UN General Assembly
1996

complete nuclear disarmament in all respects. The other day I signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty on behalf of the Republic of Namibia, not out of complete satisfaction but to encourage the ongoing work towards disarmament, bearing in mind the constructive and timely advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on nuclear weapons, as well as the Treaties of Pelindaba, Rarotonga and Tlatelolco, which created nuclear-free zones in Africa, the South Pacific and Latin America respectively. Africa is bleeding, just as the souls of our people, the African people, are burning in misery and mayhem. Their precious humanity and lives have been denuded of dignity and worth. How long must this carnage and dehumanization be allowed to continue in Somalia, Burundi and other tormented places in Africa? The glimmer of hope in Liberia engendered by the recently concluded peace accord, brokered by States members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the inauguration of Mrs. Ruth Perry as the first-ever woman Head of State in Africa, must not be snatched away again by unscrupulous power-