First, I
wish to express my very great pleasure at speaking for the
first time in this world forum as head of State and at
greeting its members on behalf of the people of Venezuela
and my Government, and particularly at speaking at this
session of the General Assembly, the last of this century
and millennium, which, for us, adds special meaning to
the event.
My presence here also affords me an opportunity to
express some ideas on the times and circumstances in
which we are now living, all of us worldwide but also,
and a little more specifically, about times and
circumstances in my own country. These are times and
circumstances, Mr. President and members, which of
course we share with you.
A few years ago, when the Berlin Wall fell, I think
someone said that peace had broken out. I truly believe
that that expression covers a series of phenomena which
began to surface at that time and subsequently evolved
and developed to become part of the global scenario. In
my view, this rapid emergence of phenomena,
simultaneously all round the world, each of them with so
many distinguishing characteristics, has made it more
difficult to understand, appreciate and realistically
perceive what is actually happening in the world today.
Many analysts of that time spoke of quantum leaps.
I believe that a quantum leap is indeed under way; there
is an ongoing process of universal change, mutation even.
I also believe that we must sharpen our ability to analyse
and observe this phenomenon — open conflicts, resurgent
nationalisms, racial and religious conflicts — which are
occurring in a world that is undergoing processes of
fusion while at the same time undergoing dangerous and
alarming processes of fission. We are entering the new

century with these signs around us which at one and the
same time are cause for concern and reason for optimism
at the changes unfolding. Actually, there are many
praiseworthy things about the century that is closing, but
there are also many things worthy of condemnation and
from which we should learn our lesson so that they do not
recur.
Within that process of universal change, there is a
country small in size, a nearby country — Venezuela —
that faces its own changes; a country that is undertaking its
own irrevocable and necessary changes; a country that is
being reborn from its own ashes; a country that is once
again raising the flag of true, authentic democracy. I shall
speak a few words here about that country, my country, our
country, your country: Venezuela. Venezuela, blessed by
the hand of God; Venezuela, in the very north with an
outstanding geographic location; Venezuela, full of
incalculable natural wealth; Venezuela, which has one of
the world’s largest oil reserves and mineral resources of all
kinds, such as gold, diamonds, bauxite and iron ore;
Venezuela, which has water; Venezuela, which has fertile
soil; Venezuela, which has scarcely 20 million inhabitants
for almost 1 million square kilometres. But 80 per cent of
the inhabitants of this wealth-filled country are poor.
For many years it was said of Venezuela that it was a
model of democracy in the world and in Latin America.
However, today it is undergoing a process of profound
change, a crisis unprecedented in our history — a moral
crisis, an economic crisis, a political crisis, a social
crisis — which has brought it to dangerous extremes, with
explosive forces that have been building for decades.
Even so, in Venezuela we have found a peaceful way
out of the morass, the tragedy. We have discovered a way
that is fully democratic. We have encouraged changes in
Venezuela towards respect for human rights, as is right and
proper, because, however tragic the situation, however
urgent the need for change, never, in our view, should
human rights, respect for freedom of expression, respect for
the intrinsic values of the individual, respect for freedom of
the press and respect for freedom of thought be set aside.
The Venezuelan people has arisen from its own ashes.
I should also like to add — and you, Mr. President,
and members undoubtedly know this — that the
Venezuelan people is a people with a great historical
legacy: it is the birthplace of Simón Bol'var, the Liberator,
one of the greats of the millennium. Venezuela carries in its
essence the seed of democracy, of fraternity and solidarity.
We must therefore acknowledge the ability of Venezuelan
people, which we represent here in this Assembly, to find
peaceful and democratic solutions to a profound crisis
which in other places and other eras, would have given
rise to the violent and regrettable acts that have
submerged many peoples in fratricidal conflict for years
and even decades at a time.
We know that the world has had a great deal of
news about Venezuela in recent months, some of it a little
disturbing as a result of the confusion and speed of the
changes. I thank representatives for allowing me a few
minutes to take the opportunity to assure the entire world
that in Venezuela there was respect, is respect and will
continue to be respect for a democratic process which
emanates from the will of the people. For example, last
December there were elections in Venezuela, which
produced a positive result for democracy. We won the
elections with almost 60 per cent of the popular vote.
Subsequently, on 2 February this year, the very day
that we arrived at the Government Palace, we did
something which had never before happened in my
country: we called for a national referendum. In that
referendum, held on 25 April, the country voted for the
electoral path leading to a constituent assembly. Ninety-
two per cent said “Yes”, and on 25 July there were open
elections, in which all political and social sectors
participated, with absolute freedom of expression,
freedom of criticism and freedom of the press, the likes
of which had never occurred in my country.
The National Constituent Assembly that resulted
from that electoral process consists of 131 Venezuelan
men and women, representing the broadest segments of
society, including indigenous peoples, because for the first
time in Venezuela's history a group of aborigines
represent the indigenous peoples of Venezuela in the great
Assembly. The Assembly members have been working
together for a month and a half on a new national
constitution in a mechanism of cooperation. The entire
country is promoting progress towards this new
Constitution; for the sake of the democracy we are
defending and advocating, it will be approved only by the
country. It will not enter into force until it is approved by
the Venezuelans in a new referendum, which we hope
will be held in November, or at the latest in December.
In other words, when the new century dawns next
year Venezuela will have a new political project, a
fundamental new charter as the foundation of the new
Republic and of truly legitimate executive power
governing by democracy — as Abraham Lincoln said, for
2

the people and by the people. We will have a genuine
judicial power, which we had lost in the past few years
owing to corruption. This judicial power will administer
justice. We rely on true legislative power to respond to the
calls and needs of the Venezuelan people.
We also propose the establishment of a fourth
power — moral power — to combat corruption, the mother
of all Venezuelan crises of recent years, and to fight for
education, especially for children. We further propose an
electoral power to achieve a balance of power. There will
be a division of powers, particularly legitimate powers, with
the profound popular content of true democracy.
We are also promoting a new economic model for
Venezuela. For 20 years we experienced a terrible crisis
that produced the breakdown of a country, the breakdown
of a model. We are now promoting a humanistic,
productive, competitive and diversified economic model,
based on the great potential of our country and
incorporating the world currents of a new international
economic order, with greater justice and a human face,
which will facilitate satisfying the needs of the human
being. This must be one of the fundamental goals of any
economic process.
In just over six months we have been able to come
here to tell the world of our successes — small successes,
but they presage what is going to happen in Venezuela. We
have undertaken an economic revitalization, respecting all
economic freedoms. In a healthy coexistence between the
State and the market, we have been gaining ground in the
macroeconomic area. We have started to bring down
inflation; maintained our international reserves; helped raise
the price of a barrel of oil, in cooperation with the other
oil-producing countries; and brought about an exchange
balance. We have also been revitalizing some production
sectors, and we are calling on global investors to invest in
various petrochemical, gas, touristic, industrial and
agricultural projects and enterprises. We are thus building
a new economic model.
We are also building a new society based on public
morality in respect of human rights. I shall give an
example, small, but one which says a lot about what is
happening in Venezuela in terms of the social order. Barely
three days ago the 1999-2000 school year began. This year
the school matriculation — that is, the number of students
in public schools — increased by 25 per cent. As a result
of a model of privatization of education, and of the poverty
that has been invading the social strata, many children and
young people did not go to school; they could not pay the
fees, nor could they pay for school supplies. This year we
have opened up the schools and we have been repairing
them. Now we are very happy to tell the world that in
just six months the number of children and young people
starting a new school year has increased by 25 per cent.
Furthermore, attention to education has gone beyond
being one of the principal national priorities; it is now a
matter of States.
The same can be said of health. We have activated
a special plan which we call “Project Bolivar 2000”. For
six months we have been dealing with Venezuelans'
greatest needs, such as health, road repairs and opening
ways of penetration and activation of some sectors of
microenterprises. We have set up a people's bank to
provide microcredit especially to bring about the recovery
of the economy, the microeconomy. We have created a
unique social fund to promote solutions basically for
health and education.
As can be seen, we are promoting a genuine process
of transition: politically, socially, economically and, above
all, ethically. A new Venezuela is being born, born to
present itself to the world free and sovereign, ready to
take up firmly the flags of a new world, a fairer world.
We are in solidarity with the struggles of the world. The
world of the century to come must be much better than
the world of the twentieth century which is ending. We
call out for justice for the peoples of the third world, for
equality and human development. We appeal for the
integration of peoples and for peace. Only a country
revitalized from within can be incorporated by its own
strength into the international relations of a modern world,
such as the world which is dawning.
In this part of South America, Venezuela is being
reborn and offering the world its heart, its arms of
integration. I give a special salute to all the peoples of the
Latin American continent and the Caribbean, Central
America, North America, Asia, Africa, Europe and
Oceania. We must continue together, with a new sense of
brotherhood, to struggle for a better world.
In this my first statement to the General Assembly,
in the last session of the century, when we are preparing
for the Millennium Assembly, I should like to
congratulate you, Mr. President, the Secretary-General
and all the world representatives gathered here at the
United Nations, because we are aware of the great effort
being made to reform and perfect the machinery to
achieve peace, brotherhood and solidarity in a world that
3

is, as I said at the beginning, undergoing profound change.
These words come from my heart and go out to the
entire world in the name of a people who are themselves
being reborn — the Venezuelan people — with our best
wishes that each day we may find greater strength and
come closer to attaining — as I said before — the path to
peace, brotherhood, development, justice and self-
determination. Let us not say as someone else has said that
peace has broken out. Rather, let us say that in the next few
years we may all be able to proclaim loudly that peace,
democracy and development have triumphed.
I send a warm embrace to you all on behalf of the
people of Simon Bolivar, the people of Venezuela.


In my
statement, I should like to dwell on those questions, which,
in our opinion, demand special attention. First among these
is the issue of security and the maintenance of regional and
global stability.
Today, we are forced to recognize that terrorism is one
of the principal challenges and threats to international
security and stability in the twentieth century. Should the
United Nations react to this most daunting challenge? Yes.
The coordination of the efforts of the international
community in the search for legal mechanisms to fight
terrorism at the global level has become urgent. The
struggle against terrorism transcends the problems of one
country or even groups of countries. I take this opportunity
to emphasize in particular the serious threat of terrorism
facing the States of Central Asia. In this respect, I wish to
say the following.
First, terrorists, using Islam — one of the world’s
most peaceful religions, founded on the greatest cultures of
civilization — as a cover, are seeking to attain the broadest
of political goals: the creation of a new regional and
ultimately global order. The terrorists’ methods of
assassinating peaceful civilians and creating diversions
radically contradict the principles and values of Islam.
Secondly, terrorism is undergoing an intensive
process of internationalization. Extremists working in
Central Asia are consolidating their ranks with recruits
from throughout the world. Terrorism has neither
nationality, borders nor any particular belief. Attempts to
give terrorism, and international terrorism in particular, a
national or ethnic character do not reflect reality and have
their own dangerous consequences.
Thirdly, the fight against terrorism requires
coordinated international efforts and wide recognition of
the legitimate rights of States to protect their citizens
from terrorist assaults. Terrorists casually and most
insolently attack peaceful populations and deprive human
beings of their fundamental right to life.
Fourthly, the global danger of terrorism is obvious
today. There is an understanding at the international level
of the need for coordinated action. At the same time, we
do not fully understand the rather subdued reaction of the
international community and the major States to the most
dangerous spread of terrorism in Central Asia, posing the
threat of regional and global destabilization.
Finally, the contemporary wellsprings of terrorism,
where it is born and nurtured, are the theatres of military
conflict. In our region, that means Afghanistan.
A working meeting of the “six plus two” group in
the special format, with the participation of
representatives of the two main parties to the Afghan
conflict, was held in Tashkent two month ago. The
discussion resulted in the signing of the Tashkent
Declaration, defining the fundamental principles for the
peaceful settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan supports increased international efforts to
further assist the stabilization of the situation in Tajikistan
and the rapid elimination of new hotbeds of tension in
southern Kyrgyzstan, which has become a new target for
invasion by international terrorists and extremist forces.
In this regard, I would propose the adoption of a
resolution by the General Assembly to consider the
problem of terrorism in the framework of the Security
Council, as well as the establishment of an informal
group to coordinate efforts aimed at fighting terrorism and
extremist crimes. We also support the proposal to
convene an international conference on the fight against
terrorism. We believe that the international community, in
29

preparing for the Millennium Assembly in the year 2000,
should show its determination by defining extremist crimes
and drafting its explicit understanding of the threat of
terrorism.
The Republic of Uzbekistan is recognized around the
world as an authoritative supporter of the non-proliferation
of the nuclear weapons. Uzbekistan is party to the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the
Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. The
Republic was among first countries to sign an Additional
Protocol to its agreement with the International Atomic
Energy Agency on the application of safeguards in
connection with the NPT. These actions revealed not only
a deep understanding of the importance of these
international documents, but also our desire to make a real
contribution to solving the problem of the non-proliferation
of nuclear weapons, improving the planet’s ecology and
strengthening global security and regional stability.
The issue of establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones is
firmly established on the disarmament agenda. It is already
widely recognized that the creation of such zones is a
unique instrument in the process of nuclear
non-proliferation and disarmament, which undoubtedly
strengthens international and regional peace and security.
Let me express the conviction that this topic will be
considered as one of the major issues in the work of the
2000 NPT Review Conference. The value of this step is of
special importance in the light of nuclear testing in South
Asia and the clear tendency towards a global arms race.
Substantial progress has been achieved towards the
realization of the Central Asian initiative to establish a
nuclear-weapon-free zone. The Central Asian countries,
through their common efforts and with the support of the
United Nations, have come considerably closer to
concluding a treaty on the establishment of a Central Asian
nuclear-weapon-free zone. I hope that, at the meeting to
prepare the draft treaty to be held in Japan in few days, the
experts of the Central Asian countries will be able to
finalize the draft.
The Republic of Uzbekistan supports the measures
proposed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to reform the
United Nations. The implementation of the reform
programme will go a long way towards adapting the United
Nations to the demands of the modern world. The
Secretary-General’s proposal to convene the Millennium
Assembly and the Millennium Summit in the year 2000
must be implemented. The year 2000 is a unique symbolic
moment to affirm the position of the United Nations and
to strengthen its role as a leading force in the twenty-first
century.
The Republic of Uzbekistan continues to consider
Security Council reform to be a necessary and urgent
process. Any delay in this process will prevent the United
Nations from adapting efficiently to the dynamics of the
coming millennium. We are convinced that Germany and
Japan can rightly claim permanent membership of the
Security Council. We are also in favour of an increase in
the number of new non-permanent members of the
Security Council.
The deteriorating problem of the Aral Sea requires
me once again to call on the Assembly for support. With
the help of international organizations, the opinion that
the Aral Sea crisis can be resolved only through
humanitarian intervention has gradually taken root in the
perception of the international community. But this is not
the case.
Measures of this kind have not given positive results
on any continent where mankind has been faced with
ecological catastrophes. In this connection, it is necessary
to develop and implement, with the assistance of the
United Nations specialized agencies and donors, a
specific, long-term strategy and programme of
revitalization for the Aral area, that would affirm the
principles of sustainable development, prevent a
deterioration of quality of life for people living in the
region and ensure a dignified standard of living for future
generations.
We are hoping for the effective support of such
international financial and economic institutions as the
World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and others, as well as donor countries, in the
normalization of the ecological situation and in meeting
the pressing needs of the population living in the affected
area. The problem of Aral Sea can be solved only with
the help of an adjusted financing mechanism and the
conscientious work of experts.
The Republic of Uzbekistan comprehensively
supports efforts of the United Nations and the
international community aimed at counteracting the illegal
cultivation, transportation and consumption of narcotic
substances. The problem of drugs should be considered a
danger in that it gives rise to terrorism, international
crime and money-laundering.
30

The illegal sale of drugs is the most profitable shady
activity in the modern world. The transnational structures
controlling global trade in drugs appear in most cases to be
more mobile than the structures opposing them. Today, as
has been pointed out by previous speakers, more than 90
per cent of the drugs in some European countries are of
Afghan origin.
According to a 1998 annual report on international
drug control, starting in 1995 Uzbek customs employees
halted the attempted illegal export from Europe to
Afghanistan of 72 tons of raw chemical material used for
heroin manufacturing. This reaffirms the conclusion about
the internationalization of the narcotic business and the
emergence of international terrorism, which is no less
dangerous.
During the twentieth special session of the General
Assembly, devoted to the fight against the illegal
manufacturing, sale, purchase, transport, trafficking and
spread of narcotic substances, we advanced many concrete
proposals, including the establishment of a regional
coordination centre to fight drug-trafficking and the drug
business. Concrete forms of cooperation between Central
Asian countries and the European Union were defined.
We call for more work by the United Nations
International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in the
region of Central Asia. The conclusions of experts show
that the Central Asian region is considered by the criminal
world an important transit area for the transport of drugs to
Europe and North America.
Specific UNDCP projects aimed at the development of
technical possibilities to control the transit of goods by
providing border services with up-to-date methods of drug
detection could contribute to this fight, which can hardly be
regarded as the problem of one region alone. In this regard,
we welcome the establishment, on the initiative of the
Secretary-General, of the United Nations Office on Drug
Control and Crime Prevention’s regional office operating in
Uzbekistan.
The process of democratization is long and
complicated, especially if it runs parallel to large, extensive
economic reforms. However, the real threat to democracy,
security and stability in the region stems from the sphere of
transnational crime. In this respect, we state our firm
support for the work of the Commission on Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice.
For this reason, the Republic of Uzbekistan has
expressed its intention to present its candidature for
membership of the United Nations Commission on Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice for the period of
2001-2004. We hope that the tenth United Nations
Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of
Offenders, to be held from 10 to 17 April 2000, in
Vienna, will be devoted to the search for answers to the
challenges of the twenty-first century, as indicated in a
number of its main topics.
We would like to focus on the work of UNDP in
Uzbekistan. As the largest United Nations programme
rendering assistance to developing countries in their
process of development, UNDP, together with the
Government of Uzbekistan, is carrying out a number of
useful projects. We hope that such cooperation will be
continued in the future as well.
Nevertheless, I would like to say a few words about
one problem that has emerged in our cooperation with
UNDP and that, in our view, must be explained. The
proposed regional UNDP Programme for development of
the Fergana Valley has not received the support of our
Government. In our opinion, the substance of the project
has not been sufficiently considered and could entail
negative consequences.
Despite the exhaustive and comprehensive
substantiation by our Government of the unacceptability
of this project, which interferes with the security of the
region, attempts to involve our country in the participation
of the programme by distributing erroneous information
throughout the international community have been
undertaken during the last three years by UNDP and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
We sincerely hope that the new UNDP
Administrator, Mr. Brown, will take note of Uzbekistan’s
assessments. At the same time, we note with satisfaction
the new style of work at the UNDP mission in
Uzbekistan, which was recently headed by Mr. Kral.
In conclusion, I wish to refer to the book written by
the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, His
Excellency Mr. Islam A. Karimov, Uzbekistan at the
Threshold of the Twenty-first Century: Threats to
Security, Conditions and Guarantees of Progress, which
says,
“As we enter the new millennium, we extend to
everyone the hand of friendship and mutual
31

understanding, symbolizing this with the words
security, stability and sustainability of growth and
development. For we believe that the realities these
words signify constitute the most solid foundation for
global geopolitical balance, and for the peace,
prosperity and well-being of every individual country,
which will enable every human being to face the
future with confidence”.


It is an
honour and a pleasure for me to take the floor once again
before this Assembly. At the outset I would like to
congratulate the President on his brilliant election to lead
our work at this session. His election is an unparalleled
tribute to all of Africa and particularly to his fraternal
country, Namibia, which today sees one of its sons
presiding over the destinies of this fifty-fourth session of
the General Assembly. We are confident that his qualities
as an eminent diplomat and his great experience guarantee
the success of our work.
I would also like to take this opportunity to pay
glowing tribute to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr.
Didier Opertti, for the devotion and the ability with which
he conducted the previous session.
At the same time, allow me to express appreciation
for the full value of the efforts deployed by our Secretary-
General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, in the service
of our Organization. The evidence he gives of an untiring
will and of constant dedication to the human cause,
especially in the field of peace, deserve saluting, and I
would like to express all of our gratitude to him.
At the same time, I would like to wholeheartedly
welcome the delegations of the Republics of Kiribati and
Nauru and of the Kingdom of Tonga, and to express to
all of them our congratulations on their having been
admitted to the great family of the United Nations.
The time has come to assess the century that is
coming to a close and to see together how we are going
to face the challenges of the next millennium — a
millennium that we hope will be one of peace and
prosperity, bringing hope to our peoples and our
countries. This is the wish of the Comorien people for all
the nations of the world. But how can we realize this
wish?
Our Organization offers the best framework for
facing the challenges of the third millennium, but it will
need to be supported by a more active commitment on
our part, a greater willingness to face problems and a real
will to deal with them — without excessive fervour or
uncertainty — and to resolve them rationally. With such
will we can achieve the objectives of the founders of our
Organization in the field of peace, justice and progress.
Achieving a disarmed world, which will at the same
time guarantee peace, social justice and progress, is the
fundamental purpose of our Organization. In addition, we
all hoped that the 1990s would be the decade of peace
and solidarity among nations, because certain positive
aspects led us to expect this. The various day-to-day
15

realities we have experienced unfortunately are reviving our
fears that the next millennium will begin in uncertainty
about the future of humanity.
In fact, the wars that are tearing our continents apart,
the grave violations of human rights, the extreme poverty
to which many peoples have been reduced and which
reveals the enormous disparities between the social strata,
and the recent tragedies such as that in Kosovo make us
fear the worst and require us to be more vigilant. Our
Organization, the efforts of which we salute, must persevere
in the search for solutions for eliminating the major and
various problems besetting the world today.
Human rights has always been an essential concern of
our Organization. Thus, how can we not deplore that, at the
threshold of the next millennium, humanity is still
witnessing flagrant violations of fundamental rights. It is
because of this major concern that I would like to salute
here the efforts to establish an international criminal court,
which, I am certain, will contribute to greater justice. We
hope that this court, once it becomes operational, will enjoy
all the necessary independence to carry out its functions
fully and effectively and to apply the fundamental
principles of humanitarian law.
With regard to economic issues, we must agree that
economic recovery is not yet in sight for many countries,
especially those suffering from armed conflicts. Certainly
many agreements emerging from international meetings
have highlighted the special attention that must be paid to
the problems of developing countries. But we must insist
further on this and demand that genuine solidarity with
these countries be shown. Through such solidarity positive
action could be mobilized.
With regard to Africa, in general it continues to be
marked by several things. First, its external debt has
become a major obstacle to development, especially
because financial flows are often used for debt servicing
rather than for promoting the expansion of the economy
and sustainable development. Also, the level of debt has
discouraged domestic and foreign investment. Secondly, the
continent is heavily scarred by wars which have sharply
checked development. Thirdly, global trade practices have
reduced the commercial prospects of the continent.
Fourthly, the continent is to some extent excluded from the
global information revolution. In Africa the basic education
system is generally the most limited, the effects of poverty
are extreme, and the health system needs reforming.
To create the necessary conditions to solve these
different problems which are hampering the development
of our African countries, national, regional and
international initiatives must be undertaken, encouraged
and supported by the international community. A genuine
partnership among African countries must be the basis for
solid and effective cooperation that allows these countries
to share their experiences and promotes the rapid
integration of regional economies.
In the context of this need for South-South
cooperation, my country welcomed most favourably the
holding of the special summit in Sirte, which revealed
once again the solidarity of African States and their
support for Libya, a brother country. We believe that the
conditions are now in place for the total and final lifting
of the embargo imposed on that country. The summit also
put in place new rules to improve the structures of the
Organization of African Unity, with a view to an effective
union of its countries through the strengthening of
security and cooperation arrangements. In this regard the
Sirte summit continues to serve as a point of reference,
and we hope its objectives will be achieved.
I also take this opportunity to express our thanks to
the Government of Libya for the generosity it showed to
certain African countries, allowing them to honour their
commitments to the pan-African organization.
Moreover, the international community, especially
the international financial institutions, must support these
national and regional efforts by facilitating their access to
markets and investments, reducing debt constraints and
allowing developing countries to benefit from new trade
agreements.
Like all developing countries, the Islamic Federal
Republic of the Comoros also faces enormous difficulties.
The regrettable events that have unfolded there since
March 1997 have further weakened an economy that was
already in decline and beset by considerable deficits in
public finance; a chronic deficit in the balance of
payments; a large foreign debt; and strong competition for
export resources by synthetic products.
This situation is of great concern to the Government
which I have the honour to represent. It is firmly engaged
in a process of development through the establishment of
solid bases for the rule of law and the adoption of a
policy of rehabilitation and economic and political
recovery through the strict management of public finances
and the promotion of morality in administrative practices
16

and political customs. This rehabilitation policy should
allow the State to fulfil its priority domestic commitments
domestically and to honour its commitments to its foreign
partners.
In addition, other objectives to complement this good
governance policy are being considered by the current
Government. They include respect for human rights; the
improvement of social policies and hence of the efficacy of
health and education services for all; the protection of
children and women; the implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child; the advancement and
mainstreaming of women; guaranteed autonomy for the
judiciary; freedom of the press; and so on.
To encourage private investment and promote the
introduction of new technology and foreign capital,
opportunities have been opened to domestic and foreign
investors by suppressing constraints on approvals of foreign
investments.
Furthermore, aware of the enormous contribution
South-South cooperation makes to development by offering
the opportunity to exploit the economic prosperity of other
regions, the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros must
respond to the two-fold necessity of participating fully in
the globalization process and of steadfastly prospering in its
own regional and subregional environment. That is why it
is striving further to consolidate its participation in the
Indian Ocean Commission and planning to join other
groups of the region. These endeavours, undertaken since
the accession to power of the current Government, may
well be insufficient, but they constitute a serious and
essential foundation, and a guarantee of in-depth reform.
The President returned to the Chair.
After this general summary, I would be remiss if I
failed to report the prevailing political situation in the
Comoros. My country is experiencing a secessionist crisis
in the sister island of Anjouan, which has shaken the very
foundations of the Republic and threatened its unity,
territorial integrity and, above all, the peace and tolerance
that have always characterized relations among the
inhabitants of our four islands.
My country’s Government cannot endorse secession or
independence, which could dislocate the Comoros, whose
unity and social coherence are the only guarantees for the
evolution of harmonious social and economic development.
Three inter-island conferences have been held under the
auspices of the OAU and the League of Arab States with a
view to rapidly settling this crisis. The most recent, held
in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in April, resulted in an
agreement to establish a new institutional framework to
meet the aspirations of the Comorians, guarantee unity
and territorial integrity, and give each island greater
autonomy. In this respect, I have the pleasant duty once
again to convey our sincere thanks to the Malagasy
authorities, not only for having held that important
meeting on the sisterly large island, but also for having
established conditions conducive to our debate.
At the conference, the lack of cooperation and the
intransigence of the representatives of the island of
Anjouan — who postponed the signing of the final
document — provoked extremist groups among the
population of Grande-Comore, where anti-Anjouan riots
broke out. The threat of civil war, of hateful “insular
cleansing” and the violent and forcible separation of
families led the National Development Army, in the face
of the inertia of the political authorities, to act to avoid
the worse by assuming control of the country. A
transition Government was immediately formed to restore
and guarantee civil peace and to create new republican
and democratic institutions to ensure greater autonomy for
the islands, in compliance with the Antananarivo
agreement. Thus, the consolidation of the Antananarivo
agreement remains a Government priority and we are
doing everything possible to establish the conditions
essential to the implementation of the agreement.
In the context of the settlement of the crisis, a frank,
direct and constructive dialogue has been established for
the first time between the central authorities and the
Anjouan separatists. In this respect, a joint communiqué
signed on the Comorian island of Mohéli in July by the
leaders of the two parties to the summit. I wish to stress
that Comorians view this act as a step towards the
settlement of the crisis. In his meetings with Comorians,
the Head of State, Mr. Azali Assoumani, is seeking the
necessary breakthrough to achieve an honourable peace to
the benefit of all that unites us.
We hope that the ratification of this agreement by
our Anjouan brethren will not be long in coming so that
the process may continue in the interests of the united
Comorian people. The Comorian Government has begun
in-depth reflection in order to draft the fundamental texts
to govern the future union of the Comoros. The next step
is very crucial in order to implement the published
electoral timetable, which anticipates, inter alia, a popular
referendum on the constitution and mayoral, legislative
and presidential elections.
17

The Comorian Government welcomed the relevant
resolutions adopted by the OAU at its thirty-fifth Summit
in Algiers; the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference at their most recent
Conference in Ouagadougou; the Ministers for Foreign
Affairs of the League of Arab States at their 112th session
in Cairo (A/50/864/Annex II, res. 1) and the Permanent
Council of French-speaking Countries, meeting in Paris, in
the framework of the speedy establishment of constitutional
order and of the settlement of the separatist crisis. To that
end, we invite all people of good will and friendly,
brotherly and neighbour countries, as well as organizations,
to come see with their own eyes the process that has been
launched and to contribute to the consolidation of
democracy and the rule of law in the Comoros.
Nevertheless, we remain concerned by the fact that
holding elections in Anjouan would be tantamount to
recognizing secession or ratifying independence. Indeed,
such a formula is contrary to the principle of unity of the
country, the spirit of the Antananarivo agreement and the
very principles of the OAU, the sponsor of the agreement.
In this regard, we invite the OAU and the entire
international community to join us in the consideration
necessary to overcome this dilemma.
In this vein, I should also like to take this opportunity
to express the sympathy and profound gratitude of the
people and the Government of the Comoros to the countries
of the region, especially South Africa and Madagascar;
friendly countries such as France and Egypt; and
institutions such as the OAU, the League of Arab States,
the International Organization of La Francophonie and the
European Union, which have never ceased attaching their
special interest to this problem. I should like to tell them
once again that the people of the Comoros hopes to be able
to rely on them, again and always, to find a speedy solution
to this crisis.
The Anjouan crisis, in the view of Comorians, is all
the more threatening to unity, peace and love among them
as it is added to a painful 24-year-old problem, that of the
Comorian island of Mayotte. The Assembly will understand
the helplessness of a people threatened with dispersion,
following the amputation of part of the territory of its
country, Mayotte, and witnessing an attempt by a sister
island to leave the Comorian union. This crisis has revived
the pain of the Comoros people caused by the problem of
Mayotte, which still shows no signs of being resolved. Our
Organization, which is regularly seized of this question, has
always recognized that Mayotte belongs to the Comoros
and has adopted resolutions in favour of the integration of
the island into its natural family.
The Comorian Government, faithful to the
fundamental principles of the Charter of our Organization,
continues to give priority to dialogue to resolve this
problem. It is with deep respect for these principles that
it appeals to France, a country with which the Comoros
has for long had close ties of friendship and cooperation,
to consider opening a direct, constructive dialogue to find
a rapid, negotiated solution to this unfortunate dispute.
My country is very concerned about the situation in
the Middle East. It hopes that the new Israeli
Administration will commit itself more to the peace
process begun on 4 September at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt,
for a lasting, fair and harmonious resolution of the Israel-
Palestine crisis. We also hope that the other problems,
regarding Syria and Lebanon, will soon be settled.
The question of Jammu and Kashmir continues to be
of concern to us. We appeal to India and Pakistan to
show restraint in order to prevent any escalation in the
region.
My country welcomes the diplomatic initiatives of
the United Nations which made it possible for peace to be
restored to Kosovo and East Timor.
We also welcome the Lomé Peace Agreement of 7
July 1999, with regard to the Sierra Leone conflict; the
Abuja Agreement and its additional protocols regarding
the conflict in Guinea-Bissau; and the Lusaka ceasefire
agreement, signed on 10 July 1999 by the parties to the
conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Having noted these hopes reasons for hope, we
cannot forget the situation in Angola and Somalia and the
situation prevailing between Ethiopia and Eritrea, where
there are no signs of a solution. The efforts made by the
OAU should be supported by our Organization in order to
achieve peace and reconciliation in these fraternal
countries.
The ideals of peace, security and development are
the responsibility of the international community, which
must work to make them a reality. Each of us must
contribute to ensure these values and to build a more
human, peaceful and just world which is a harbinger of
hope for future generations.
18


Allow me to join the
speakers preceding me to congratulate you, Sir, on your
election as the President of the General Assembly at this
session, the last of the present century. You surely are
well versed in this high office through your experience
with the United Nations, which will make of the
centennial transition the launching platform for ever-
more-fruitful future undertakings.
As we embark on the next century, the survival of
the United Nations as an effective global institution
comes into question. Can its role develop in the dawn of
a new era? Or will it be more like a brilliant sunset?
From the League of Nations to the United Nations, we
have continuously pinned our hopes on the United
Nations system, looking forward to a promising world
ruled by law, governed by justice and blessed with peace.
However, the wide-ranging challenges — from
questions relating to the maintenance of international
peace and security, the eradication of poverty, sustainable
development, economic growth and social progress to
globalization in meaningful terms — all yet to be met and
require firm resolve and certainly not mere rhetoric.
As crises continue to unfold throughout the world,
we must ask, and answer, certain important questions.
Why are threats to international peace and security
variably defined and selectively determined from place to
place? Why are State violators of the United Nations
Charter and international law, including the principle of
non-interference, not brought to justice? Why are the
instigators of “ethnic cleansing” and the perpetrators of
9

genocide and of crimes against humanity not checked? Why
is the fight against terrorism and narcotics so limited? And
finally, where and when will gender apartheid come to an
end?
We are convinced that those challenges and crises can
best be dealt with if the United Nations actively functions
within a framework similar to that of a state system. In this
context, the United Nations Charter serves as an explicit
and clear reference outlining the rights and responsibilities,
in their entirety, of the Member States.
The advent of the new millennium marks the closing
of the twentieth century. This is a time for the United
Nations to pause and assess the gains and losses, and the
successes and setbacks, it has experienced since its
founding. The United Nations cannot truly embark on the
next millennium until it has conclusively addressed the
unfinished items on its agenda and the many existing global
threats. One item on — and perhaps at the top of — that
agenda, though it is far from finalized, relates to Pakistani
hegemonic actions and that country’s collusion with
Talibanism in our region.
The Pakistani-Taliban occupation of land in
Afghanistan represents a clear breach of a fundamental
principle of international law, namely, the inadmissibility of
the acquisition of territory by force. It is trans-border
aggression. In addition, as the report of the Special
Rapporteur (E/CN.4/1999/40), states in paragraph 18, the
Taliban
“continue to pursue policies which are in conflict with
international human rights standards by which
Afghanistan is bound as a party to the major
international human rights instruments.”
Furthermore, the Taliban has committed repeated war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including forced
deportation; the forced displacement of hundreds of
thousands of people; the separation of thousands of men
from their families; the widespread burning and leveling of
houses and entire villages; the systematic destruction of the
agricultural base and the irrigation systems, resulting in the
loss of crops due for harvesting; and the execution of a
scorched-earth policy. This has been particularly true, on a
massive scale, in the Shamali Plains, following the July 19
Tashkent meeting of the group of “six plus two”, and just
this week in Khoja Ghar, in north-eastern Afghanistan.
Their policies of genocide, gender apartheid, trafficking of
women and girls, “ethnic cleansing”, religious and sectarian
extermination, rigid interpretation of religion, and the
pursuit of a military solution spell out the Taliban actions
in Afghanistan. They persist in their extremist agenda and
advocacy of terrorism. The increase in drug production
and trafficking, the Talibanization of the region and their
denunciation of the international community continue
unabated.
In sum, over 50 per cent of the Afghan population
has been placed under virtual house arrest, and the entire
population remains terrorized by the Taliban. The
international community is greatly disturbed and
concerned by the ominous nature of the Taliban agenda.
The responsibility of the much-discussed yet
unresolved turmoil in Afghanistan continues to lie with
the Pakistani leadership. Pakistan remains a proponent of
arm-twisting, both nuclear and conventional, in South
Asia. Afghanistan’s Pakistani-dictated position of
subordination, through the Taliban, has long undermined
the peace process. Pakistan remains implacably opposed
to the formation of a fully representative, multi-ethnic
government in Afghanistan, insisting that the Taliban not
relinquish power but gain further control. To this end,
inter alia, thousands of Pakistani military personnel,
members of the paramilitary, former commissioned
officers and thousands of recruits and “volunteers” from
Pakistani religious schools have been trained and
dispatched into Afghanistan for what has been called a
“jihad”.
The remarks made on 30 July 1999 by Ambassador
Lakhdar Brahimi, head of the United Nations Special
Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA), regarding the presence
of thousands of armed Pakistani nationals fighting
alongside the Taliban, provide credible testimony.
In this context, perhaps the article by retired
Brigadier Usman Khalid, published in the Pakistani daily
The Frontier Post of 29 September 1999, just three days
ago, best spells out the Pakistani security dilemma in the
form of a bold confession. It states that
“the armed forces of Pakistan have been steadfast in
playing their role in safeguarding the security of the
country [Pakistan]. They have sought to safeguard
the nuclear deterrent of Pakistan, resisted pressures
to withdraw support from the mujahidin in Kashmir,
and have been steadfast in their support to the
Taliban in Afghanistan. All of these are of vital
importance to Pakistan’s security and survival.”
10

In fact, it is the intervention of Pakistan in
Afghanistan, its support for the Taliban and its attempts to
justify the Taliban’s defiance of the aspirations of the
international community, including reprehensible attempts
at Taliban recognition, which has eroded Pakistan’s
reputation, causing its political isolation throughout the
world. Those who are aware of the Afghan situation and
the Afghan resolve to resist any foreign rule continue to be
perplexed and puzzled in the face of the Pakistani position.
However, despite Talibanism and Pakistan’s massive
military intervention in Afghanistan — both of which
represent obvious breaches of the United Nations Charter,
international law and international humanitarian law — we
are delighted to note that the United Nations, following
years of skepticism or illusory thinking, appears, perhaps
for the first time and only since the open escalation of
foreign military involvement in Afghanistan, to have
developed an in-depth perception of the longstanding bitter
reality of the Pakistani role, its intervention, and the Taliban
agenda in Afghanistan.
Yet to our dismay, while this in-depth perception has
been so long in developing, the plight of the Afghan nation
has remained unresolved. It is doomed to the terrible
predicament prevailing in many parts of Afghanistan: the
inadmissible acquisition of territory by force and
interference in its internal affairs. It is because of those
fundamental questions that at the outset of my statement I
raised the question of the survival of the United Nations as
an effective global institution. Given its approach to
Afghanistan, can we still put our hope in the United
Nations system for the resolution of the Afghan crisis or
other similar or dissimilar crises? It is our earnest
conviction that the litmus test for United Nations survival
will be its engagement, without any selectivity and in the
framework of the State system, in the rigorous
implementation and enforcement of its Charter.
Pakistan is blatantly breaching the United Nations
Charter, which explicitly requires all Member States to
refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State, as well as
numerous General Assembly and Security Council
resolutions and other resolutions on terrorism and the use
of mercenaries. The reports of the Secretary-General, his
Special Envoy for Afghanistan and the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Afghanistan clearly bring to light the bellicose, obstinate
and intransigent attitude of the Taliban mercenaries.
In this context, the United Nations, acting through
the Security Council, has a duty to maintain international
peace and security, in accordance with the Charter. The
Pakistani aggression, State-sponsored terrorism and other
activities, which threaten the peace and security of the
region and hamper regional development and cooperation,
should be identified, condemned and dealt with by taking
appropriate measures.
Furthermore, the Islamic State of Afghanistan
earnestly expects the Security Council to consider the
imposition of immediate sanctions against both the
Taliban and their Pakistani mentors, in accordance with
paragraph 15 of Security Council resolution 1214 (1998)
of 8 December 1998 and in conformity with its
responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations.
The United Nations is also expected to use its good
offices to convince the Pakistani leadership, including its
military intelligence wing, the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), to steer its policy away from intervention in
Afghanistan and towards non-intervention, so that we can
move from a Pakistani-dictated position of subordination
to a mutually dictated position of cooperation. The
Pakistani ISI should no longer thwart peace initiatives. A
first step in this regard would be the withdrawal from
Afghanistan of all armed Pakistanis, whether military
personnel or so-called religious volunteers. Pakistan
should also put a halt to its direct assistance to the
Taliban, ranging from military hardware and oil to
expertise and tactical advice. Only under such pressure
will the Taliban resume peace negotiations.
On the verge of the next millennium, the Islamic
State of Afghanistan genuinely hopes that, with the
resolution of the Afghan crisis, it will be able to serve as
a factor for peace and stability in the region, promoting
good-neighbourliness, mutual respect and cooperation and
acting as a transit country for trade between all its
neighbours, without any distinction or preference.
The United Nations is earnestly expected to step up
its efforts in the Afghan peace process. In this respect, we
greatly appreciate the untiring efforts of the Secretary-
General and Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, his Special
Envoy for Afghanistan. The Islamic State of Afghanistan
welcomes and fully supports the 19 July Tashkent
Declaration of the Member States that make up the “six
plus two” group, which it hopes will be fully observed.

Regrettably, the Taliban continue to voice their
adamant opposition not only to the Tashkent Declaration
but to all other peace initiatives. We sincerely welcome
paragraph 2 of the report of the Secretary-General
(A/54/378) of 21 September 1999, which states,
“it is noteworthy that only one week after the
Tashkent meeting, the Taliban began a major offensive
against the United Front in the Shomali plains, located
to the north of Kabul.”
Paragraph 3 further states,
“The Taliban insist that the UF [United Front] must
embrace the Emirate system while the UF question the
Taliban's popular mandate to make this demand.”
Mindful of the principle that there should be a
peaceful resolution of the conflict, the Islamic State of
Afghanistan earnestly desires a broad-based, fully
representative and multi-ethnic government in Afghanistan.
The Islamic State of Afghanistan, which is struggling for
sovereignty and the return of peace and normalcy through
the institution of such a government, earnestly aspires to the
resolution of fundamental issues such as the restoration of
and full respect for human rights in Afghanistan,
particularly the rights of women. Under the Taliban, women
have now been reduced to a voiceless and invisible state of
non-being, condemned to stay in their houses and stripped
of their basic rights, even the rights to work and education,
all of which is against the genuine tenets of Islam.
The Islamic State of Afghanistan welcomes the fact
that the first year of the new millennium will be observed
as the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, as called for
by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we believe that it will
prepare suitable ground for further understanding among the
global family, thereby contributing to collective human
civilization.
This century introduced a new paradigm based on
collective security and international organizations, concerted
approaches and international order, all based on the equal
sovereignty of States. From the United Nations Charter to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the new
paradigm has affected all corners of the world. As a
troubled member of this global family, Afghanistan awaits
a collective endeavour by the international community to
deal with its problems, thereby helping the world, or at
least a part of the world, to become a better place for
humankind.


Let me join
other delegations in congratulating Mr. Gurirab on his
election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-
fourth session. His skill and experience will serve us well
as he directs the vital work to be undertaken at this
session. I should also like to take this opportunity to
thank his predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, for his
outstanding stewardship of the General Assembly at its
fifty-third session.
The Government of the Republic of Moldova
warmly welcomes the admission of the three new
Members of the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati,
the Republic of Nauru, and the Kingdom of Tonga.
Since its admission to the United Nations in 1992,
the Republic of Moldova has consistently been an active
supporter of the world Organization. As a small country,
we depend on the United Nations for our security and for
our very existence. We want to see it further strengthened
and the sphere of its activities expanded. We believe that
in this emerging new international order, it is more
necessary than ever that the United Nations be capable of
fulfilling the role entrusted to it by the Charter, as the
guarantor of peace, security and social justice throughout
the world.
It is from that perspective that we evaluate the
United Nations reform process launched by the Secretary-
General; as we see it, reform means the rational
adaptation of United Nations mechanisms to present and
future needs. We owe the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, our gratitude and support for his reform proposals.
Especially, we welcome the implementation of the
Secretary-General’s reform proposals aimed at fostering
greater internal coordination, streamlining procedures and
rationalizing the activities of the Organization. In this
context, I would like to underline the positive results thus
far achieved by the United Nations Development Group
and the Executive Committee on Economic and Social
Affairs. The preliminary application of the United Nations
Development Assistance Framework in 18 pilot countries
and more intense cooperation between Bretton Woods
institutions and the United Nations are also producing
promising results.
Integration within the United Nations system is also
moving ahead at the country level. I can already see some
12

encouraging results from the Republic of Moldova’s “One
country, one United Nations” policy. From this perspective,
we believe also that the integration of United Nations
representation at the country level will lead to substantive
improvements and greater coherence in the relationship
between the United Nations system and the host country. I
take this opportunity to inform members that in the near
future a United Nations common house will be officially
inaugurated in the capital of our country, Chisinau.
I would like to mention in this context the substantial
assistance provided by the United Nations to my country
through the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) office in the Republic of Moldova. The activities
carried out by the UNDP office contribute significantly to
the ongoing reform process.
We believe that the diversification and deepening of
collaboration among States has enhanced the development
of regional and subregional cooperation as well. In fact, the
Charter itself attaches great significance to regional
organizations. Documents laying the foundations for
collaboration between the United Nations and various
regional organizations have been drawn up, in particular in
recent years. General Assembly resolutions pertaining to
cooperation between the United Nations on the one hand,
and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), the League of Arab States and the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the other, are
relevant from that point of view. Some regional
organizations have acquired new areas of competence,
including in the field of peace and security, and have
become a trustworthy support for the United Nations in
containing and eliminating local conflicts. For the near
future, we may expect that additional regional organizations
and groupings will be interested in setting up a cooperation
framework with the United Nations, similar those that exist
with other regional organizations. The Republic of Moldova
supports that trend.
As a founding member of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization, and as the country which at the
end of this month will assume the presidency of that
organization, the Republic of Moldova welcomes the recent
decision of the General Committee to include in the agenda
of the fifty-fourth session an item concerning the granting
of observer status in the General Assembly to the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. To this effect, the
Republic of Moldova would very much appreciate it if
Member States lent their valuable support to the granting of
observer status in the Assembly to that organization.
We are fully aware of the fact that because of its
outstanding role in dealing with world problems, the
United Nations is confronted with a growing number of
new threats to international security and stability. In this
context, peacekeeping operations represent one of the
world Organization’s main instruments with which to stop
conflicts in various parts of the world and to create
favourable conditions for their political settlement. It is
also obvious that in recent years the United Nations has
nearly exhausted its ability to respond to the increasing
number of requests for such operations. Under these
circumstances, we support and encourage the trend
towards involving regional organizations and
arrangements, in cooperation with the United Nations, in
the mitigation of certain conflicts. At the same time, we
consider that peacekeeping operations should as a rule be
undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations and
in conformity with United Nations standards.
Statements made during the general debate have
offered an eloquent perspective on the major challenges
confronting the present-day system of international
relations and on the role that international organizations,
and primarily the United Nations, have to play in order to
meet them. One of the most important issues spoken of in
this context is the maintenance of peace, security and
stability in various regions affected by crisis and internal
conflict. Unfortunately, developments in those regions
compel us to acknowledge the insoluble character of
many such conflicts. These so-called frozen conflicts have
a huge potential for destabilization and destruction. The
Kosovo tragedy has clearly shown how they can
degenerate if we do not succeed in working out timely
long-lasting solutions. The Secretary-General is absolutely
right when he stresses that a tragic irony of many of the
crises that continue to go unnoticed and unchallenged
today is that they could be dealt with by far less perilous
acts of intervention than the one we witnessed recently in
Yugoslavia.
At the same time, one of the main conclusions to be
drawn from conflicts such as those in Kosovo and in
Bosnia is that no single organization or State is capable
of solving conflicts of such complexity and scale on its
own.
The uniqueness of the United Nations is defined
particularly by its capacity to efficiently mobilize the
resources of the international community and to
orchestrate its efforts in order to defuse and solve crisis
and conflict situations. That unique potential has to be
more actively and more efficiently used, particularly in
13

relation to the internal conflicts confronted by some newly
independent States. Since 1992, when the majority of the
ex-Soviet republics became members of the United Nations,
dozens of interventions concerning conflicts in these States,
Moldova among them, have been spoken of in this
Assembly. One of the main conclusions of those statements
was that without more active involvement by the
international community those conflicts will remain
“frozen”.
In this context, it bears mention that the United
Nations, as well as other international bodies and individual
States, have made an important contribution to ending the
violence and military clashes and in bringing the parties
involved to the negotiating table. Another positive result
from the actions of the international community has been
the parties’ acceptance of the idea of resolving their
differences through peaceful means.
For this reason, the Republic of Moldova, like other
countries with similar problems in our own region, has
continued to support more active involvement by the United
Nations and regional organizations in managing the
conflicts which they have faced for many years now. We
think that the time is ripe to give more consideration to the
question of how the root causes of those conflicts should be
identified and dealt with. In this respect the United Nations
can efficiently use its potential only through intensive
cooperation and interaction with the European organizations
and institutions, particularly OSCE. Through enhanced
synergy and avoidance of duplication, and by using and
maintaining consulting mechanisms at various levels and
exchanging information about plans and activities between
itself and those organizations, the United Nations can
improve the situation in countries affected by internal
conflicts.
However, there must be firm decisions about what
action must be taken to ensure the implementation of the
relevant resolutions and decisions adopted of the United
Nations and the OSCE, the main international organizations
involved in settling those conflicts. We believe that the
General Assembly should evaluate the efficiency and
effectiveness of cooperation between the United Nations
and OSCE from this point of view also.
That I refer to the issue of conflicts in some detail is
not incidental. The problem of the eastern region of the
Republic of Moldova has been repeatedly described, from
this rostrum, by representatives of my country. To my
regret, I must inform of the Assembly that there has been
no tangible progress towards a comprehensive settlement.
Throughout the negotiations, we have sought to
accomplish the purpose for which the Assembly was
established: to replace mistrust and violent confrontation
with dialogue and agreement between the parties to the
conflict.
The Government of my country has shown more
than once that it strongly advocates a peaceful resolution,
through negotiations, of the conflict situation in
Transnistria, in accordance with the norms and practice of
international law and in collaboration with international
organizations, primarily OSCE, and with the Russian
Federation and Ukraine as mediators. Although it has
made the spirit of compromise evident, the Government
firmly believes that any proposal for a settlement must
provide for territorial integrity to be maintained and for
control over the territory of the whole country to be
ensured.
Despite a reasonable compromise on the part of the
constitutional authorities, separatist tendencies still persist.
A number of documents — elaborated with the active
participation of OSCE and other mediators and signed by
all parties involved — are being interpreted unilaterally,
and in a manner contrary to their meaning, by the
Transnistrian leaders. Moreover, these leaders are trying
to impose certain concepts that do not exist in law and
territorial practice and are contrary to the principle of
territorial integrity. Here I refer to am referring to the
concept of “common State,” which has very frequently
been imposed in discussions to define relations between
the central and local authorities in certain conflict zones.
We consider this concept dangerous due as it attempts to
distort the notion of statehood and State sovereignty and
provide a legal framework for the ideology of aggressive
separatism. I believe that the United Nations and other
international organizations will also find this concept both
inadequate and counter-productive as a means of
resolving internal conflicts.
In Transnistria, we are striving for a rapid and
definitive solution and a return to stability, and a return
also to respect for human rights, which continue to be
violated in this region. The case of the Ilascu group, and
violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms it
represents are eloquent in this respect.
We consider it imperative for international efforts to
solve the current crisis situations, most of which have
separatism as their main cause, to be strengthened. In this
connection, I would mention that we fully share the views
expressed earlier by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of
14

the Russian Federation concerning aggressive separatism.
Indeed, the international community and, first of all, the
United Nations should decisively suppress any
manifestations of separatism and rigorously and consistently
defend the principles of sovereignty, integrity and the
inviolability of national frontiers. To this end, the complete
eradication of outside encouragement and support for
separatist forces is most certainly necessary.
Another aspect of the Transnistrian problem is
military: this zone is famously overmilitarized, which has
very negatively affected the settlement process. Thousands
of tons of shells and armaments — both accounted for and
unaccounted for, and including equipment limited by the
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty — are
stationed there. This military presence is in evident
contradiction to the Constitution of the Republic of
Moldova, which declared the State’s neutrality and that
foreign troops are not admissible in our country.
Another premise for accelerating the settlement
process is, would undoubtedly be the immediate, complete,
unconditional and orderly withdrawal of foreign troops, as
stipulated in OSCE summit decisions required by the CFE
Treaty, the keystone of European security and may on no
account be violated.
I hope that, together with our partners and the relevant
international organizations, we can establish, very soon, an
effective mechanism and detailed schedule for the takeover,
destruction or removal of the foreign military arsenal from
Republic of Moldova territory. I express my gratitude for
the political support and, especially, for the financial
assistance provided by many United Nations Member States
for the withdrawal or elimination of those arsenals.
I voice our hope that the proceedings of the General
Assembly at its fifty-fourth session will be conducted in a
spirit of solidarity and with a realistic and constructive
approach to the complex issues confronting the
contemporary world at the end of this millennium. The
delegation of the Republic of Moldova is committed to
contributing, alongside other Member States, to the
fulfilment of the lofty goals of the United Nations.


Allow me
first, on behalf of my Government and myself, to
congratulate Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister for Foreign
Affairs of Namibia, on his well-deserved election as
President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth
session. We wish him every success and assure him of my
delegation's sincere cooperation in carrying out his work.
I also wish to express a warm welcome to the new
Members: the Republics of Kiribati and Nauru and the
Kingdom of Tonga.
A little more than a week ago, we had the opportunity
to address this same body at the close the fifty-third session
of the General Assembly. On that occasion, we expressed
a general view of the Organization as a whole, as well as
of some of the items or questions of greater relevance. That
view cannot differ basically from the one I am now
expressing as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay.
In order to contribute to the debate of ideas, we did
not silence then, nor will we now, certain views on the
international community, on the changes it is experiencing
and on the response capability of the United Nations to
face the new situations or expectations of the Member
States, especially the demands of regions or areas of the
world experiencing diverse types of suffering.
This suffering is at times basically economic in
origin — call it underdevelopment or more simply,
poverty and even extreme destitution — with all the
attending consequences of marginalization and exclusion.
In other cases, suffering stems from problems of
civilization that tend to show alarming signs of
deterioration. We must also emphasize that the turmoil
and instability experienced by peoples are not in every
case due to one and the same cause, whether of a material
or economic nature or because of the lack of resources.
We observe phenomena such as violence,
dramatically present at the individual or collective level;
terrorism of all kinds, blind and relentless; and, of course,
the drug problem in its diverse stages, including the
entrepreneurial business of its traffic and its perverse
destabilizing effect, and drug consumption, which is
destructive to the individual and is also related to family
dissolution. There is also the absence of or weakness in
educational standards that adequately prioritize the ethical
dimension and human values as a great pedagogical goal.
Perhaps none of us yet possesses the key to explain
the real origin of these pathological phenomena, but what
is very clear is that we cannot affect ignorance about
them, as if they were foreign to us — Governments,
States, peoples and organizations.
Without prejudice to what was just said, we
recognize first the central role the Organization must play
in terms of international peacekeeping and security. On
the other hand, it is necessary to give special attention to
the dreadful consequences of nationalist excesses, to
confront the exclusive and unfair fundamentalism of
religions, to fight discrimination, whatever the basic
claims or pretexts are, and to make tolerance a basic
principle of relations among individuals and peoples. All
are unavoidable duties of the United Nations.
We must now establish and reaffirm our position as
a Member State on those main items — some of which
are planned, others under way and others still to come —
regarding what is to be done.
I refer first to the reform of the Organization and of
the Charter, and in particular to the reform of the Security
22

Council. These are priorities that must continue at a pace
imposed by the complexity of the matter, by the current
state of international relations and, above all, by the
expectation of world public opinion that moves
momentarily from hope to anxiety. If it is true, as it is said,
that time takes revenge on things done without prior
consultation, it is just as true that medicine refined for a
long time, as the Italian master Carnelutti reminds us, could
arrive too late, when the patient is already dead.
Reform requires a balance, a balance between sudden
need and efficiency, between rigidity and flexibility and
between unavoidable principles and the just appreciation of
new realities. In favour of this balance, the General
Assembly approved in November 1998 resolution 53/30,
requiring at least a two-thirds majority for the approval of
any reform relating to the membership of the Security
Council. This dispelled concern about a reform being
approved by non-representative majorities, opening up a
new phase. This is contained in the report of the Open-
ended Working Group on reform of the Security Council,
established by consensus by the General Assembly by
resolution 48/26, in the chapter entitled “Observations”.
It will be your task, Mr. President, to give renewed
momentum to this process on the basis of its progress and
of other steps which, however modest and far from
resolving the matter, advance in denoting certain basic
points concerning which there is at least a common
diagnosis. Although distant from final solutions, these
points are always adjustable to the changes of the
international community.
The Government of Uruguay, my country — an active
Member State of this Organization and of other world and
regional organizations, both political and integration
ones — has observed and continues to see well-constituted
international institutions as the main guarantee for the
observance a more just, foreseeable and fair international
order. Therefore, when distinguishing the vital from the
superficial and rhetorical speech from the true search for
agreements, which can involve reciprocal concessions, the
delegation of Uruguay will be in favour of change and
against stagnation — but not just any change. It will favour
change that restores to the United Nations a level of
international recognition which, without sacrificing efficacy,
would make the Member States and their regions feel that
they are a tangible and active reality, that those subregions
cannot be under-represented.
There is no longer a place for an elitist international
society that freezes obsolete historical periods in time,
typical of a dialectic of confrontation measured in terms
of the cold war. We must propose new formulas to avoid
the effect of blockage that in many cases produces the
conspicuous right to veto, granting the Security Council
the procedural means to break it and even entrusting the
General Assembly, under certain conditions, as proposed
by my delegation, with new competencies so that it could
be formally informed and its decision be required in
situations which demand it, particularly when it concerns
cases that could involve the legitimate use of force.
The recent problem in Kosovo, which continues,
could serve as a typical example of the aforementioned
paralysing effect of the veto in the Security Council,
without forgetting the disturbing consequences that effect
would have in producing the marginalization of the
United Nations system of peace and security, with the
resulting questioning of the Organization itself and its real
possibilities.
This, naturally, requires the foresight of international
law as the sole source of legitimacy, without ignoring the
authentic and grave humanitarian situations that are
imposed on us by the drama of the real facts at a time
when they require a formal framework of timely,
legitimate and efficient international action.
We also attach special meaning to the improvement
of the rules of procedure and the working methods of the
Security Council, and we therefore trust that the proposals
elaborated by the Open-ended Working Group will be
adopted.
An optimistic initiative of the Organization,
encouraged by the Secretariat and the Member States, is
undoubtedly the so-called millennium summit, which will
take place at the fifty-fifth session of the General
Assembly. Regarding its agenda, there will be a certain
tendency in favour of approving a main topic of common
interest, capable of stirring the attention and participation
of heads of State and Government.
As this is the most important point now under debate
here, and since I wished to contribute when I was
President of the General Assembly, I now say quite
simply that in our view the main theme should be “The
United Nations: its future viability”. This would generate,
like the organs of a single body, related fundamental
issues, perhaps formulated as important questions, such
as: Towards a new system of international security? Does
globalization demand new strategies of the world
Organization? What more concrete strategies can there be
23

for the elimination of poverty and underdevelopment? How
can we review the system for the protection of human
rights, with a view to strengthening and improving them,
particularly in the fields of the family, children, education
and international cooperation?
Naturally, we are aware that for the millennium
summit to be successful and give hope for the next century,
its agenda must reflect the expectations of Member States,
which still show marked differences. My Government will
continue to participate in the preparation of the summit with
interest and in a responsible manner.
The initiative for dialogue between civilizations —
2001 is to be the United Nations Year of Dialogue among
Civilizations — proposed by Iran and approved by
consensus by the General Assembly at its fifty-third
session — is the kind of topic that is at the heart of the
United Nations role and should be studied in depth. We are
convinced of the great importance of examining with
extreme care the cultural diversity of Member States in
order to know each other better, but at the same time
understand the profound reasons why, despite our diversity,
we are all Member States of a unique universal
Organization: the United Nations.
Support and respect for the San Francisco Charter is
undoubtedly the starting point of any responsible dialogue.
The Government of Uruguay will contribute its ideas and
initiatives, joining in the efforts of all delegations to
improve the international habitat through understanding and
tolerance of peoples and ideas.
Without prejudice to the important progress made
towards the establishment of a normative system against the
proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,
Uruguay considers it essential to take new steps in this
direction through the universalization of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), whose
norms must be recognized and accepted by all States.
The abusive use of light weapons or small arms — a
subject of great debate — whose uncontrolled proliferation
is reaching unacceptable levels, with devastating effects, in
some cases worse than those caused by weapons of massive
destruction, is a field in which the United Nations must
play a fundamental role, as already reflected in the
convening of an international conference to deal with the
illicit traffic in small arms, a conference which Uruguay
firmly supports.
My country strongly believes in the need to replace
the “culture of conflict” with a “culture of peace”, so that,
as wisely stated by the Under-Secretary-General for
Disarmament Affairs, Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, “As the
twentieth century witnessed the creation of nuclear
weapons, the twenty-first century will see their
destruction”. The entry into force last March of the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on
Their Destruction is an auspicious sign.
A most significant milestone in the endless search
for effective international ways to protect human rights
was the signing of the Statute of the International
Criminal Court in Rome in July 1998, during the same
year in which the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights was celebrated. Uruguay is
participating and will continue to participate seriously in
the elaboration of complementary rules and procedural
provisions to give the Court the basic elements to
guarantee that it can work properly. When that process is
completed the matter will come before our legislative
bodies for consideration, in accordance with our
Constitution.
In conclusion, the topics that concern and will
continue to concern the United Nations are multiple and
diverse. At this very moment, for example, an instrument
that has shown its effectiveness on various occasions is
being employed again: the peacekeeping operation. I refer
here to the one taking place in East Timor, with the prime
goal of ensuring that the mandate of the Timorese people
is implemented, and of preserving the lives and physical
integrity of that people.
Naturally, the environment, which is under attack,
paradoxically as much by unregulated over-development
as by poverty, will continue to be on the Organization's
agenda, as well as the topic of population and
development.
But perhaps the essential need is to make the
maximum effort to make the United Nations the point of
reference for all States, the most powerful and the
weakest — the former so that they yield to the
international order and the latter so that they adjust to it,
and find in the Organization their best shield. For all
States it means access to a modernity that will develop
them and make them part of the current technical
innovation, which is supported by the information
revolution through which all of us, in one way or another,
will be introduced to the coming century.
24


The delegation
of Panama is particularly gratified to welcome your
election, Sir, to the presidency of the General Assembly at
this session. We are pleased that the noble people of Africa,
whose aspiration to progress is shared by Panamanians, are
so well represented in this forum, with you at the head of
our deliberations and another distinguished African,
Mr. Kofi Annan, leading the Secretariat. We join in the
congratulations conveyed to you in recognition of your
capacity and your skills, as well as in the expressions of
gratitude addressed to the Secretary-General for his
dedication to the Organization and his tireless efforts to
maintain international peace and security.
To your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, I also wish to
convey our appreciation for the outstanding way in which
he conducted our debates and his contribution to the
success of the deliberations of the Assembly.
My warmest congratulations, on behalf of the people
and the Government of Panama, go also to the
representatives of Kiribati, Nauru and the Kingdom of
Tonga, States which were admitted to the United Nations
on the first day of this session. This event confirms
beyond question the universal and inclusive nature and
purpose of this body devoted to fostering world peace and
peoples' well-being.
Today I am speaking on behalf of a young, proud
nation that has written some illustrious pages in the
history of the Latin American peoples' struggle to achieve
nationhood. I am the spokesperson of a country where,
according to the design of the liberator, Simón Bol'var,
the first congress of the new nations of the continent took
place.
Here before the Assembly, I represent a State whose
geographical location has given it an extraordinary role as
a transit route, a country that has devoted itself heart and
soul to the service of inter-oceanic transport and that, as
a result, has had to wait until the end of the twentieth
century to recover dominion over the whole of its
territory.

Along with my compatriots, I am filled with
enthusiasm at the approach of the far-reaching event that is
the handing over of the Panama Canal to Panamanian
hands. On the eve of this tremendous event that arouses
such great expectations, we must recognize the efforts of
the many Panamanian men and women who, from the time
we became an independent State, began the nationalist
struggle to free ourselves from the burdens imposed on us
by the first Canal Treaty, which was signed in 1903. Their
patriotic deeds have been indelibly engraved in the history
and the tradition of our people.
Since its opening in 1914, the Canal has been an
important symbol of our nationhood and the centre of the
hopes of the Panamanian people to attain its development
as a nation. The Canal, which turned us into the world's
bridge and the heart of the universe, has given impetus to
the economic progress of the international community in the
course of eight and a half decades. The Panamanian people
will now be able to participate fully in the prosperity that
the inter-oceanic waterway generates because, at the
threshold of the twenty-first century, Panama has
determined that the Canal will be operated not only to
punctually serve international trade, but also to promote
sustainable human development. The administration of the
Canal is therefore not simply a right, but also a
responsibility that obligates all Panamanians to administer
the waterway responsibly, efficiently and with absolute
probity. We have prepared ourselves for this with redoubled
care.
The process for the legal transition of the Canal began
in 1977 with the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty. That
agreement recorded the commitment of the United States to
transfer to Panama the administration and total control of
the inter-oceanic waterway on 31 December 1999. Since
then, the Governments of Panama and the United States of
America have worked in harmony to bring about a seamless
transition. Furthermore, and particularly since the 1989
restoration of constitutional rule, we Panamanians have
agreed on the need to place the Canal above and beyond
political differences. The fruit of this consensus was the
fact that our political Constitution incorporates a provision
for the Canal that stipulates how the waterway is to be
administered from 31 December 1999. On the basis of that
constitutional provision, adopted in 1994, and with the wide
participation of society, we developed the Panama Canal
Authority Act, which was adopted unanimously in the
Legislative Assembly.
Those two legal instruments, the constitutional
provision and the Act, provide the necessary legal
mechanisms to ensure proper operation of the inter-
oceanic waterway. In recent years, the Canal has handled
unprecedented volumes of traffic and cargo and has dealt
with them with exemplary care and efficiency,
fundamentally thanks to our precious human resources,
who are almost all of Panamanian nationality.
In order to guarantee its future operation, Panama is
currently implementing an intensive programme of
investment at an approximate cost of one billion balboas
in order to modernize and improve the inter-oceanic
waterway and to ensure that it is ready to cope with
demand and to maintain the quality of its services. It is
hoped that this modernization and improvement
programme will augment the capacity of the Canal by 20
per cent.
One of the priorities of the Canal Authority is to
protect the environment. As the Act establishes, as of 31
December 1999 the Authority will have the responsibility
of vigilance over and conservation of the Canal basin, as
well as for coordinating the administration, conservation
and use of the natural resources of that immense region.
I should like to recognize the faultless way in which
successive United States Governments have fulfilled the
provisions of the Canal Treaty since it was signed in
1977. Thanks to them, it has been possible to overcome
the obstacles that have been encountered over a long
period of 20 years in the transfer of the inter-oceanic
waterway and in the hand-over of the military bases that
were established on our territory. Although there are
several matters remaining for both Governments to
confront, such as decontamination of certain areas
designed for military use by the United States Army, my
Government trusts that the differences that continue to
exist on this point will be resolved satisfactorily in a
reasonable period of time.
The handover of the Canal to the jurisdiction of the
Republic of Panama is an event of far-reaching
importance not only for Panama and the United States,
but for the international community as well.
Consequently, Panamanians hope that the representatives
of the international community will join in celebrating the
commemorative events associated with the transition.
Panamanians also hope that from now on the relations
between Panama and the United States will be based on
mutual respect, cooperation and equity in trade, in view
of the tremendously strong nature of the historical, social,
political and trading bonds that have joined the two
nations since the last century. The benefits that control
2

over the Canal have yielded for the economy and the
political standing of the United States determine that that
nation should value the feeling of brotherhood that its
leaders have for decades professed and truly act on them in
order to begin a new period of relations with Panama that
will enable us to boost sustainable human development,
which is something the Panamanian people very much
aspire to.
In recent years, my country, like many others, has
suffered the imposition of an economic orthodoxy applied
more with an eye towards the interests of the major
international economic sectors than to the true development
of peoples, without any consideration being given to the
values that underpin our nationhood. This is the real state
of affairs that obliges my Government to review the
orientation of our economic policy in order to promote the
development of our people.
We are particularly concerned with the development
of rural communities. These communities make an
invaluable contribution to the strength of our nationhood,
but they are also the ones that have the greatest difficulties
in the struggle to ensure their survival. The fundamental
concern of my Government is bound up with improving the
quality of life of the neediest. That objective depends to a
large extent upon our efforts, but it also depends on our
succeeding in opening new markets for our products and
achieving greater participation for private investment in our
country and greater cooperation with developed nations.
At a time when the rights of women to equality and
participation in the public life of nations are constantly
being reaffirmed, I am proud to be the first Panamanian
woman ever to receive from her people, in an
unmistakeable manifestation of confidence, the mandate to
serve the Republic as President. I interpret this mandate as
a challenge calling on me to promote sustainable human
development honestly and devotedly, in accordance with the
universal political values that for half a century the
Organization has been upholding with admirable
persistence: the democratic system of government and
respect for human rights.
Consequently, I bear the heavy responsibility in
following in the steps of my predecessors — exceptional
leaders elected in democratic elections, such as Golda Meir,
Indira Ghandi and Corazón Aquino, among others; and, in
the western hemisphere, Eugenia Charles, Violeta Chamorro
and Janet Jagan. They helped to realize the warranted
aspiration that society should recognize women's skills and
merits to share on an equal footing in the great political
responsibility of presiding over a nation.
For Panamanian women I represent a dream come
true. In this respect, my election is a significant advance
in the campaign to ensure political equality for the
women of my country and the rest of the continent.
However, many Panamanian women are being hard hit by
poverty and destitution, an unacceptable situation that
they share with children, older adults and men, whom so-
called globalization takes no account of.
If we wish to secure the sustainability of human life
on this God-given earth, and if we wish to keep our
promises as leaders, we must strive to eradicate hunger,
poverty and destitution, which in my country afflict
almost two-fifths of the population.
If we wish to achieve these goals — which is what
we were elected to do — we must root out corruption,
which is the major obstacle standing in the way of
achieving the lofty results that our societies expect of us.
In this respect, I am pleased to assure the Assembly that
Panama is doing everything in its power to put an end to
the use and trafficking of drugs as well as to the money-
laundering that is the result of that heinous phenomenon.
We the leaders of nations have the opportunity to
undertake measures that will significantly help to fashion
a more just, more humane and fairer world governed by
the fundamental principles of democracy, justice and
liberty, for which my people, together with all the peoples
of the world, have fought throughout history.
I urge dignitaries and the representatives of Member
States to embark resolutely on the struggle against
poverty, destitution and corruption, which so adversely
affect the living conditions of humankind. I would ask
them to come with us to the rescue of the weak, of those
who suffer unspeakable injustice and those whose way of
life is threatened by invisible forces that they can neither
understand nor control.
My presence here is evidence of the Panamanians'
firm belief in the order provided by this Organization,
whose struggle to achieve equality among peoples and
peace among nations dates back more than 50 years. This
Organization has wholeheartedly championed human
rights and battled against discrimination on all fronts.
That is why we believe in the need to strengthen it,
because the United Nations is the court in which the
3

voice of smaller States can be heard, as well as the ultimate
champion of all of our rights.
On account of the trust that my people have in the
United Nations, I invite all of the dignitaries and
representatives of Member States to join with us in
celebrating the recovery of the sovereignty that we never
resigned ourselves to losing. At this historic moment, which
Panamanians wish to share with the whole of humankind,
the bells of the world will ring out in jubilation because the
principle of sovereignty, so often proclaimed in this and
other international forums, will have been translated into
reality in my country.
May God, the source of all authority, guide the
deliberations of the Assembly.