The Gambia, 2013

We praise the almighty Allah

for making possible yet again this gathering of world

leaders. I would like to congratulate President Ashe

on his election to preside over the General Assembly

at its sixty-eighth session. His impeccable credentials

and extensive experience in multilateralism will

undoubtedly enrich the debates and proceedings of this

session. He has the full support of my delegation. In the

same vein, I wish also to pay tribute to his predecessor,

Mr. Vuk Jeremi., for his sterling leadership during

the sixty-seventh session. Our special thanks go to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his stewardship

and for the commitment he has manifested to the

welfare of humanity, particularly of the third world.

I take this opportunity also to convey our heartfelt

condolences to the President, the Government and the

people of Kenya, who have suffered one of the most

heinous crimes against humanity. Our hearts go out to

the families of the victims. This is a clear manifestation

of the fact that terrorism in all its forms cannot be

accepted. This also has nothing to do with our noble

religion, Islam.

As we gather for the sixty-eighth session of the

Assembly, we must pause and take stock of our collective

record in responding to the many different global

challenges with which mankind has had to grapple. Our

global body, the United Nations, has indeed adopted

countless resolutions, which, if implemented to the

letter, would have made the world a much better place

for the whole of mankind and, indeed, for all other

creatures on our planet.

Unfortunately, some Member States continue to

disregard resolutions necessary for the maintenance

of world peace and even question or disregard with

impunity resolutions adopted by the Assembly. The

United Nations continues to be incapacitated as a

result. This certainly calls for an assessment of its

strengths and weaknesses, with a view to rendering

it more effective. Civil strife and terrorism caused

by the negative behaviour of some world Powers are

undermining human security and even the viability

of States. Poverty, hunger and disease still decimate

countless communities, while our capacity to respond

to these man-made humanitarian crises remains

discriminatory and inadequate.

This is demonstrated yet again in the case of Syria.

We believe that this Organization was established in

the first place to find lasting solutions for peace and the

protection of human life. Informed and honest decisions

should be made instead of those driven by the interests of

a few self-appointed gods, thereby causing irreparable

damage to the social fabric and economies of countries

in conflict. My Government supports the view that the

regional organizations in the Middle East should take

the lead in the negotiations towards the resolution of

the crisis in Syria. The tragedy unfolding in Syria has

become a scar on our conscience as civilized people,

and that war must be stopped by any means necessary.

All that we hear is the talk about chemical weapons

and the need to ensure that they are not used by anyone.

This does not make any sense as long as this barbaric

war lasts. Whether or not chemical weapons are used,

thousands of people will continue to die in the most

horrific manner. It is the same horrific and senseless

death in both cases, and our duty is not to choose which

form of death is acceptable and which not. Our duty is

to stop the senseless and barbaric killings in Syria. We,

the United Nations, must end that war immediately;

otherwise the people of Syria will continue to perish at

the hands of satanic and sadistic forces. The Security

Council and all the Powers behind the war in Syria

must not only prevent the use of chemical weapons but

must also bring this brutal war to an immediate end

without preconditions. The Syrian war must be stopped

and stopped now.

The 2013 report on Africa’s performance towards

achieving the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) reveals mixed results. Africa’s substantial

progress towards many goals, targets and indicators

is beyond doubt, but serious challenges still remain,

especially in translating economic growth into decent

job opportunities, improving service delivery and

minimizing income, gender and spatial inequalities.

Violent conflicts and economic shocks in some

countries, as well as unprecedented natural disasters

over the decade induced by climate change, have

caused setbacks in the achievement of the MDGs in

many countries.

Despite such challenges, some African countries,

and the Gambia in particular, are making impressive

gains towards some of the established goals. My

Government is on track to achieve the education MDG

target for net enrolment in primary education and

literacy rate among the population aged between 15

and 24 years. My Government has made serious and

informed policy reviews to prioritize basic primary

education, while expanding access to secondary, higher

and tertiary education, with an emphasis on improving

quality in all areas. We are working diligently to ensure

that the gender disparity gap in enrolment is closed by

2014 and to provide free education and an equitable

chance for all to be literate by 2015 and beyond.

We must ensure that the post-2015 development

agenda builds on the important progress of the

MDGs and is expanded to cover broader sustainable

development issues, as agreed in Rio. Therefore, the

choice of the theme for this session, “The post-2015

development agenda: setting the stage”, is indeed apt,

timely and thought-provoking. Clear, time-bound,

targeted and measurable global benchmarks are crucial

if we are to realize our desired objective.

Protecting African livelihoods requires

international, regional and country approaches

that recognize and act on the overlap of conflicts

orchestrated by foreign Powers and severe weather

hazards. The Gambia firmly believes that mitigating

the adverse effects of climate change and putting an

immediate end to the massive looting of African natural

resources by Western multinational companies call for

a timely and decisive global response. It is a challenge

that should unite us, not divide us. The Gambia is of

the firm opinion that Africa should play an active role

in shaping the goals based on its own development

priorities and common interests.

The greatest threats to human existence are basically

three and are a consequence of human behaviours which

are ungodly attributes. They are: excessive greed, and

therefore addiction to accumulating material wealth

by any means, mostly through violent or immoral

schemes; an obsession with world domination by any

means, including the resolve to use nuclear, biological

and chemical weapons to achieve that fanciful dream;

and homosexuality in all its forms and manifestations,

which, though very evil, anti-human and anti-Allah, is

being promoted as a human right by some Powers.

None of the three threats, which are more deadly

than all natural disasters put together, has anything

to do with climate change. The first led not only

to colonization and the plundering of African and

Asian human and material resources but also to two

devastating wars among the Western Powers, which

were unfortunately wrongly termed “world” wars.

Colonialism was maintained by subjugation and

massive looting of resources in the colonies, leading

to the impoverishment and destitution of hundreds of

millions of colonial subjects.

From the thirteenth century until the middle part

of the twentieth century, the notions of human rights,

good governance and democracy were philosophies

forbidden to Africans. Any African under a colonial

Government who advocated for them ended up either

at the gallows, in a mass grave or rotting in colonialist-

built dungeons called prisons. This was during the

colonial era, when the African continent was treated

like an abandoned game park and Africans were treated

worse than animals.

Today, after fighting for our freedom and

liberating our continent, we are being prescribed a

new religion — democracy, human rights and good

governance — by descendants of the same colonial

Powers. Present-day Africans cannot be hoodwinked

by anyone, any more, and we are determined to defend

our independence and dignity, and to take control of

our own natural resources at any cost and by any means

necessary.

In regard to the second threat, the obsession with

world domination, we are seeing the unprecedented

development of deadly nuclear, biological and chemical

weapons, as well as other weapons of mass murder, by

the same Powers. We all agree that all forms of human

tragedy and catastrophe emanate from the West. They

have spent more money on killer technologies than on

medical and agricultural technology up to today. If they

unleash a third world war, God forbid, that would put an

end to human existence on planet Earth, including the

United Nations itself.

As for the third threat, we know for a fact that all

living things need to reproduce for posterity. They

become extinct when they can no longer reproduce.

Therefore, the Assembly will all agree with me that

any person promoting the end of human reproduction

must be promoting human extinction. Could it be called

promoting human rights when one advocates for a

definitive end to human reproduction and procreation?

Those who promote homosexuality want to put an

end to human existence. It is becoming an epidemic,

and we Muslims and Africans will fight against such

behaviour in our countries. We will never accept it. We

want a brighter future for humankind and the continued

existence of humankind on the planet; therefore, we

will never tolerate any agenda that clearly calls for

human extinction.

Peace and security are inextricably linked to

development. The Gambia continues to abide by

and live by that principle, which has warranted

my Government’s relentless commitment to peace

initiatives under the auspices of the African Union and

the Economic Community of West African States, one

of which successfully culminated in a democratically

elected Government in Mali a few weeks ago. I seize

the opportunity, therefore, to congratulate the brotherly

people of Mali for giving peace a chance by electing a

Government through democratic means.

With more concerted efforts through consultations

and dialogue, we shall also soon witness a lasting

solution to the political impasse in Guinea-Bissau. I am

also happy with the work currently being undertaken by

the African Union High-Level Panel for Egypt, which

seeks to achieve an inclusive and peaceful transition

through dialogue, compromise, reconciliation and

tolerance. My Government will continue to use its

membership in the Peace and Security Council of the

African Union to propose peaceful measures that will

facilitate enhanced engagements aimed at achieving the

desired results in our common quest for lasting stability

in the African continent.

However, the present trends across the world cast

serious doubts about the effectiveness of the conflict

-prevention and management mechanisms adopted

by regional organizations and, most importantly,

the United Nations. Instead of acting as an effective

mechanism for conflict prevention and resolution, as

well as advancing global security, the Security Council

has become a barrier to progress, peace and security

in some instances where lopsided decisions can only

be classified as racist and misguided and therefore

unacceptable.

Africa’s legitimate quest for full representation on

the Security Council continues to be a strong warning

that needs to be urgently heeded. International peace

and security are the business of all, and Africa, a

continent whose resources, ranging from material to

human, have helped to bail the West out of poverty to

reach affluence from the thirteenth century up until

today, cannot be expected to continue to play second

fiddle in the Security Council or in any international

organization from now on. The Gambia remains resolute

in its stance that the permanent and non-permanent

membership categories of the Security Council should

be equitably distributed regionally and expanded to

conform to current geopolitical realities. The Gambia

stands by Africa’s demand for two permanent seats as

well as two non-permanent seats, as clearly articulated

in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

How long will the international community

continue to ignore the legitimate right and aspirations

of a continent of 53 States, all members of the General

Assembly? The calls have been very loud and very

clear, but some Western Powers continue to ignore

them. That must end, or the Assembly will see a very

dignified, determined and independent Africa assert its

legitimate rights worldwide in its own way.

My delegation strongly condemns the application of

unilateral and degrading coercive measures as a means

of settling disputes. Such measures have an adverse

impact on the lives of innocent people, who lack any

means of defending their legitimate sovereignty in the

face of massive military might. We find the continued

application of such measures against the peace-loving

people of Cuba to be inhumane and unjust and a

blatant violation of the basic human rights tenets of

the Charter of the United Nations, which, ironically,

were promulgated to prevent such behaviour in the first

place.

It is in that spirit that the Gambia shares the

views expressed by the international community in its

continued unequivocal opposition to the United States

of America’s sanctions against Cuba. The embargo

against Cuba contravenes the fundamental principles

of international law, international humanitarian law,

the Charter of the United Nations and the norms and

principles governing peaceful relations among States,

violating the sovereign equality of States and the

principles of non-intervention and non-interference

in the domestic affairs of other Member States. The

embargo has no legitimate or moral justification, given

the fact that it continues to undermine the fundamental

basic rights to economic emancipation and the

development aspirations of the Cuban people. As a

responsible member of the international community,

the Gambia therefore joins other Member States in

calling for the immediate repeal of laws, measures or

policies that impede the free flow of international trade

and navigation against Cuba.

We also reiterate our call for a serious and decisive

reassessment of our policy towards the Republic

of China on Taiwan. The concerns of the 23 million

hard-working and peace-loving people of that great

country continue to be ignored. The Republic of China

on Taiwan has a democratically elected Government,

which is the only legitimate Government that defends

the interests of the people of Taiwan in the conduct of

world affairs and in its many serious interactions with

each and every nation of the world. The Taiwanese

people have the same concerns as all of us with regard

to global problems. Yet they are not a member of the

vital organs of the global body to contribute their share

in the search for solutions to those problems.

The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory

remains pathetic as a result of decades of collective

punishment, fraught with the glaringly degrading

and inhumane treatment of innocent civilians and

the gross denial of access to humanitarian assistance

and basic services, and essential medical supplies and

construction materials, which has become the daily

rule rather than the exception for the Palestinians. The

pattern and frequency of those human rights abuses, as

well as the disproportionate use of force perpetrated by

the occupying Power, continues unabated.

The Gambia is of the conviction that the ongoing

seizure of Palestinian lands and properties to make way

for illegal settlement activity is morally and politically

unacceptable. Such uncalled-for behaviour on the part

of Israel is in blatant disregard for international law

and casts serious doubt on Israel’s intention to seek

genuine and lasting peace with its brothers and sisters,

the Palestinian people. How can the international

community and the United Nations continue to watch

such glaring injustice and protracted human rights

abuses in silence, without feeling an iota of guilt for not

taking bold and appropriate steps to bring them to an

end? How long should we allow such blatant disregard

for international law to continue unpunished?

While we welcome the resumption of peace talks

between Israel and Palestine, we hope that this time

around the brokers will be decent and honest enough

to ensure that both sides are genuinely committed to

a two-State solution that would eventually usher in

permanent peace and security in the Middle East and

beyond.

We live in a world of new and evolving

threats — threats that could not have been anticipated

when the United Nations was founded in 1945. Unilateral

bullying and the criminal invasion of resource-endowed

sovereign States under the pretext of strengthening

democratization, combined with terrorism, organized

crime, poverty and disease, will remain a serious threat

to global peace and security unless appropriate steps

are taken to eradicate them. Meeting such challenges

today calls for sincerity and honesty to mount well-

coordinated and concerted global efforts.

The Gambia firmly believes that socioeconomic

development and respect for the sovereign rights

of countries to control their own natural resources,

especially minerals, should be the collective line

of defence for a collective global security system

that takes the sovereignty of each nation seriously.

Combating poverty will not only save millions of

lives but also strengthen States’ capacities to combat

terrorism, organized crime and intra-State conflict.

We need renewed and genuine global partnerships and

commitments that are binding and based on respect for

the sovereign right of each individual State to choose

a way of life that is based on its religious and cultural

values, as no administrative system is better than the

way prescribed by the almighty Allah.

It is also necessary to increase the credibility and

effectiveness of the Security Council by making sure

that selective justice is abandoned and rejected by

all Members of the United Nations family. From all

indications, there is an imperative need to inject new

ideas and impetus into the Security Council and to

expand its membership to reflect current geopolitical

realities. Moreover, respect for the principle of equal

sovereign rights of peoples and the need to promote and

respect peaceful relations among all States, rich or poor,

black or white, should be the overriding considerations

for the peaceful coexistence of Member States — that

is, if 2015 and beyond is to bequeath a peaceful and

prosperous world to future generations of the human

race.