UN General Assembly
1995

in the countries of the South, particularly in Africa, where poverty has increased in a worsening economic and social situation. In the wake of this worsening situation, Africa, in particular, is experiencing the reappearance of diseases which had been eradicated and the appearance of new endemic diseases, without having the necessary resources to cope with them. Decolonization is virtually over now. Apartheid has been abolished, and Africa, facing the new challenges of democratization and development, seized by the fever of democratization, is undergoing irreversible change accompanied by new difficulties. 2 At the international level, new kinds of domination are emerging, and could lead to the same results as those of the past, if we are not careful. Will “globalization” of people’s behaviour and standardization of reflexes and needs imprison freedom, stifle identities and crush the cultural expression of peoples? There has been no Third World War, but, as in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Burundi and elsewhere, a new kind of war has emerged, based on ethnic and tribal “cleansing”, tragic consequences for security, peace, the environment