Zimbabwe, 1994

My delegation

congratulates you personally, Sir, as well as your country,

Côte d’Ivoire, on your election as President of the General

Assembly at its forty-ninth session. Your election is

testimony to the role you and your country have played in

international relations. We are confident that the United

Nations will benefit from the term of your presidency.

Allow me also to congratulate your predecessor, His

Excellency Ambassador Samuel Insanally of Guyana, on his

outstanding stewardship of the General Assembly at its

forty-eighth session. His conduct of the many complex and

vital issues before that session was indeed praiseworthy.

Our tribute also goes to our Secretary-General, Mr.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his sterling leadership of our

Organization during the past year, a year in which it has

continued to face ever-increasing challenges. We are

especially grateful to him for his continued efforts to

further the objectives of the United Nations in Africa and

elsewhere, and for his tireless drive to enhance the

Organization’s role in maintaining international peace and

security and addressing development issues.

My delegation would like, at the outset, to welcome

the delegation of South Africa in our midst. Its

readmission into the community of nations signifies victory

in its long and difficult struggle for justice and equality.

For the African continent, it marks the closing chapter in

the total decolonization of the continent; and for the United

Nations, it concludes an extraordinary collective struggle

against the policy of apartheid.

In this context, I must add that the recent decision by

the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy

Agency to redesignate South Africa as Africa’s

representative on the Agency’s board was indeed

appropriate and welcome.

However, in welcoming South Africa back to our

international Organization, we should also heed the words

of President Nelson Mandela - uttered from this rostrum

only a week ago - that his country needs massive

financial and material aid to cope with the problem of the

millions of poor and unemployed people in his country.

While the triumph of democratic forces in South

Africa is cause for celebration, the tragic situation in

Angola continues to be a source of major concern to my

delegation. We are gravely concerned at the continued

conflict in that country. If the peace accord negotiated in

Lusaka is not signed by the end of October, the Security

Council should immediately impose economic sanctions

on UNITA, as agreed in resolution 864 (1993). We

cannot continue delaying and postponing action while

waiting for a peace that does not come. However, if the

peace accord is signed, the United Nations, for its part,

should stand ready to deploy a greatly increased

peace-keeping force to supervise the cease-fire.

In Mozambique, despite delays in the

implementation of the General Peace Agreement, we are

hopeful that peace and stability will soon be realized.

The forthcoming national elections, planned for 27 and 28

October, should produce results acceptable to all

Mozambicans so that they can live in peace and harmony.

The international community and the United Nations

should continue to provide the material assistance that is

needed to realize that peace in Mozambique.

Members are aware of the crisis situation that had

been developing in the Kingdom of Lesotho since the

beginning of the year, which culminated in the attempted

unseating of the democratically elected Government. We

have just heard a statement by the Prime Minister of

Lesotho himself, Mr. Mokhehle, describing to us the

events that took place in his country. Consistent with the

Organization of African Unity mechanism for the

prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, the

Southern African Development Community (SADC)

charged Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe with

undertaking a regional initiative to resolve the crisis in

Lesotho.

We are happy to report that this joint mediation has

resulted in the restoration of constitutionality and

constitutional Government in that country. Prime Minister

Mokhehle has adequately described that situation, and I

need add nothing more.

In Rwanda, the horrendous acts of genocide we have

witnessed will surely haunt every one of us for a long time

to come, both those among us who had the means to act

but did not do so and the many who, while desiring to help,

lacked the means. We call for the strengthening of the

United Nations presence under the United Nations

Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), as an essential

confidence-building measure to provide the displaced

people of Rwanda with tangible assurances that they can

safely return to their homes. A few days ago we heard a

statement by the President of Rwanda, Mr. Pasteur

Bizimungu, inviting an increase in the size of UNAMIR in

order to achieve precisely what we are asking for:

confidence-building.

In both Rwanda and Burundi, the tensions are still too

close to the surface for anyone’s comfort. In Somalia, the

deterioration of the security situation and the resurgence of

inter-clan fighting, banditry and lawlessness are still a

source of great concern to my delegation. The people of

Somalia should take full advantage of United Nations

peace-keeping efforts and of the OAU mediation effort led

by President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, and forge a

political settlement based on sharing the power among the

Somali nation as a whole. Zimbabwe has contributed two

battalions to peace-keeping in Somalia. As we start

gradually withdrawing those battalions, we hope they will

not be called back to a Somalia where law and order have

broken down again.

We are glad that the Identification Commission of the

United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western

Sahara (MINURSO), has begun its work, and we urge both

parties speedily to resolve any outstanding impediments to

the holding of the referendum in that country - and we

know from debates in this Hall that there have been many

impediments. The quest for self-determination in Western

Sahara has taken too long, and has remained on our

international agenda for a long time. It should therefore not

be delayed any further.

My delegation also welcomes the recent major

developments in the Middle East peace process which have

brought the people of Palestine closer to their inalienable

right to self-determination. While we fully support that

peace process, we believe that it should proceed on the

basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338

(1973) and 425 (1975), and that the international

community should continue to monitor developments in

that region closely so as to generate and maintain the

momentum for change. The people of Palestine still need

and deserve our continued support until they reach the

goal of nationhood in a Palestinian State with its capital

in Jerusalem.

We from the African region are particularly mindful

of the inextricable link between peace, security and

stability on the one hand and socio-economic

development on the other. There can be no economic

development without peace and stability. Central to these

fundamental concerns about peace and stability are the

basic issues of protecting human rights and democratic

governance. We believe that high priority must be given

to these issues in our national policies. Consequently,

dictatorial and non-democratic regimes should be shunned

and isolated by all of us and by the international

community at large, as well as by regional organizations.

The curtailment of people’s participation in

decision-making processes undermines the capacity of

countries to provide all their people with even the basic

necessities of life including food, water and shelter and

basic social services such as education and health.

Zimbabwe believes that international efforts to

promote peace, stability and security where these do not

exist or are threatened can largely be facilitated through

regional organizations and good neighbours. We in

Africa have taken concrete measures in this regard by

establishing a permanent mechanism of the Organization

of African Unity (OAU) for the prevention, management

and resolution of conflict. It is in keeping with the spirit

of regional arrangements that the countries belonging to

the Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) joined hands in addressing the situation in

Liberia - work that still continues - and that we in the

Southern African Development Community (SADC) took

the initiative in Lesotho to which I have already referred.

In our view, such arrangements could also be devised to

address situations elsewhere in our continent, for example

in Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia. What we are urging is

the involvement of regional organizations, subregional

organizations and neighbourly countries in conflict

resolution and conflict management, because they know

the problems and they know the issues.

For such regional arrangements to become

sustainable it is essential that other regional organizations

and the United Nations extend a helping hand by

8

providing financial and other material assistance. For

indeed, what are initially regarded as internal or local

conflicts have the potential, if left unattended, to grow into

trouble spots threatening international peace and security

itself.

This is an auspicious time for the family of nations to

further the goal and achieve the objective that the founding

fathers of our Organization had foremost in their minds: -

that of disarmament. In this context, my delegation is of

the view that the extension and review Conference of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

scheduled to be held in March 1995 is a unique opportunity

for practical steps to be taken to ensure the total elimination

of nuclear weapons. Clearly, the treaty itself is

discriminatory and the nuclear-weapon States have not fully

implemented their obligations under article VI of the

Treaty. Several speakers today have referred to the

inadequacies of the Treaty. We will not support any

indefinite and unconditional extension of the NPT in its

present form. The nuclear-weapon States must undertake

to reduce and eliminate their nuclear arsenals within an

established and binding timetable. As a demonstration of

their good faith they must also stop impeding the early

conclusion of a comprehensive test-ban treaty. Only then

will a nuclear non-proliferation regime be meaningful.

Last year the Non-Aligned Movement submitted a

draft resolution asking the Assembly to request an advisory

opinion from the International Court of Justice on the

legality of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

This was in pursuance of a long-standing position of the

Non-Aligned Movement favouring complete disarmament.

Regrettably, that draft resolution was not brought to the

vote. We are, however, glad that the Non-Aligned

Movement has this year decided to submit the draft

resolution once more, and to press it to the vote in the

Assembly. This initiative is deserving of the strongest

support of all members. In recent years nuclear

disarmament has become a bilateral issue; yet the

international community has a right to play a central role in

ensuring that the nuclear threat, which affects all mankind,

is removed forever. If the Assembly were to request an

advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice,

nuclear disarmament would be brought back into the

multilateral forum where it belongs, so critical issues

related to nuclear proliferation and nuclear controls could

be discussed openly and commented upon in the General

Assembly. It would also be consistent with the Secretary-

General’s recommendation on resort to International Court

of Justice advisory opinions in his report entitled "An

Agenda for Peace" and would give impetus to the process

of nuclear disarmament, which has begun to flag in the

post-cold-war era. The Non-Aligned Movement is to be

congratulated for having taken this initiative this year; we

hope it will gain the support of the Assembly.

We all agree that there have been so many changes

on the international scene that the present Charter and

methods of operation of the United Nations should be

revised to meet the challenges and aspirations of a new

and changing world order.

In this regard, my delegation has already put forward

some very specific proposals, which I will not recapitulate

in any detail here. Those proposals are now part of the

African common position paper which refers to the

powers of the Security Council, the General Assembly

and the relationship of those bodies to the Bretton Woods

institutions and to the specialized agencies. This subject

has been referred to by a number of speakers from this

rostrum; indeed, the speakers from Africa have repeated

the African common position.

It is quite clear that the present arrangement, where

Africa and the Latin American region are not represented

at all amongst the veto-wielding permanent members of

the Security Council, should not be allowed to continue.

The underrepresentation of these two regions is both

undemocratic and unfair, and I hope that the matter will

be addressed at the appropriate time in terms of the

African common position.

Furthermore, any exercise in the revitalization of the

United Nations should envisage coordination of the

activities of the Bretton Woods institutions to which I

have already referred.

We are pleased that world-wide socio-economic

problems of equitable utilization and distribution of

resources are going to be fully addressed at the Far Social

Development World Summit in Copenhagen next year.

Several important conferences have recently been held

within the framework of the United Nations: the Rio

Conference on Environment and Development and the

International Conference on Population and Development

held in Cairo in Cairo. We are now looking forward to

the World Summit for Social Development, to be held in

Copenhagen next year, and the Fourth World Conference

on Women, to take place in Beijing later next year.

These conferences all address matters that are vital

to the South and/or to the third-world countries as a

whole, and we hope that the social development Summit

9

will focus on growing poverty in the world and how to

attack it. The rapid development of science and technology

is taking place in the middle of increasing poverty and

disease amongst large population groups, especially in the

third world. It is time we took enormous steps to eradicate

world poverty and to create full employment. We hope that

the combined efforts of the environment and population

Conferences, to which I have already referred, and the

social development Summit and the Beijing Conference will

mobilize the international community for a final and

sustained attack on world poverty.

Zimbabwe believes that at the national level it is

imperative that development put people first by promoting

social development through employment-creation

opportunities and other poverty- eradication programmes.

In our view, the provision of adequate food, water and

shelter as well as such basic social services as education,

training and health is an absolute imperative. In the

promotion of opportunities for increased popular

participation, the enhancement of the role and status of

women requires paramount attention.Employment creation

requires greater private initiative and increased investment.

Thus domestic policies have to be pursued with the aim of

creating a favourable environment for investment.

The critical economic situation in Africa - the least

developed and most marginalized of all the regions of the

world - has to be addressed if global economic growth and

interdependence are to have any meaning at all. With 90

per cent of all poverty stricken people in developing

countries, the eradication of poverty remains a major

concern at both the national and the international levels.

Yet neither the economic reform measures which we are

carrying out nor our efforts to alleviate and eradicate

poverty can be expected to succeed without the provision

of adequate financial resources on a predictable, assured

and continuous basis, and we appeal to those countries that

have surplus resources to increase their support and aid to

the developing countries.

For most developing countries the issue of resource

flows cannot be dissociated from that of the external debt

problem, a problem that has also been addressed in many

statements to the Assembly. Figures available clearly

indicate that the overall debt of the developing countries is

still on the increase - from some $800 billion in 1982 to

$l.4 trillion in 1992 - and it continues to rise. Combined

with the interest rates, the figures are constantly growing,

indeed becoming staggering. We believe that new,

comprehensive and coordinated approaches to the debt and

debt- servicing problems have to be adopted, including

outright cancellation or at least the application of the

measures proposed under the Trinidad terms for low-

income developing countries.

Zimbabwe believes that the expansion of

international trade is essential to economic growth and is

indeed an integral part of development. We therefore

consider the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of

multilateral trade negotiations to be an important

achievement which deserves to be welcomed by

developing and developed countries alike. We also

welcome the landmark agreement to create the new World

Trade Organization, which we hope will reinforce the

multilateral trading system. We welcome the meetings

that have been arranged both in Africa and elsewhere to

study the impact of the Uruguay Round agreement and

the World Trade Organization on our economies.

We reiterate the hope that these developments will

improve the access of developing countries’ exports to

markets in developed countries, and that the new

conditionalities or new forms of protectionism under the

guise of social or environmental clauses will be avoided.

Particular attention has also to be paid to the critical need

for the diversification of the African economies. In that

regard, we once again reiterate the need for the

international community to support our proposal for the

creation of a diversification facility for the development

of the African commodity sector.

Finally we would urge the big Powers - and

especially the United States - to adopt a policy of

dialogue rather than confrontation in resolving disputes

with smaller Powers around the globe. In particular, we

would urge full-scale discussion and dialogue with Cuba

aimed at normalizing relations with a small neighbouring

country in the American region, dialogue with Libya in

order to get a fair and just trial for those suspected of

causing the Lockerbie air disaster, and the continuation of

the meetings with the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea in order to resolve the issues related to nuclear-

weapons development and, hopefully, pave the way for

the reunification or North and South Korea.

With the end of the cold war, global peace - so

much coveted -is now within our reach. A concerted

effort by regional organizations and the international

community can get us to the promised land of

international peace. We should try and try again, but the

attainment of peace is not the task of international

organizations alone: it is also the task of national

Governments and national leaders.

10

In this context we would like to appeal to the leaders

in the Gulf to pursue the path of peace that has been

charted for them by the United Nations in several

resolutions, and to assure them that any attempt at

occupying other countries in the Gulf, such as the one we

witnessed in 1991, will not be accepted by the Assembly or

by the international community as a whole.