Zimbabwe, 2004

I am delighted to

congratulate Mr. Ping, a distinguished son of Africa,

upon his election as President of the General Assembly

at its fifty-ninth session. Indeed, at a time when the

community of nations has committed itself to paying

due attention to issues that relate to development in

Africa through support for the New Partnership for

Africaís Development and other mechanisms, his

presidency gives us the hope and confidence that our

concerns and aspirations and those of others will

remain high on the agenda of this body. Let me also

express our sincere appreciation to his predecessor,

Mr. Julian Hunte, for the efficient and exemplary

manner in which he conducted the business of the fifty-

eighth session.

At the fifty-eighth session, I spoke alongside

others about the need to reform the United Nations and

its related bodies so as to make them more democratic.

I stressed the perils inherent in the status quo,

particularly with regard to the dominance of global

politics by one super-Power and its closest allies.

While we welcome the current debate on enhancing the

authority and role of the United Nations, we wish to

stress the need to address the core issue of the

democratization of international governance. Debate on

the reform of the Security Council has been too long

drawn out because of attempts calculated to protect

those whose interests are best served by the status quo.

Ironically, it is some of those same forces that,

since last year, have been raining bombs and hellfire on

innocent Iraqis purportedly in the name of democracy.

Iraq today has become a vast inferno created by blatant

and completely illegal and defiant acts of aggression

by the United States, Britain and their allies, in the full

trail of which the world has witnessed mass destruction

of both human lives and property, and with them our

human rights, values, morality and the norms of

international law as enshrined in our Charter. We are

now being coerced into accepting and believing that a

new political-cum-religious doctrine has arisen,

namely, that there is but one political god - George

W. Bush - and that Tony Blair is his prophet. It is the

Koran writ anew in Baghdad.

The United Nations Charter remains the only and

most sacred document and proponent of the relations of

our nations. Anything else is political heresy.

We note that the Secretary-General has placed

before the General Assembly the report of the Panel of

Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society

Relations. While civil society makes a significant

contribution to the work of the United Nations, we

hope that any arrangements that will eventually be

agreed upon will recognize that the United Nations

remains an inter-State and intergovernmental body. It is

also our expectation that the conclusions of the debate

will recognize the different levels of development of

civil society in different parts of the world.

As we prepare for the mid-term review of the

implementation of the Millennium Declaration in

September 2005, it is apparent that many developing

countries, including my own country, Zimbabwe, may

be unable to meet the goals and targets set, as our

subregion of southern Africa has in recent years

experienced extended and successive periods of

inclement weather, principally droughts, that have

wreaked havoc upon our economies and accordingly

diminished our capacity to achieve the Millennium

Declaration targets. The situation, particularly with

regards to the health and education sectors, has also

been worsened by the brain drain and the devastating

effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

In that regard, Zimbabwe welcomes the

continuing efforts of this community of nations to find

solutions to the scourge of HIV and AIDS that has

ravaged our peoples and economies. At the national

level, we have taken measures, within our limited

means, to combat the pandemic. We are also

coordinating our efforts at the Southern African

Development Community (SADC) level. Regrettably,

we continue to see an unfortunate and futile tendency

to use assistance in this area as a reward for political

26

compliance and malleability, making it unavailable to

countries whose Governments are deemed

ìinconvenientî. Let it be realized that the pandemic

does not respect boundaries and that these self-serving,

selective approaches will have little or no meaningful

results.

Zimbabwe has also had to withstand unprovoked

declared and undeclared sanctions, imposed by Britain

and its allies, which are bent on bringing down our

legitimately elected Government. Mr. Tony Blair, the

British Prime Minister, has arrogantly and

unashamedly announced in his Parliament that his

Government was working with Zimbabwe's opposition

party to bring about regime change. Once again, the

lawless nature of that man who, along with his

Washington master, believes he is God-ordained to rule

our world, has shown itself. Regime change is the

inalienable right of the Zimbabwean people, who,

through their sovereign vote, can make and unmake our

Governments.

In any case, we reject completely the assertions

of, and pretence to, democracy by our former colonial

masters, whose undemocratic regimes we taught the

lesson of one man ó or one woman ó one vote

through our armed liberation struggles.

As we in Africa look at the situation here in the

United States, we are aware of the plight of the black

people ó Afro-Americans ó of both yesterday and

today and of the semi-slave, half-citizen status that has

been their burden. Do the blacks in the United States

have the same political, social and economic rights and

status as their white counterparts? When we will we

ever have a black ó African-American ó President of

the United States? Never, ever. Why?

I wish to take this opportunity to express the

appreciation of my Government and that of the people

of Zimbabwe for the humanitarian assistance we

received from the international community during our

period of need. Without such support, we would not

have been able to avert a major catastrophe.

I am pleased to inform you, Sir, that we have, in

spite of the sanctions and evil wishes of Britain and its

allies, now emerged from that difficult phase. We had a

relatively good agricultural season this year, and our

land reform programme has begun to make a

significant contribution towards the turnaround of our

economy. Despite the partial drought at the beginning

of the season, we have managed this year to realize a

good harvest ó certainly one good enough to ensure

that we meet our food requirements until the next

season. We plead with the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) to stop its strange political mouthings, lies and

fabrications about our situation. Our own regional

organizations know the truth about Zimbabwe. We urge

the IMF to listen to them, and, for once, to be clean.

My Government is determined to eliminate

corruption and its corrosive effects on national

development efforts. After signing the International

Convention against Corruption in November last year,

we put in place legal and administrative measures that

have already arrested a growing and deliberate

tendency to circumvent normal business practices,

particularly in the financial-services sector. We have,

however, experienced some setbacks in our efforts, as

some countries, particularly in the developed West,

continue to provide safe havens for fugitive economic

saboteurs from our country.

In March next year, Zimbabwe will be holding its

sixth democratic parliamentary elections since

independence in 1980. Those elections, like others

before them, will be conducted in accordance with our

national laws and the SADC principles and guidelines

governing democratic elections, recently adopted by

our subregion. We do not need any lessons from the

Netherlands or its imperialist allies from the European

Union on this question. Zimbabwe will indeed

welcome to the elections those observers whose sole

and undivided purpose is to observe the process and

not to meddle in the politics of the country.

The fight against international terrorism has

exposed the duplicity and insincerity of erstwhile

leading democracies and human rights monitors with

regard to the question of the observance of human

rights. We have seen established international

conventions thrown to the dogs, and resolutions of the

General Assembly and other United Nations bodies on

this issue have come to naught.

We are seriously concerned at the fact that the

United Nations, the pre-eminent instrument for the

maintenance of international peace and security,

watched helplessly while Iraq was unlawfully attacked

and plundered by the United States and United

Kingdom-led so-called coalition of the willing. Such

belligerent, gunslinging diplomacy and the illegitimate

territorial occupation of the State of Iraq are blemishes

on the fair-play image of the United Nations.

27

While the sadistic scenes from Abu Ghraib

remain vivid in our minds, other places in Iraq, as well

as Guantanamo Bay, have provided useful samples of

the Western concept of respect for human rights. Let

me say once again that the West should spare us their

lessons on human rights. They do not have the moral

authority to speak about, let alone parade themselves as

torch-bearers of, human rights.

Zimbabwe remains deeply concerned about the

situation in the Middle East. We continue to be

revolted by a situation where the collective decisions

and authority of the United Nations are disregarded

with impunity on account of big-brother support. We

demand an immediate lifting of all restrictions illegally

imposed on the Palestinian people, which have seen

President Yasser Arafat remain a virtual prisoner of

foreign occupation. We welcome the recent opinion

given by the International Court of Justice that found

the construction of the Israeli wall to be in

contravention of international law, and the subsequent

General Assembly resolution that demanded an

immediate halt to that monstrosity.

As the Assembly is aware, the African Union

earlier this year established its own Peace and Security

Council to seek and promote African solutions to

African problems. Already, the Council is seized with

the matter of the crisis in western Sudan. Those efforts

need the support of the international community.

Let me conclude by assuring Mr. Ping of my

countryís support as he presides over the work of the

General Assembly at this session. I wish also to

reiterate my countryís commitment positively to

contribute to the fulfilment of the aims and purposes of

the United Nations.