UN General Assembly
1989

In this connection I cannot fail to note with satisfaction the conclusions reached at the meeting of the non-aligned countries on the primacy of international law, held at The Hague this year to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the first peace conference. My country has promoted the primacy of law to a cardinal principle of its domestic political system as well as its foreign policy. Internally, my country's well-known commitment has taken the form of a multi-party democratic system with 17 distinct political formations, some 20 newspapers and periodicals, and open elections. Externally, Senegal has made respect for international law a sacred standard of conduct, both in time of peace and in periods of crisis, together with its distant and neighbouring partners. Through me, it reiterates here and now its firm desire always to respect, and always to ensure respect for, international law, starting with that which defines the frontiers we inherited when we acceded to independence and which define our territorial identity within the international community of States.