Zimbabwe, 2001

My delegation

congratulates Mr. Han Seung-soo on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth

session. His election to that office is a demonstration of

the confidence and trust that the international

community has placed in him to steer it through the

challenges of our time. It is our fervent hope that,

through his leadership, this Assembly will translate the

Millennium Declaration into reality.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank

his predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri of Finland, for the

sterling work accomplished during the past session of

the Assembly.

Today, I am privileged to join others in

congratulating Mr. Kofi Annan for his re-election as

United Nations Secretary-General for a second term.

Mr. Annan’s re-election is indeed both a testimony to

and recognition of his unique and rare abilities to give

leadership, vision and unity of purpose to the

international community in meeting the challenges that

face us today. This recognition has been amply

demonstrated by the conferment of the prestigious

Nobel Peace Prize on the person of the Secretary-

General and on the United Nations. I congratulate both

Mr. Annan and the United Nations.

The Secretary-General enters the elite corps of

Nobel laureates at a time of most serious challenge to

international solidarity and cooperation, as we reflect

on the events of 11 September, when the people of the

United States of America, and indeed the whole world,

were plunged into unprecedented sorrow in the wake of

the heinous terrorist attacks here in New York and in

Washington. This is indisputably the most brutal act of

terrorism in this new millennium. Our hearts go out to

the families who lost their loved ones, and indeed all

the people and the Government of the United States. It

is our duty as Members of this world body, which

stands for global harmony, peace and security, to say

“Never again” to such vileness. Zimbabwe lost two of

its nationals in those tragic attacks.

As the people of the United States grapple with

the threat posed by biological weapons of mass

destruction in the form of anthrax, we in Zimbabwe,

who have hitherto been the greatest victims of this

weapon, know what it means and what they are going

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through. For during our own liberation struggle,

anthrax was used as a weapon of mass destruction by

the racist regime of Ian Smith. The anthrax was

developed by the apartheid regime in South Africa

under the guidance of Dr. Basson, better known as “Dr.

Death”, who then supplied it to Ian Smith. Many

Zimbabweans perished both before and after

independence. The anthrax spores that were spread by

the racist regime of Ian Smith during our liberation

struggle more than 20 years ago continue to claim

victims exclusively within the black population of our

country to this day. More people and cattle have died of

anthrax this year in Zimbabwe than elsewhere in the

world. Thus not only are we vehemently opposed to

this evil scourge and other forms of terrorism, but we

also know the pain and loss associated with it.

In my address to the General Assembly at last

year’s session, I dwelt at length on the situation in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since that time,

some progress has been made in implementing the

ceasefire agreement in that country. All those involved

in the process — the signatories to the ceasefire

agreement and the United Nations Security Council —

are agreed that conditions are favourable for the

deployment of United Nations peacekeepers under

phase III of the deployment of the United Nations

Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo (MONUC). As a matter of fact, just

yesterday, the Security Council adopted resolution

1376 (2001), supporting the launching of phase III

deployment of MONUC. Nevertheless, the Security

Council, by adopting what it calls a step-by-step

approach, continues to show excessive caution or

hesitancy, almost indistinguishable from lack of

commitment or confidence, in the peace process in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is the major

threat to that peace process today.

I wish to renew our appeal to the Security

Council to more strongly and convincingly demonstrate

its support for peace in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo by providing adequate human, financial and

other resources. In this context, we note that as of 30

September 2001, unpaid assessed contributions for

MONUC to the Democratic Republic of the Congo

special account amounted to $246.9 million. In

addition, the trust fund established by the Secretary-

General in October 1999 to support the peace process

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had, two

years later, received only the paltry sum of $1.1

million.

The serious matter of inadequate resources was

one of the major factors that contributed to the

curtailment, both in number of participants and in

duration, of the inter-Congolese dialogue in Addis

Ababa last month. We welcome and appreciate South

Africa’s offer to host the next session of the national

dialogue and meet some of the related expenses. We

hasten to add, however, that South Africa must not be

burdened and abandoned because of this generosity and

willingness to contribute to the peacemaking efforts.

We all must play our part in restoring peace and

stability to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and

indeed to the Great Lakes region.

The continued unnecessary suffering and loss of

life among the civilians in Angola are indefensible.

Through the Sanctions Committee and other measures,

we have determined that UNITA must be denied and

deprived of the resources and means to continue to

wage war against the Angolan people. It is time that we

ensure that those sanctions are indeed effective by not

only respecting that sanctions regime ourselves, but

also exposing those who continue to aid and abet

UNITA in its deadly activities.

The situation in the Middle East demands urgent

action and resolution on the basis of the long-standing

Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338

(1973). The question of a Palestinian State brooks no

delay. Israel must bite the bullet and accept that until a

Palestinian State becomes a reality, there can never be

lasting peace in the Middle East.

I must express our concern over the lack of

progress in the area of reforming the Security Council

to make it more democratic and fully representative of

the aspirations of a large section of the international

community which has had a limited voice for far too

long. It is our considered view that conflict resolution

around the globe could be enhanced by a reformed and

more representative Security Council.

On the eve of the Doha meeting, my delegation

would like to stress that necessary measures must be

taken to strengthen the ability of developing countries

to be integrated in a beneficial way into the global

system. The human and institutional capacities of

developing countries must be strengthened, and more

emphasis must be placed on enhancing the role of trade

and development, with better access provided for goods

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and services from developing countries. Currently, we

are experiencing a situation in which developing

countries in general, and African, Caribbean and

Pacific countries in particular, seem to lose through the

World Trade Organization arrangement the little that

they had gained, even from previous protocols.

One of the most enduring features of the present

and of the latter part of the last century has been the

persistence of the colonial legacy in many developing

countries. That legacy has been evident in relations

between and within States. We need not recall much

more evidence of the persistence of this phenomenon

than the proceedings of the World Conference against

Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and

Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa,

barely two months ago.

The continued refusal on the part of some former

colonial Powers to acknowledge the devastating effects

that colonialism has had, and continues to have, on the

economic development of most of the former colonies

has also been much in evidence. It is no accident that it

is those former colonies that today occupy the lower

rungs of the development totem pole.

In Zimbabwe, the colonial legacy is poignantly

evident in the racially skewed land-ownership

structure, which is a direct result of racist policies and

the laws of successive colonial regimes between 1890

and 1980. Over 70 per cent of the arable land — the

best of that land — is owned and utilized by less than 1

per cent of the population, represented by

approximately 4,100 white farmers, most of them of

British descent, while nearly 13 million black

Zimbabweans eke out a living from the remaining 30

per cent — the worst of the arable land. Such a

situation has to be corrected in the interests of equity,

justice, social harmony and political stability in the

country and, indeed, in our region of southern Africa.

My Government has begun a land reform and

redistribution programme, which, while ensuring that

more people are settled on acquired land, will leave the

current owners with only one farm each. At present,

some of them own 18 farms each — and an average

farm in Zimbabwe is 2,000 hectares. Some, like the

Openheimer family, own land that is nearly the size of

Belgium — one man owns property the size of

Belgium in Zimbabwe. My Government’s land reform

programme guarantees that none of the white farmers

will be left landless. Every existing white farmer who

wants to farm is assured of getting one farm. The

programme is not about total alienation or

dispossession, but about equitable redistribution. What

is more generous or equitable than that?

As to who should pay for compensation, we

reached understandings and agreements with the

former colonial master when we negotiated our

independence at Lancaster House in 1979. Obligations

to pay compensation were assumed by the former

colonial Power. Provided that all parties honour their

obligations, the so-called land crisis in Zimbabwe will

evaporate overnight. That is the crisis in my country, to

which the spokesman of the European Union referred

from this rostrum. Zimbabwe has policemen in

Kosovo, policemen in Sierra Leone and policemen in

East Timor. We are trying to bring peace to the Congo.

We do not have a crisis; we have a land dispute.

The lofty objectives of the United Nations

Charter in the economic arena will remain unfulfilled

unless all Member States join in efforts, genuinely and

seriously, to redress inherited colonial imbalances that

persist in developing countries. Social justice, political

stability and sustainable development in Zimbabwe can

be better achieved through genuine and committed

support for land redistribution programmes than

through the vilification or demonization of its

leadership and policies.

It is most unfortunate that our efforts at rectifying

unsustainable colonial imbalances are seen by some as

a crisis; the real crisis lies in the persistence of that

legacy. Zimbabweans are resolved to correct that

colonial injustice, in spite of the outcry from some

quarters by people who regard the defence of the

present injustice as their historic responsibility. It is

unacceptable that a minority, whether black or white,

should own over 70 per cent of the best arable land in

any country. That may be acceptable in some countries;

in Zimbabwe, we have decided to say “No”.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has become a serious

developmental issue. As the Secretary-General’s report

on the work of the Organization (A56/1) indicates, the

pandemic is destroying the economic and social fabric

in our countries. Zimbabwe’s infection rate among the

adult population is estimated to be 30 per cent, while

hundreds of thousands of children have already been

orphaned as a result of this dreaded disease. In the light

of this, my Government and, indeed, those of other

developing countries, will need all the assistance we

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can get to complement our own efforts. We look

forward to having this issue be seriously addressed by

the international community.

The international community should develop

strategies to ensure that AIDS drugs developed by

pharmaceutical companies become more affordable for

developing countries. Let me extend my sincere thanks

to the Secretary-General for convening the special

session on HIV/AIDS in June this year. We hope that

the implementation of the resolutions of that

conference will go some way towards checking the

spread of the disease.

In conclusion, let me assure one and all that

Zimbabwe will partner all international efforts towards

the eradication of terrorism in all its forms, as well as

exert all its energy in combating the pestilences that

afflict humanity, especially poverty and

underdevelopment.