UN General Assembly
2015

Before going any further, I, like others before me, would like to salute the memory of the victims of the disaster in Mina, Saudi Arabia, from Mali and other countries in the Islamic community. In these tragic circumstances, on behalf of the people of Mali, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery. We sometimes see coincidences in the history of peoples and institutions. One such is the symbolism of today’s date, 28 September 2015, which marks the fifty-fifth anniversary of the admission of my country, Mali, into the United Nations, pursuant to resolution 1491 (XV), adopted by the Assembly at its fifteenth session, and for that I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Republic of Tunisia and to Sri Lanka, known then as Ceylon, under the leadership of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike.