The Gambia, 2009

I would like first of all to

thank almighty Allah for granting us yet another

opportunity for a gathering of world leaders. My

delegation would like to thank President Obama, the

Government and people of the United States of

America, and the leadership of the United Nations for

their warm welcome and the facilities placed at our

disposal since our arrival.

Permit me also to congratulate Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann on his inspiring leadership and on

conducting the affairs of the sixty-third session so well.

By the same token, I extend warm felicitations to

Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at this important

sixty-fourth session. He has the full support of my

delegation. Our special thanks go to Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon for his stewardship and the commitment

he has shown to the welfare of humanity, particularly

of Africa.

“Effective responses to global crises:

strengthening multilateralism and dialogue among

civilizations for international peace, security and

development”, the theme adopted for this year’s

session, is indeed apt and relevant. It calls on every

nation, big or small, to adopt multilateralism and

dialogue in fostering international partnership on all

matters of common concern surrounding global peace

and development.

The complexities of today’s world are such that

no nation can successfully confront them alone. Some

issues cannot even be resolved by regional groups

acting independently. Much can be achieved only when

we all collaborate and work together within the

framework of multilateralism based on mutual

understanding, respect and, above all, sincerity, strong

commitment and universal justice under the same rule

of law and equity.

Our global body, the United Nations, has indeed

adopted countless resolutions, which, if implemented

to the letter, would have made this world a better place

for all humankind and indeed other creatures on our

planet. Unfortunately, there are some Member States

that block well-meaning resolutions necessary for the

maintenance of world peace and even question or

disregard with impunity resolutions adopted by this

body.

As long as this continues to be the order of the

day, the United Nations will remain united in name

only, unable to achieve in full the fundamental

objectives for which it was established. The modus

operandi of the Organization therefore needs urgent

reforms to ensure that such impunity is eliminated and

that the principle of equality among nation States,

irrespective of their geopolitical size, location,

economic circumstances, race or religion is

safeguarded. Double standards have no place in the

United Nations.

There cannot be peace and security in the absence

of justice for all. There cannot be justice in the face of

abject poverty characterized by hunger, starvation,

disease and a lack of basic social services as a result of

exploitation. There cannot be justice if there is

merciless exploitation, suppression and criminal

invasion of sovereign States. There cannot be peace if

there is no development as a result of marginalization,

injustice and racism. Unfortunately, injustice, racism,

merciless exploitation and marginalization, especially

as inflicted on developing nations by developed

nations, are the order of the day.

Africa and Africans are the poorest of the poor,

despite the fact that the African continent is the world’s

richest in terms of mineral and other natural resources.

The sad truth is that, despite the fact that the African

continent is the source of 90 per cent of the precious

minerals, gemstones and strategic raw materials for the

industrialized North, we Africans are the poorest of the

poor.

It is no fault of ours if we Africans are poor

today. This situation has been brought about by the

perennial invasions of the locusts and their permanent

presence in Africa. They devour 90 per cent of our

useful resources, from agricultural and mineral to flora

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and fauna. These locusts are present in all resource-rich

African countries today. This devastating permanent

invasion is exacerbated by another destructive

phenomenon — the permanent drought that affects all

African countries without exception. We cannot do

anything about these two deadly scourges of the

African continent. In the case of the locusts, they are

protected by a one-sided international treaty imposed

on all third-world countries, not only Africa. As for the

drought, it is even worse, since no irrigation system in

Africa can eradicate it.

The locusts I am talking about are the

multinational Western companies that exploit our

natural resources and agricultural produce, taking

95 per cent of their financial value and leaving us, the

owners of the resources, with 5 per cent or less at most.

Is it not interesting that, with respect to the mining of

African mineral resources, only four African countries

receive more than a 3 per cent royalty from these

multinational mining companies? The rest receive only

a 3 per cent royalty or even less. In the case of

petroleum exploitation, few African countries receive

above a 15 per cent royalty.

There is nothing African countries can do about

this because these locusts have an absolute monopoly

of the technologies used in the extractive industries.

The treaty that makes it impossible for us to do

anything about it is called globalization, which means

the exploitation of poor third-world countries’

resources by the rich first-world countries. With

regards to the drought — that is, the debt burden —

very few rich countries have cancelled the debt owed

them by third-world countries. This excruciating

burden of debt consumes 80 per cent of the 3 to 5 per

cent left by the multinational companies.

Our agricultural produce, such as tea, coffee and

cocoa, is bought at prices fixed by the buyers, in most

cases at an average price of less than $1 per kilo. The

same produce is then sold at more than $15 per kilo

when processed. Thus, for every kilogram of our

agricultural produce worth $15 on the Western market,

we get only $1. How can Africa develop and emerge

from this abject poverty?

African resources have been looted continuously

from the eleventh century to date. Everything in Africa

that the locusts set their eyes on is looted even today.

Even dead bodies have not been spared by the locusts.

Graves were and are being desecrated and human

bodies called mummies have been stolen from Africa.

In such a situation, where even Africans in their graves

are not spared by these rampaging locusts, who in his

right mind could expect us in Africa to develop and

become rich? In Africa, “R.I.P.” on a tombstone, which

normally means “Rest In Peace”, has never been

respected. “R.I.P.” really means “Respected If Poor” —

that is, the body in the tomb will rest only if it was not

buried with any precious jewellery.

The United Nations must come to the rescue of

Africa. Otherwise, we Africans stand ready to liberate

ourselves from this eternal bondage at any cost. From

now on, the African Union will work towards ensuring

that African nations and our farmers receive their

rightful share of our God-given natural and agricultural

resources. We will no longer accept less than 65 per

cent of the proceeds from our natural resources.

We Africans have been suffering for too long at

the hands of Westerners and we will put an end to this.

It is African sweat, blood, tears and natural resources

that have built the North throughout almost five

centuries of merciless and racist exploitation that

continues today. Enough is enough. Instead of being

respected, we are being called all sorts of names and

given all sorts of unsolicited titles — dictators, corrupt

leaders, failed States and even rogue States.

We, the new generation of African leaders, will

seek to put an end to this humiliating, degrading and

racist treatment by any means necessary. The world

will not live in peace and security as long as this

dehumanizing and racist status quo continues to prevail

with regard to the continent of Africa and to Africans.

We have been forced to endure this for far too long and

now we are going to put an end to it, as we have ended

apartheid in South Africa, by force if necessary. We

will defend our humanity, our dignity, our resources,

our interests and our culture from this moment

forward.

HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are killer

diseases. While I would like to reiterate my

delegation’s support for the work of the Global Fund in

fighting these diseases, I wish to call for concerted

efforts to mobilize resources to support international

research on traditional medicine and alternative disease

treatment programmes. These traditional systems are in

most instances more cost-effective, yet they have been

abandoned due to the sort of criticism that come from

multinationals threatened that certain traditional

29 09-52425

breakthroughs would be detrimental to their corporate

existence and interests. These multinationals value

their monetary gains more than human life. They

should not be allowed to hold humanity to ransom.

Their insatiable appetite for massive wealth at any cost

has pushed them to the point of blindness, insensitivity

to human suffering and the loss of human life in the

developing world, especially in Africa.

With regard to international peace and security,

my delegation calls once again for stronger and more

honest international cooperation and dialogue in

addressing conflict prevention, the peaceful resolution

of disputes and respect for the cultural values, norms

and ways of life of others. We must respect the fact that

humanity was created to be diverse, just as planet Earth

has different regions, each with its own diverse

climatic and ecological system. Therefore, there is

bound to be diversity in the colour of our skin,

diversity in the way we live and differences in our

beliefs. Diverse as we may be, we are part and parcel

of the one human family created by the one and only

God, Allah. If we accept the principle that we are all

human beings equal before the only God that created

us, and that differences in religion and skin colour do

not make one person less human than another, then we

will all live in perfect peace and harmony in this global

village called the world.

The problem is that some play God and believe

that, by virtue of the colour of their skin, they are

better than the rest of humanity and therefore should

dictate to them how they should live and how they

should worship God. They impose their value systems

on the rest of humanity. This unacceptable dictatorship

is the source of all the world’s major conflicts and a

contributing factor to persistent threats to world peace.

Racism is on the rise. Extremist hate-mongers are

increasing in number and rising in rank. Instead of

being condemned as criminals and terrorists, they are

labelled the far right, neo-Nazis or supremacists, and

tolerated and even encouraged by the same Powers that

would happily bomb them back to the Stone Age if

they were Muslim, black African or Asian. As long as

this status quo persists, peace and security will

continue to be an elusive dream as people, rich or poor,

Muslim or non-Muslim, black or Asian, are bound to

defend their human dignity at any price.

My delegation therefore calls for a united front

against this dictatorship of a few over the rest of

humanity. And in the interest of our collective security,

the United Nations should see to the total elimination

of racism and hatred in all their forms, whatever it

takes, so that we can bequeath to the generations of

humanity yet unborn a very peaceful and prosperous

world devoid of destitution, exploitation and

marginalization.

In this context, my delegation would like to see a

speedy resolution of the plight of the Palestinians. We

call on the State of Israel to accept and respect the

two-State solution that the international community has

so clearly articulated without preconditions. We also

urge the Security Council to ensure that its resolutions

are respected by all States and enforced to the letter

and spirit by the United Nations, and not to allow

certain States to choose not only to ignore these

resolutions, but to violate them with impunity, while

other States face drastic and devastating military action

if such resolutions are adopted against them and they

so much as ask for clarification.

The State of Israel has ignored and violated all

United Nations resolutions and conventions with

regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not only with

impunity, but also with the support and protection of

certain world Powers, while other countries have paid a

very high price merely for not having fully complied

with a Security Council resolution. The Council should

stop employing these unfortunate double standards.

The United Nations must not be turned into an “animal

farm”.

Secondly, there is also the lingering issue of the

Republic of China on Taiwan. My delegation holds the

position that Taiwan should be invited to participate in

all meetings and activities of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change and the

International Civil Aviation Organization, among other

bodies. Taiwan has a legitimate right to full

membership of all United Nations specialized agencies,

since even non-governmental organizations have either

full membership or observer status in those agencies.

Taiwan, a democratic State with a population of

23 million, is still being denied this fundamental

human right, which the United Nations is supposed to

uphold and protect in the first place.

My delegation also hereby calls on the United

Nations to urge the United States of America to

immediately and unconditionally lift its embargo on

Cuba, in accordance with the wishes of more than

09-52425 30

98 per cent of the membership of this body. That trade

embargo continues to hurt Cuban women and children.

The Cuban children born into those extreme hardships

have committed no crime. The punishment of women

and children because of political differences is a very

serious violation of their rights.

Thirdly, my delegation renews its full support for

the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Kingdom

of Morocco. On the question of the Moroccan Sahara,

we remain convinced that the proposal of the

Moroccan Government to grant substantive autonomy

to the Saharan region on the basis of the negotiations

initiated by the Security Council and conducted and

agreed by the parties would lead to a lasting and

peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Finally, my delegation has been following keenly,

but with deep dismay, the protracted negotiations on

reform of the Security Council and a seeming

connivance to prevent such reform. Africa would like

to see Council reform undertaken, with balanced

representation of all continents in the Council. My

delegation therefore urges the President of the General

Assembly to make more effort on the issue during the

sixty-fourth session and to ensure that the continent of

Africa has at least two permanent seats on the Security

Council with full veto powers; if it does not, any

resolution adopted by the Council will not be binding

on Africa or any African Union member State by the

end of 2010. Africa, a continent 10 times the size of

Europe, does not have a single permanent seat on the

Security Council, while Europe has more than one.

Africa has been subjected to discrimination,

marginalization, exploitation and humiliation for a very

long time. We Africans are no longer going to accept

that status quo. We will put an end to it very soon.

Members should take my words seriously.