I wish first of all to convey to Mr. Samir Shihabl my congratulations on his assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at this most important session.
Except for those concerning 1960, one can hardly find in the records of the United Nations an event of the kind we witnessed last week; namely, the simultaneous admission to membership of seven additional States. It confirms without doubt the universal vocation of our Organisation or, more precisely, that singular openness which enables the United Nations to be in tune with what is going on in the world. Assessing the significance of such an event, we should stress equally that, by seeking recognition as Members of the United Nations, the recently admitted States, like others that are still waiting for recognition, offer the most convincing proof that the United Nations is increasingly perceived as a privileged framework for the achievement of a peaceful and democratic world order.
Such encouraging evidence that the United Nations, in regard to its role in world affairs, has not lost the functions entrusted to it in the aftermath of the Second World War should serve as a catalyst for our common endeavour to improve its efficiency.
Before elaborating on this, I should like to extend to the representatives of the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and our fellow European countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - as well as to the representatives of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands our greetings on their admission as full members of the United Nations family. At the same time, I should like to share with all the representatives gathered in this Hall our hope that in the near future the newly independent States which have asked, or are going to ask, to be allowed to join the world Organization will also enjoy the right to be among us.
The fact that some of the new Members have only recently won their independence and international recognition, on the one hand, and the fact that we have agreed to accept two States representing one and the same nation, on the other, encourages us to believe that in a reasonable span of time the Republic of Moldova will, in its turn, benefit from legitimate recognition as a Member of the United Nations.
We are strengthened in our belief by the evidence that double standards are on the wane in our Organisation. Today, when the divisions of the cold war have started to be replaced by a growing endeavour to bring about a new world order, it is only natural that such double standards should not be allowed to become manifest in connection with admission to the United Nations - the more so because abandoning double standards is not only a high priority but also a tangible possibility.
The Gulf crisis clearly demonstrated that the United Nations is no longer the prisoner of the ideological confrontation that resulted in too many of its resolutions, even some of those adopted by the Security Council, failing to be implemented during the last four decades.
Since the end of 1989 the world and, together with it, the United Nations have entered a new phase in their history. The conceptual field itself suggests that times are changing. Notions directly or indirectly connected to the cold-war Manichean language are already well behind us. Some others - such as neutrality and non-alignment - seem to need new definitions. New notions - and the concept of a new world order is the best example - have become part of our daily political language.
It goes without saying, therefore, that the new climate does not offer solutions to the many problems the world of the 1990s is confronted with. None the lees, it has created a more favourable international political environment for cooperation and understanding. The challenge before us is to bring about, in each and every field of human activity, proper conditions for improvement of the human condition all over the world.
I feel the need to recall for representatives at this session of the General Assembly how strongly attached to the cause of peace and civilisation my country has been throughout its tortuous history. Its Latin identity, its Christian religion and its vocation for tolerance - a sine qua non of democracy - have been the mainspring of its unabated attachment to those supreme ends of human endeavour.
Situated, by the will of God, at the crossroads not only of great cultures but also of great empires, the Romanians are inheritors of the ancient Dacia, of Rome and of Byzantium. It has never been their fault that their land has on more than one occasion been a theatre of war. All too often neighbouring empires decided the destiny of the Romanians, arbitrarily modified the borders of their territories and influenced or brutally interfered with their internal development.
Almost 2000 years have elapsed since the famous Roman Emperor Trajan commissioned one of the greatest architects of the time, Apollodor of Damascus, to build the biggest bridge across the Danube so that his legions could enter Dacia Felix. It was the same Apollodor of Damascus who a few years later was to raise the Trajan Column in Rome, a monument that historians regard as the birth certificate of the Romanian people. As my illustrious predecessor, the leading diplomat of the period between the two world wars in Europe, the Foreign Minister of Romania, Nicolae Titulescu, used to recall, the cradle of the Romanian people is Transylvania. This people has lived and developed harmoniously and united within ethnically and historically defined borders. European by birth and mindful of their links with the family of Latin countries through their language, origin and culture, the Romanians aspire, by destiny and vocation, to their rightful place in the community of nations.
Freedom of eternal Romania in its natural borders is their driving force. Less than two years ago, after a long night of dictatorships, the Romanian people regained, through their own sacrifices, their right to free and democratic development. The huge price they were forced to pay for their freedom has made them determined resolutely to protect and exercise their irreversible option for democracy, dignity and legality.
Romania embarked upon her post-Communist history only about 20 months ago. The starting point was a stage of isolation and ideological and political dogmatism that had been unknown anywhere else in Europe.
We have already set up the new legislative and institutional framework required for the transition to a market economy. Private property has been recognized and guaranteed both in industry and in agriculture. Through appropriate legislation, economic and financial market mechanisms and the privatization of land, industry, trade and tourism have been set in motion.
None the less, our economic and financial situation is still in an alarming state. The new mechanisms are not yet functioning with the expected results. There is still resistance, reluctance and distrust about embarking upon comprehensive reform. Our Government is aware of the great risks and difficulties of the transition period. Inevitably its economic and social costs are high, as recognized by the international community. We shall have to pay them since, in this respect, there are no miraculous formulas that guarantee success.
The Government is endeavouring to maintain social stability in a dynamic environment imposed by reform. We are bound to succeed, but without substantial external support it will probably take us a long time. The assistance we have received from international financial institutions and from several developed countries has had a significant impact, but much more is needed for a modernised and restructured economy to take off. In this respect I would point out that Romania is a net creditor, since it has not contracted long-term loans. Payment of foreign debts due Romania, in particular by Iraq, is badly needed. We count on the understanding and support of the United Nations in recovering our outstanding loans.
We count especially on the support and solidarity of the European Economic Community (EEC) for a successful transition in our country. Our efforts to reinstate a market economy in Romania and to stimulate the free initiative drive of individuals would find a most happy catalyst in the EEC's decision to include Romania among its associate partners and, later on, among its members.
He are aware that it is not easy to qualify for such a position, but we are sure that, once such a possibility is clearly stated, the individual energies of Romanians would be fuelled and viable solutions to the myriad problems at present facing our country will be implemented because, after all, hope is a most important prerequisite for success.
Taking into account the fact that the United Nations system is not en end in itself but a means aimed at protecting and promoting human dignity on an international scale, consideration of new and more efficient ways of achieving its goals should be of the greatest concern to us all. The main features of the emerging new structure of international relations in no way contradict the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. On the contrary, they are in line with the basic concepts of the Charter: security based on law; cooperation in ensuring a decent life for all peoples; and democracy as a framework to guarantee fundamental rights and freedoms for all human beings, irrespective of colour, sex, ethnic origin or faith.
It is therefore our common responsibility to build upon these positive developments and give them an irreversible and universal character. The United Nations is unique equipped to carry out the historic task of building a new world order based on human and democratic values, thriving market economies and peaceful international relations.
In our view, in order to maintain and consolidate international peace and security, action is required in several directions.
It is of fundamental importance in the first place to encourage and intensify efforts to settle existing conflicts which have so severely damaged the real interests of all parties involved and international relations as a whole. In particular, we should aim at preventing a possible multiplication of chronic conflicts. Unfortunately, Europe - or, more exactly, its eastern part - seems in recent months to have become a theatre of dangerous evolutions of this kind.
To our deepest regret, neighbourly and friendly Yugoslavia is severely affected by the consequences of a virulent and destructive conflict whose main lesson is that the use of force leads nowhere but to further complication of existing problems. We welcome and support the actions of the EEC aimed at encouraging a political settlement of the Yugoslav crisis. We in Romania are of the opinion that the countries bordering Yugoslavia have a great responsibility to act in such a way as to prevent the aggravation of the conflict and even to facilitate a solution at the negotiation table. We also are of the view that this solution will be viable to the extent that it comes from within Yugoslavia. Its neighbours, the European countries and the United Nations have to do everything in their power to help the parties involved come to an agreement. Imposed solutions cannot last. It is the only wise course, consonant with both the interests of all the Yugoslav peoples and the objectives and common interests of the whole of Europe - and no less with those of the world at large.
The latest discussions and diplomatic consultations on the Yugoslav crisis have revealed certain approaches and ideas that should be addressed. It is difficult to base a new world order on the sovereignty of some but not all States. In the settlement of disputes, a free choice of means is the basic element of the Charter's philosophy. We should learn from the wisdom of past generations which, for instance, in dozens of treaties on the peaceful settlement of disputes expressly excluded from the arbitration procedure territorial and border problems. Do we want to abandon for Europe the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act concerning changes of borders? If we do, it would open up a Pandora's box.
As elsewhere in the world, the task before Europe is to step forward into the twenty-first century and not look back to the nineteenth century. One should never forget that the insane ambitions and aims of the totalitarian experiments that took place during the twentieth century on the soil of Europe did not in substance differ from the ambitions and aims of the "classical" empires. The only novelty that the Nazi and communist nightmares brought about was the aggressive use of their respective ideologies as a means to reach their oppressive ends. Therefore, while welcoming the crumbling of the last European empire, namely, the communist empire, every effort should be made to resist emerging political dreams of recreating in new forms old empires no less hostile to the peoples' rights to self-determination, sovereignty and independence.
Placed between two zones with a high potential for conflict, Romania is determined to do all in its power to remain a stable "bridge of hope" in Eastern Europe. It is in its national interest not only to stop at its borders the turmoil affecting two of its neighbours but also to contribute to the stability and security of the whole continent.
Deeply aware of its responsibility and willing to assume it, the Romanian Government has engaged over these last weeks in intensive diplomatic activity. Our open and constructive dialogue with almost every party involved in or affected by the Yugoslav crisis - representatives of the central Government of Yugoslavia and representatives of Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia - and successive exchanges of views with Albania, Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey have been part of our efforts to promote a peaceful solution to the crisis affecting our common neighbour. There is hope. We should therefore explore the possibility of any efforts complementary to those already being carried on by the EEC and those that the United Nations could take upon itself, if our Organization deems it necessary to examine that specific crisis and make its own recommendations for its political solution.
As for the issues that have become "traditional" on the United Nations agenda, Romania welcomes efforts towards peace in the Middle East. We welcome also the progress being made towards the settlement of the situations in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, the Western Sahara and Central America.
While pursuing the earliest possible conclusion or all existing conflicts, it is critically important to develop and strengthen United Nations procedures and mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States. As in medicine, it is easier to prevent than to cure. As emphasised again by the Secretary-General in bi-annual report, preventive diplomacy must acquire increased vigour. The Security Council, the General Assembly and the Secretary-General have considerably broader roles to play in this regard in the coming months and years. The adoption at this session of the declaration on fact-finding will provide material support for early action on the part of the United Nations to prevent armed conflicts and help bring about the pacific settlement of disputes.
The United Nations peace-keeping operations play an indispensable role in the settlement of conflicts. They can be further strengthened, both in terms of functioning and effectiveness. Me are ready to participate in such operations and, to this end, a number of Romanian personnel are undergoing special training.
It is being understood more and more that international order can be peaceful and lasting to the extent that it is based on democracy and on full respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual. The Romanian Government is genuinely committed to the promotion of human rights and democratic values. This fact will be fully reflected in the country's new constitution, which is to be concluded and promulgated a few weeks from now, and which will be tested in the forthcoming local elections, as well as in the general elections to be held next spring. We are of course aware that we are only at the beginning of our return to the democratic traditions of our country. In fact we are returning to normalcy, since, for us, communism meant abnormally and an anachronism. Our new democratic institutions are still fragile. We are counting on international cooperation with a view to strengthening them.
Earlier this month, at the Moscow meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe on the human dimension, our Government reiterated its determination fully to apply the European and the United Nations standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law at home, and to contribute to their implementation abroad. We are looking forward to full membership for Romania in the Council of Europe and to its active participation in the human rights, social and cultural activities of this Organization.
In the same spirit we attach the utmost importance to the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which we see as another stepping-stone in the process of strengthening the fibre of peace, democracy, law and justice in all corners of our planet.
In our opinion, that Conference offers us a good opportunity to assess not only each country's performance in the field of human rights, but also jointly to assess the improvements that might be necessary as far as the United Nations instruments and mechanisms are concerned.
In this regard we would venture to suggest a possible subject for reflection. Taking into account the fact that regional experiences - and I have in mind especially the American and European ones - have proved that civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights constitute an integral whole and, on the other hand, that the two United Nations Covenants on Human Rights were adopted at a time when ideological divisions were dictating the tone within the United Nations, we could ask ourselves whether such a splitting is still justified and, in general, whether these Instruments should not be updated in the light of the significant changes brought about by the end of the cold war era. A new look should also be taken at other United Nations instruments and resolutions tainted with ideological or political motives, including the well-known 1975 General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism.
The 1993 World Conference should also represent an important occasion for putting a final stop to tendencies to politicize minority issues, by taking them out of their natural framework, the framework of human rights: a framework which offers the best and the only viable answers to concerns about guaranteeing and respecting the legitimate rights of persons belonging to minorities and the protection of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of minorities.
A peaceful and democratic world order requires universal and unabated compliance by all with the rule of law. And there is no organisation better qualified to strengthen and develop international law than the United Nations. This is obviously the main purpose of the proclamation of the United Nations Decade of International Law, and Romania is fully committed to the attainment of its objectives.
The tasks ahead are not simple. To move from the concepts and mentalities of confrontation to those of cooperation and concord among all countries requires determination and great political vision. But that road must be travelled together, since that is the only way to avoid disaster and ensure a brighter future for all.
Human solidarity is the best means of advancing democracy throughout the world and of resisting any infringement of internationally accepted and consecrated rules of conduct. All of us were reminded of this by the coup in the USSR. One of the main explanations for its failure can be found in the determined and explicit international solidarity with, and support for, the democratic forces in the USSR.
The United Nations has a major role to play in consolidating the present historic trends. For this, increasing the effectiveness of the United Nations activities and mechanisms is essential. Therefore we welcome the various proposals with a view to making the Organization more effective and we intend to make a positive contribution to the achievement of early and substantive agreement on them.
Both memory and imagination should be our advisers in turning a new page of world history. Otherwise we would go towards a "future past world", rather than towards a safer, more peaceful, prosperous and democratic world.


It is with profound pleasure that my delegation conveys to the forty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly the greetings of the Government and people of Grenada. It is our special honour to extend congratulations to you on your election to the presidency of this forty-sixth session. We are well aware, Mr. President, of your outstanding qualities and competence, and we are confident that you will guide the work of this session in a most exemplary manner. We also wish to congratulate Mr. Guido de Marco of Malta for the efficient manner in which he conducted the affairs of the forty-fifth session.

The commendations of my Government are extended to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, for his indefatigable efforts in the service of the United Nations. My delegation is also happy to extend a warm welcome to the new Members of the United Nations: the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republics of the Marshall Islands, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Surely this impressive list of new Members is testimony to the profound political changes now taking place throughout the world. The Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands have recently gained their independence. The Koreas have finally overcome decades of exclusion from membership of the United Nations, a condition that has for some time been politically untenable and wholly unrelated to their independent status. The Baltic States have, so to speak, regained their independence. Freedom, justice and democracy have again won a splendid victory. It is now almost eight years since Grenada was liberated from an ideology which was alien to our political culture. Each year has posed new challenges to national reconstruction and to the well-being of our people. Indeed, these have been difficult years, and, while we have achieved some measure of progress, our people are aware that even bigger hurdles to national development lie ahead. Since late 1983 we have focused on the rebuilding of our economy and the restoration of the democratic institutions enshrined in our Constitution. In fact, in August this year Grenada restored those provisions of our Constitution held in abeyance since their suspension in March 1979, thus returning our nation to full constitutional rule. In a related move, Grenada returned to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court System. These two accomplishments once again guarantee the full constitutional rights of our citizens. We have held two peaceful and free general elections. Previous Governments have done, and my Government is doing, much to cultivate political stability, which would cause our nationals, tourists and foreign investors to be anxious to do business with and in our beautiful country.
Our domestic policies are aimed primarily at encouraging individuals, cooperatives and businesses to maximize the returns on their enterprise and efforts. At the same time, we seek to enhance opportunities for our working people to attain higher standards of living, through individual initiative and by building the virtue of self-reliance.
The political peace we have dutifully created is now being supported by a comprehensive development strategy, as contained in our first Medium-Term National Development Action Plan. We have set ourselves a number of targets, which include balanced and integrated sectoral growth; strategic human resource planning and development; a positive work ethic and a disciplined, healthy and skilled work force; a relevant and adaptive education system; enjoyment of all guaranteed constitutional rights and freedoms; and a peaceful and stable industrial relations climate.
My Government knows well the frustrations inflicted by very limited resources. Our people know the disappointment and pain of unfulfilled expectations. None the less, both Government and people recognize the need for sacrifice and patience as together we struggle to produce larger quantities of goods and services at more economical and competitive prices. Alas, however, we are constrained by the forces of the international financial and commodities markets.
My Government is convinced that the rate of development of Grenada - indeed, of any small island country - is a function of international economic and political trends. Although to a considerable extent the characterization of this phenomenon as global interdependence is apt, we must not lose sight of the blatant imbalances in economic and social development worldwide. Most importantly, we cannot be timid in speaking to the issue of the special circumstances of small island developing countries.
The case for official development assistance and the transfer of real resources from the North to the South has never been as strong as it is today. Massive debt burden, loss of earnings due to drastic declines in prices for raw-material exports, persistent poverty and marginalised economies are salient throughout the so-called third world. We in Grenada are creeping under the weight of debt and the pressure of economic difficulties. We recognize, however, that corrective action cannot be taken in isolation from non-national factors and actors.
Maximum efforts are obviously required of us. It is unfortunate, however, that most of our people have to look to Government for their well-being, and continue to do so precisely at a time when the national economy cannot satisfy many of their reasonable expectations. We believe, though, that economic restructuring has its merit and holds the promise of a more secure economic future.
As individual developing countries embark upon such programmes, Grenada contends that enlightened support from international financial institutions is absolutely necessary. Debt forgiveness must be seen as a sensible option, as must new concessionary flows of official development assistance. The provision of special trade and investment regimes in favour of developing countries is vital to the economic viability of small States in particular at this time. Furthermore, the economic adjustments being undertaken require assistance to address the social costs of such adjustments.
The vigorous creation and consolidation of regional economic blocs can bring with them new sources of unease and new challenges to small States. While the economic logic and rationale for this development might be unassailable, Grenada appeals for special consideration for the products of traditional suppliers. If guaranteed access is replaced by unbridled price competition, without any compensatory mechanisms, social and political chaos will ravage the developing countries. The market-place has no social conscience.
The need for economic survival is no more acute in the newly free States of Europe than it is in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa or Asia. Development, like poverty, does not discriminate between cultures. Grenada calls upon all States to pursue the drawing up of an equitable international development strategy. There is a clear need for strong multilateral initiatives within existing, but revitalized and reformed agencies of the United Nations. These agencies should be specifically mandated and financially furnished to provide for the development needs of poor countries.
We speak perceptively in international forums of the globalization of the world economy and the concept of global interdependence. For many decades industrialization and the technological revolution provided vast quantities of goods and services, which made possible the rapid economic advancement of some countries. For many years too, poverty and hunger permanently resided with others, where millions of people eked out a meagre livelihood from limited natural resources. The cost of this twin phenomenon is present today in environmental degradation. The problems are global; the responsibilities are global: firm corrective action therefore requires a coordinated global strategy.
It is in this context that Grenada looks forward to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil in 1992. We believe that the challenge to diplomacy and international law-making cannot be shirked. Restoring and maintaining a sense of balance between economic development and environmental preservation require equitable and effective international legal instruments. It is our hope that, apart from the negotiation and conclusion of conventions on climate change and the preservation of biodiversity, the special concerns and needs of small States will meet with genuine understanding and firm pledges of assistance.
Grenada calls upon the international community not to relax its efforts to convince the industrialized countries, in particular, of the need to take urgent steps to save the environment. Small States must be assisted to find alternatives that will enable them to enjoy the beauty of the environment, rather than be forced to plunder its resources merely for survival. Let us go to Brazil with the political will and the commitment to save our planet and ourselves. The English-speaking Caribbean region is relatively peaceful and stable at this time. These conditions enable our countries to intensify the search for deeper forms of economic and political integration.
Grenada wishes to reiterate its position that the economic and social prosperity of the people of the region is heavily dependent upon the success of our integration movement. In recent years we have regained much of the political commitment necessary for the advancement and consolidation of the Integration process, and Grenada is confident that the renewed vigour and momentum will be sustained.
Undoubtedly, the bright prospects of improved welfare and security have impelled the leaders of the island States and the Commonwealth of Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada to engage all sectors of the community in a careful and serious search for a viable form of political union among the four island States of the subregion. Our hopes are high that we shall be able to define ourselves as one people and to fashion an appropriate constitutional authority to provide for our orderly and progressive governance.
Grenada believes that the need to take steps to strengthen the integration process in the wider Caribbean and in Latin America is becoming more urgent, given the pace and scope of global change. In this content we note the special role being played by Venezuela and Mexico and the recent proposal advanced by Honduras. Further cooperation and collaboration between countries of the region will no doubt serve to promote hemispheric unity.
Grenada welcomes, with pleasure, the easing of tensions between Belize and Guatemala. The recent declaration by the Government of Guatemala that it recognizes Belize's right to independence and self-determination is very encouraging. So too is the news that the two countries have established diplomatic relations. We look forward to an amiable and definitive resolution of remaining difficulties between the two parties on the basis of the principles of mutual respect and good-neighbourliness.
The Government of Grenada deplores, in the strongest possible terms, the recent overthrow of the duly elected President of Haiti. Grenada believes that no comfort should be provided to the military junta which has seized power for its own selfish ends, in disregard of the will of the Haitian people for democracy, peace and progress. We call upon the international community to bring adequate pressure to bear on the military junta so that constitutional rule may be restored in Haiti. It is imperative that the international community give special attention to the existing problem regarding Haitian refugees. This has become even more urgent given the current situation there.
There are some who appear to believe that the political process now unfolding inside South Africa requires their immediate economic endorsement. Grenada notes, with some measure of relief, the abrogation of some of the legislative pillars of the apartheid system. But the motion of the process of fundamental constitutional change is very slow. So far none of the recognized rights and freedoms has been guaranteed to the black majority. Grenada reiterates its position that until that preferred goal is attained economic sanctions should be maintained so as to bring about the total demise of apartheid. My Government is also disturbed over the continuing violence in the black townships and deplores the perpetuation by some agencies of such road-blocks to the realization of a democratic South Africa.
The overall situation in the Middle East remains unsettled. In the aftermath of the Gulf War new opportunities for peace have emerged. Grenada supports the proposed Middle East Conference. In recent times there have been some noteworthy signs of positive movement and it is hoped that full advantage will be taken of the opportunity to settle the long-standing differences between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The Government of Grenada has viewed with relief the demise of communism in Europe. Eastern Europe generally and the Soviet Union in particular have experienced the power of democracy. We believe that the so-called newly free States of Europe are a historic prize for the discharge of the cold war. That prize has gone, deservedly, to the people. As the world feels its way in an era of seeming unipolarity, the security concerns of small States again come to the fore. The quest for security absorbs substantial economic resources that small States can ill afford. The vulnerability of small States may be defined not only in terms of direct attacks against territorial integrity but also in terms of the pervasive conditions of poverty and economic powerlessness. Regional cooperation arrangements provide an option, but it is respect for the independence of States, the right of their peoples to self-determination, and compliance with the rules of international law that constitute the best guarantee of security for small States. In the new international environment, Grenada sees the United Nations as having an even more vital role to play in buttressing the security and political independence of small States.
The problems posed by the production, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs cannot be wished away. Indeed, the very security of small States can be exposed and compromised by the violent and indiscriminate onslaught of the drug culture. Equally disturbing is its capacity to retard the development of our countries, to the extent that it demands and consumes considerable resources that could otherwise be utilized more productively.
Grenada is determined to persevere in the fight. We have introduced a number of national programmes in this area and have entered into bilateral cooperation agreements with friendly countries. My Government is of the view that regional and international agencies mandated to work in this field should receive the maximum support of Member States. The drug problem is global. The response must, of necessity, be global in scope.
The decade of the 1990s continues to impose itself on the international community as if commissioned to effect political, economic and social change worldwide. Happily, democracy and freedom have been the major beneficiaries. From Grenada's perspective, we hope that our national development efforts will not be derailed but, in fact, will receive meaningful support from international financial institutions and friendly countries. It is our hope also that the new spirit of international cooperation will be consolidated and deepened so as to enhance the prospect for peace. The United Nations must be the focal point of international activity. This forty-sixth session of the General Assembly must play its part in providing opportunities for, and facilitating decisions among, the community of nations so as to advance the cause of peace and secure reasonable levels of sustained development, especially in the developing countries.


On behalf of the Malawi delegation, I am pleased to congratulate Ambassador Shihabi of Saudi Arabia and the other members of the bureau on their election. We wish them success in guiding the deliberations of this forty-sixth session of the General Assembly. My delegation likewise congratulates Mr. Guido de Marco on having presided over the deliberations of the forty-fifth session so well.
Like others before us, we welcome the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as new Members of the Organisation. Their admission serves to reaffirm continuing international faith in the United Nations as the primary agency for the promotion and strengthening of worldwide cooperation and understanding. We are confident that the new Members will contribute to enabling the United Nations to fulfil its cherished purposes.
We note with particular interest that the admission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea has finally come about as a result of mutual agreement between the two on the issues. We are encouraged by this because we in Malawi have always maintained that no unilateral or externally imposed solution to conflicts or differences between any peoples can be permanent or universally acceptable. We hope, therefore, that their admission to membership in the United Nations will give encouragement to the two Koreas in their continuing search for solutions to the remaining issues dividing their peninsula.
We have noted with satisfaction that, notwithstanding the frightening jolt sustained from the Persian Gulf crisis and its aftermath, the trend towards greater international understanding and cooperation, especially in the political sphere, has continued during the past 12 months. As a result, the prospects for international peace and security, at least in the long term, would also appear to have improved.
In this context we welcome the signing in July of the strategic arms reduction Treaty {START) between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We also welcome the decision by the People's
Republic of China to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
The past 12 months have witnessed greater efforts in the search for solutions to regional conflicts. More of these have now been resolved. We congratulate all those who contributed to this welcome development, and we wish success for those continuing initiatives aimed at finding solutions to conflicts still outstanding. In this connection, Malawi looks forward to a successful outcome to the referendum to be carried out soon on the future of Western Sahara.
Meanwhile, we have warmly welcomed the ending at long last of the long, destructive fratricidal war in Angola. It is our sincere hope that the Angolan people will at last find the peace for which they have longed all these years. At the same time, we hope that the international community will give Angola all possible assistance in the enormous task of national reconstruction and development that now lies ahead.
Malawi considers it a matter for deep regret that progress in the peace process in Mozambique has not been as rapid as indications had led us to hope 12 months ago. However, we note with some encouragement that the Government of Mozambique and the Mozambique National Resistance are determined to pursue their negotiations towards the conclusion of a mutually acceptable settlement. We continue to hope for a successful conclusion to those negotiations, and Malawi is always willing to make its modest, contribution towards that end.
As regards South Africa, we have followed very closely the developments there. Thus, we have welcomed the repeal in the middle of this year f the apartheid laws. We have also welcomed other measures taken by the authorities there in what would appear to be an earnest attempt to move more definitively towards the establishment of a just and equitable social, economic and political order.
Malawi sees those developments as marking a major turning-point in the political evolution of South Africa. However, we do not lose sight of the fact that the real objective has not yet been achieved and, indeed, much more still remains to be done before this is so.
A critical and delicate stage has now been reached in South Africa. We hope, therefore, that as all parties move to respond to the urgency of action now so clearly required, caution will be exercised to avoid any precipitate actions and decisions that are likely to hinder the realization of long-term national interests. We wish for collective leadership, pragmatism, patience and foresight as they prepare to face the most challenging phase in the process of political transformation upon which their country has now embarked.
The situation in the Middle East continues to be a source of great concern. However, we have followed with much encouragement some of the developments which have taken place in the region during the past few months.
We are pleased that the civil war that ravaged Lebanon is now over. We note that while peace remains tenuous there are strong signs of growing confidence about the future. We therefore join the people of Lebanon in looking forward to the return of permanent peace and security to that country and we also share their hope to gain full control over their own destiny, free from external threats or interference. Consequently, we welcomed the decision by the Government of Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. We take this opportunity to echo the appeal for the withdrawal of all foreign elements, and for full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon.
With regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict we note that recent initiatives aimed at arranging a regional peace conference have given rise to fresh hope for the resolution of the issues that have divided the Middle East for over four decades.
As a firm believer in the philosophy of contact and dialogue as the best approach to resolving inter-State conflicts or differences, Malawi has always supported the idea of holding a conference on the Middle East. We therefore support and welcome the current initiatives, and we are pleased to note that for the first time all parties concerned have declared their acceptance of such a conference. In our view, for the proposed conference on the Middle East to be meaningful, the following elements, which we consider essential, should be looked into thoroughly: first, all interested parties, especially those directly affected by the issues involved, should be properly represented; secondly, all representatives should be able to participate fully in the work of the conference; and, thirdly, the conference should address all the issues central to the Arab-Israeli conflict, taking account of all aspects of international law relevant to those issues.
We believe that only when all parties concerned are themselves able to make known their views on all the relevant issues directly can the conference arrive at an agreement to which all would truly and freely feel bound. Only such an agreement can be lasting and effective. It would be our hope, therefore, that as those concerned proceed with arranging for the regional peace conference on the Middle East, they will give due regard to these considerations.
The Malawi delegation regrets that the hopeful situation in the political sphere has not been matched by a similar trend in the economic field. The chasm between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South has grown wider.
Parallel to the widening gap between the North and the South has been the ever-increasing inadequacy of financial resource flow. The servicing of debts presents yet another problem in the efforts to mobilize resources to support economic development. Indeed, the situation in a number of countries is so desperate that their viability has become questionable.
We have noted the various new initiatives which have emerged during the past year to redress the problems of the developing countries, especially the least developed countries. Unfortunately, many of these, like several previous ones, have tended to be largely palliative in nature and selective in application. Moreover, the non-economic conditionalities built into some of the initiatives have made them appear as no more than an attempt by the economically strong to control and manipulate the weaker economies.
In this connection, we should like to state that, notwithstanding the good intentions of our partners in development, that is, bilateral donors and the multilateral financial institutions, the tying of assistance to non-economic conditionalities does not yield the best results in terms of economic growth and development. In this regard, our experience in Malawi has been that where conditionalities are economic the economy responds positively; where they have been non-economic or unfeasible, the results have been adverse for the economy and the people of Malawi.
Thus, the Malawi delegation, while appreciating the good intentions of our partners in development, would like to use this forum to appeal to them not to disregard our contents on and objections to some of the conditions they may attach to their assistance.
The developing countries of the South desire to be self-reliant and not perpetually dependent on goodwill and charity from the North. In an increasingly interdependent world, they want to be able to contribute, as equal partners with the North, to global economic development.
In order to make such an economic order a reality, the South needs urgent and adequate assistance in building up sustainable economies. Currently, this would require the North to make further concessions on the debt burden facing the developing countries and give increased financial assistance, including the transfer of appropriate technology to the South. While these measures would stimulate industrial growth, support diversification and improve product quality, there is also an urgent need for an equitable international trading system in which commodities from the South will be assured of better access to the markets of the North and in which the South will be assured of a stable and profitable pricing system.
The International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, adopted by this Assembly at its last session, provides a framework for such a system. The Declaration adopted by the Assembly at its eighteenth special session established the blueprint for a practical partnership between the North and the South, which could make this new order a reality.
In this context, therefore, we feel that the failure of the Uruguay Round to conclude its work - which was due to the reluctance of certain interests pertaining to the North to accept compromises on a number of key issues, all of which are of vital interest to the South - does not augur well for the realization of the goals of the latest international Development Strategy. Similarly disconcerting was the failure of the Assembly at its forty-fifth session to adopt the draft resolution on United Nations operational activities for development or the draft code of conduct for transnational corporations. These developments have given rise to doubts about the viability of partnership in development and have tended to confirm the suspicions aroused by the lack of success in the implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990. The Assembly will be considering later the report on its final review and appraisal.
My delegation notes with satisfaction the timely initiative of the United Nations on a matter which has in the past two years become another source of concern to the developing countries. I refer, of course, to the threat of marginalization of the developing countries as the aid-donor community has suddenly become enamoured of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
In this connection, we welcome the convening in July of this year in Geneva of the high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council to consider this situation in the context of the impact of the recent evolution of East-West relations on the growth of the world economy, in particular on the economic growth and development of the developing countries, as well as on international economic cooperation.
The Malawi delegation fully supports the declaration of the Algiers Colloquium of May 1991, presented to the meeting in Geneva, and also the statement made at the same meeting by the Chairman of the Group of 77.
My delegation has taken careful note of the assurances given by the developed countries that economic assistance to the developing countries will in no way diminish as a result of assistance given to the newly democratic and market-economy States of Central and Eastern Europe.
It is our hope, therefore, that this session will give serious consideration to all these matters with a view to proposing ways in which genuine international economic cooperation can be made a reality. This is very important for international political stability and security because, as the Chairman of the Group of 77 stated at the high-level meeting in July "Without a fair and balanced global economic order ... the world will witness chaos and civil strife bred by poverty and political cynicism." Malawi has followed with interest the preparatory work for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and looks forward to the "Earth Summit" to be held in Brazil in June of next year. Since this may be the only occasion for the General Assembly to review the preparatory work before the Conference convenes, we hope that the Assembly will use this opportunity to emphasize the need to ensure that the Conference will achieve lasting, practical results.
Before concluding, I wish, on behalf of the Malawi Government, to express appreciation for the assistance that Malawi continues to receive from the United Nations and its agencies. This contributes greatly to our social and economic development efforts.
On this occasion was especially want to express our sincere gratitude to the United Nations, to bilateral donors and other international agencies, for their timely and generous contributions which greatly facilitated the provision of emergency relief to the victims of the severe floods that affected several parts of our country early this year. Over 500 people perished in these floods while tens of thousands lost their homes and property, including their crops from this year's planting. The Government and people of Malawi are most grateful.
Finally, we understand that Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar may shortly be stepping down as Secretary-General. On behalf of the Government and people of Malawi, we applaud his successful stewardship of our Organization. No doubt history will better record his own personal contribution to the promotion of international peace and security during the past 10 years. We congratulate him on a job well done and wish him well in all his future endeavours.


I am truly honoured, Sir, to add Saint Lucia's voice to those of previous speakers who have congratulated you on your election to the presidency of the Assembly. The wealth of experience and great fund of diplomatic skills with which you adorn the presidency could never be better expended than now, as you summon them to guide the important work of this forty sixth session.
Saint Lucia welcomes the international changes, and indeed the new spirit of entente that has allowed the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to move from the observation periphery to the centre of full membership in the Hall of this Assembly. My delegation was proud to be a sponsor of their membership application, and looks forward to working closely with them in the coming years, confident that this new step will not be a barrier to the desire for reunification,
A special welcome must be extended to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which, against seemingly impossible odds, kept the dream of Baltic sovereignty alive. They have taught us all a new lesson in perseverance.
And as for my fellow island developing countries of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, whose membership in the Organisation furthers the lofty goals of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 1960. I greet them with fraternal love and look forward to working with them on matters of mutual concern.
The end of the last decade marked the twilight of the cold war. Tour and one-half decades of super-Power rivalry and East-West, tension were officially brought to an end as the Berlin Wall - the epitome of the iron curtain -crumbled, in the face of the long-simmering desire for German unity.
All over Europe, there were explosions of democracy: totalitarian regimes falling before floodtides of democratic movements, driven as much by economic need as by a collective desire to exorcise the legacies of Marx, Engels and Lenin; driven not only by the fact that man cannot live without bread, but also by the fact that he cannot live by bread alone. And, by and large, it was a democratic revolution, ignited by the hopes of the Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev. It was those very hopes that aborted the coup carried out against him and brought, about this purifying thunderstorm of reform of which he speaks. Indeed, there is a good in every evil, would men observingly distil it out.
There is urgent need, within the broad powers granted to the Security Council in Chapter VII of the Charter, for an early-warning mechanism to identify and react to emerging global issues before they reach the point of crisis. The situation in Haiti is a case in point.
In elections held in Haiti last December, transparently free and fair, witnessed by an international team, elections in which the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) played an important role, Jean-Bertrand Aristide received 1,107,125 votes out of the 1,640,729 votes cast. Eleven parties contested the elections. Two of them received 1.7 per cent of the votes. Aristide alone received 67.5 per cent. All the other 10 parties pledged to support the President in the task of building a democratic Haiti.
I had the honour to head the team of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CARICOM who went to Haiti in 1989, and was present at the inauguration of the President in February this year. Moreover, I saw with my own eyes the tens of thousands who hailed Aristide as their democratic liberator.
My delegation believes that the military in Haiti has shown itself to be too coup-prone in the past to be trusted to help a President maintain law and order. And we believe, too, that unless the military is replaced there will be no end to the tragic game of musical chairs being played with the lives of 6 million Haitians. If then a constitutionally elected President of the people, still overwhelmingly supported by them, as is President Aristide, were to ask the United Nations to restore Haiti to democratic rule in accordance with the will of the people of Haiti, my delegation would hasten to give an affirmative response to this request. Meanwhile, all necessary and appropriate means must, be employed to bring about a speedy return to constitutional government in Haiti .
The new world political order comes at a time of major economic crises in the world. Political gains cannot be sustained without concomitant economic output. The rate of growth of global economic output has declined for the past few years. From 4.3 per cent in 1988, it declined to 2.9 per cent in 1989 and to only 1 per cent in 1990; and it is expected to achieve zero growth this year. Nearly one-quarter of the world's pop;1ition now lives in countries with decelerating per capita output, and more people in the developing world are suffering from poverty and hunger today than was the case 10 years ago. The population of the developing countries has more than doubled in the past 35 years, increasing from 1.7 billion in 1950 to over 4 billion today. And it will grow to nearly 5 billion by the end of this century. Within the next 9 years, Africa alone will have an additional 200 million people, while Latin America and the Caribbean will have 100 million more.
This nightmarish population crisis, coupled with developmental stagnation, has created conditions wherein 2 billion people in the developing world have no access to safe water. And an equal number faces chronic hunger and malnutrition. Per capita food output is declining in about one third of the developing countries, and, if current patterns of deforestation, overgrazing and non-stop cultivation of overused lands continue, some 1.2 billion people in the developing world will be affected by desertification by the turn of the century.
The environment is not ours to destroy but to preserve for posterity, whose trustees we all are. The effects of deforestation on the environment are said to be second only to nuclear destruction. The ability of nation States to achieve sustainable development is central to the solution of this crisis. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development is therefore most welcome, and it is expected that the special circumstances of small island States, including Saint Lucia, will not be overlooked.
Much of Africa is stalled in a critical economic situation from which there seems little prospect of recovery, and Latin America is trapped in a downward cycle of debt, declining productivity and socio-economic privation. The same is true of some of the most populous Asian countries, and Eastern Europe is in economic turmoil. This dismal economic picture exists at a time when the world is facing the highest tide of rising expectations. Despite this, the new world political order presents an unprecedented opportunity for the further strengthening of the United Nations to deal with contemporary problems and to prepare it for future ones.
We cannot but praise the rejuvenated functioning of the Organization in facilitating solutions to the myriad political problems that we ourselves continually create. The ongoing initiatives in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Western Sahara and Cyprus must be encouraged. And the new areas of election supervision must be continued.
When Iraq invaded the peaceful and comparatively small nation of Kuwait, this wise and caring family of nations for seven months counselled Iraq to return to its own home lest the wrath of the family be visited upon it. Though the wages of its bellicosity, cupidity and intransigence have already been justly handed out to Iraq, still that country seems intent on obstructing the will of the United Nations.
If Iraq dared to challenge virtually the whole of mankind without nuclear weapons, it makes one shudder to think how it might otherwise have acted with them. That is why the present investigation into Iraq's nuclear capabilities must be carried out thoroughly for the peace and security of the world. Now that the war is over, it is but right that we pay a tribute to those who have contributed so much to this important cause. He must also salute those who exercised tremendous restraint in the face of provocation. This restraint prevented a widening of the conflagration which might have engulfed the entire region.
It is a fact that South Africa under President De Klerk has undergone some praiseworthy reforms. But there is still no clear evidence of profound and irreversible change. The equal right of all South Africans to vote for a Government of their choice, enshrined in a non-racial democratic constitution, is a major constitutional fundamental around which all other reforms would revolve. We therefore reiterate that the removal of economic sanctions would be premature and would not hasten, but retard, the process which has begun.
For more than two decades now, we have been fighting a battle against drugs. Are we winning the battle or are we losing the battle? If we are losing it in the streets of New York and Chicago, in London and in Birmingham, in Paris and in Lyon - if we are losing it there, where can we win? And if we are losing it in the lands of plenty, we are condemned to lose it in the debt-overburdened countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the poverty stricken countries of the Sahel and elsewhere.
But why are we losing it? Maybe the answer lies not only in the severe punishment of drug traffickers and the confiscation of the proceeds of their crime, but in the strengthening of the family unit and in developing a true sense of values. Maybe we could begin by distributing some of our yearly expenditure on arms of some $900 billion among the poor so they could give more and more of themselves to their children. For the battle must first be fought at home. And it must be fought early. And if this generation is already too far gone, let us begin today to save the children of tomorrow.
Since January this year a constituent assembly of the Windward Islands of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia has been discussing the question of a political union of these four islands. A referendum on this issue is to await final discussions, in January next, of the economic implications of such a union. My delegation is convinced that a federation of these small islands will guarantee their stability, thereby increasing their investment opportunities and enhancing their economic viability, their negotiating capacity and their administrative efficiency. We must unite to survive. In this regard, I am certain that we can depend on the good will of the international community.
On 31 December 1992 the European Economic Community, in its wisdom, will become one giant common market of some 350 million people. For us in the Windward Islands, who depend very largely for our daily bread on the export of bananas to the United Kingdom, this could have disastrous consequences were we to lose the preferential treatment that the United Kingdom has guaranteed us for the past 40 years. The European Commission has assured us, however, that the new marketing arrangements will not, in the circumstances, deprive us of that facility, which we have enjoyed for so long. On the dependability of this assurance rests the economic survival of these islands, and I trust that we shall not have to wrap our hands around the knees of the European Community to plead our case. The Community, among others, has shown much beneficence towards the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, of which we are one. We can always count on its good will, understanding and cooperation.
The United Nations, having had a meteoric rise during the recent past, stands at a crossroads, from which the path ahead can lead to genuine world political, economic and social development. But if that is to happen, the major Powers must take the degree of their cooperation far beyond the political pinnacle, deep into the world's socio-economic substrata, which is ultimately where universal peace and security will be formulated. Let no nation divert us from this path by waking the sleeping hand of war.


Like those who have preceded me to the rostrum of the Assembly, I would like in my turn to congratulate Mr. Shihabi on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session. His brilliant election represents not only a well-deserved recognition of his many qualities, but also the esteem his country, Saudi Arabia, enjoys in the world for its devotion to the cause of international peace, security and cooperation. The delegation of Benin is convinced that, under his guidance, our work will be crowned with success.
My delegation would also like to pay a tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Guido De Marco, who led our deliberations with great competence during the forty-fifth session, which was characterized by a deepening in our common thinking on restructuring and revitalizing our Organization and by our desire to achieve consensus on the aims of the San Francisco Charter.
The Government of the Republic of Benin is grateful to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, whose tireless efforts to achieve the United Nations objectives of peace and justice have undeniably help to accelerate the political transformations under way in the world. These transformations have already been reflected in the end of the cold war, characterized by all types of rivalries at every level. Mow that his second mandate is coming to an end, we convey to him our country's appreciation for the great devotion he has shown as head of our Organization.
In this tribute, I also include all those, near or far, who work with the Secretary-General. They spare no effort to ensure the smooth running of our Organization and the triumph of the noble ideals on which it is based. It is my pleasure to congratulate the Secretary-General most especially for his excellent annual report, which takes account of the prestige of the United Nations and is forward-looking within the context of strengthening the irreplaceable role of the United Nations on the international scene.
The universality of our Organization has been furthered by the admission of new Members again this year. We welcome the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - which have regained their sovereignty after more than 40 years of annexation. Similarly, we congratulate the two Pacific States, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. All of these States are now Members of the United Nations. He would like to assure them of our full cooperation in achieving our common ideals.
We would also like to extend words of welcome to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and to the Republic of Korea upon their admission to membership of the United Nations. He hope that, in the near future, in the like the peaceful reunifications of Yemen and Germany, we will witness that of the Korean nation, which will put an end to the long and painful night of separation and help to resolve one of the thorny problems linked to the cold war on the Asian continent.
We are also extremely pleased by the return to our midst of the Cambodian delegation headed by His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
Late in the twentieth century, history is going through changes of exceptional depth and scope. My delegation would therefore like to welcome the positive and encouraging events that are strengthening international peace and security. After a terrible arms race, the United States of America and the Soviet Union have today courageously embarked upon a veritable disarmament marathon with a view to creating a safer and more stable world. The recent initiative of United States President George Bush in proposing the elimination of all land- and sea-based short-range tactical nuclear weapons - an initiative that was positively received by the main nuclear Powers, particularly the Soviet Union, whose President Mikhail Gorbachev has responsibly taken up the challenges of peace - is significant in that respect. In this same context we welcome the strengthening of the non-proliferation regime with the decision to adhere to the 1968 Treaty not only of two nuclear Powers - France and China - but also of non-nuclear-weapon States. We therefore expect that this Treaty will be renewed or made permanent, when it expires in 1995. This would open the way to increased international cooperation for the peaceful use of atomic energy.
The era of confrontation is being replaced - slowly but surely - by that of international cooperation, and in the place of political and ideological rivalries we see the emergence and consolidation of a spirit of solidarity and a growing awareness of the necessary complementarities. Thus the major protagonists of the past, the United States and the Soviet Union, have established policies of cooperation expressed in their sustained efforts to limit weapons, in particular by the implementation of the 1987 Treaty on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) and the signing in Moscow on 31 July 1991 of the Treaty on strategic arms reduction (START Treaty), whose aim is to spare us a nuclear conflagration.
In a regional context, I would like to mention the positive developments in the situation in El Salvador, which are due to the efforts of the Secretary General and to the initiatives taken by the Latin American States that met recently in Mexico City to establish the foundations of true regional cooperation and economic integration. These are measures that will build confidence end security with a view to the irreversible return of peace to that region.
What can one say about the development of democratic movements in the world? These have been manifested, inter alia. by the political pluralism that has already enabled my country, Benin, to establish, after almost two decades of monolithic government, a legislative organ, a Chief Executive elected by direct universal suffrage, and a truly independent judiciary to protect our freedoms.
We are proud of being a part of the development of democracy, which is spreading further over the world every day, as witnessed by the failure of the attempted coup d'etat against the reform policies of the Soviet President. Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev. This development enhances the moral authority of our Organisation, which is rightly based on the promotion, defence and protection of fundamental human rights, including civil and political rights for the preservation of international peace and security.
However promising the new political situation prevailing in the world today may seem, we cannot forget, amid the euphoria of the real attainments of democracy, freedom and International cooperation, that, unfortunately, unacceptable disequilibrium, unbearable Injustice and dangerous hotbeds of tension still exist on our planet. In other words, international peace and security remain fragile.
In South Africa, we are witnessing the collapse of the pillars of apartheid - a system that, in its very essence, is harmful to the human dimension of security. We can only say how pleased we are about this. However, there is every reason to be concerned about the persistence of violence - it is time to put an end to this, once and for all - and about, the absence of real progress in the preparation of a democratic and non-racial constitution based on the principle of one man, one vote. We therefore appeal to all the peoples of the world to reaffirm their determination to harness their efforts to assist the people of South Africa to regain its complete freedom as soon as possible.
That is why the international community in general and Africa in particular must remain vigilant and must maintain existing measures against South Africa, in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its sixteenth special session, devoted to apartheid and its harmful consequences in southern Africa, until it has been very clearly demonstrated that the present course is irreversible. It would be illusory to believe that the removal of the sanctions imposed on South Africa could lead to a rapid change in the system of government by the white minority.
Furthermore, we encourage the South African opposition to unite for the purpose of accelerating this evolution, which will make it possible for South Africa to contribute to securing the peace and progress to which the peoples of southern Africa aspire. Those peoples have suffered too long from terror and destruction. In that respect, the cessation of internal hostilities in Angola, following the signing of  a cease-fire agreement on 31 May 1991, is an encouraging sign of an end to more than 15 years of civil war, which has ruined the country. We hope that the same will prove to be true with regard to Mozambique. We hope also that the peoples of these two countries will be enabled to enjoy the peace that is so essential to national reconstruction and well being.
Benin is pleased at the agreement that has been achieved between independent Namibia and South Africa on the question of Walvis Bay and the neighbouring islands, in accordance with the spirit of Security Council resolution 432 (1978). The settlement of this important question will make it possible to consolidate Namibia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to create the conditions for the economic integration of a prosperous southern Africa.
Elsewhere in Africa, certain fraternal countries have not been spared civil wars born of ethnic conflicts, social and political injustice and violations of human rights. It is our duty to continue relentlessly to recommend to those involved that they resort to the virtues of dialogue to resolve their internal disputes.
In this respect, the international community must not spare any effort in encouraging regional initiatives, such as those of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAD) regarding Ethiopia and Somalia which supported the efforts undertaken by President Hassan Gouled Aptidon of Djibouti to bring peace back to the Horn of Africa, or those of the Economic Community of West African States with respect to Liberia, taken up recently in Yamoussokro at the second meeting of the so-called Ad Hoc Committee of Five under the auspices of President Houphouet-Boigny. Benin is pleased at the efforts that have begun to be deployed by the Senegalese and Mauritanian authorities to restore relations of cooperation and good-neighbourliness between the two countries. These relations have deteriorated since August 1989.
In the north of the continent, the Governments and peoples of the Maghreb have been aspiring to more cooperation, and the efforts they have been making along these lines must be encouraged for the sake of the development of the Arab Maghreb Union.
If there remains a significant obstacle to realization of this desire, it is the question of Western Sahara, where the praiseworthy efforts of our Secretary-General have not yet led to peace, despite the recent cease-fire. However, my delegation has no doubt that the parties involved will cooperate with the Secretary-General in the context of implementation of the settlement plan endorsed in Security Council resolution 658 (1990), which provides for a self-determination referendum under the auspices of the United Nations and the OAU. My country is honoured to be one of those that have participated directly in the field in this peace mission set up under Security Council resolution 690 (1991). Since our last session the situation in the Middle East has not improved. The international community was heart-sore at the war between Iraq and the coalition of States that, quite rightly, cooperated with Kuwait. That war - caused by Iraq's aggression against the sovereignty of Kuwait - ended with victory for the coalition, but without solution of the basic problems that inflame the region. Not only has Iraq, which invaded Kuwait - now liberated - been destroyed; Kuwait too is in ruins. This distressing spectacle faces mankind with serious moral problems. Must we embark on massive destruction of the heritage of all mankind before we begin to reconstruct, at great expense?
The Republic of Benin has always respected the principles of the Charter, and we condemn any use of force to settle disputes between States. He feel that mankind will be running real risks if, as in the past, it drags its feet with regard to the question of a comprehensive and urgent resolution of the question of the Middle East. As in the case of the war against Iraq, the question of the conflict between Israel and its neighbouring Arab States, the question of Palestine, which has not yet been settled; and the question of Lebanon, where foreign troops are still present, and in respect of which one cannot speak of true national reconciliation, still pose a threat to international peace and security.
There is thus an urgent need for specific and concerted measures taking into account, in particular, the rights of all the States in the region, including Israel, as well as the legitimate political rights of the Palestinian people, in order that a comprehensive, just and lasting peace may be achieved. In our view, only a sincere and frank dialogue between all the parties involved will make possible a just and final solution to the Israeli Palestinian problem. From that standpoint, my country hopes that the consultations undertaken by the United States authorities will succeed in leading to the convening of a regional conference. We we1come the support shown by the Palestine National Council, at its recant meeting in Algiers, for the United States Initiative.
In Europe, the reunification of the Island of Cyprus is also an urgent task whose completion is in the interests of peace and security, which are threatened by nationality conflicts such as that in Yugoslavia. Benin is concerned with the tension which prevails in that country, whose ideals of non-alignment we share. Thus, we urge mutual understanding among all the components of that Federation, so that peace and security may be restored through negotiation.
In Asia, following the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, it is essential that the various parties embark on negotiations with a view to bringing about a restoration of national unity and peace.
We congratulate Cambodia, which has been ravaged by a dozen years of civil war, on the establishment of a cease-fire. But the various factions must still overcome the internal controversies which impede the implementation of Security Council resolution 668 (1990), aimed at organizing free and fair elections under the auspices of the United nations.
How that the world seems to be embarked on an irreversible course to end the policy of blocs, where the obsession with military security is no longer appropriate, prospects seem to be opening up for arms limitations. The final objective is general and complete disarmament which will release substantial resources for the development of the poorest countries of our planet.
In other words, our Organization will have to take up additional challenges arising from the continuous deterioration of the international socio-economic situation which poses another threat to international peace and security.
Indeed, poverty, want, famine, malnutrition, sickness, drug abuse, the deterioration of the environment kill more people in a few days than did the Hiroshima bomb. Are these ills not the daily lot of a major portion of the peoples of this world? And nowhere is the situation as serious as in Africa, as the Secretary-General emphasized in his annual report. The international community is suffering from unacceptable ills at the end of the twentieth century, despite all the progress achieved by mankind. Despite the immense resources of the modern world and the extraordinary scientific and technological progress, people on our planet still find it difficult to exist or even to survive.
The economic situation In the developing countries has barely improved, despite attempts to remedy it. There is no doubt that this is the most serious threat to international peace and security in a constantly changing world where the means of communication enable the poor to observe the insolent wealth of the rich. An international order which allows more than half the population of the planet to die of hunger and ignorance is doomed to failure.
The Declaration adopted at the eighteenth special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations devoted to international economic cooperation, held in April-May of 1990, did not fail to sound its traditional alarm. It was recognised by all that the solution lies in the adoption of national policies to liberalise trade so as to respond more flexibly to the evolution of the economy.
Furthermore, the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Paris in September 1990, recommended to the international community in its final Declaration that greater attention be focused on these countries in view of their specific problems.
In this respect, we would recall that during that meeting the President of the French Republic, Mr. Francois Mitterand, reiterated his appeal in favour of development and a more just and equitable world order. The profound changes under way will have failed to achieve their essential objectives if they do not take into account and settle the question which has become primordial, namely, the organization of planetary solidarity; in other words, if they do no tackle the fundamental problems of Worth-South relations, and in particular those linked to African debt, the impoverishment of our continent, and the accompanying train of want, sickness and unemployment. In effect, the situation in Africa, where most of the least developed countries are to be found, is hardly encouraging.
Almost all African countries have programmes for the restructuring of their economies in accordance with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the positive effects of which are still to be seen.
Faced with the uncertain future of all these countries, at their last summit meeting the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OA.U), recognized the need for stopgap measures by encouraging regional economic integration to be achieved in the next three decades, and to take shape in the African Economic Community.
But in the short term, Africa will continue as in the past to make appeals to its creditors to undertake to do more to help find a solution to the painful debt problem and thereby help complete its internal efforts to achieve development.
We commend deservedly the efforts undertaken by some States to arrange a partial rescheduling or cancellation of certain debts in third-world countries in general, and of those in Africa in particular, and I appeal to other States to do the same in the interests of all. For, if nothing is done today to guarantee for our youth a future that is humanely acceptable, the difficult constraints and the many privations imposed by the economic adjustments which are being made all over the continent, will most definitely lead to social problems end political Instability that no coercive measure will be able to contain for long.
To rescue Africa from its desperate economic situation, rapid action on the part of the international community is indispensable.
Indeed, it is clear that, after the failures of the years which followed independence and the impasse into which the militarist-socialist-Marxist revolutions of the continent have led, the era of democracy runs the risk of leading our States - if nothing specific and substantial is done in the next five yearn into chaos. This Is hardly something we would like to happen.
That is why the international community, in particular the developed countries, must undertake to help Africa put. into effect the proposals of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole entrusted with the examination and final evaluation o the implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986 1990 (UNPAAERD), which was held here at the United Nations Headquarters from 3 to 14 September 1991. In this context, I appeal to all delegations to adopt the two documents submitted for their attention by the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole under item 4 of the agenda of the current session of the General Assembly.
The adoption by consensus of these two documents will make it possible to implement, proposals to reverse the trend towards the decline and the increasing impoverishment of the African States and to raise the very low standard of living of the rural populations, who are the principal victims of all these political and economic failures of the continent since independence. The future of mankind depends, too, on a sound management of the environment and a lasting development strategy within the context of the initiative taken by the General Assembly when it adopted resolution 44/228 on the convening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 1 to 12 June 1992 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the third session of whose Preparatory Committee was held in Geneva from 12 August to 4 September 1991.
We sincerely hope that our Heads of State and Governments will examine with all due care the problems of protecting the environment and the closely linked problems of harmonious and lasting development, and that their analyses and decisions will be based on the valuable documents being prepared by our experts in the various negotiating committees and working groups.
Confident, therefore, that the Rio Conference in 1992 will be crowned with success, I should like to anticipate events by saying that we must collectively and individually commit ourselves, especially the most developed and wealthiest among us, to implementing the decisions taken. They will cover financial mechanisms; the transfer of new, clean technology; and legal and institutional machinery. The consensus that will be achieved both by the Preparatory Committee, which will complete its work in March and April 1992, and the Conference itself in June 1992 will not mean the triumph of the ideas of a group of States of one hemisphere over another, but will be the result of a common political will to achieve a common dream for a common cause without frontiers: Planet Earth.
While awaiting the deliberations in Rio next June and the implementation of the decisions taken there, Benin, like some other countries, is periodically suffering natural disasters which in a few hours destroy the development efforts made with a great deal of determination and enthusiasm. This year again, for the fourth time in 10 years, Benin was the victim of floods in its southern region following downpours lasting from May to July. Those floods caused loss of human life and of millions of hectares of crops as well as displacements of people and the destruction of dwellings.
I take this opportunity to express our thanks once again to all those who responded to the appeal of Benin's Head of State, President Nicephore Soglo,
and of the Office of the United Nations Disaster Belief Coordinator (UHDHO) by providing us with various types of emergency aid. We express our gratitude to them and sincerely hope that the International Decade for natural disaster Seduction will make it possible to carry out reconstruction projects to deal with disasters that have already occurred as well as to take measures to lessen the effects of future disasters.
In addition, aware that man remains the subject and the author of all processes of transforming society, and that there can be no real, lasting progress without freedom, Benin has embarked on a democratic process, and, as I have already said, has been able to complete successfully its first elections.
I invite the industrialized countries and international organizations to provide massive aid to the emerging democracies in the countries of the South, in a spirit of solidarity similar to that which they have shown with regard to the countries of Eastern Europe. That is the only way to enable those democracies to achieve quickly the material conditions necessary to consolidate themselves and gradually to get out of the economic morass they find themselves is and escape its consequences.
Similarly, at the political level, the condemnation of COUPS d'etats and support for democratic regimes, such as that in Haiti, must occur spontaneously and immediately, as happened with regard to the coup d'etat against President Gorbachev. Therefore, my Government firmly supports all the efforts to restore to power President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the constitutionally elected President of Haiti. Convinced that power comes from the ballot box, and not front brute force, Benin warmly welcomes the strong resolution unanimously adopted by leaders of the Organization of American States (OAS) on 30 September this year in Washington, and hopes that the statements made in the Security Council on 3 October and in various capitals of the world will be translated into concrete deeds. The Haitian people chose democracy in a sovereign act. The international community, which gave its help to that end, must help them to restore and consolidate democracy.
Finally, the nascent democracies in Africa and elsewhere cannot grow stronger without building true States of law, where respect for human rights and the furtherance and defence of human rights and the rights of peoples are not empty words but realities, translated into deeds in everyday life. To that end, my country is already taking useful steps to ensure worthwhile participation in the World Conference on Human Rights, to be held at a high level in 1993.
We very much hope that the debates at the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly will allow us to consolidate the gains made in maintaining international peace and security. They strengthen our hope that the international cooperation and solidarity are also essential to realise its destiny.