our people into extreme

poverty.

We in Sierra Leone are saddled with the effects of

trade imbalances in international commerce. Our

economy continues to be vigorously challenged by the

falling prices of our exports in the international market.

This includes diamonds and cash crops. The effect of

this intractable problem is that we are not able to

garner enough foreign exchange to meet the basic

import requirements for our sustenance. We are on the

threshold of the tenth year of the implementation of the

Millennium Declaration and yet the prospects for

achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015

remain dismal for Africa.

Many countries in Africa, including mine, have in

the last few years registered important improvements

in the essential areas of governance and economic and

social indicators. My country, Sierra Leone, is putting

in place mechanisms to ensure a stable democratic

regime. Worldwide indicators show that we have made

extremely fast progress in political stability. Our

economic growth remains strong at 6 to 9 per cent. My

Government has firmed up the aspirations of our

people in an Agenda for Change that sets out four clear

priority areas: agriculture, energy, infrastructure and

reforms to improve delivery of health and education

services. We are already delivering results in our

priority areas. Key roads are under construction, we

have completed a hydroelectric project that is

supplying clean, affordable power to Freetown for the

first time, and our reforms have ensured that we are the

best performer among neighbouring countries

according to the Doing Business Index.

My Government could not sustain these results

without multilateral support. On 18 and 19 November

of this year, we are organizing a Consultative Group

Meeting on Sierra Leone in London to dialogue with

investors, donors and other partners, and to mobilize

support for our efforts in tackling the many challenges

facing our country. We see the Sierra Leone conference

as a problem-solving dialogue; we aspire to a

conference that will build an action-oriented

multilateral framework for meeting the challenges we

face. My country believes in multilateralism; we

believe in dialogue among nations as the most effective

means of tackling our problems. We call upon all

countries to ensure that the current financial crisis does

not deny the many African nations only recently

removed from violent conflict the security and prospect

of prosperity that we have all worked so hard to

achieve.

I would like to address another issue my

delegation takes very seriously, one that is interwoven

with the financial crisis, poverty and development —

the serious threat that climate change poses to human

development in general and African nations in

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particular. Despite the scientific consensus that the

earth is warming at an alarming rate, progress in

reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and limiting global

warming to below an increase of 2 degrees Celsius

per year has proved elusive. Today, the poorest nations,

which contribute the least to the phenomenon, are the

most vulnerable. The recent torrential rainfall in

Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, left scores of

people dead, homeless or seriously injured. Drought,

hurricanes, floods, changing rainfall patterns, rising sea

levels and low crop yields rank high among the key

challenges facing the world’s poor. Unfortunately,

those nations with the least resources are the most

unprepared for such challenges.

It is our obligation to reverse the alarming rate of

environmental destruction and depletion of our natural

resources. It is in this regard that I wish to reiterate

Africa’s common position on climate change, which,

among other things, urges developed countries to cut

greenhouse-gas emissions by 40 per cent. This is

certainly not an ambitious goal. It is the least that we,

the most vulnerable, deserve.

We believe that in addition to the necessity of

investing in clean development mechanisms, the

world’s developed countries must take a leadership

role, providing adequate and predictable financial and

technical support for less developed countries to foster

effective adaptation as well as mitigation measures. We

share the Secretary-General’s vision that the Climate

Change Summit in Copenhagen represents a unique

and powerful opportunity at a critical moment in

human history to steer humankind towards a safer,

more stable and more sustainable future.

A final threat critical to the future stability of

nations around the world is the increasing proliferation

of small arms and light weapons, which, as former

Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently emphasized,

are tantamount to weapons of mass destruction in slow

motion, capable of destabilizing countries and entire

regions. Given that many African countries routinely

face political instability and violent threats, we need to

strengthen the national, regional and subregional

conflict-resolution mechanisms through which it

becomes possible for Africa to control small weapons.

Peace and development can be achieved in Africa, in

part, by exploration of the peace and security

architecture evolving within the African Union, the

Economic Community of West African States, the

Southern African Development Community and the

Peacebuilding Commission.

Against this background, I wish to reiterate that

collaborative efforts among members of the

international community are crucial to addressing our

global problems, and that international support remains

critical for the consolidation of hard-won gains by

nations emerging from war. It is our hope that the

United Nations and our development partners will

continue to be our steadfast allies in our ongoing

struggle for economic progress and development. In

this regard, I urge that we continue to forge enhanced

cooperation between the United Nations and the

African Union, as well as subregional organizations,

cooperation that goes beyond rhetoric and translates

into concrete efforts.

As I intimated before the Assembly at the sixty-

third session, we have come a long way, thanks to

multilateral and bilateral efforts in favour of our

survival as a nation. The ongoing peacebuilding

efforts, spearheaded by the United Nations

Peacebuilding Commission, continue to strengthen the

peace-consolidation process in the country. I am

pleased to announce that, in return and in a spirit of

reciprocity, Sierra Leone has joined the ranks of the

troop-contributing countries of United Nations

peacekeeping operations.

Multilateralism is vital for international

cooperation and for responding to global crises. In the

bid to promote effective multilateralism, my

Government has continued to urge the international

community to effect various reforms aimed at

strengthening our intergovernmental organizations,

including the Bretton Woods institutions, with a view

to making them more inclusive, transparent and

democratic in their decision-making processes.

An effective, legitimate and democratic United

Nations cannot be achieved without a true reform of

the Security Council. The ongoing intergovernmental

negotiations on the question of equitable representation

on, and increase in the membership of, the Security

Council and other matters relating to the Council have

progressed through three informal plenary rounds at

the last session of the General Assembly. We in Africa

have consistently demanded that the historical injustice

that is rooted in our underrepresentation and

non-representation in the non-permanent and

permanent categories of the Council be addressed

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without any further delay. It is in this respect that we

have continued to negotiate in good faith and mutual

trust. I am hopeful that the outcome of these

negotiations will lead to a meaningful reform of this,

the principal decision-making organ of the United

Nations in the maintenance of international peace and

security. We in Africa stand ready, willing and

prepared, as always, to resume negotiations during this

session.

Let us promote multilateralism and strengthen our

collaborative efforts to contain the rising threats to our

planet.