South Africa, 2001

Please accept my

congratulations, Mr. President, on your assumption of

the stewardship of this important Assembly.

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We also wish to congratulate your predecessor,

Mr. Harri Holkeri, for the skilful manner in which he

guided the work of the Millennium Assembly of the

United Nations.

Allow me also to salute the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, on being elected to a second term and,

together with the United Nations, being awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize for 2001. This is because of the

tireless work of both the Secretary-General and the

United Nations to realize the ideal that we all cherish: a

world in which all people can live in peace, security,

freedom, equality and justice.

As has already been noted and as we all know,

this general debate has begun later than usual. The

reason for this is that two months ago, the forces of

terror struck at this city, New York — the Headquarters

of this Organization — and Washington, D.C., the

capital city of the United States of America.

It is proper that we take advantage of this

occasion once more to convey our condolences and

deepest sympathy to the people and the Government of

the United States for the immense loss of life and

property imposed on them through a callous act of

murder. We extend the same sympathy to all other

peoples who lost citizens as a result of the colossal

outrage of 11 September. We speak here about the

terrible tragedy of 11 September on behalf of our

Government and the people of South Africa. We speak

also on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and the

Commonwealth.

There can be no doubt but that the peoples of the

world have to unite in action to defeat terrorism. There

can be no hesitation among any of us in the resolve to

work together to ensure that those responsible for the

heinous actions of September 11 are brought to justice.

This is so not only because many nations lost

their citizens on that terrible day, important as that is. It

is so, because terrorism has demonstrated that it has no

respect for borders. It has shown in a very graphic,

tragic and painful manner, as it did also in Kenya and

Tanzania, that our very humanity renders all of us,

without exception, potential targets of cold-blooded

murder.

Where we might have used the concept of a

global village loosely in the past, on 11 September

terrorism taught us the abiding lesson that we do

indeed belong to a global village. None within this

village will be safe unless all the villagers act together

to secure and guarantee that safety. All must act to

promote the safety and security of one and all, on the

basis of a shared responsibility born of a shared danger.

Accordingly, we have no choice but to get

together in the village square to agree on the threat that

confronts us. Together, in that village square, we have

to determine what we do about this commonly defined

threat. This is the ineluctable conclusion we must draw

from the terrorist attacks of 11 September.

To guarantee world peace and security in the light

of the threat posed by terrorism requires that this

Organization, the United Nations, must discharge its

responsibility to unite the peoples of the world to adopt

an international convention against terrorism.

Necessarily, all of us must experience a shared

sense of ownership of this convention, precisely

because it would not be merely a statement of

principles, but a set of injunctions and prescriptions

that will be binding on all of us as States. Thus should

each one of us be ready to integrate our respective

sovereignties within a global human sovereignty,

defined and governed by all of us, with none treated as

superior or inferior.

The challenge to unite the peoples of the world to

fight the common threat of terrorism brings to the fore

the need to speed up the transformation of the United

Nations so that it is able to respond to the global

challenges we face together, in an equitable manner.

This means that it needs to be efficient, effective and

responsive to the needs of humanity as a whole.

11 September emphasized the point that, even as

the democratic system of government is being

consolidated throughout the world, even as we all work

to sustain the possibility of a serious and meaningful

global dialogue, there are some who are prepared to

resort to force in pursuit of their goals. Clearly, there

must be a response. But what should that response be?

Immediately, it is correct that we must achieve

global security cooperation so that the perpetrators of

the 11 September acts of terrorism are apprehended and

punished. Correctly, the Government of the United

States has emphasized that all action that is carried out

must be clearly targeted against the terrorists. It has

stated that such actions, including military actions,

should not degenerate into collective punishment

against any people on any grounds whatsoever,

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including those of religion, race or ethnicity.

Accordingly, it is indeed necessary that humanitarian

assistance be extended to the people of Afghanistan.

We fully agree with that approach. The United States

Government has also said that these actions should be

of the shortest duration possible, consistent with the

objective that must be achieved. Again, we agree with

this without reservation.

The call has gone out that all Governments and

countries should contribute whatever they can to ensure

that the common efforts to find and punish the

terrorists responsible for 11 September are met with

their just results. We have responded positively to this

call because it is timely, correct and just.

All these are important elements of what has to

be done to respond to those who committed the mass

murders of 11 September. But they also indicate the

way forward as we consider the rules that should guide

us as we confront the threat of terrorism over the

longer term and beyond the critically important

operations and activities focused on the events of 11

September. They put the matter firmly on our common

agenda: We must also achieve global cooperation for

the speedy resolution of conflict situations everywhere

in the world.

In this regard, it is clear that the situation in the

Middle East cries out for an urgent and lasting solution.

In this context, we might recall the words of the Irish

poet, William Butler Yeats, when he said “too long a

sacrifice can make a stone of the heart”. The sacrifice

of the Palestinian people should not be allowed to drag

on any longer. Whatever these long-suffering people

might themselves think and feel, it is clear that there

are some in the world who will justify their destructive

rage by claiming to be front-line fighters for the

legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Beyond this, we must act together to determine

the issues that drive people to resort to force and agree

on what we should do to eliminate those issues. At the

same time, we must make the point patently clear that

such determination does not in any way constitute an

attempt to justify terrorism. Together, we must take the

firm position that no circumstances whatsoever can

ever justify resort to terrorism.

The need to realize together the goal of

determining the matters that make for peace once again

underlines the need for properly representative

international institutions to build the necessary global

consensus. It would seem obvious that the fundamental

source of conflict in the world today is the socio-

economic deprivation of billions of people across the

globe, coexisting side by side with islands of enormous

wealth and prosperity within and among countries. This

necessarily breeds a deep sense of injustice, social

alienation and despair and a willingness to sacrifice

their lives among those who feel they have nothing to

lose and everything to gain, regardless of the form of

action to which they resort.

As the Durban World Conference concluded,

racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related

intolerance remain a critical part of the practices that

serve to alienate billions of people and contribute to

mutual antagonisms among human beings. The

international community should spare no effort to

ensure that this affront to human dignity is totally

eradicated.

Last year, we convened in this very Hall in the

historic Millennium Summit. Solemnly, and with

serious intent, we adopted the Millennium Declaration.

The heavy and urgent obligation we now face is to

implement the programme of action spelt out in that

Declaration. This constitutes and must constitute the

decisive front of struggle against terrorism.

Africa, for its part, has developed a New

Partnership for Africa’s Development, which is a

product of the consciousness among the African people

that they themselves hold the key to the continent’s

development, security and stability. Africans across the

continent have arrived at the correct determination that

human rights, democracy, peace, stability and justice

are the fundamental building blocks for a prosperous

continent. Concomitantly, African countries are taking

measures, jointly and severally, to improve the

conditions for much-needed investment, economic

renewal and development. Naturally, the United

Nations has a pivotal role to play in this regard.

As we meet here, members of the World Trade

Organization are engaged in critical negotiations in

Doha, Qatar, hopefully to agree to a new equitable

trading relationship that is fair and just. It is imperative

that there be a non-discriminatory and equitable trading

system that promotes sustainable development.

Soon, ministers of health, the World Health

Organization and others concerned will be finalizing

the details relating to the global health fund to deal

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with the major communicable diseases, including

malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.

The International Conference on Financing for

Development, to be held next March in Mexico, will

cover a range of pertinent issues, such as debt relief,

official development assistance and foreign direct

investment. As we all know, substantial capital flows

into the developing countries are critical in the struggle

to defeat poverty and underdevelopment.

All these constitute vital component parts of what

must inform the outcome of the Johannesburg World

Summit on Sustainable Development in September

next year. We are confident that the Summit will reach

positive conclusions that will include firm global,

regional and national commitments to the elaboration,

integration and implementation of economically

efficient, socially responsible and environmentally

sound development policies.

There is no doubt that our global village has the

resources and capacity to meet the needs of all its

citizens. What is needed is the collective will of the

international community to act decisively to meet this

challenge, inspired by a sense of human solidarity.

Peace and security for all, freedom and democracy for

all, prosperity for all and genuine equality in conditions

of diversity must surely be the outcomes towards which

the United Nations and all of us must strive. Our

actions must affirm the seriousness of our intent.