At the outset, Sir, I would
like to congratulate you on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly. I would also like
to express my appreciation for the wise and persistent
efforts of the Secretary-General during the current
crucial world situation.
Human society stepped into the third millennium
with hopes and expectations. The United Nations
designated the last year of the twentieth century as the
International Year for the Culture of Peace and the first
year of the twenty-first century as the United Nations
Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. Today, however,
the world faces immense tragedies and grave concerns.
One of the most brutal and savage manifestations of
this was the terrorist attack against the American
people.
The decisive, immediate and unequivocal global
condemnation of the terrorist attacks of 11 September
represents the emergence of a public attitude and
common political will all over the world to counter
terrorism in all its manifestations, irrespective of
motives, perpetrators or victims. The Leader of the
Islamic Revolution of Iran spoke of the “jihad against
this evil phenomenon” so as to highlight the genuine
view of Islam and the Islamic Revolution vis-à-vis
terrorism and violence.
Immediately after the carnage of 11 September,
and in the name of the people and Government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, I expressed sympathy with
29

the American nation and all the victims of that criminal
act. And in the first days of the tragedy, in a letter to
the Secretary-General, I underlined that,
“Terrorism is the common problem of today’s
world. It threatens peace, liberty, spirituality,
knowledge, culture and global coexistence. A
sustainable solution to this hideous and dangerous
phenomenon requires vision, serious political will
and active participation and cooperation of all
members of the human society.”
The threat of terrorism should not be
underestimated, nor should its devastating
consequences be measured only in the visible realm of
politics. Terrorism is the chronic menace of our era,
rooted in the mentality of violence, the logic of might
and the practice of injustice and discrimination. When
spirituality, ethics and justice find no room in the
realms of politics, economics and culture, and when
discrimination, marginalization, exclusion and the
application of double standards push justice aside, the
world is bound to face alienation, despair, extremism
and lawlessness. In such a climate, terrorism finds
fertile ground for growth.
The disaster in the United States is so tragic and
grave that thinkers are urgently called on to engage in
deep reflection and dialogue on its real causes. For
many years, our great thinkers have cautioned us to
avoid submission to instrumental reasoning, warning of
the threats and tragedies that it could generate.
On the other hand, some of the great thinkers of
our time have ascribed atrocities such as fascism to the
reign of mythological speculation. They have attributed
the emergence of fascism not to the expansion of
rationality but to evading rationality and succumbing to
the reign of myth.
This does not mean that we will succumb to
mythical speculation if we do not want to. We have the
choice not to negate rationality. But at the same time,
we must also combine rationality with empathy, the
mind with the heart. Neither one can be without the
other. Neither one can be neglected. If it is, it will lead
to tragedy, no matter under what pretext, religion, race,
nationalism or any other nation. The same mythical
speculation is seen in modern cult ideology, which is a
form of rationality that is reduced to instrumental
reasoning and thereby stripped of all its moral and
human aspects. Religion, tradition, philosophy and art
descend to achieving only one goal, that of political
ends.
One of the most common features of these
ideologies, which is regrettably prevalent, is the
glorification of the self and the demonization of
opposing groups and ideas. The advocates of this
ideology in the West attribute to Islam, the religion of
humanity, compassion and justice, such labels as
terrorism. In the same manner, in parts of the Islamic
world, the West is equated with suppression. Such
polarization of the world and human beings would lead
to horrifying political and security consequences for
the whole world.
The world has yet to overcome the horror and
disbelief caused by the malicious terrorist attacks of 11
September against thousands of innocent people. At the
same time, the most destructive modern weapons are
being used in one of the most deprived parts of the
world against an oppressed and dispossessed people.
Once again, history repeats its sad experience that war
triggers war.
The time is ripe for us to analyse the history and
consequences of exclusionary ways of acting, to
initiate ways to engage intellectuals from different
cultures in dialogue and to encourage the public to
embark upon learning for the sake of dialogue and
dialogue for the sake of learning and to reinforce the
art of listening as sacred and invaluable.
Angry politicians should be prevented from
taking the initiative in ongoing developments. They
should be made to yield to the judgement of wisdom
and fairness.
The American nation has experienced one of the
most brutal forms of terrorism, in which the blind
hatred of terrorists has prevented the recovery of the
bodies of the victims of the 11 September tragedy.
Today, other nations walk hand in hand with the
American nation.
Today, beyond mere rhetoric, one can see the
convergence of the ideas of the peoples of the United
States and Iran, who have also experienced, in earlier
times, the mute but brutal massacre resulting from the
use of chemical weapons. This convergence of ideas
can also be discerned among all those refugees and
displaced persons who are victims of war, suppression
and terrorism — including State and non-State
terrorism — in Afghanistan and Palestine.
30

We must have empathy for the suffering of people
everywhere: in occupied Palestine, oppressed
Afghanistan, New York, Washington or any corner of
the globe.
We shall rise to the challenge of promoting peace,
security and development among all nations on the
basis of justice, and we believe that in today’s
interconnected world, we cannot live in islands of
prosperity and progress while the rest of the world
suffers from increasing poverty, illiteracy, disease and
insecurity. Acquiescing to any act of terrorism,
anywhere in the world, is inconsistent with any
religious or ethical principle. Likewise, resorting to
violence and revenge to counter such acts could hardly
be justified because of ethical and humane
considerations. Lacing the sacred realm of religion
with violence and terror is a grave disservice to all
religions and their followers. The divine religions call
for peace, tolerance and compassion. They
unequivocally repudiate — in essence and appearance
— any thought or act of violence. I would like to quote
the late leader of the Islamic revolution, Imam
Khomeini, who said that “as followers of Islam, we
always oppose war and desire peace and tranquillity
among all States.”
Let us accept that no country in the world is
immune to terrorism. We should therefore seek
solutions at the highest possible level.
Today there is unprecedented momentum in the
world for combating terrorism, which should not be
lost. To this end, the United Nations can arrange and
guide a genuine and legitimate endeavour in the
international fight against terrorism. The Islamic
Republic of Iran is an active partner in this global
coalition and spares no effort for the success of the
international community in uprooting terrorism through
viable, just and non-discriminatory measures. By
articulating a comprehensive definition of terrorism,
the United Nations can overcome one of the major
historical hurdles to avoiding further misuse of that
term. The adoption of Security Council resolution 1373
(2001) and its effective implementation by all States
can be considered a first step for a coordinated
international campaign against terrorism. Moreover,
negotiations on the draft comprehensive convention on
terrorism, based on internationally accepted definitions
and principles, would provide an effective basis for
collective measures in this respect.
The 11 September attack indicated that the
division between centre and periphery can no longer
define the security order of the world today, for even
the most marginalized sectors might be able to inflict
blows on the biggest Powers. This development has
taken on all the more threatening dimensions in the
light of the emergence of the dangerous phenomenon
of bioterrorism.
The conflict-stricken regions of the world require
urgent and comprehensive attention. After decades of
war, insecurity and destruction, Afghanistan needs
order, law, security and stability. The ongoing military
operation in Afghanistan cannot, while inflicting
destruction and casualties, address the root causes of
the kind of terrorism that has been forced on the
defenceless people of that country. On the contrary: it
is more likely that the continuation of the current
military approach could incite sentiments that intensify
intolerance and violence in the region and the whole
world.
In the midst of the global terrorism crisis, the
world faces an intensive and severe kind of terrorism in
the Middle East. The occupation of the Palestinian
territories, the expulsion of the Palestinian people from
their homeland, the Judaization of Palestine — in
particular Al-Quds Al-Sharif — the building of illegal
settlements, the killing and terrorizing of defenceless
Palestinian civilians in their homeland, and the
destruction of historical sites, civil institutions and
residential areas are all examples of this phenomenon.
I would also like to underscore, on behalf of the
Group of 77, the significance of poverty alleviation
worldwide and the need for the support of the United
Nations. Poverty breeds violence and intolerance. The
recent slowdown in world economic growth and
development caused by the terrorist attacks further
aggravates the economic hardships of the developing
countries.
For a secure and hopeful life, the world therefore
needs innovative approaches and collective measures.
Let us therefore build a coalition for peace instead of
war and hostility. The initiative of dialogue among
civilizations is a step in this direction, and it offers a
new paradigm of interaction among nations and
cultures in a world that longs for peace and security.
Can the United Nations take the lead in devising
a programme to implement this fair and reasonable
approach and become the focus of a global coalition for
31

peace based on justice? I have every confidence in the
wisdom and the will of the Secretary-General —
illustrated, inter alia, by the publication of a book,
entitled Crossing the Divide — to define a new
paradigm of dialogue among civilizations. World
public opinion is supportive of this proposal. The
adoption of the Global Agenda for Dialogue among
Civilizations yesterday represents a beginning for the
crystallization of this common desire and will of the
global community.
The achievements of the thirty-first United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) General Conference in
establishing dialogue among civilizations as one of its
strategic objectives and in adopting the Universal
Declaration on Cultural Diversity represent yet another
serious indication of this global trend, and I wish to
pay tribute to UNESCO and its Director-General. Will
politicians and statesmen also submit to this approach,
to prevent the transformation of the clash among States
into a clash among civilizations? I am hopeful; the
future will be the judge.


Pending
further news, I also wish to share in the sadness we all
feel on the announcement of an aeroplane crash in
Queens.
Through me, Senegal has the pleasure of
addressing its warm congratulations to Mr. Han Seung-
soo on his brilliant election to the presidency of the
fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly.
His election clearly is a tribute to his outstanding
qualities as a diplomat and statesman and it also
expresses the unanimous recognition of the Member
States of our Organization of his country, the Republic
of Korea, for its steadfast commitment to the service of
universal peace and international cooperation.
I wish to express to his predecessor, His
Excellency Mr. Harri Holkeri of Finland, our deep
gratitude for the competence, commitment and spirit of
openness with which he discharged his mandate during
a particularly heavy year.
Finally, I am happy to reiterate Senegal’s deep
appreciation to the Secretary-General, His Excellency
Mr. Kofi Annan, and at the same time to reiterate to
him our wholehearted compliments on his historic re-
election, the dazzling consecration of outstanding
qualities of a man of good will, conviction and vision,
who has devoted his life to the noble causes of the
United Nations. I also congratulate him on the brilliant
recognition he and the United Nations have just
received as the Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
He deserves our full support in the pursuit and the
achievement of the outstanding work in the area of
reform in which he, along with his colleagues, is fully
invested to bring our Organization closer to the
realities of the twenty-first century.
The terrorist attempts of 11 September, which
tragically struck New York, the Headquarters of our
Organization, Washington and Pennsylvania, have
radically changed our vision of the world and of
international relations. My country, Senegal, once
again conveys its sympathy to the people of the United
States and reiterates its heartfelt condolences to the
bereaved families.
Let us say it unambiguously: there is no moral,
religious or political cause noble enough to justify
17

terrorism or its always barbarous manifestations —
which all of us without exception must condemn with
unwavering unity and with the utmost force.
Senegal is a secular democratic country whose
population is more than 90 per cent Muslim; we reject
all forms of confrontation between religions, cultures
or civilizations. Senegal believes that Islam, like other
revealed religions, is a faith of peace and tolerance, and
vigorously condemns any equation of Islam with
terrorism and any attempt to invoke or use religion for
criminal purposes. The massacre of pregnant women
and the destruction of buildings occupied by innocent
civilians — God’s creatures every one — are acts that
have no justification in any religion, least of all Islam,
whose banner of peace and harmony among men and
women, peoples, cultures and civilizations we proudly
bear.
Beyond simply condemning terrorism in all its
forms, methods and manifestations, the international
community must act firmly to eradicate terrorism, its
sources of financing and its bases of action throughout
the world.
Senegal is committed to that course, which is why
His Excellency President Abdoulaye Wade took the
well known initiative of convening on 17 October at
Dakar an African conference against terrorism, in
which 27 countries participated. President Wade
submitted to that forum a draft African pact against
terrorism as a needed complement to the Organization
of African Unity (OAU) Convention on the Prevention
and Combating of Terrorism. The conference ended
with the adoption of the Dakar Declaration against
Terrorism, which firmly condemned terrorism in all its
forms; reaffirmed our solidarity with all victims of
terrorist acts, in particular the thousands of innocent
civilian citizens of countries throughout the world who
died on 11 September; and invited the OAU promptly
to convene an extraordinary session on terrorism to
consider, inter alia, the draft African pact against
terrorism submitted by Senegal with the support of
other countries.
Let me make it clear that those who argue that
Africa has priorities other than terrorism are surely
forgetting that tragedy resulting from acts of blind
slaughter struck first in Africa: in Kenya and Tanzania.
With bald lack of consideration and respect for African
lives, bombers in Nairobi killed 12 United States
nationals and 212 Kenyans and wounded more than
3,000 of our Kenyan brothers and sisters. They have
never expressed any regret, much less remorse, for
their obvious contempt for us. Fighting international
terrorism means saying loud and clear that Africans,
like Europeans, Americans and all the other peoples of
the world, have an equal right to safety, security,
stability and peace.
That is the powerful message that His Excellency
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal wants to echo
throughout the world. Let us remember his initiative
for a genuine security policy in Africa, along with his
initiative to review African debt and his Omega
Plan — a genuine African globalization strategy which
has now been merged with the Millennium Partnership
for African Recovery to form the New African
Initiative.
There are years that the long march of history
cannot conceal or obliterate, and the past 12-month
period is undoubtedly among these; it was
extraordinarily rich in events of great importance both
for the United Nations and for Africa, the seat of
humankind. Thus, within the framework of the fifty-
fifth session, the Millennium Summit brought together
in this Hall heads of State or Government to, in the
felicitous words of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, identify and work to solve the world’s major
problems.
In an extraordinary convergence of views, world
leaders reaffirmed their faith in the United Nations and
its irreplaceable mission to protect international peace
and security, to fight poverty, to promote economic and
social development, to strengthen democracy and the
rule of law and to ensure justice and equity among
citizens, peoples, cultures and civilizations.
In view of the universality which is the hallmark
of the United Nations and which was reaffirmed at the
Millennium Summit, Senegal firmly supports the
legitimate request of the Republic of China on Taiwan
to resume its seat in the Organization and in its
specialized agencies. That request is not directed
against any State Member of the United Nations; meeting
it would be a key contribution to consolidating the
ideal of the universality of the United Nations and to
the advent of an era of peace and stability in that
sensitive part of the world.
Africa remains the region where some conflicts
seem to exist in tragic eternity; it is where nearly half
of the world’s refugees and displaced persons are to be
18

found; it is the site of 33 of the world’s 48 least
developed countries. Africa is also the region whose
inhabitants are the most appallingly affected by the
HIV/AIDS and malaria pandemics. Unquestionably,
that enormously disturbing situation calls out to the
entire international community and, in particular, to
Africans. That is why it is important to implement the
outcome of the twenty-sixth special session of the
General Assembly, which was devoted to the fight
against HIV/AIDS.
Last July, the African Union was christened at the
historic Lusaka summit of the OAU. By that historic
act, Africa committed itself, in a proactive and unified
spirit, to find African solutions to the many challenges
before it, by establishing a modern, viable, open
institutional framework that can respond to Africa’s
emergencies and needs in the new century. Here, I
renew my congratulations to my friend and brother
Amara Essy, to whom African heads of State or
Government have entrusted the task of following Salim
Ahmed Salim in shouldering the high responsibilities
of the post of Secretary-General of the OAU and of
putting in place the new structures of the African
Union.
The second major event of the Lusaka summit is
part of the same pan-African dynamic: the adoption of
a plan for the economic and social development of
Africa, known as the New African Initiative — the new
partnership for the development of Africa, to which I
earlier referred. This has the quality of having been
conceived by Africans for Africa on the basis of the
merger of two novel projects: the Omega Plan of
President Abdoulaye Wade; and the programme for an
African renaissance of Presidents Thabo Mbeki of
South Africa, Abelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. That joint initiative
should help create the synergy needed to eradicate
poverty in Africa and to lay the foundations for
sustainable economic and social development, which is
a prerequisite for integrating the continent into the
ongoing process of globalization.
For the first time in the history of plans for the
renewal of Africa, an international conference on the
financing of the New African Initiative is planned for
January 2002 at Dakar. That forum will truly be an
African Davos and should make it possible to hold a
fruitful dialogue among all development partners that
have understood the renewal heralded by the new plan,
which sums up our experiences and symbolizes the
hopes of all of us who unconditionally love Africa.
There has been impressive progress in Africa this
year with respect to the urgent need to tackle the root
causes of the many conflicts that shake the continent
and to work peacefully towards their lasting resolution.
On the crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
in Burundi and in Sierra Leone, we are pleased to say
that significant milestones have been reached by all
actors in the implementation of peace agreements
already concluded.
From that standpoint, there is true cause for
encouragement in the beginning of an inter-Congolese
dialogue in Gaborone, Botswana, and the recent
formation, with the help of the incomparable Nelson
Mandela, of the transitional government of Burundi for
national reconciliation. It is now up to the Security
Council to perform all of its responsibilities under
Chapter VII of the Charter. These efforts deserve to be
intensified and given diplomatic support by the
international community through concrete actions to
finance strategies for post-conflict peace-building. In
the same spirit, it is important to support the efforts of
Angola and the Organization of African Unity for the
rapid settlement of the conflict in that country.
In light of the debt crisis aggravated by the
exponential drop in official development assistance, the
international community must explore new ways and
means to develop the third world, especially Africa,
through, inter alia, an increase in direct foreign
investment. It is this break with the past — this
“epistemological” departure — that our President
proposes to Africa and its partners. He argues that the
aid/credit couplet, which has been the principal way to
finance development in Africa and has led to the
impasse we all know, should be abandoned and
replaced by an approach that makes Africa attractive
and competitive, leading to a massive inflow of private
investment, both domestic and international.
The cycle of debt followed by ever greater
debt — a cycle that has been described by our
President as a scourge similar to the slavery that
devastated Africa — should give way to an approach
that brings in massive investment in an adequate fiscal
and legal environment — investment capable of filling
the gaps in priority sectors such as infrastructure,
education, health, agriculture, new technologies and
access to the markets of developed countries. This
19

approach, of course, would be part of a strategy of
good political and economic governance and
unqualified respect for the rule of law, democracy and
human rights.
Africa is relying greatly on the results of the
Ministerial Conference of the World Trade
Organization that just opened in Doha; the
International Conference on Financing for
Development in Monterrey, scheduled for March 2002;
and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg, planned for September, to provide
innovative solutions to the challenges besetting Africa
at the beginning of this millennium.
Looking sadly toward the Middle East, Senegal is
following recent developments with great concern and
feels solidarity with the Palestinian people in light of
the new tragedy. Horrified by the scope of this tragedy,
Senegal condemns the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territories and the intensification of acts of violence
against innocent civilians. Senegal addresses an earnest
appeal to all the parties, the co-sponsors of the peace
process, the European Union, the Security Council and
the international community, for the withdrawal of
Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian areas; for
the immediate cessation of all acts of violence and
provocation; for respect for the Geneva Convention
Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time
of War and the relevant United Nations resolutions; for
the resumption of peace negotiations in accordance
with the agreed timetable; and for the conclusion of an
overall settlement agreement that is just, durable and in
conformity with resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973)
of the Security Council.
Peace cannot prosper nor can the development of
the region be ensured so long as Israelis and
Palestinians fail in their efforts to forge bonds of
confidence, as sovereign States within internationally
recognized and guaranteed borders. I am happy to note
that the European Union and the United States have
recently affirmed this, inasmuch as Israel and the
future State of Palestine each have the right to exist, to
live in peace and to develop in security and dignity.
I wish to conclude by saying that the
consolidation of the rule of law and the promotion and
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms
remain one of the major focal points of our national
and foreign policy. The special importance that our
President attaches to these matters has been eloquently
expressed in the appointment of a woman to the post of
High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
was held, despite all obstacles, and dealt with its
agenda despite the complexity of the issues and the
particularly difficult conditions under which the
negotiations took place. My country, which had the
honour to preside over the work of the Preparatory
Committee, once again addresses a solemn appeal to all
actors in international life to translate the Declaration
and Plan of Action adopted at Durban into action.
Thus, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the
world can be definitively freed of the scourge of
racism, which represents a grave infringement of
human dignity and a flagrant violation of human rights.
Speaking of human rights, we also naturally think
of the rights of women and children. The twenty-
seventh special session of the General Assembly,
planned for 8-10 May 2002, will adopt a new agenda
for the international community aimed at better
ensuring, safeguarding and defending the rights of the
child and promoting the Convention on that subject.
The commitments to which our Governments will
subscribe must be implemented, as must the
conclusions of the Fourth World Youth Forum of the
United Nations system, held in Senegal in August this
year.
It is imperative that we face the challenges of
peace and development. We have no other choice but to
do so through multilateralism and universalism. Thus
the world needs the United Nations, an organization
that is universal and unique. This is the conviction of
Senegal, which proclaims that a United Nations that is
well restructured and more representative would be
better equipped to face the challenges that humanity
confronts today. Those challenges seem as immovable
as mountains, but everything is possible in a world of
solidarity, brotherhood, security and respect for the
sacred character of human life, dignity and the
inalienable right of all peoples to happiness and liberty.


Recent events have
manifestly brought to the fore the importance and
relevance of the United Nations in the pursuit of global
peace, security and stability. Only last year in this
historic Hall, world leaders at the Millennium Summit
reaffirmed their solemn commitment to strengthen the
capacity of the Organization in this very important
area. Yet, two months ago, on 11 September 2001, the
efforts of our Organization were temporarily called into
question by terrorist attacks on the United States.
As a country which was directly affected by the
first terrorist bombings in Dar es Salaam in 1998, in
which our embassy building was destroyed, and
because we lost nationals at the attack on the World
Trade Center, Nigeria fully identifies with the rage and
grief of the bereaved families and the victims of these
barbaric acts.
Terrorism is a global menace that challenges the
very basis of our civilization. It must therefore be
confronted globally. That is why Nigeria fully endorses
the prompt action taken by the General Assembly in
condemning these attacks. We fully support Security
Council resolution 1373 (2001), because the measures
called for in the resolution would significantly reduce
the capacity of terrorists to carry out such acts. Nigeria
is committed to the implementation of the resolution’s
provisions. Let us sustain the unity of purpose and
resolve that the terrorist attacks have generated by
strengthening the cooperation and coordination among
our countries. The terrorists and their supporters should
be exposed for what they are: fringe elements
undeserving of a respectable place in the comity of
nations. Our strategies therefore should be informed,
consistent and focused.
In some respects, the grave challenges that we
face today also offer new possibilities for cooperation
previously unimaginable. Our Organization has not
only pursued the goal of international peace and
security, but it has also served as a focal point for the
promotion of other important agendas, particularly in
the areas of socio-economic development, the rule of
law, good governance and respect for human rights.
These goals, which reflect the aspirations of Member
States to build a new world free of conflict, prejudice,
discrimination and oppression, must remain the
enduring preoccupation of our common enterprise. For
this, we have a clear compass, not only in the Charter
of our Organization, but also in the solemn
commitment of our leaders, as reflected in the
Millennium Declaration. Let us strive to translate these
commitments into practical policies for the benefit of
our peoples.
My country’s long-standing commitment to
fostering the objectives of the United Nations in the
area of conflict prevention, peace and stability is well
known. It is regrettable that conflicts and wars continue
to be waged in many parts of the world. It is
particularly disheartening that Africa has had a
disproportionate share of these conflicts and wars, with
devastating impact on our societies and peoples. Yet,
amid the apparent gloom, we see a flicker of hope. The
process of peace and stability in Sierra Leone is
gaining momentum, as the process of reconciliation,
through a programme of disarmament, demobilization
and rehabilitation, funded by the United Nations, has
continued to generate trust and confidence. We are
equally encouraged by recent developments in
Burundi, where a newly installed interim transitional
Government is grappling with the challenges of
national reconciliation and integration. These efforts
attest to the determination of leaders in our continent to
make a success of initiatives for peace. Nigeria is
proud to be associated with these efforts. Our
experience in Liberia and Sierra Leone has reinforced
our conviction that, working in close partnership with
regional and subregional organizations, the United
Nations can facilitate the return to peace and security
in conflict areas. Let us provide these organizations
with the necessary financial and logistic support.
Apart from the commitment to durable peace and
security, there must be a re-intensification of our
resolve to eliminate weapons of war, both conventional
and non-conventional. Of the utmost concern to us in
Africa is the havoc caused by the proliferation of small
arms and light weapons. The Programme of Action
adopted at the recently concluded United Nations
Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons in All
Its Aspects provides us with a clear road map for
effective cooperation. Its effective implementation will
attest to our commitment to strengthen the forces of
democracy and the rule of law in the world.
We recognize the inexorable march of
globalization and fully embrace the challenges of
expanding opportunities in trade, finance, information
18

and communications technology which it offers. But
the benefits should not be limited to only a small
section of the international community. Globalization
and the twin phenomena of liberalization and
deregulation should work for all countries. The health
and stability of the global economic system demand
nothing less. For us in Africa, access to such benefits
should be reflected in concrete actions and measures
that will ensure our full integration into a new and fair
global economic system.
Nigeria’s call for a fundamental change in current
debt strategies towards developing countries is derived
from a keen appreciation of the impact external debt
has on the economic growth and political stability of
developing countries. The fact that, in spite of welcome
initiatives on debt relief and debt management, many
of our countries have neither grown out of debt nor
been able significantly to service their debts in a
sustainable manner, warrants a bolder and more
imaginative approach, such as outright debt
cancellation.
International efforts to resolve the debt problem
should be bolstered by collective action to discourage
the illegal transfer of funds from developing countries
and the repatriation of such funds to the countries of
origin. African leaders have established a clear linkage
between our huge debt burden, the activities of foreign
collaborators and the transfer of funds by former
leaders and other individuals from our continent. We
are concerned about the corrosive impact of corruption
on our fledgling democracies and our social, economic
and political development. Let us redouble our efforts
to support an international instrument on the illegal
transfer of funds abroad.
At the thirty-seventh regular session of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU), which took
place in Lusaka in July, the leaders of the continent
endorsed the New African Initiative, now called the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
The inaugural meeting of the Implementation
Committee of Heads of State and Government on
NEPAD took place in Abuja on 23 October 2001.
Based on a common vision and shared conviction about
the need to urgently eradicate poverty and place
African countries on the path to sustainable growth and
development, NEPAD has, among its key themes, the
promotion of peace, democracy, human rights, social
and economic management, regional cooperation and
economic integration. We appreciate the support
already offered, and we sincerely believe that this
provides the best platform for a viable partnership with
our development partners.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to pose
serious challenges to development in our world. We
appreciate the contribution of the international
community in combating that scourge, as reflected in
the outcome of the special session on HIV/AIDS.
Africa’s resolve to meet the pandemic head-on has
struck a responsive chord, and we are grateful to the
United Nations Secretary-General for his clear
advocacy. I believe that we have reason to be
encouraged by the progress made in establishing
structures and a multilateral framework for greater
cooperation and support in confronting the problem.
Every effort should be made to ensure that the Global
AIDS and Health Fund becomes operational by January
2002. Meanwhile, we should maintain the momentum
so that in the shortest possible time we bring succour to
those who live with AIDS or suffer from tuberculosis
or other related infectious diseases. This is the
expectation of the African leaders who met in Abuja in
April this year to agree on a coordinated strategy on
this health and development crisis. Our attention
should also be focused on the campaign against
malaria, as a follow-up to an earlier summit, which
also took place in Abuja.
The rescheduling of the United Nations special
session on the rights of the child to May 2002 should
provide us with an opportunity to ponder the
challenges which the world’s children face today. For
us in Nigeria, the session will coincide with the
passage of far-reaching legislation, now before the
National Assembly, to protect our children, and go
beyond the provisions of the OAU African Charter on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which we have
recently ratified, to revolutionize public awareness and
the defence of their rights. Indeed, in mid-2002,
Nigeria proposes to host an international conference
that will, inter alia, address the issue of trafficking in
children in our region. We look forward to the
participation of Member States.
I cannot conclude without reference to the
question of the reform of the United Nations system.
Nigeria maintains that, in order for the United Nations
to meet the complex challenges of our new century,
long-overdue reforms of the Organization must be
speedily undertaken. The reform of the Security
Council, in particular, constitutes one of the major
19

challenges facing the United Nations today. Let us
work assiduously to complete the reform process and
thereby make the enlarged and expanded Council truly
representative of the United Nations membership.
May I express our profound gratitude to
Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his leadership of our
Organization in the past year. Nigeria rejoices with him
over his well-deserved re-election, a reward for faithful
stewardship and a signal of the trust and confidence of
the United Nations membership in his shared vision for
the future. No less significant is the award to him and
to our Organization of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001.
We wish him well and heartily congratulate the United
Nations on that achievement.


I am pleased and
honoured to address the Assembly on behalf of the
Government and the people of the Commonwealth of
Dominica. I wish to extend my congratulations to you,
Sir, and your country, the Republic of Korea, on your
election to the high office of President of the fifty-sixth
session of the General Assembly, confident that your
proven diplomatic skills will serve you well in guiding
the affairs of the General Assembly with efficiency and
purpose. Your immediate predecessor, Mr. Harri
Holkeri, is most deserving of our thanks and
appreciation for the very able manner in which he
presided over the Millennium Summit and the fifty-
fifth session of the General Assembly. Permit me
further to congratulate the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, on his election to a second term and on the
award of the Nobel Peace Prize to him and the United
Nations.
This general debate is being conducted in unusual
circumstances. The horrendous terrorist acts of 11
September 2001 have altered the lives of many in ways
traumatic and fundamentally tragic. I must again
extend deepest condolences and pledge the full support
and solidarity of the Government and the people of the
Commonwealth of Dominica to the Government and
the people of the United States of America and to all
bereaved families, including those who lost their loved
ones on flight 587.
The ripple effects of those acts have resonated in
locations far removed from New York City,
Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, aggravating
economic and social conditions and seriously
disrupting efforts aimed at meeting the many
challenges confronting the United Nations and the
international community. In short, in one way or
another and to a lesser or greater degree, we are all
victims of those acts of terrorism that were visited
upon the United States of America two months ago.
The Commonwealth of Dominica condemns,
without reservation, what is undoubtedly the worst
terrorist act of our times. We are in strong accord with
the sentiments and mandates contained in Security
Council resolutions 1368 (2001) and 1373 (2001) and
General Assembly resolution 56/1, all of which call
2

upon the international community to take unified and
cooperative action to prevent and eradicate acts of
terrorism. We understand the need for the exercise of
the right of self-defence in pursuit of those objectives,
and we support the actions being taken to bring justice
to the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of the
terrorist acts of 11 September 2001.
Cognizant of the importance of international
cooperation in the fight against terrorism, Dominica
has proceeded to establish a task force to put in place
the necessary legislative and executive measures for
the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373
(2001). But to be effective beyond the immediate
crisis, counter-terrorism measures, mechanisms and
strategies must be sustained through a comprehensive
approach that seeks to create and strengthen, through
the United Nations, a legal framework against
international terrorism, complemented by strenuous
efforts aimed at improving the social and economic
conditions which adversely affect the poor and
dispossessed.
Beyond the immediate peace and security issues
affected by the events of 11 September, there has been
a considerable impact on the global economy, which
has been thrown into an accelerated decline, with
consequences that are particularly disturbing for small
developing countries like the Commonwealth of
Dominica. In the Caribbean there is strong evidence of
damage to vital sectors of our economy, such as
tourism, financial services and agriculture. The actual
and projected losses of jobs in the region are in the
thousands, and for those countries that were already
experiencing fiscal pressures the prospect of higher
unemployment and decreased revenues is daunting.
Complicating the problem is the great concern
that in the fight against terrorism and in the drive to
enforce counter-terrorism measures, certain areas in
which developing countries in the Caribbean region
have a competitive advantage, such as the financial
services sector, may be subjected to inordinate pressure
and be unfairly targeted and linked to illegal activities
such as money-laundering. We are convinced that well-
regulated, competitive tax jurisdictions should be
treated separately and distinctly from illegal activities
such as money-laundering. The Commonwealth of
Dominica remains firmly committed to the struggle
against international terrorism to the same extent that
we strive to ensure that our financial services sector, a
major pillar of our economic diversification thrust,
does not provide support to the perpetrators of criminal
activity in the financing of terrorism.
The current effort against international terrorism
is important, and our focus on that activity is
warranted. There are, however, other dimensions of the
global agenda which should command the attention of
the international community and the United Nations.
They cannot be relegated to the back burner of our
concerns. They comprise a wide range of economic,
social, political and humanitarian problems faced on a
daily basis and, for the most part, by the poor and
disadvantaged of the world. Indeed, some of them are
likely to be exacerbated by the fight against terrorism,
and their successful resolution will continue to be the
greatest challenge of the United Nations and the
international community.
At the Millennium Summit last year there was
general agreement on the issues needing urgent
attention and the goals to be achieved. One year later
those goals appear to be as far from being realized as
ever. Commitment appears to be lacking on all fronts.
The objective of a 50 per cent reduction in the number
of persons living in poverty worldwide by the year
2015 suffers from the perennially tepid effort to deal
with the root causes of poverty. Contributions from the
industrial countries are woefully inadequate, and the
required adjustment of the strategies of the
international financial institutions is slow in coming.
The outcome is less than desirable in creating and
maintaining an enabling environment for the more
effective management of projects geared to poverty
reduction.
That lack of commitment is evident in other
areas. A year after the Millennium Summit and six
months after the General Assembly special session on
HIV/AIDS, the international community seems to have
lost interest in a crisis that the Secretary-General
labelled the greatest public health challenge of our
times. As front-page news, HIV/AIDS claimed
attention for only a short time after the special session,
but the disease claimed millions of lives last year and
created millions of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa,
which continues to have the highest rates of infection.
The Caribbean region ranks a close second.
The Global Fund for AIDS and Health proposed
by the Secretary-General is clearly not realizing its
spending target of $7 billion to $10 billion, and will not
be able to achieve the stated goal of reversing the
3

spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, as declared by world
leaders at the Millennium Summit. The majority of
people infected with HIV/AIDS live in the developing
world and the high incidence of HIV/AIDS infection is
considered a function of poverty. The circularity of the
problem has tremendous implications for economic
development, poverty reduction and efforts to raise
living standards in developing countries. The accepted
premise is that international development cooperation
plays a vital role in the development of the mechanisms
necessary for enhancing the trade competitiveness of
developing countries, strengthening financial systems,
and developing human resources, but that role is
clearly undermined by the declining trend in official
development assistance (ODA).
Once again we see the lack of commitment to the
fulfilment of a stated goal. It is generally accepted that
were industrialized countries to meet their promised
official development assistance of 0.7 per cent of gross
national product (GNP), the countries of the
developing world would be much nearer to solving
many of the problems with which they are plagued. As
a substitute for the failed promise, developing
countries have been told to place greater reliance on
foreign direct investment, most of which bypasses the
most needy and the smallest economies. The
Commonwealth of Dominica falls into that category of
States for which official development assistance is
vitally critical to the development of their economies.
That is why the Commonwealth of Dominica and other
States in the region attach such importance to the
convening of the International Conference on
Financing for Development, which will be held in
Mexico from 18 to 22 March 2002. Given the changing
global realities that are impacting adversely on the
economies of developing States, the Conference will
provide an opportunity for us to assess the impact of
declining official development assistance and for
creating new mechanisms for financing development.
Over the past several years and in many different
forums, particularly in the World Trade Organization
(WTO), we have been calling for the formal
recognition of the special problems facing small
vulnerable economies. We fear that without such
recognition it will be impossible for small States to be
fully integrated into the multilateral trading system of
the globalized world. Our fears have been confirmed
both by the generally poor performance of small States
under WTO arrangements and by a very authoritative
report by the World Bank and Commonwealth
Secretariat on the issue of smallness and vulnerability.
The unique characteristics of small vulnerable
economies, which have been articulated in numerous
studies, give a clear indication of the challenges that
these economies face in improving their development
prospects and in adjusting to liberalization and
globalization. Many of these economies are at a
crossroads. The reality is that trade preferences are
eroding; official flows are declining, while historical
ties with former partners in development are fading. It
is therefore imperative that in order to prevent further
marginalization of small economies, steps must be
taken in the multilateral trading system and elsewhere
to address the concerns of those economies and to
ensure their growth and development.
The exclusion of the Republic of China on
Taiwan from membership of the United Nations makes
little sense in today’s world of globalization and
interdependence, particularly in light of the fact that
this sovereign State, with a democratically elected
Government, is the world’s seventeenth largest
economy, the fifteenth largest in international trade, the
eighth largest foreign investor, the fourth largest in
terms of foreign exchange reserves, and the third
largest exporter of information technology (IT)
products. The Commonwealth of Dominica intends no
interference in the internal affairs of any Member
State, nor can such interpretation be validly applied to
our action. Our plea is a simple call for justice for the
23 million people of the Republic of China on Taiwan
and an appeal for the recognition of their right to be
treated in international affairs no differently from
citizens of any other country.
The eleventh of September 2001 will undoubtedly
be remembered for the horrifying nature of the terrorist
acts, the magnitude of the senseless destruction of lives
and property and the forced recognition of our common
vulnerability. But the heroism, the extraordinary
fortitude and selflessness of ordinary men and women,
and the demonstrated triumph of the human spirit over
the worst manifestation of evil, inspire us to hope that
with dedicated commitment we can create for all
mankind a world that is measurably better than that
which we have today. The time to begin is now.


I am glad to
extend to you, Sir, my congratulations on your election
to the presidency of the General Assembly at this
important session. We are fully confident that you will
guide its work to complete success. I am also pleased
to congratulate the Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan,
on his re-election to a second term of office.
This session of the General Assembly acquires
special importance given that it is being held at a time
when the international family is facing increasingly
serious problems. The deterioration of the international
political and economic environment has reached an
alarming point, threatening the very core of the
individual and collective security of the Member States
and the future of humanity as a whole.
Instability in international relations has increased
as a result of the unilateral management of
international affairs on the basis of the law of brute
force. There has been a proliferation of such
phenomena as the unilateral use of force, infringement
of international law and the Charter, political
blackmail, blockades and violation of peoples’ rights to
determine their own political, economic and social
choices. The suffering of the peoples of developing
countries has increased as a result of the lack of
economic and social development and the widespread
tendencies among wealthy nations to impose their
economic hegemony and technical and scientific
blockades under the guise of globalization. Attempts
are increasing to impose certain cultures on the peoples
of the world, heaping scorn on their religious beliefs,
creeds and political and social choices and preaching
the clash of civilizations and the launching of new
crusades.
It was in these circumstances that the events of 11
September took place in the United States, with all the
ensuing suffering and victims. While we have offered
our sincere condolences to the American people and
the families of the innocent victims of these events,
Iraq has expressed its hope that the United States will
deal with these events in a spirit of wisdom and
responsibility by undertaking a comprehensive review
of its policies towards other peoples and States with a
view to finding ways to ensure security, stability and
peace for the people of the United States and for all the
peoples of the world.
The United States, however, has once again
resorted to the logic of brute force; hence its aggression
against Afghanistan. Then came the use of biological
materials in subversive operations, whose source,
according to American authorities, is most likely to be
found in the United States. All this was accompanied
by Western media campaigns intended to kindle
feelings of rancour, hatred and chauvinism and to stoke
the fires of war and aggression in the world. This
confirms that the present world order is extremely
fragile and that the fires of any conflagration anywhere
could spread to the whole world. Indeed, wide as it is,
the world could be set on fire by a spark coming from
the West. The world needs to save itself from falling
into an abyss, to which it is being pushed by policies
that have their roots in hubris, arrogance, injustice and
20

aggression. The world needs justice based on fairness;
it should not use force on the basis of power and
advantage. Perceiving the dangers to which the world
is being exposed, our leader President Saddam Hussein
of the Republic of Iraq has called for acting wisely and
reasonably to spare humanity the scourges of
vengeance, war, rancour and hatred. On 29 October
2001, he launched an initiative calling for the world to
cooperate, on the basis of a global agreement, to rid
itself of the burden and dangers of weapons of mass
destruction, beginning with the huge arsenal of such
weapons stockpiled primarily in the United States and
secondarily in the Zionist entity. In his initiative,
President Saddam Hussein emphasized that,
“When the United States begins to divest itself of
its weapons of mass destruction with the rest of
the world following suit, the United States will
find its way to the paths of wisdom. The world
will treat it with respect and love after sensing the
respect and love coming from it. The world,
including the United States, will then have peace,
rather than stand at the brink of the abyss.”
From this rostrum we call for reason, wisdom and
the rule of law to prevail over impetuosity, recklessness
and the law of brute force. We stress the importance of
proceeding with a comprehensive objective effort to rid
the world of all weapons of mass destruction and to set
up a just and equitable international order in which all
can enjoy peace, security and prosperity. It is now clear
that the current discriminatory theories of non-
proliferation and the mindset of drawing a distinction
between safe and unsafe possession of weapons of
mass destruction will not lead to a lessening of the
dangers to the world, but instead to the exact opposite.
Iraq has suffered and continues to suffer
aggression and terrorism. Its leaders, officials and
nationals have been subjected to numerous terrorist
attempts on their lives. Its towns and villages have
been the targets of many acts of terrorism at the hands
of terrorist infiltrators coming from across the border,
who are sponsored, trained, financed and armed within
the framework of State terrorism.
The Iraqi nuclear reactor devoted to peaceful
purposes was the target of a terrorist attack by
warplanes of the Zionist entity in 1981. Iraq’s towns
and villages and economic, scientific and cultural
facilities were also systematically targeted and
destroyed in the course of the aggression launched by
the United States and the United Kingdom and their
allies in 1991 and in the five large-scale attacks that
followed in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2001. Furthermore,
for 11 years now Iraq has suffered comprehensive
sanctions that have deprived its people and that have so
far claimed the lives of 1.6 million civilians, the
majority of whom are children and the elderly. Both the
aggression and the comprehensive sanctions constitute
systematic State terrorism directed against an entire
people.
The daily aggression launched by aircraft of the
United States and the United Kingdom against Iraqi
towns and villages within the so-called no-fly zones
imposed by these two States on the basis of a unilateral
and illegal decision taken in flagrant violation of the
Charter of the United Nations and international law is
also State terrorism. We must also mention the
explosions carried out in certain Iraqi border areas by
elements of mercenary infiltrators, who are financed,
armed and harboured by certain States, including the
United States, which openly spends tens of millions of
dollars on mercenary bands for the purpose of carrying
out terrorist operations in Iraq under the so-called Iraq
Liberation Act. The term “terrorism” also applies to the
use by the United States and the United Kingdom of
more than 300 tons of depleted uranium ammunition
against the people of Iraq in 1991. Through the ensuing
toxic radiological effects, this has led to an increase in
the number of embryonic deformities, a tenfold
increase in cancer cases and pollution of the
environment of the region for many generations to
come.
All these and other acts that violate the principles
of international law are acts of terrorism. In the face of
these acts of terrorism and aggression, Iraq has made
many sacrifices in defence of its sovereignty,
independence, dignity and national choices. The brave
people of Iraq are more determined today than at any
time in the past. They take pride in and cherish their
national leadership, holding fast to their sovereignty,
dignity and national and regional interests, defending
their independence and political choices and defying
all the evil intentions that stand behind the aggression
and acts of terrorism directed against them.
The fact that Iraq is a victim of international
terrorism has made it one of the first countries to call
for combating terrorism. Iraqi national legislation
provides for harsher punishment for terrorist acts. Iraq
has signed and ratified most international conventions
21

in force against terrorism. Iraq believes that, in order to
confront international terrorism, including State
terrorism, it is necessary to initiate, under the umbrella
of the United Nations, an international effort to reach
agreement on a definition of terrorism and on ways to
combat it, in accordance with international law and the
Charter of the United Nations.
Iraq is prepared to participate actively in such an
international effort to combat terrorism in all its forms,
whether perpetrated by individuals, groups or States.
Here, it is necessary to emphasize the natural,
inalienable right of all peoples to defend their
sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, as
well as to struggle against all forms of terrorism,
including foreign occupation, colonialist control and
aggression in all its military and economic forms,
intervention in the internal affairs of States and the
instigation and financing of ethnic and religious
conflicts among peoples of the world. All these rights
are embodied in the Charter of the United Nations and
international law.
In discussing the question of reforming the
current unsound state of international relations, we
must point out the need to reform international
mechanisms, foremost among which is the Security
Council, to which the Member States of the United
Nations have entrusted the primary responsibility of
maintaining international peace and security.
The practices of the Security Council, especially
in the last 11 years, have made it clear that the Council
is no longer true to its role as specified by the Charter;
that it has become a tool for implementing the policies
of one single State; and that it now stands as a glaring
model practitioner of double standards. Suffice it to
cite, as just one example among many, the fact that the
comprehensive sanctions imposed by the Council on
Iraq constitute a flagrant violation of the Charter and
the mandate of the Council. This was admitted by the
United Nations itself, as stated in the report entitled
“The right to food”, submitted under cover of the
Secretary-General’s note of 23 July 2001, in which the
Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human
Rights on the right to food said:
“There can be little doubt that subjecting the Iraqi
people to a harsh economic embargo since 1991
has placed the United Nations in a clear violation
of the obligation to respect the right to food of
people in Iraq.” (A/56/210, para. 56)
Likewise, the expert of the Subcommission on the
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights had this to
say on the subject in a report dated 21 June 2000:
“The sanctions regime against Iraq is
unequivocally illegal under existing international
humanitarian law and human rights law. Some
would go as far as making a charge of genocide.”
(E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/33, para. 71)
We therefore call for a comprehensive reform of
the Security Council that would lead to the expansion
of its membership and to the reform of its methods of
work, with specific reference to its decision-making
process, so as to ensure full respect by the Council for
the purposes and principles of the Charter and the
principle of democracy in international relations.
It has also become necessary to establish a
mechanism for judicial review that would rule on the
legality and constitutionality of Security Council
resolutions in order to ensure that they are consistent
with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations and with international law. We believe
that Member States should be able to resort to the
International Court of Justice to appeal resolutions of
the Security Council which these States consider as
involving infringement on the principles of the Charter
and international law.
Thus we will be able to remedy this flagrant
deviation from all democratic, judicial and legal norms
and principles in the work and mandate of the Security
Council.
Pending the completion of the process of
reforming the Security Council and of ensuring that it
plays its role in conformity with the Charter, States
Members of the United Nations should reconsider their
authorization to the Council to act on their behalf in the
maintenance of international peace and security, since
the Council has abused that authorization. There is no
more obvious case in this regard than that of the
comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iraq. No just-
thinking State can afford to remain a spectator when it
sees the authorization it granted to the Security Council
being used to annihilate the people of Iraq.
It is the legal and moral obligation of all States
that respect international law and the Charter of the
United Nations to declare that they are not parties to
this crime and that they did not authorize the Security
Council to kill the children of Iraq in their name. The
22

comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iraq have
inflicted enormous damage on the interests of a
considerable number of the countries of the world, and
these countries are called upon to put a stop to these
illegal acts and to restore their trade relations with Iraq,
in implementation of Article 50 of the Charter.
The organized terrorism to which the people of
Palestine are being subjected by the Zionist entity, the
founder and primary source of terrorism, can be seen in
the bombing of towns, villages, camps and Islamic and
Christian houses of worship, as well as in political
assassinations, imposition of collective punishments,
occupation of Muslim holy sites, use of depleted
uranium ammunitions and poison gases, bulldozing of
farms and confiscation of lands.
This organized terrorism calls for a reaction on
the part of the international community that is
commensurate with the gravity of these genocidal
practices against a whole people. Similarly, the
systematic destruction to which the Afghan people are
being subjected at the hands of the American military
machine is an illegal unilateral use of force and should
come to an end. I should like to refer here to the
Secretary-General’s 1999 annual report on the work of
the Organization, in which he stated that
“enforcement actions without Security Council
authorization threaten the very core of the
international security system founded on the
Charter of the United Nations” (A/54/1, para. 66).
We demand an end to this interference in the
internal affairs of Afghanistan. The Afghan people
should be able to make their own political choices, in
conformity with their national interests and without
any external interference, under whatever pretext.
The United Nations was founded for the purpose
of achieving security, peace and stability, so that social
and economic progress for all peoples might be
promoted by a number of means, including avoidance
of wars and conflicts. But today two thirds of the
population of the world suffer from underdevelopment
and live in misery, while the few live in prosperity.
What is required is to reactivate the role of the United
Nations in the search for a balanced international
economic policy that will lead to greater equality
among peoples and States, lessen the intensity of
political conflicts and feelings of frustration, engage all
as partners in building the world economy, promote
human rights and fundamental freedoms, and bring
about a better life for peoples.
Efforts to reform the international political
environment will not meet with success if they are not
accompanied by efforts to reform the economic
environment with a view to extending prosperity to all
humankind. We must remember that the vast resources
with which God Almighty has favoured our planet
Earth are sufficient to enable us to achieve prosperity,
security and stability for all. What we need is the
conviction that all human beings are equal in terms of
their worth, and we must work hard to avert, and put an
end to, all policies and actions that violate this truth
and cause upheavals in international relations.


Allow me to begin by
expressing my congratulations to you, Sir, on your
election as President of the General Assembly. The
fifty-sixth session is clearly going to be a challenging
one, and one that I predict will further strengthen the
resolve of members to work hand in hand on all the
different issues requiring our attention. I would like
also to convey my appreciation to His Excellency Mr.
Harri Holkeri for the determined and skilful manner in
which he presided over the previous session.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
congratulate the United Nations and its tireless
Secretary-General on the Nobel Peace Prize that they
have jointly and so deservedly been awarded.
This session started in a markedly different
manner from those of previous years. The horrendous
11 September terrorist attacks brought home the very
real threat of terrorism to each and every one of us no
matter what corner of the world we inhabit.
International terrorism does not limit its actions to
individual countries. In fact, although the attacks were
launched on United States soil, the specific targets
chosen clearly show the intent to destroy symbols of
the modern world, icons to free people everywhere.
Indeed, by attacking this cosmopolitan city and
its World Trade Center, the perpetrators targeted us all.
Nationals of more than 60 countries met their death in
those dastardly attacks. Even if our own nationals were
not among those who lost their lives, we all felt under
attack. We all felt violated. In one way or another, our
lives have been altered forever, and we must respond
accordingly.
We must fight the scourge of terrorism with
unreserved and unhesitating resolve. We must do this
not merely as a means to defend all that we hold dear.
We must do it to secure a safer world for ourselves, for
those who will follow us and for those who have had
their lives irrevocably transformed as a result of these
terrorist attacks. That resolve must be our tribute to the
innocent and the brave who lost their lives in the l1
September attacks.
The two-month postponement of the general
debate has provided us with time to reflect and to act.
Malta has joined the international community’s
absolute and unreserved condemnation of the terrorist
acts. We have also stepped up our action in pursuit of
the effective implementation of anti-terrorism
6

measures, including comprehensive compliance with
Security Council resolution 1373 (2001).
Malta was among the first six countries to sign
the International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism, and yesterday became one of
the first States to ratify it. On Sunday, Malta also
acceded to the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected
Persons, including Diplomatic Agents; to the
International Convention against the Taking of
Hostages; and to the International Convention for the
Suppression of Terrorist Bombings.
The new realities of today’s world have certainly
brought to the fore the importance of those conventions
on terrorism. At the same time, they have also brought
into bold relief the wisdom that underpins the efforts of
the international community in its pursuit of the
establishment of the International Criminal Court. My
Government is politically committed to the Court and
will seek ratification of the Rome Statute by the
Maltese parliament in the near future. We feel that, in
that way, we are doing all we can to ensure that no
stone is left unturned in our fight against terrorism.
With each passing day, we witness the domino
effect that acts of terror may have at a national,
regional and global level. The impact this has on the
lives of millions must be addressed. We feel therefore
that the time is ripe to conclude the debate on an
operational definition of the perpetration of a terrorist
act. Intensified efforts aimed at the expeditious
conclusion of negotiations on the Indian proposal
should subsequently yield a comprehensive convention
on international terrorism, which will be of benefit to
us all. We firmly believe that such an umbrella
agreement will give added value to, and further
complement, other existing conventions on terrorism.
We also believe that the General Assembly should
actively consider convening a high-level conference on
terrorism under United Nations auspices upon or
immediately after the conclusion of such a convention.
That would serve to reinforce ongoing international
efforts to formulate a collective response to terrorism.
The unity of purpose currently prevailing within
the international community in its fight against
terrorism is perhaps unprecedented. Indeed, the
political will displayed over the past two months is a
clear manifestation, if any were needed, that
multilateralism remains a vital tool in the conduct of
relations among States at a global level. That political
will has also been seen in the other work of the
Organization. Allow me therefore to turn to other
issues on the agenda of the General Assembly.
I would like first to express my Government’s full
support for the initiative of the German and French
Governments to bring the issue of human cloning
before the United Nations. Aimed at drafting a
convention banning human cloning for the purposes of
reproduction, that initiative has received wide support
from all quarters. The concern expressed underlines the
fundamental nature of the threat to humanity posed by
scientists who are unwilling to accept ethical and moral
limits on their work. In responding to the Franco-
German initiative, the United Nations will ensure that a
strong and meaningful convention can be drafted and
adopted within as short a time frame as possible.
The United Nations has already had occasion to
exhibit its ability to act swiftly and decisively when the
conscience of the international community is
heightened. The entry into force of the Ottawa
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and
on Their Destruction, which Malta ratified earlier this
year, was made possible by the international
community’s outrage at the devastating impact of those
indiscriminate weapons, whose horrific effects long
outlast their military purpose.
Similarly, the seriousness and urgency of the
problem of human cloning should expedite the
conclusion of an internationally binding agreement on
that issue. I have no doubt that the richly diverse
beliefs reflected in this room are united in their respect
for human dignity and identity, and their concern with
the fundamental and far-reaching implications of
human cloning.
Other world events continue to pose a threat to
the fundamental right of peoples to live in a secure,
stable and prosperous environment. The current state of
affairs in the Middle East is an example. The dramatic
contrast between the optimism apparent at the
Millennium Assembly’s opening and the escalation in
violence over the past few months has made it
increasingly difficult for the parties to return to the
positions they were in just over 12 months ago.
Malta is convinced that the Mitchell report and
the Tenet Plan provide a realistic and readily
achievable way out of the spiral of violence that has
7

engulfed the region. The peace, security and welfare of
all the people concerned require that their full
implementation be urgently embarked upon. This
necessitates the re-establishment of security
cooperation between the parties in the interests of both
Israelis and Palestinians; the stationing of international
observers, preferably from several regions; and an end
to all new settlement activity, including so-called
“natural growth”. Against this backdrop, Malta hopes
that both parties will be able to return to the
negotiating table with the aim of achieving a just and
permanent peace in the region on the basis of the
relevant Security Council resolutions.
Also in the Mediterranean, the situation in Cyprus
has remained a cause of concern for over 25 years. We
earnestly hope that an early settlement of the Cyprus
question will be found. In this connection, we reaffirm
our full support for efforts to find a solution on the
basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions.
Progress towards lasting peace and stability in the
Mediterranean often appears to unfold very slowly.
Events in the Balkans since we met here last year,
however, bring fresh hope to us all. The end of the
Milosevic era was a clear example of the positive
change that can be wrought through the power of the
people, signalling a fresh beginning for the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia and indeed for all the
neighbouring independent republics.
In recent months, turmoil and unrest have also
threatened to engulf the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia. Yet the unfolding situation now reveals
encouraging signs of the power of diplomacy.
International assistance extended to republics in the
Balkan region is also indicative of the power within
each of us to make our own contribution and to play a
part.
Malta feels this onus most strongly and actively
seeks to play a role on the international stage that goes
beyond the mere limitations of its geographical size. In
fact, in keeping with this consciousness, Malta is
proceeding steadily towards its objective of acceding to
the European Union — a union of like-minded States
where we naturally belong, not only politically, but
also economically, culturally and historically. Our
intention is therefore to become an integral part of the
European Union at its next enlargement, enabling us to
participate fully in a decision-making process that all
too often carries wide-ranging implications for our
country.
Like other candidate countries, Malta is currently
negotiating the terms of entry into the European Union
in what will be an unprecedented widening and
deepening of the Union. Already more than halfway
through this process, we are working hard to ensure
that Malta is not only well equipped to deal with the
challenges of membership but is also in a position to
make a significant contribution to the Union. This
historic project and the enhancement of Mediterranean
cooperation are both of immediate concern to Malta.
We feel that they go hand in hand.
An increase in dialogue between all nations and a
move towards securing a safer planet are in everyone’s
interest. However, threats to international security, not
least those posed by weapons of mass destruction,
continue to lurk in the background. In July this year,
Malta deposited its instrument of ratification of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Malta hopes
that the remaining 13 countries whose ratification is
necessary for the Treaty to come into force will join the
84 countries that have already done this. Thus a
significant collective step will have been taken towards
reducing the risk of nuclear disaster.
Not so long ago, the terms “environment” and
“international security” in the same sentence would
have drawn a perplexed response from most audiences.
Today, the link between the two is becoming
increasingly apparent. The urgency in addressing the
greatest threats to our natural environment was made
amply clear in Bonn during the sixth session of the
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change. Despite
being faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles,
the international community succeeded in forging the
Earth’s first major action-oriented response to the
phenomenon of global warming.
In this respect, allow me to offer my
Government’s expression of gratitude to the Chairman
of the Conference, Mr. Jan Pronk, as well as to my
compatriot Mr. Michael Zammit Cutajar, Executive
Secretary of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, for their enormous
personal efforts to secure a successful outcome. Their
success laid the groundwork for the breakthrough
achieved at the seventh session of the Conference in
Marrakech last week. The agreement on the modalities
8

of implementation of the Kyoto Protocol has opened
the door to its ratification by all States signatories.
Indeed, Malta deposited its instrument of ratification
yesterday and looks forward to the present momentum
being sustained, leading to an early entry into force of
this landmark Protocol.
Difficult and complex as it may be to tackle
environmental global problems, the most challenging
environmental problems are often those in our own
backyards. With one of the highest population densities
in the world, Malta has achieved a high level of human
development without any natural resources at its
disposal. In seeking to continue to raise our living
standards, we grapple daily with difficult decisions
aimed at ensuring that economic development on our
islands is environmentally sustainable.
There is no simple trade-off between the
protection of the environment and the production of
wealth. The Mediterranean Sea, which provides Malta
with its economic lifeline, is perhaps the most tangible
proof of the fact that economic progress at the expense
of the environment is no progress at all. In reaping its
bountiful fruits, we know that they are not unlimited
and, if not tended to, will dry up altogether. The same
applies to other seas and oceans.
With this in mind, Malta yesterday became the
thirtieth State to accede to the Agreement for the
Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to the
Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish
Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks — a move
that will bring the Agreement itself into force on 11
December 2001. For Malta, having initiated the process
that led to the United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea, it is a source of great satisfaction to
contribute to the further development of this veritable
pillar of international law.
While there is inevitably still more that can be
done, both at a domestic and an international level, I
hope that this General Assembly session will serve as a
renewed impetus for us all to promote everything
necessary to make the world safer and more secure.
This is our fundamental duty, as political leaders, for
the welfare of present and future generations. We must
continue to foster social justice, promote equitable
development, nurture confidence among peoples, settle
conflicts and take the appropriate measures to ensure
security for all. Yet in doing all this, Governments and
peoples must ensure that we continue first and
foremost to build peace in the minds of men and
women. That undertaking, adopted by the generation
that survived the Second World War, retains its noble
authenticity today as we face the challenges of our own
times.


I am
pleased, first of all, to convey through you, Sir, our
sincere congratulations to President Han Seung-soo on
28

his election as President of the current session of the
General Assembly. I am certain that with his expertise
and skill he will conduct the proceedings of this
session successfully. I should also like to express our
appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri, for
the distinction with which he conducted the
proceedings of the last session.
Our current meetings are convened amid
extraordinary circumstances arising from the acts of
terrorism committed against the United States of
America on the very day set for the opening of this
session. It is regrettable that the first session of the
United Nations General Assembly of the twenty-first
century should be convened in the aftermath of those
alarming events. These events truly constitute a
negative phenomenon that will have major
repercussions on inter-State relations at the bilateral
and multilateral levels alike. Furthermore, these events
have convinced everyone that there is no alternative to
collective endeavour through legitimate structures to
confront the challenges of the future. We would like to
stress the necessity of supporting the United Nations as
an ideal framework for international cooperation,
particularly at this stage when collective endeavour is
indispensable for coping with the problems that now, in
the era of globalization, affect us all to a greater or
lesser extent. In this connection, we congratulate the
United Nations and its Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001,
which has come at an appropriate time as an
appreciative expression of the role of the Organization
and the effective leadership of its Secretary-General.
The perseverance of the host country in ensuring
quasi-normal conditions for the work of this session
reflects a will to transcend the catastrophe and displays
confidence in the triumph of reason. Permit me, as I
stand at the heart of this great and wounded city, to
convey, on behalf of the leadership, Government and
people of Yemen, our sincere condolences and deepest
sympathy to the American President, the Government
and people of the United States, and to convey these
sentiments in particular to the families of the innocent
victims whose lives were lost in the tragic events of 11
September.
Although the scourge of terrorism has struck the
United States this time, claiming thousands of innocent
victims, the phenomenon of terrorism is not new.
Indeed, it is directed against the whole world. These
recent acts of terrorism claimed victims from 70
foreign countries, including Yemen. These acts were
not targeted against the United States and Americans
alone; rather, the target was international peace and
security. Regrettably, the phenomenon of terrorism has
worsened because of negligence in confronting it. We
in the Republic of Yemen have not been spared the
perils and threats of terrorism. Our country has been
scorched by its fire and afflicted in many ways, but our
appeals for timely, effective cooperation fell on deaf
ears.
Today, in the face of this loathsome act of
terrorism, the Republic of Yemen reiterates its stand,
condemning terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations, whatever its causes and sources. As we
proclaim the readiness of the Government of the
Republic of Yemen to strive, within the framework of
international legitimacy, for the elimination of
terrorism, we also affirm our desire that those
endeavours not lead to the suffering of innocent
persons or to the practice of oppression that will result
in the emergence of a new generation of terrorists.
We also affirm the Arab Islamic position that
rejects attempts to link terrorism to Arabs and
Muslims. Terrorism, as history teaches us, has no
religion, no homeland and no identity. On the same
grounds, Yemen censures the voices that stir up
propaganda for a clash of civilizations or, to be precise,
a clash of Islam with Christianity. Instead, we call for a
meaningful intercultural dialogue and for the creation
of common concepts centred on justice, human and
religious values.
The desire to combat and eliminate terrorism
makes it incumbent upon the international community
to launch an unremitting campaign based on uniform
and clearly defined criteria identifying terrorists, be
they individuals, or collective or State terrorism. The
international community cannot shirk its responsibility
to oppose State terrorism — just as it opposes terrorism
by individuals and groups.
Logically, it follows that the Security Council
should put an end to the crimes committed daily by
Israel against the Palestinian people forcing Israel to
withdraw from the occupied Arab territories and to
implement the resolutions of international legitimacy,
first and foremost of which are Security Council
resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). In this regard,
the Republic of Yemen proclaims that it welcomes
President George W. Bush’s statement on the necessity
29

of establishing a Palestinian State with all the elements
of sovereignty. This declaration has met with ever-
increasing international support. Israel must realize that
its security is bound up with its neighbour’s security
and that its secure future lies in the inevitable
acceptance of the Palestinian people’s right to establish
their own independent State and in its respecting the
Palestinians’ sovereignty over their territory.
Today’s world is characterized by rapid
transformations that, taken as a whole, are the natural
labour pains that precede the birth of a new reality
reflecting humankind’s yearning for a more just and
prosperous world. The current reality and nature of
international relations differ from those of the 1990s;
in fact, they differ to some extent from the prevailing
situation only two months ago, to be precise, prior to
the tragic and bloody events of September. These
events diverted attention from globalization issues, the
furthering of the democratic process and the diffusion
of human rights to an endeavour to confront and
eliminate terrorism. Everyone is aware that the
exigencies of combating and eradicating terrorism
demand adherence to democratic decision-making
methods. Decisions must be adopted on the basis of
agreement and participation, exactly as is required at
the national level.
The logic of force has unquestionably become an
outdated logic, which can in no way lead to the
establishment of sound international relations or ensure
lasting solutions to the problems that inevitably arise
from time to time in inter-State relations. The Republic
of Yemen has striven tirelessly to ensure the best
means of achieving peace and stability at the regional
and world levels, and has adhered to the course of
resolving disputes by peaceful means and by accepting
and adhering to the principle of good-neighbourliness.
On this basis, our political leadership, represented
by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has made continuous
and unremitting efforts to help end the strife between
the warring factions in fraternal Somalia. It hastened to
welcome the outcome of the Arta Peace Conference
and was among the first to support the provisional
national Government, under the leadership of President
Salad Hassan, as a legitimate entity representing
Somali national consensus.
The ordeal that our Somali brothers are
experiencing, both inside and outside the country,
confronts the international community with its
responsibility to provide aid and support to the
provisional Government and to increase assistance to
the Somali refugees in neighbouring countries,
including our own. Our country has opened its arms to
some 150,000 of our Somali brothers, despite the
difficult economic circumstances it is currently
experiencing.
Recent events have proved beyond doubt that
there is an urgent need to amend the rules of
international relations so as to ensure consensus in
decision-making and collective participation in efforts
to confront the growing challenges and dangers that
face us all and that are not confined within the borders
of any one State. That naturally makes it imperative to
reconsider the policy of imposing international
embargoes and sanctions that do not represent the
collective will nor the required agreements, while the
facts affirm their harmfulness and futility.
The sanctions imposed on the Iraqi people and
the suffering of that people are a burden on the human
conscience, and their continuation raises an increasing
number of questions about the truth of the aims behind
the insistence on their maintenance, now that the
justifications for the decision to impose those sanctions
no longer exist: Iraq has committed itself to
implementing the United Nations resolutions
guaranteeing Kuwait’s security and sovereignty over its
territory. My country has used its good offices with
fraternal Kuwait and Iraq and continues to do so, with
a view to finding a solution to the issue of Kuwaiti and
other prisoners and missing persons, and cooperating in
the settlement of this distressing issue. Here, we would
like to express our happiness at the decision taken by
the Security Council to lift the sanctions imposed on
Sudan.
At a time when fraternal Libya and certain other
States are still suffering from unjust embargo policies,
there is an urgent need to reconsider those embargo
resolutions that have become obsolete and have been
overtaken by events.
One cause for optimism is the desire shown by
both the United Arab Emirates and Iran, and the
current contacts between them, to find a solution to the
issue of the three islands of the Emirates in the Arabian
Gulf. Yemen welcomes this move by the two fraternal
States while wishing to affirm that direct talks or
international arbitration are the option that will
30

preserve the security of the region and strengthen
relations between the two countries.
Developing countries are still experiencing
extremely difficult economic and social conditions, and
the financial sources for national development
investment are almost non-existent, since external debt
and debt servicing consume most national development
earnings. This is evident in the least developed
countries, a group to which the Republic of Yemen
belongs. In this context, we deem it essential to strive
to implement the recommendations of the Third United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.
The Republic of Yemen wishes to participate in
the preparatory meetings for the International
Conference on Financing for Development, to be held
next year in Mexico, as it is an international gathering
that will address, inter alia, issues related to the
mobilization of the financial resources necessary for
comprehensive development activities. These include
commitment to pay official development assistance
pledges, considering the development of ways to
increase the domestic resources necessary for
development activities and increasing donor assistance,
particularly to national plans aimed at eliminating
poverty in all its dimensions.
The Government of the Republic of Yemen is
following a comprehensive development approach
under extremely difficult economic circumstances.
Large sums are allocated in the national budget for
building the infrastructure, and particular importance is
given to multidimensional programmes for the
elimination of poverty. An effort is being made to
ensure the participation of the various segments of civil
society in the process of decision-making for
development activities.
Seeking integration into the global economy, the
competent authorities in Yemen are endeavouring to
fulfil the requirements for joining the World Trade
Organization. In this context, the Government has
adopted a number of measures related to economic
reforms and to finding new markets. However, in that
regard there are obstacles facing the Republic of
Yemen, as is the case with other least developed
countries seeking market integration. An effort must be
made to remove these obstacles by allowing access to
world markets for Yemen’s products and by affording it
an opportunity to acquire the technology needed for
development, particularly communications and
information technology.
The process of globalization, which in its current
form has some positive elements, should give due
consideration to human needs and not be confined to
market interests. Inter-State relations characterized by
justice and shared responsibility, as envisioned last
year in the Millennium Declaration, should prevail.
With regard to bilateral economic cooperation,
my country’s delegation would like to express its
thanks and appreciation for the contributions of
friendly States — in particular Germany, the
Netherlands and Japan - that are providing assistance to
development plans and programmes in the Republic of
Yemen.
The most important trend in the world today is
unquestionably the increasing move towards
democracy as a necessary requirement for the
achievement of equity, justice and social peace. In the
Republic of Yemen, the democratic process has been a
basis for guaranteeing the unity achieved on 22 May
1990 and has been organically linked to that unity.
In spite of the short time since its achievement of
unity and its proclamation of commitment to the
democratic process, my country has made major strides
towards the achievement of political pluralism, the
peaceful transfer of power and the guaranteeing of
human rights, especially with regard to the
participation of women in the comprehensive
development process. The most recent of these
achievements were the free direct elections for the
presidency of the Republic last year and the local
Government elections early this year. Our manifest
desire to develop the democratic process led to the
convening of the Emerging Democracies Forum in
Sana’a last year, which was the first conference of its
kind.
Lastly, we would like to express our desire to host
the next International Conference of New or Restored
Democracies, scheduled to take place in 2003. We hope
that our request will be supported. The Conference will
provide an opportunity for participants to get to know
first-hand the country in the land of Sheba — a country
that has practised consultation and democracy since the
dawn of civilization.
In conclusion, I hope that our meetings here will
result in the promotion of joint endeavours that fulfil
31

the aspirations of our peoples for a world in which
justice triumphs over inequity and poverty and in
which peace, rather than fear and war, prevails.