Tanzania, 1999

Let me begin by congratulating

you, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, on your election as President

of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. This is

an expression of delegations’ confidence in and high esteem

for your diplomatic skills, and reflects also the

distinguished role which your country has played in

furthering the goals of this Assembly. I assure you of the

full support and cooperation of the Tanzanian delegation as

you guide the deliberations during this session.

I wish also to commend your predecessor, Mr. Didier

Opertti, for ably presiding over the Assembly at its fifty-

third session. I congratulate very specially the Secretary-

General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the

able and distinguished manner in which he has continued

to manage and guide the affairs of our Organization in the

face of many daunting challenges.

This last General Assembly session of the century

and millennium, provides an opportunity to review the

past and draw lessons from it. We must build on the

positive, even as we mobilize the individual and collective

will to avoid carrying the baggage of poverty, conflict and

human rights violations into the next century. The role of

the United Nations system must also be re-examined in

accordance with the new vision we have for the future.

The twentieth century witnessed tremendous

advances in science and technology. But the benefits were

not shared widely, let alone equally. Unprecedented

economic development and prosperity has been attained,

with world consumption topping $24 trillion in 1998,

twice the level of 1975 and six times that of 1950. But,

on a world scale, the 20 per cent of the world’s people in

the highest income countries consumed 86 per cent of the

world’s goods and services, producing a corresponding

degree of pollution and environmental damage. And a

whole fifth of humanity has been left completely out of

this prosperity.

This century has also experienced major international

conflicts, particularly the two world wars. The existence

of a bipolar system driven by ideological differences, and

the resultant arms race that led to the abuse of science

which was the development of weapons of mass

destruction, including nuclear weapons, exacerbated the

security situation in the world. To its credit, the United

Nations Organization has laid the foundation and

framework for the attainment of peace, security,

development and human rights. The United Nations actively

supported liberation struggles all over the world, and we are

entering the new millennium having accomplished the

mission of political decolonization in most countries. Of

particular gratification to Africa is the end of apartheid.

We have also witnessed the end of the cold war, even

though the peace dividend has yet to reach all corners of

the globe and include the innocent victims of the cold war.

For, as the African proverb has it, when two elephants

fight, it is the grass that suffers.

Africa has unfortunately been left behind in

development. Despite the positive macroeconomic

achievements in recent years, the average African

household today consumes 20 per cent less than it did 25

years ago. Other new, critical challenges facing Africa

include conflicts and the urgent need to consolidate the rule

of law, human rights and democratic governance.

The United Nations in the coming century will be

measured, among other things, by the degree to which these

issues, particularly the development dimension, are

addressed. The United Nations, by virtue of its global

reach, its universal membership and its impartiality, has a

vital role to play to ensure there is equity between the

response to the challenges facing Africa and those facing

other parts of the world.

The United Nations should also continue its role of

coordinating the United Nations system, including the

Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization

and regional economic commissions. We reiterate the need

for broadening and strengthening the participation of

developing countries in international decision-making.

Democracy and good governance between nations is as

important to humanity as democracy and good governance

within nations.

Processes of liberalization and globalization of the

world economy have profound implications for Africa and

other least developed countries in terms of their position in

the world economy, their development prospects, the nature

of their economic policies and their impact on economic

sovereignty.

The community of nations, at the dawn of a new

millennium, should rethink the mechanisms and policies

that underpin the functioning of the global economy to

create a conducive international environment that ensures

the rapid economic development of the least developed

countries. We need a system whose pillars are growth,

stability and social equity, and which should facilitate the

integration of least developed countries into the world

economy in a beneficial way.

These countries, particularly those in Africa, remain

constrained by weak supply capabilities, which, when

compounded by an unfavourable international economic

environment, limit their ability to benefit from

globalization. The trend of the last few years does not

give us much comfort. From 1990 to 1996, African

exports of goods grew by only 2 per cent on average.

The long-term objective of our development efforts

is to improve production of quality goods and services

that can meet local needs and be exported. We see trade

as a dynamic force for accelerating growth and

development. We are, however, aware of our limitations

in producing such products for the international market.

Our economies still largely rely on the production of

commodities, in respect of which terms of trade continue

to worsen. The issue of commodities should thus continue

to be central to the international development agenda. In

particular, we urge the international community to provide

resources and technical assistance to countries that depend

on commodities to build the capacity for vertical and

horizontal diversification of commodities.

Furthermore, developed countries and funding

institutions should increase their support to the Common

Fund for Commodities, including fulfilment of their

pledges. The United Nations should also reconsider the

proposal for the establishment of a special fund to

promote commodity diversification in Africa.

We hope that the Seattle ministerial meeting of the

World Trade Organization (WTO) will give further

impetus to the implementation of measures to assist least

developed countries to become integrated into the

international trading system in a meaningful way. We call

upon the donor community to extend financial and

technical assistance towards the implementation of

integration frameworks prepared by the least developed

countries.

The burden of debt is one of the main obstacles to

the achievement of the economic and social development

objectives of African and other least developed countries.

These countries devote a high proportion, in some cases

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exceeding 30 per cent, of government revenue to debt

service payment, with the consequent risk of social and

political instability. We welcome the various debt relief

initiatives undertaken by the donor community. They

provide some relief, but more far-reaching measures,

including debt forgiveness, need to be taken urgently to

have an impact on poverty.

Tanzania welcomes the revisions made to the Heavily

Indebted Poor Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative at the

Cologne summit of the Group of Seven. However, if

growth is to be sustained, adequate levels of external

funding must complement our economic reform efforts. Nor

should debt relief under the HIPC Initiative be a substitute

for increased bilateral non-debt-creating aid, and neither

should it be financed through reallocation of committed aid.

Tanzania has established a multilateral-debt-relief fund

to help it service multilateral debt so as to direct the

savings to poverty-reducing activities in the social sector,

such as education, health and water services. We have

shown that it is possible to link debt relief directly to

poverty eradication initiatives in a transparent and

accountable manner that involves government, civil society

and donor countries. The debt relief we have received

through the fund has gone straight to cushioning the social

sector budget. I want to thank the Governments of

Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway,

Sweden and the United Kingdom, which have contributed

to our war on poverty by contributing to our multilateral-

debt-relief fund account.

My delegation is deeply disturbed by the drastic

decline in official development assistance to less than one

third of the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of

the gross national product of donor countries. For five years

continuously, from 1992 to 1997, aid as a percentage of

gross national product in countries of the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) fell, from

a combined average of 0.33 per cent to an all-time low of

0.22 per cent. This trend needs to be reversed as a matter

of urgency.

But what is needed is aid that increasingly enhances

our capacity for ownership of the development agenda and

process, and our capacity to be self-developing. We do not

want the kind of aid that takes from us the initiative for

development in dignity, and increases rather than reduces

dependency on aid. Among other things, we need aid that

will help us develop an attractive environment for private-

sector investment, domestic and foreign.

Technology is a key factor in the development

process. The recent great strides in technology present

tremendous opportunities for human development.

However, this technological revolution has largely

bypassed African and other least developed countries. The

United Nations, and the international community at large,

should facilitate and finance access to and transfer of

technology, including new and environmentally sound

technologies, for developing countries on favourable,

including consessional, or grant terms.

Tanzania is working closely with other countries to

find a peaceful resolution to conflicts in the Great Lakes

region, particularly in Burundi and in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo. The Burundi peace process, under

the facilitation of Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, is going

well in Arusha. The main sticking point is security

arrangements that would instil confidence and trust for

all, as well as a democratic process involving all

stakeholders. We hope that these problems will be

resolved in the coming rounds of talks, so that a peace

agreement can be reached as soon as possible. The

international community should therefore continue urging

full participation by all the key players in the Arusha

peace process. All attempts to wreck the negotiations,

under any pretext, should be discouraged.

Concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

it is very encouraging that all the parties involved in the

conflict have finally signed the Lusaka ceasefire

Agreement. The challenge ahead is to not let the

momentum ebb, but to move expeditiously to implement

the truce, including sending and empowering Organization

of African Unity (OAU) observers and a United Nations

peacekeeping force, as envisaged.

Angola continues to experience a fratricidal war

waged by rebel UNITA forces against the legal

Government of Angola. Clearly, Jonas Savimbi has

violated the Lusaka Peace Agreement and has shown

contempt for international opinion. It is counterproductive

for the United Nations to remove its observer team from

Angola, as this would send a negative signal that the

international community is abandoning Angola in its hour

of need.

The most recent summit of the Southern African

Development Community (SADC), held in Maputo,

expressed solidarity with the Government of President

Dos Santos and pledged to give him moral and material

support. The international community should likewise be

forthright in its support for the Angolan Government and

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in condemning Jonas Savimbi as the war criminal that he

is. Action commensurate with the gravity of his insolence

and his human rights abuses should likewise be taken

against him.

On Western Sahara, Tanzania is following closely the

peace process under the United Nations Mission for the

Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). We hope that

a solution to the crisis will be found through a referendum

as provided for in the United-Nations-brokered peace

process without any further unnecessary delays.

My delegation commends the truces and negotiated

settlements reached in the conflicts in Guinea-Bissau, Sierra

Leone and Liberia, even as we urge practical commitment

to peace and reconciliation in the Ethiopia-Eritrea war.

I wish also to commend and encourage the positive

developments unfolding in Middle East. I urge Chairman

Arafat and Prime Minister Barak to remain committed to

the peace process and to move with courage and vision to

the next stages that will ensure the durable and shared

peace and security that has eluded the Palestinian and

Israeli people for so long.

From this podium, I denounce the merchants of war

fuelling conflicts on the African continent. Arms dealers

should stop supplying weapons to conflict areas. Countries

should adhere to the relevant international conventions

prohibiting the arms trade, especially between non-state

entities. It is immoral and unacceptable that natural

resources such as gold, diamonds, oil and timber, which

should be exploited to build a better future for African

children, are being used instead to buy weapons from rich

countries and arms dealers, with which to kill and maim

those very children and their parents.

Associated with conflicts in the Great Lakes region is

the problem of refugees. Tanzania has received refugees for

over 40 years now. As I speak, we still host over 800,000

refugees, some in refugee camps and many others in

settlement camps and elsewhere in society. We have always

received refugees out of humanitarian concerns in the

African way and in fulfilment of our international

obligations. We have never turned away those fleeing to

save their lives, and we have never negotiated refugee

quotas with other countries. Yet even for us, the time

comes when we must appeal for more help to give us the

capacity to provide succour and refuge to these people. I

pay tribute to the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees, Mrs. Ogata, and her colleagues for the efforts

they are making to draw international attention to African

refugees and displaced persons.

The Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has done much,

but it can only do as much as the international community

gives it resources to do. I urge greater support to UNHCR

and other relief agencies working in Tanzania, and greater

support to my Government.

A lasting solution to the refugee problem, however,

lies in resolving the root causes in the refugee-generating

countries. This would enable UNHCR to begin the

repatriation process, as was done successfully in the case

of Rwanda three years ago.

Four years ago, the United Nations established the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha.

Apart from the Tribunal’s early teething problems, the

Government of Tanzania lauds its many precedent-setting

achievements in the emerging area of international

criminal justice. We commend the improvements in the

efficiency of the Tribunal’s operations and management

under its Registrar.

As we pledge to continue fully supporting the

Tribunal in accordance with our obligations as the host

country, we call upon the United Nations and the entire

international community to continue providing all

necessary support, including resources and manpower,

until the task of prosecuting all culprits in the Rwanda

genocide episode is successfully accomplished. A strong

and clear message must come out of this Assembly that

no war criminal will ever escape the long arm of

international law.

Tanzania adds its voice to the denunciation of the

violent attempts to thwart the fulfilment of the desire of

the people of East Timor to be free and sovereign, clearly

and preponderantly expressed in a free and fair

referendum. The results of the referendum must be

respected and the Timorese people’s aspirations realized.

The international community must assume its

responsibility to see this process to a successful

conclusion. No effort and no sacrifice is too big to be

made in that regard. We commend and encourage the

decision of the Government of Indonesia to invite and

cooperate with international efforts under the United

Nations to stop the massacres and mayhem and to ensure

that the wishes of the majority of the people of East

Timor are unequivocally met.

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We in Tanzania believe that no national or global

efforts to eradicate poverty can succeed unless and until

they address the specific problems related to the poverty of

women. We urge the United Nations to continue promoting

gender equality issues, including the provision of resources

and technical assistance to enhance women’s education,

health and other projects aimed at their empowerment.

My Government is striving to make sure that women

are given opportunity to fully participate in all levels of

decision-making and that they get equal access to education

and access to credits on a preferential basis. We have also

taken measures to protect women, girls and children from

sexual harassment and abuse. Tanzania has most stringent

legislation on sexual offences that provides for punishment

up to life imprisonment. There is also a new Land Law

providing for complete gender equality in the ownership,

use and disposal of land and which supersedes customary

land law. There are also laws to protect the rights of

women in marriage, child custody and inheritance, which

are being reviewed to address all the concerns of women.

Special efforts are also being made to increase the

enrolment of girls and women at all levels of education.

These are challenging times, especially for developing

countries. Yet, I believe there is a ray hope for building the

foundations of a more equitable and dynamic system of

international development cooperation through the smart

partnership approach of a “win-win” outcome for all

players. As we enter the new millennium, I wish to reiterate

our firm commitment to cooperating with others in

achieving the goals of the United Nations Charter,

particularly those relating to the promotion of economic

development and prosperity, peace and security and a better

world for present and future generations.

As we enter the century of globalization, let all

Governments ask the question: Are we globalizing

prosperity or are we globalizing poverty? Are we striving

for the kind of political correctness that eschews affluence

amid poverty or for that which manufactures euphemisms

for poverty, pretending it will go away? In a vivid cartoon

in 1965, Jules Feiffer portrayed the plight of the poor in

these words:

“I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I

wasn’t poor; I was needy. Then they told me it was

self-defeating to think of myself as needy; I was

deprived. Then they told me that underprivileged was

overused; I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a

dime. But I have a great vocabulary.”

That plight of the poor persists equally poignantly to

this day. We have spoken much; perhaps too much. The

archives of this Organization are bursting with studies and

ideas and reviews. Let us strive to do more and talk less

in the new century.