Zimbabwe, 1993

Allow me to begin by

congratulating you, Your Excellency Ambassador Samuel

Insanally of the Republic of Guyana, upon your election to

the presidency of the General Assembly for this forty-eighth

session. Your well-known diplomatic skills and your

country’s long-established positions of principle augur well

for the successful conduct of the work of this session.

I also wish to pay tribute to His Excellency Mr. Stoyan

Ganev of Bulgaria for the able manner in which he steered

the work of the Assembly during a particularly challenging

forty-seventh session.

May I also take this opportunity to say a special word

of congratulations to the Secretary-General, His Excellency

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, on his outstanding stewardship

of the United Nations during these critical times, when the

world body is increasingly being called upon to respond

promptly and effectively to complex situations all over the

world.

As the fiftieth anniversary of our Organization

approaches, there is great merit in our taking stock of what

the United Nations has achieved in the maintenance of peace

and security and in fostering international cooperation for

development. It is also our duty at this session to explore

ways and means of further strengthening this body so that it

is better equipped to fulfil its purposes and principles as

enshrined in the Charter.

The admission of new States to the community of

nations upholds the principle of universality that we so much

cherish. In this connection, it is important for us to take

note of and applaud the historic agreement that has been

signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization,

which heralds a period of peace after more than four decades

of bitter and destructive fighting. It is our hope that one day

the State of Palestine will earn its deserved place as a

Member of this Organization. We would, at the same time,

like to pay tribute to those countries and organizations that

were instrumental in bringing the negotiations to a fruitful

conclusion.

The fact that the membership of this Organization has

increased dramatically to 184 surely suggests an urgent need

to restructure it so that it serves the world community better

in the vastly changed circumstances. The end of the cold-

war era has finally placed the United Nations at centre stage

of international affairs for the maintenance of peace and

security and the strengthening of international cooperation in

social and economic development.

However, the arrangements made for the maintenance

of international peace and security need a thorough review.

At a time when great emphasis is being placed on the

principle of democracy at the national level, there is no valid

reason for not extending the same principle to the sphere of

international relations.

The principle of sovereign equality among States is an

important provision of the Charter. The General Assembly

and its style of work represent the embodiment of this

important principle. It is the only organ that enjoys

universality of membership; therefore, its relationship with

other organs of the Organization should reflect this pre-

eminent status. Consequently, in the revitalization and

restructuring process, the end product should be a

reinvigorated General Assembly capable of asserting itself in

its relationship with other organs of the United Nations.

The Security Council is assigned by the Charter the

primary responsibility for the maintenance of international

peace and security. The recent proliferation of situations of

conflict, instability and tension around the globe calls for

greater participation and involvement of the general

membership in the workings of the Council. There is

therefore need to adjust its membership, structure and

methods of work to reflect the changes which have occurred

in international relations since 1945.

The first obvious change in our Organization is the

dramatic increase in its membership. Consequently, the ratio

between the General Assembly and the Security Council has

progressively declined from 5 to 1 in 1945, through 8 to 1

in 1965, to 12 to 1 in 1993. Clearly, the Security Council

has become less representative and needs to be enlarged.

The second change relates to the configuration of power

in political, economic and military terms which created the

notion of permanent membership and the veto in the

Council. Present realities dictate that the privileges enjoyed

by the permanent members of the Security Council be

modified and that the composition of the Council be altered,

but with due regard to the provisions of Article 23,

paragraph, 1 of the Charter, which accords due importance

to

"the contribution of Members of the United Nations to

the maintenance of international peace and security and

to the other purposes of the Organization",

subject, of course, to membership that is democratically

elected and fully accountable to the total membership of the

Organization on whose behalf the Security Council acts. It

will take time to negotiate and put the changes in place.

However, in the intervening period there is nothing to

prevent the Organization from implementing interim

measures which may go some distance towards redressing

the present discrepancies.

The mere expansion of the membership of the Security

Council will not amount to much for Africa, Latin America

and Asia unless the question of equitable geographic

distribution is adequately addressed. At present, these three

regions are grossly underrepresented, in terms of both non-

permanent and permanent members. Africa and Latin

America do not even wield a single veto, whereas the Group

of Western European and Other States, and Eastern Europe,

now wield four of the five vetoes in the Council. Moreover,

the Group of Western European and Other States, and

Eastern Europe, are allocated 7 of the 15 seats, leaving

Africa, Asia and Latin America to share the remaining 8, an

arrangement that is totally inequitable and therefore

unacceptable.

It is clear that the Security Council, through a liberal

interpretation of the concept of international peace and

security, has encroached on the jurisdiction of other organs

in the system. We are concerned by the apparent impression

often created by the Council that majority votes in the

Council constitute international law, regardless of the

provisions of the Charter and other relevant international

statutes.

The Security Council acts on behalf of the entire United

Nations membership. Therefore, any tendencies or practices

that may be interpreted as contradicting the norms and

principles of transparency, accountability and democracy

should be avoided. To this end, we should evolve a system

that would ensure more participation by interested Member

States that are not members of the Security Council. This

will make it possible for such Members to have a

meaningful input during the informal meetings of the

Security Council. It is also desirable that the Council keep

the general membership well informed regarding the stage

and nature of discussions and negotiations undertaken.

If we have addressed ourselves at some length to the

issue of the Security Council it is because the responsibilities

it shoulders have manifestly increased in number and

complexity. It is our view that only through a process of

internal institutional reform, which we believe is long

overdue, can the moral authority and effectiveness of the

Forty-eighth session - 28 September l993 3

Security Council in discharging its mandate be enhanced and

acknowledged. It is our hope that the current negotiations

on this matter will be successfully concluded to coincide

with the celebrations marking the fiftieth anniversary of the

founding of the United Nations in 1995.

I now turn to the vital role of the Assembly as the

central and universal forum for deliberation. Africa fully

supports the efforts under way to revitalize and rationalize

the work of the General Assembly. We believe that the

exercise must be comprehensive, taking into account the

expanded membership of the world body as well as the

principle of sovereign equality of all States. The reform

process must also fully address the need for the other

principal organs of the United Nations system to report to

the General Assembly, as provided in the Charter.

As I have already noted, the tasks facing the United

Nations today have increased with the unprecedented

mushrooming of peace-keeping operations all over the world.

Bitter armed conflicts continue to ravage lives and destroy

property, stretching the much-needed administrative and

financial resources of the Organization to the limit. Let us

therefore redouble our efforts in support of the increased

commitment and responsibilities of our Organization.

The recent successes of the United Nations in bringing

peace to Cambodia, El Salvador and Haiti and in facilitating

the referendum in Eritrea are testimony to what can be

achieved by our Organization acting in a concerted manner.

It is in this context that we particularly welcome the

Secretary-General’s proposals in his report "An Agenda for

Peace", relating to cooperation between the United Nations

and regional organizations in resolving conflicts, in

peacemaking as well as peace building. We in Africa have

taken a positive step in this direction. At the thirtieth

summit meeting of the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU),

held at Cairo in June this year, we adopted a mechanism

whose primary objective is the anticipation and prevention

of conflicts. Its mandate will be guided by the principles of

the OAU Charter, in particular the sovereign equality of

States. Where conflicts have already occurred, the function

of this mechanism will be peacemaking and peace building.

Even with our meagre resources, we are proud to say that

Africa has already established a Special Fund to support

OAU activities in conflict prevention and settlement.

In southern Africa we continue to be bedeviled by

conflicts in Angola, Mozambique and South Africa. In

Mozambique, however, we welcome the recent talks between

President Chissano and RENAMO leader Afondo Dhlakama,

which have cleared some of the major obstacles to the peace

process. We therefore urge the United Nations to continue

its efforts to put the peace process back on schedule to

enable elections to be held in October 1994.

In Angola we are gravely concerned at the continued

escalation of fighting between UNITA and the legitimate

MPLA Government. This has caused untold loss of life and

property. We believe that the efforts of the United Nations

and the OAU should be aimed at achieving a cease-fire

between the two warring parties and creating favourable

circumstances for the deployment of United Nations peace-

keeping operations while negotiations for peace take place.

UNITA should accept the results of the September 1992

democratic elections, which were declared free and fair by

international observers, including the United Nations.

On South Africa, we applaud and support the current

negotiations to bring about democratic change in that

country, particularly the recent agreement regarding the

future, and indeed ongoing, establishment of the Transitional

Executive Council. We are, however, dismayed to note the

intensification of violence and the withdrawal of the Inkatha

Freedom Party and the white conservatives from the

negotiations. These actions threaten the smooth progress

towards the goal of democratic elections currently set for

April 1994. We therefore urge the two parties to return to

the negotiating table, as this is the only way forward. The

United Nations should also seriously consider a more active

role in the prevention of violence.

The President of the African National Congress (ANC)

has appealed to the United Nations for the ending of

sanctions against South Africa, and we are glad that there

has been response from a number of countries to that appeal.

Zimbabwe fully supports the appeal, and we are glad that a

stage has now been reached when we can judge the process

to be more or less irreversible.

In Somalia we commend the efforts of the United

Nations in the difficult mission to restore normalcy to that

tortured country. In Liberia and Rwanda, while peace has

remained elusive, we are glad that current OAU and United

Nations efforts to resolve the crises have begun to bear fruit.

It is our hope that recent positive developments on the long-

standing question of Western Sahara will result in a just and

equitable settlement. The untiring efforts of the Secretary-

General and the United Nations in seeking lasting solutions

to these conflicts on our continent and elsewhere,

particularly those emanating from the disintegration of the

former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union, deserve our

unqualified support.

4 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

As equal members of this family of nations, we believe

that peace-keeping, peace-building and peacemaking must

not be the preserve of a few economically or politically

powerful countries. We stand ready to cooperate with the

international community in seeking solutions to the many

problems facing the world today, by participating in peace-

keeping operations or mediation efforts, or by providing any

facilities or expertise at our disposal. However, unless all

Member States commit themselves to timely payments of

their assessed contributions for these efforts, some countries

will find continued participation difficult.

We are fully aware that issues involving violent

disputes or armed conflicts are not the only concerns of the

international community. Other issues, such as trade and

economic growth, as well as international cooperation for

development, are matters of primary concern. We note with

concern from the World Economic Survey, 1993 that for the

third year in succession the rate of growth of world output

in 1993 will be below that of world population. It is also

evident from the Survey that the end of the East-West

ideological divide has not brought with it a commensurate

narrowing of the economic disparities between North and

South. Instead, these disparities have become more

pronounced than ever before.

The problems confronting the developing countries

today are manifold. Terms of trade continue to deteriorate,

as high prices of imported manufactured goods and rising

protectionism in developed countries become the order of the

day. The socio-economic crisis in the developing countries

has been further exacerbated by the crippling burden of debt.

The flows of official development assistance, upon which

they are dependent, has declined in recent years, while direct

investment has constituted only a marginal percentage of all

inflows to these countries, particularly those in Africa.

In Africa, the least developed and most marginalized of

all the world’s regions, the majority of countries are

undertaking economic reform measures. They have made

great sacrifices and encountered untold difficulties in

implementing these reforms. In southern and eastern Africa

in particular, the capacity to implement and keep these

economic reforms on course was further undermined by the

devastating drought which swept the region in 1991-1992.

Yet these countries have continued to demonstrate their

commitment to the reforms aimed at improving the standard

of living of their people.

Our sacrifices alone are not enough to ensure the

success of our economic reform programmes. In this regard,

we must once again reiterate the imperative need for an open

and equitable international trading system and the provision

of adequate financial resources. We therefore call for an

early conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade

Negotiations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

(GATT). We also call again on the developed countries to

achieve without further delay the target of 0.7 per cent of

their gross national product for official development

assistance that was set over 24 years ago by this very

Assembly.

Africa’s economic and social progress in general, and

in the context of the implementation of the New Agenda for

the Development of Africa in the 1990s in particular, will

remain severely hampered as long as the continent’s debt

burden continues to be as acute as it is today. Standing at

close to $290 billion at the end of 1992, the continent’s debt

is equivalent to 100.1 per cent of its gross national product,

while it is an alarming 108 per cent for sub-Saharan Africa.

With Africa continuing to be a net exporter of financial

resources, is it any wonder that many of our human

development needs and social services have gone unmet?

We believe that there is a clear and compelling need to

find a lasting solution to Africa’s indebtedness. While we

welcome some of the positive steps taken by some creditor

countries towards debt relief, as well as the important

initiatives of the Bretton Woods institutions in this regard,

we believe that an unacceptable gap still remains between

rhetoric and action, and that more decisive measures can be

taken to address this crisis.

Africa believes that the commitment it made together

with the international community, when the New Agenda

was adopted in 1991, must be renewed and translated into

concrete action. Fully cognizant of the fact that Africa’s

development is primarily our responsibility, we have

proceeded courageously to implement our side of the

commitment, particularly in the promotion of regional and

sub-regional economic cooperation and integration and the

creation of an enabling environment for foreign and

domestic investment. We therefore call upon the

international community to buttress our efforts by addressing

in a concerted manner the major constraints which I have

highlighted.

Africa does not seek charity. Mindful of the need to

promote sustainable and self-sustaining development on the

basis of self-reliance and the interdependence of Member

States, the countries of Southern Africa signed in August

1992 a regional treaty establishing the Southern Africa

Development Community (SADC). Foremost among our

objectives are the achievement - through regional

Forty-eighth session - 28 September l993 5

integration - of development and economic growth, the

alleviation of poverty, the enhancement of the standard and

quality of life and the support of the socially disadvantaged.

Through the various regional economic organizations

such as the Eastern and Southern African Preferential Trade

Area (PTA), the Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS), and the Arab Maghreb Union, African

countries are trying to further their aim of achieving self-

sustaining development. These efforts will eventually

culminate in the formation of an African Economic

Community, whose foundations have already been laid.

Furthermore, it is our objective to evolve common political

values, systems and institutions, and to promote and defend

peace and security in the region. It is our earnest hope that

the international community as well as organs of the United

Nations system and the multilateral financial institutions will

continue to render their invaluable and generous assistance

in order to ensure the success of our regional integration

efforts.

Zimbabwe is fully committed to achieving the

sustainable utilization of our natural resources and the

protection of our environment in order to attain sustainable

development. In this context, we note with appreciation the

progress made so far in establishing the institutional

mechanism for the follow-up of the decisions taken during

the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June last year. In

particular, we commend the Commission on Sustainable

Development for the constructive and positive manner in

which it conducted its work during its first substantive

session in June.

We welcome the stress that the Commission has placed

on some of the areas critical to the successful

implementation of Agenda 21, including the urgent need to

support national efforts to achieve sustainable consumption

and production patterns and lifestyles and the need for a

supportive international economic environment.

Issues such as the alleviation and reduction of poverty,

the creation of remunerative and productive employment and

social integration are at the core of the endeavours of all

countries, but more urgently of developing countries. It is

appropriate that these constitute the basis of our deliberations

when we convene in Copenhagen, Denmark, in March 1995

for the World Summit for Social Development.

These themes are all equally vital. It is gratifying that

the international community has pronounced itself on them

on many occasions as indeed have States individually and

severally. The theme of social integration, for example, was

addressed in a special way when two years ago we held a

summit meeting on children here in New York. We adopted

principles and guidelines which should govern the treatment

and development of children in all our countries. We

should, in translating these principles into practice, work to

remove the status and stigma of society’s marginal people

from our children. The children are our future. We have a

duty to the future for them by the positive and practical

measures we take today for their protection, education and

development.

Of great importance to us also are issues of population

and the advancement of women. In this context we

welcome and support the convening of the World

Conference on Population and Development in 1994 in

Cairo, Egypt, and of the World Conference on Women in

Beijing, China, in 1995.

In this regard let me underscore the conclusion of the

World Economic Survey 1993 that the social concerns of

developing countries, and the major issues of development

in other areas of the world, cannot be resolved in the

absence of world economic growth. It is our fervent hope

that just as the United Nations has considerably strengthened

its role in the political and humanitarian fields, its role in the

economic, social and related fields will likewise be

strengthened in order adequately to meet the emerging new

realities and their impact on the developing countries.

Let me conclude by calling upon all Member States to

remember that just as the new international situation dictates

the need to strengthen, democratize and streamline the

operations of the United Nations and its constituent bodies,

so also is it incumbent upon us to make an exceptional

contribution in pursuit of the noble goals of justice, peace

and development. This we believe can be achieved only if

all Members live up to their obligations under the Charter.