Zambia, 1998

Let me start by

congratulating Mr. Didier Opertti on his election as

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session.

In the same breath, I thank his predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine, for the able manner in

which he conducted the work of the fifty-second session. I

also wish to express my delegation?s sincere appreciation to

our brother, the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi

Annan, for his wise leadership of the United Nations and

for his exceptional report on the work of the Organization.

We are gathered here once again to review the

international situation. The fifty-second session of the

Assembly had before it the document submitted by the

Secretary-General entitled “Renewing the United Nations:

a programme for reform”. The debate on that item was as

serious as it was animated. It became clear that the United

Nations in its present form is unable to respond to the

realities of the present world order, much less to the

exigencies of the new millennium. For the United Nations

to do so, it must reinvent itself, and become more

democratic, efficient and, of course, financially stable. This

would befit an Organization created to serve the demanding

needs of humankind through its impact on economic and

social development, especially in the developing countries.

Zambia would like to reiterate that the development

mandate of the United Nations must be given priority and

prominence in the reform process.

Furthermore, after the issue of reform was debated last

year, it was made clear that the critical financial situation

of the United Nations was itself a major stumbling block to

the Organization?s efforts not only to reform itself, but to

address the priorities it has set itself to accomplish. We

therefore reiterate our call for arrears owed to the United

Nations to be paid in full, on time and without

preconditions.

The reform of the Security Council is without doubt

the core issue which must be addressed, with a view to

making the Council more democratic. Essentially, the

Council must be enlarged to enhance its credibility and at

the same time to reflect the universal character of the

United Nations; this would remove the imbalances that

characterize the present composition of the Council. To

this end, the Zambian delegation wishes to reiterate the

call made at the twelfth Summit of the Countries of the

Non-Aligned Movement, held in Durban, in neighbouring

South Africa, that expansion of the Security Council

should be by no less than 11 new seats, based on the

principle of equitable geographical distribution and, of

course, bearing in mind the sovereign equality of Member

States.

Zambia further reiterates its support for the demand

that the regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America and

the Caribbean should now have permanent seats on an

expanded Security Council.

With specific regard to Africa, my delegation wishes

to reaffirm the decision taken at the summit of heads of

State of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in

Harare in 1997 that five seats, of which two permanent,

should be allocated to the African continent and that, in

a 26-member Security Council, the African seats should

be rotated in accordance with the agreed criteria of the

African Group. My delegation further wishes to reiterate

the common view that the veto power in the Security

Council is a mere anachronism. It must be restricted and

ultimately eliminated.

In the field of international peace and security, the

need for disarmament in all its aspects is as urgent as

ever. To be sure, the lure of nuclear-weapons possession

has become even stronger and the use of conventional

weapons, particularly small arms, is prevalent in the

world today.

To put an end to nuclear-weapons proliferation, the

nuclear-weapon States have a major responsibility to lead

the international community towards nuclear disarmament,

particularly in the Conference on Disarmament. The

Conference must establish an ad hoc committee to begin

negotiations on a phased programme for the complete

elimination of nuclear weapons within a specified time-

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frame. The nuclear-weapon States should also lead the

international community in sustained efforts to conclude a

nuclear weapons convention.

Furthermore, Zambia believes that the time is now

overdue for the convening of the fourth special session of

the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, which

would offer an opportunity for a thorough review and

assessment of the implementation of the provisions of the

Final Document of the first special session of the General

Assembly devoted to disarmament, held in 1978.

Allow me at this juncture to turn to the situation in

our region, with specific reference to the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, Angola and, of course, Lesotho.

With regard to the situation in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, I want to confirm that Zambia,

through its President, Mr. Frederick Chiluba, has been

actively involved in the search by all regional leaders for a

lasting and peaceful solution. The leaders of the Southern

African Development Community (SADC), under the able

leadership of President Mandela of South Africa and other

regional leaders, have done a commendable job in this

regard — of course, under very difficult circumstances.

As we are all well aware, the maintenance of

international peace and security is the primary responsibility

of no other body than this Organization and its Security

Council. There is no doubt, therefore, that the situation in

the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, if

unresolved, could pose a threat not only to the region, but

also to international peace and security. The mediation

efforts of SADC and other regional leaders therefore

deserve the support of the international community in order

to forestall the threat to international peace and security

which the crisis poses.

The situation in Angola has continued to worsen,

despite the patience and efforts of the international

community to bring Africa?s oldest civil war to an end.

Zambia, as a neighbouring country and as host to the peace

talks which finally resulted in the signing of the Lusaka

Protocol in November 1994, is extremely concerned about

the regression in the Angolan peace process. While the

anger and disappointment of the international community

are understandable and justified, it would not be advisable

for us, at this moment, to abandon the peace process in

Angola. We have come this far after long and painstaking

efforts and invested a great amount of resources in the

Angolan peace process. We cannot afford now to abandon

the Angolan people, who have suffered so much and whose

hopes were pinned on the Lusaka Protocol. We hope,

therefore, that in spite of the setbacks, the international

community, through this body, will reassert its authority

and use its immense wisdom to put the Angolan peace

process back on track.

Zambia wishes to recognize the very noble and

professional efforts of our brother, the late Alioune

Blondin Beye, in this process. He died without seeing his

efforts result in peace and stability in Angola. May his

soul rest in peace. It is important, however, to ensure that

his efforts were not in vain by working harder ultimately

to bring durable peace to Angola.

My country is also concerned about recent

developments in Lesotho. As a member of SADC,

Zambia is fully in support of the role which that

organization is playing in trying to bring about a peaceful

settlement. In this regard, we wish to appeal to the

international community to give necessary support to the

SADC efforts, spearheaded by Botswana, Mozambique,

South Africa and Zimbabwe.

It is now common knowledge that Africa as a whole

has begun to make significant economic and political

progress in recent years. However, in many parts of the

continent, progress remains threatened or, indeed,

impeded by conflict. United Nations records show that,

since 1970, more than 30 wars have been fought in Africa

alone, the vast majority of them intra-State in origin.

In this regard, my delegation wishes once again to

congratulate our brother, Secretary-General Kofi Annan,

for his excellent report to the Security Council last April

on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable

peace and sustainable development in Africa, which is

essentially a blueprint for resolving Africa?s numerous

and complex woes by charting a course for peace and

development.

In the area of peacekeeping, Africa has already put

in place the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention,

Management and Resolution to resolve its own conflicts

on the continent. We salute the efforts of Mr. Salim

Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General of the OAU, in this

direction. We urge the international community and the

General Assembly to support the Mechanism in order for

it to function effectively and to the benefit of Africa.

The spectre of international terrorism has assumed a

dangerous momentum of its own. It does not discriminate

between combatants and non-combatants. The brunt of it

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all is in fact borne more by innocent bystanders. The acts

of terrorism that rocked our sister republics of Kenya,

Tanzania and South Africa, and the subsequent retaliatory

action on Sudan and Afghanistan, have struck a cord in all

of us, without exception. At issue is the unnecessary loss of

human life. To protect human life, the international

community should seriously address itself to the root causes

of terrorism. The hour has now come for the full

implementation of the General Assembly Declaration on

Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism contained in

resolution 49/60, and the International Convention for the

Suppression of Terrorist Bombings adopted at the fifty-

second session. This Assembly must waste no time in its

urgent conclusion and effective implementation of a

comprehensive international convention on combating

terrorism.

We are happy to note that the United Nations

Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the

Establishment of an International Criminal Court, which

was held in Rome, Italy, this year, adopted the Court?s

Statute. This is a powerful instrument of justice that the

international community has given to itself and generations

to come. My delegation is pleased that the crime of

aggression falls within the jurisdiction of the Court,

although the Court shall only have jurisdiction over the

crime once a definition and the conditions under which the

Court shall do its work are agreed upon. In this regard, we

look forward to a quick resolution of this matter, since

resolution 3314 (XXIX) contains most of the elements for

definition of the crime of aggression.

Considering what the world has witnessed in our sister

republic of Rwanda and in the former Yugoslavia, we

welcome the inclusion, under war crimes, of cases of armed

conflict not of an international character.

Let me now, on behalf of my delegation, turn to the

world economy, which is becoming more integrated.

Globalization and liberalization are indeed the current

economic wave, and will continue in years to come. They

have, however, far-reaching implications, in particular for

the developing countries, as reflected in the current

international financial confusion or turmoil. The United

Nations faces the great challenge of coming up with

initiatives to manage globalization and liberalization in such

a manner that they benefit the entire community of nations,

without exception. Processes of globalization and

liberalization that undermine development are not in the

interests of the international community.

The external debt problem is yet another issue that

impacts negatively on the economic and social

development of many developing countries, Zambia

included. We can recall a number of initiatives put in

place to resolve this particular problem, but so far none

seem to be effective, including the present Heavily

Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative, which

not only has targeted too few developing countries but

also has a long transition period before eligibility is

granted.

It would, however, be a grave oversight to fail to

acknowledge the commendable efforts of our brother, the

Secretary-General, in this area. Zambia welcomes the

uniform and strong endorsement by the Development

Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development of the Secretary-General?s

proposals to liberalize and assess the Heavily Indebted

Poor Countries Debt Initiative and convert all remaining

official debt owed by the poorest African countries,

Zambia included, into grants. We also welcome his other

proposals which received similar endorsement by the

Development Assistance Committee.

Adverse weather patterns continue to bring into

sharp focus how fragile the global environment is. The

recent destruction of life and property by Hurricane

Georges in some countries of the Caribbean and four

States in the United States of America adds to the ravages

of flooding in China and Bangladesh this year. This

Assembly will recall that a year earlier Europe faced

similar flooding, while certain parts of Eastern and

Southern Africa faced a combination of flooding and

drought. All these are reminders to the international

community to meet the challenges caused by climate

change and other adverse environmental factors and we

reiterate our call to the international community to

promote environmental sustainability with renewed

commitment.

Transnational deflationary forces are threatening

global economic stability. In this uncertain outlook, the

fortunes of many countries are under constant threat. For

Africa, which is just emerging from the lost decade of the

1980s, the emerging global economic turmoil will add

new strains to the process of promoting economic growth

and development. Indeed, it is already clear that concern

about the emerging global economic turmoil neglects the

challenges facing Africa, as if to reaffirm its

marginalization in the world economy.

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In a spirit of interdependence, we in Africa call upon

the international community not to overlook and forget the

challenges of Africa. Africa needs a conducive international

environment that will contribute to resolving the continent?s

external debt crisis, growing poverty, slow export growth

and other impediments to its development.

In this regard, we are pleased to note that Japan will

soon be convening the Second Tokyo International

Conference on African Development. We salute Japan. And

we hope this forum will offer an opportunity to relaunch

the dialogue on African development.

Zambia, like many other developing countries, has

been implementing a very painful structural adjustment

programme anchored on macroeconomic stabilization,

privatization and, of course, commercialization. The policies

we have undertaken have been critical to boosting and

sustaining economic growth and development. Over the past

few years Zambia has undergone a remarkable

transformation. We have an open economy driven by the

private sector. In the second generation of economic

reforms that we are embarking upon our major focus is on

the reduction of poverty by 50 per cent by the year 2004.

We invite the international community to come and play a

role in our economic programme.

Let me conclude by stating that Zambia believes that,

as we stand on the threshold of the new millennium, we all

have a collective responsibility in this community of nations

to chart a new course to strengthen our Organization. We

need a strong United Nations to meet the exacting demands

of the future. By strengthening it, we all strengthen

ourselves. Zambia pledges to be a positive partner in this

noble endeavour.

I thank the Assembly for listening to me. I thank those

representatives — most of those present — who nodded

their heads in appreciation. I thank my brothers and sisters

from the Southern African Development Community

(SADC) for being with me.