On behalf of the delegation of Madagascar, may I
congratulate you most sincerely on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth
session. You assumption of this important post brings pride
and hope to Africa, which sees this session as a special
opportunity for drawing the international community’s
attention to the economic and social problems it has been
facing in recent years.
My delegation assures you of its full cooperation and
support, which we also offer to the other members of the
Bureau. To them also I address my congratulations. I also
wish to pay tribute to your distinguished predecessor,
Ambassador Samuel Insanally, who so ably and in so
masterly a fashion presided over the Assembly at its forty-
eighth session.
In this new era in international relations the world
faces two contradictory situations: one, unforgettable
pictures of national reconciliation and faith in the future,
the other, a vision of the horror of peoples and nations
ripping each other apart, even to the extent of annihilating
one another. The international community keeps on
swinging back and forth between pride and dejection and
between great hope and deep despair.
The actual progress made in ways of handling and
settling certain disputes nevertheless strengthens our belief
in the principles and covenants set forth in the Charter of
our Organization. For example, we welcome the
encouraging developments in Mozambique, which is now
about to hold its first multiparty elections. Similarly, the
negotiations in Lusaka between the Angolan Government
and UNITA are beginning to bear fruit. Moreover, the
clear efforts by those involved to smooth out the
difficulties of applying the settlement plan in Western
Sahara give us grounds for some optimism about the
outcome of that dispute.
My delegation would also encourage those who are
involved in the nuclear problem in the Korean peninsula
to continue their talks with a view to arriving at a
negotiated solution, which would help to promote stability
and peace in the region.
With the same end in mind, Madagascar hopes there
will be a peaceful settlement, on the basis of Security
Council resolutions, of the problems between Kuwait and
Iraq, with a view to establishing a mutually beneficial
atmosphere of security and cooperation in the region.
The much-acclaimed return of a united, non-racial
and democratic South Africa to the community of nations
is one of the major events of the last decade of this
century and a subject of enormous pride for us all.
Madagascar welcomes the establishment of a non-racial
regime in that great country and firmly believes that
reorganizing South Africa on a democratic basis opens up
new prospects for cooperation and development
throughout the region.
Thanks to the political courage of the Israeli,
Palestinian and Jordanian leaders, the Middle East has
now begun a process of historic reconciliation that
seemed impossible just a short time ago. The Malagasy
Government is following closely the ups and downs of
the implementation of the Declaration of Principles on
Interim Self-Government Arrangements in Gaza and
Jericho signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation
Organization and the Agreement between Israel and
Jordan on the Common Agenda. The United Nations
should encourage all the parties to use the relevant
resolutions with a view to establishing a comprehensive
and lasting peace in the Middle East region.
With the disappearance of a world balance based on
fear of a nuclear holocaust there came hope for a world
free from the scourge of war and favourable to the
strengthening of international cooperation. Unfortunately,
recent events in the international arena show that the new
international order is indeed precarious.
7

Today we are seeing a reappearance of armed conflict
in almost all parts of the world. Several countries are now
plunged in fratricidal wars resulting in human tragedy and
political chaos. Underlying these tragedies we see, inter
alia, intolerance, xenophobia, the problem of minorities and,
above all, the absence of democratic practices in the
settlement of disputes. Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda and the
former Yugoslavia are tragic and dangerous situations
which threaten not only the equilibrium of their regions but
also international peace and security.
Other situations which are too often ignored could
degenerate into serious crises. The problem of borders in
central and eastern Europe, the disturbing situation in the
Indian subcontinent and the flow of refugees in Africa, Asia
and even in Europe are all situations that show how fragile
international security is.
The efforts on the part of the United Nations to
resolve regional and subregional disputes must be supported
by greater world-wide cooperation in disarmament. In this
connection my delegation attaches high priority to
continuing initiatives and concerted actions by Member
States to put a stop to the uncontrolled movement of arms
and to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
My delegation hopes that the consensus at the last
session on multilateral negotiations on a comprehensive
nuclear-test-ban treaty will lead to the conclusion of a
universal treaty so as to improve the prospects for the 1995
Conference of parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons.
Broadening the activities of the United Nations in
regard to peace-keeping and in regard to full achievement
of the development goals calls for greater effectiveness in
the United Nations machinery if the Organization is to live
up to the expectations of the international community.
As for the role of the United Nations in the
maintenance and restoration of peace, recent experience
clearly shows the need for reform with a view to
strengthening the United Nations capacity to prevent
breaches of the peace on the one hand, and on the other
hand to carry out peace-keeping operations on the ground.
Lessons can be learned from the difficulties
encountered in Somalia, the tragedy of Rwanda, and the
sorry experience of the former Yugoslavia. Those United
Nations missions that were to some extent successful
benefitted from the following factors: broad support from
the international community; the consent of the parties to
the dispute; and non-violent and impartial intervention
forces. A peace-keeping operation per se should be
accompanied by diplomatic efforts and economic and
social assistance and should also tackle the underlying
causes of the conflict. In any event, preventive
diplomacy is the best means of averting the eruption of
potential conflicts.
The use of regional machinery for the settlement of
disputes would improve the conduct of peace-keeping
operations and would, for example, avoid delay in
mobilizing humanitarian assistance. After all, who is
better placed than the States of a region to react to a
potential threat there, particularly if the region already has
an adequate structure for the prevention of conflicts?
Examples of this are the system of collective security in
Europe and the mechanism for the prevention,
management and settlement of disputes in Africa. Yet
this Organization should not just unload its problems on
to regional mechanisms; rather, it should offert h o s e
mechanisms the necessary support by providing a clear
and precise mandate and by making adequate financial
and logistic resources available.
Never before have circumstances been so favourable
for realizing the aspiration of the majority of Members of
this Organization to an enlarged Security Council that
provides equitable representation. Many proposals
concerning this topic are now being discussed by the
General Assembly’s Open-Ended Working Group.
Madagascar, which, as is demonstrated by its
Constitution, is deeply committed to democratic
principles, believes that the democracy that is advocated
in many countries should apply in the international system
too. Madagascar is open to any proposal that would not
damage the effectiveness of the Security Council. At the
same time, we emphasize the need for democratic
representation reflecting contemporary realities.
The Government of Madagascar does not
underestimate the special responsibility of States that are
permanent members of the Security Council, especially in
the area of contributions to peace-keeping operations.
However, any reform that is undertaken should win the
support of all Member States so that they will have the
necessary trust in it and be able to participate effectively
and on an equal footing.
The same principles apply to development problems,
in that political stability at the national, regional and
international levels determines whether development
8

objectives can be met. There can be no peace without
development, as can be seen in various parts of the world
where serious conflicts and political troubles have been
caused by economic hardship. Against this backdrop, the
imperative of the universality of peace and development
forcefully tells us to take note of how the world economic
situation is developing.
The crisis that has affected the world economy for
more than a decade is worsening, despite a slow and fragile
recovery in some developed countries. This crisis continues
to make a negative impact on the development process in
third-world countries: erratic fluctuations in rates of
exchange, an increase in interest rates and an unprecedented
deterioration in the terms of trade - to mention only the
most notable effects of the past year.
The gap between North and South grows wider while
the inequalities between the regions become increasingly
striking. Poverty and extreme poverty are daily being
ingrained in the countries that are now referred to as the
fourth world. The situation in Africa has become alarming.
The crisis there is magnified by the negative effects of
natural disasters and civil and ethnic wars.
Problems such as the crushing weight of external debt,
stagnation, if not a reduction, in official development
assistance, financial and trade restraints and a continuing
drop in commodity prices are - today as yesterday -
symptoms of a crisis in development.
Alongside this crisis, a serious change is taking place
at the cost of developing countries, particularly poor
countries. In the present restructuring of the world
economy the interdependence that is preached has
contradictory effects. While the countries of the North
enjoy protectionism in all its forms in their markets,
liberalism is becoming a requirement for developing
countries. Equally, there is talk of the interdependence of
problems but sectoral approaches alone are still used.
Economies in the industrialized countries are becoming
increasingly integrated, while we note increasing
marginalization of the economies of the poor countries.
While the industrialized countries increase their
independence in raw materials through the development of
micro-electronics, the developing countries are suffering the
backlash, and their already-fragile economic position is
being weakened further. These are new challenges that we
have to take up in the international arena.
Faced with these paradoxes and contradictions,
which keep us deadlocked, and with economic stagnation
in third-world countries, we have to ask how we can get
out of this situation. It is clear that only by combining
our efforts at all levels - national, regional and
international - shall we be able to produce a lasting
solution.
As to the national level, I should like to cite the case
of my own country. The Government of Madagascar has
made development the principal objective underlying its
activities at the national and international levels. Thus
diplomacy is put at the service of development and,
without any ideological considerations, is focused on the
establishment of relations with all States on the basis of
respect for the great fundamental principles set forth in
the various international legal instruments.
While continuing to implement its structural-
adjustment programme, Madagascar has made important
political changes in the shape of democratization,
characterized by the blossoming of a multi-party approach
and the creation of the conditions necessary to the
promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In
short, we are working towards the advent of a state of
law that responds to the deeply felt aspirations of our
people.
This democratization of our political life is
accompanied by economic reform based on liberalism
designed to promote active participation by our people in
the development of the country. In this context, our
Government is trying to create a climate of trust in our
institutional framework, and we are trying to draw up
clear rules for production and investment in order to
guarantee the necessary political support at the national
and international levels.
The Government of Madagascar would like to thank
the friendly countries and international institutions that
have understood the importance of the changes now under
way and that intend to support them and to increase their
contributions to satisfy our most urgent needs and, in the
long term, help to strengthen our democratic process and
promote real, self-sustaining development.
When we use the term "immediate needs," we are
thinking of a set of relief mechanisms designed to deal
with the precarious situation of our principal social
sectors because of the demands of the structural
adjustment programme.
9

As for the economic recovery and development
programme, I should like to recall that the Government of
the Republic of Madagascar is prepared to conclude
agreements with the Bretton Woods institutions. It is our
ardent hope that, above and beyond their current demands
for adjustments to achieve financial equilibrium and
balanced budgets, those institutions will take new measures
to reorient that programme towards true recovery
accompanied by an economic take-off and sustainable
development.
At the regional level, developing countries have come
up with guidelines and goals and have now buckled down
to implementing them. In the case of Africa, I would recall
the Lagos Plan of Action and Final Act, the African
Alternative Framework for Structural Adjustment
Programmes (AAF-SAP) and the United Nations New
Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. Four
years after the launching of the new Programme of Action,
we have to say that the expected results have not yet been
achieved and that Africa, one of the worlds least-developed
continents, has not received the hoped for assistance and
aid from the rich countries. Because of their own efforts to
implement measures for rehabilitation and recovery, often
involving considerable sacrifices, the African countries
deserve a more positive response from the international
community.
It is crucial to problems of debt, commodity
diversification and the provision of adequate financial
resources if African States are to be assured not only the
conditions required for true economic and social take-off,
but also the success of the structural and political reforms
now under way, free from social upheaval and the danger
of a decline in security and stability.
The United Nations has an important role to play in
finding appropriate solutions to development problems.
The persistent nature of the problems we customarily evoke
here in the Assembly every year shows once again the
inadequacy of the policies and measures adopted so far -
despite the adoption of several international instruments for
cooperation, such as the Declaration of the eighteenth
special session of the General Assembly, the International
Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations
Development Decade, the Cartegena Commitment of the
eighth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD VIII), the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development and Agenda 21.
The problems we are facing can no longer be dealt
with adequately on an ad hoc basis or constantly subjected
to adjustment measures. What is required is structural
reform of the international economic system, which,
despite profound changes, is still unjust and perpetuates
relations of dependency. In other words, it is very
important to define new strategies and agree on new
parameters and mechanisms that can reverse the inequities
in international economic relations today.
This is a task for the United Nations, which, because
of its universality and its democratic principles, remains
the only forum that can tackle these problems with an
integrated approach, taking into account the political
implications of decisions made by those principally
involved in development, including financial, monetary
and international trade institutions.
The Agenda for Development, the indispensable
corollary to the Agenda for Peace, launched two years
ago by the Secretary-General, should give to the
international community new guidelines as it seeks to
attain development objectives. The elaboration of that
Agenda should be given special attention.
The Agenda’s first objectives should be to eliminate
poverty, meet peoples’ basic needs and improve their
standard of living. It should seek to promote effective
implementation of existing commitments and agreements
and take into account the goals of forthcoming
international conferences in the field of economic and
social development. Instead of talking about requirements
or conditions, it should set forth practical and realistic
ways of meeting the challenges with which we are faced.
In this connection, the attention of the international
community should be focused on questions of debt,
development financing, commodities, international trade,
environment and development.
Support for economic and technical cooperation
between developing countries and the strengthening of
regional and sub-regional integration initiatives should be
an integral part of the new Agenda.
Experience has shown the resumption of
development through renewed international cooperation
cannot succeed without the political will of States,
especially the rich ones. Although such cooperation
depends on many variables, and is affected by many
different circumstances, it can no longer disregard the
principles of justice, equity and equal but differentiated
participation.
10

At this crucial moment in its history, the Organization
must learn from the past so that it can consolidate its
achievements, meet today’s challenges and develop a plan
for the future of the United Nations.
The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations will be
the time for drawing up a balance sheet, for making the
Organization, the Member States and the people of the
world face up to their respective responsibilities. This
historic moment will make clear the gap between hopes and
reality, between commitments fulfilled and promises
forgotten.
Efforts to restructure the Organization and give it a
second wind will be successful only if there is a true
resolve to arrive at a world consensus for development, in
all its aspects, as the foundation of peace and a source of
hope for all mankind.
For its part, Madagascar is prepared to work with
peace-loving and justice-loving States to build a better
world.


I have the honour to
convey to you, Mr. President, and, through you, to all the
delegations here present the warm greetings and good
wishes of His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of
Bhutan, for the success of the forty-ninth session of the
General Assembly.
I should first like to congratulate you, Mr. President,
on your unanimous election, which is a testimony to the
high regard that the international community has for your
country and the confidence of this Assembly in your
personal leadership. Given your long association and
intimate knowledge of the United Nations, we are sure
you will provide the necessary direction on the many
important issues that we are about to take up during this
session.
I should also like to take this opportunity to place on
record our deep appreciation and gratitude to His
Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally for the excellent manner
in which he conducted the proceedings of our last session.
His innovative and vigorous pursuit of discussions on the
reform of the United Nations, the restructuring of the
Security Council and the hearings on development have
set the stage for the current discussions.
We should like to pay a tribute to our Secretary-
General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his distinguished
leadership. We appreciate his tireless efforts to steer the
United Nations in bold and new directions.
We had the opportunity to welcome President
Mandela and to hear his historic and enlightened address
in this Hall. We welcome the end of apartheid and South
Africa's return to the family of nations.
In the Middle East, the transition of the Gaza Strip
and Jericho to Palestinian self-government, the return of
President Yasser Arafat and the signing of the
Washington Declaration between Jordan and Israel clearly
demonstrate the increasing desire for peace in the region.
We applaud the parties for the brave decision to embark
16

on the difficult path to peace. It is our hope that all parties
will join the process towards peace and reconciliation,
based on the relevant Security Council resolutions. It is our
hope that the international community will support the
Palestinian people in bringing about economic development
in the self-rule areas.
The situation in the Gulf warrants our close attention.
The international community must reject any threat against
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait. We urge
all parties to abide by and fully implement the relevant
Security Council resolutions.

The problems in Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Haiti and many other parts of the world still demand the
careful and urgent attention of the United Nations. These
conflicts severely test the international community's
capacity and resolve to deal with humanitarian needs and
conflict resolution.
We welcome the continued reduction of nuclear
weapons and the turning-away of such weapons from their
previous targets. We support the extension of the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons beyond 1995 and
the proposal for the negotiation of a comprehensive test
ban. We urge the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
to continue negotiations in earnest and to comply with the
International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards
agreement; thereby avoiding suspicion and doubt.
My delegation supports the proposal for both the
reduction and the clearance of anti-personnel mines. The
manufacture of, trade in and deployment of such weapons,
which cause indiscriminate and mindless death and
maiming, are unconscionable. We urge all parties to
participate in the United Nations Register of Conventional
Arms. The scope of the exercise should be expanded to
include not only trade but also manufacture and stockpiling.
The arms trade should cease to provide an opportunity for
profiteering on the part of any State.
For several years now we have been talking about
restructuring the United Nations. The discussions continue,
but, so far, little, if any, substantive reform has taken place.
In our humble view, reform of the United Nations must
reflect the perceptions and expectations of all Members.
For many of the larger Member States, the United Nations
is a forum in which to project and promote national
policies. But in the case of the developing countries — in
particular, the smaller Member States — the United
Nations guarantees independence and sovereignty and
provides an opportunity to participate in international
dialogue. The United Nations also provides both the
intellectual and the material input required for social and
economic development in many developing countries.
It is clear that the General Assembly — the only
forum in which all Members of the United Nations are
represented — must be the main focus of our attention.
The relationship between the General Assembly and other
United Nations organs must be reviewed and put in
proper perspective. The General Assembly itself must be
able to appreciate and understand the work of the
specialized and other agencies of the United Nations and
to provide direction. It must also organize itself in such
a way that it can deal more effectively with its business.
Routine and symbolic resolutions must be dealt with
efficiently, allowing the Assembly to focus on new and
more important challenges.
The relationship between the General Assembly and
the Security Council is particularly intriguing. It is a
common mistake to think that these two bodies function
like the legislature and the executive of a government.
This myth has been perpetuated by decades of Security
Council paralysis and by the artificial prominence
achieved by the General Assembly through the passing of
ineffective but symbolically important resolutions. The
reality is that there is only one body of authority in the
United Nations — the Security Council. The Council's
decisions are binding on all Members. They carry the
sanction of international law. The Assembly is explicitly
forbidden to interfere in the work of the Council unless
requested to do so.
The case for reform of the Security Council is
overwhelming. The Council must be expanded to reflect
the new realities of international relations and to make it
a more representative body. It is also important that the
deeper structural flaw be redressed and the Council be
made more accountable.
The financial position of the United Nations
continues to be a matter of concern. The sudden and
quantum jump in expenditure on peace-keeping
operations — now more than three times greater than
expenditure on development — is becoming difficult to
sustain. There are large-scale arrears in contributions.
We do not object to peace-keeping operations, but it is
clear that the finances of the United Nations must be put
on a sound footing. Financial expenditures reflect the
17

direction and priorities of the United Nations, as well as the
commitment of its Members.
The Secretary-General, in his report entitled “An
Agenda for Development”, states:
“Development is a fundamental human right.
Development is the most secure basis for peace.”
(A/48/935, para. 3)
These statements provide, in brief form, the best rationale
for recommitment to development in the post-cold-war era.
Like peace, development is not a new issue before the
United Nations; the United Nations and its agencies have
been engaged in international development for decades.
What is alarming today is that the gap between the
standards of living of developed and of developing
countries — the rich and the poor — is growing. The
concern arises not because the well-to-do are doing better
but because the poor are doing worse. It is no longer just
poverty but the destitution of one fifth of the world's
population that must be addressed.
Poverty saps the human spirit. It replaces hope with
despair, creativity with dullness, admiration with envy, and
compassion with indifference. Poverty weakens the body,
making it susceptible to sickness and disease. Poverty
clouds the mind, making it difficult for people to
understand the circumstances of their deprivation, and
generating bitterness against those they perceive as the
cause of their misery. What is unfortunate is that in this
day and age, given the advances that mankind has made in
science and technology, commerce and industry and civil
and social thought, poverty need not exist.
Considerable efforts have been made to put into proper
perspective the major development issues of our time. The
World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development, the Eighth United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD
VIII), the World Conference on Human Rights and the
recently concluded International Conference on Population
and Development not only generated a remarkable
convergence of views but also resulted in commitments to
redress global concerns in the participants' respective areas.
We have no doubt that the international community will
approach the World Summit for Social Development and
the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in
1995, with the same resolve and determination.
We have all committed ourselves to accepting the
conclusions of the major conferences, including the various
programmes of action and the prescribed targets. All
countries are working hard to translate the commitments
into action, but the resources available are insufficient for
effective and lasting intervention. It is a matter of great
concern that, in fact, the resources made available for
development are declining.
The future of global development clearly hinges on
the provision of additional resources — additional
resources in the shape of increased official development
assistance for both multilateral and bilateral programmes;
additional resources from international financial
institutions; additional resources through direct foreign
investment and trade; and additional resources generated
internally through the creation of financial markets and
the expansion of the revenue base.
While there seem to be many avenues for increasing
the transfer of resources, the reality is that they have
yielded little for most least-developed countries.
International banking and investments are highly selective
and, by their nature, will not be attracted to the least-
developed countries, many of which have a small
economy and a poor infrastructure. The creation of
internal financial markets and the expansion of revenue
are hampered by the low level of savings and the limited
cash flow in the economy. The capacity of the least-
developed countries to compete in international trade is
also limited. Clearly, without increased official
development assistance many least-developed countries
will fall further behind — and their situation is already
precarious.
It is ironic that resources for international
development should decline when the United Nations
agencies are embarking on a major thrust for poverty
alleviation and sustainable human development. We urge
the donor community to continue supporting the United
Nations funding agencies. Although the trend towards
bilateral cooperation is understandable, the donor
community should draw on the advantages of working
through the United Nations agencies, given their long
experience and commendable performance in many areas.
These agencies must regain the confidence of the donor
community through greater efficiency and better
coordination.
Credit is an essential form of input in any major
development effort. The crushing debt burden of many
developing countries and the manner in which future
credit requirements will have to be met must be clearly
dealt with in our dialogue on development. Our
18

discussions must include the role of the Bretton Woods
institutions, which must be made to work in harmony with
the efforts of United Nations agencies.
Bhutan long ago accepted that development must be
participatory and environmentally sustainable. To this end
Bhutan has committed itself to maintaining 60 per cent of
its land mass under forest cover, including 20 per cent as
national parks. All development activities have been built
around this approach. We have been fortunate to receive
the generous assistance of, among others, India,
Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria,
Norway, Kuwait, Germany, Australia and the United
Kingdom. Considerable support has also been made
available from the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United
Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations
Volunteers (UNV), the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World
Bank and the Asian Bank. We have never taken the
involvement of any of our development partners for
granted, and we take this opportunity to express the sincere
gratitude of the people and the Government of Bhutan to all
of them.
The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is a time
for celebration. There is much that the United Nations has
achieved for which we should all be proud. Yet it is also
a time for reflection and self-assessment. The success of
the next 50 years of the United Nations will depend largely
on our ability to meet the challenges of global human
development.


I bring with me the
greetings and good wishes of His Majesty King Mswati III,
Her Majesty the Indlovukazi, the Government and people
of the Kingdom of Swaziland to all our friends and fellow
Members of the United Nations.
On behalf of Swaziland, may I begin by offering my
sincere congratulations to you, Sir, on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth
session. We are confident that with your able leadership
our deliberations will be guided towards a successful
conclusion, for the benefit of the global community.
Let me also offer Swaziland’s gratitude and praise to
your predecessor, whose wise direction ensured the
success of the deliberations of the Assembly at its forty-
eighth session.
The past 12 months have presented many challenges
to our Organization, in its pivotal role as an effective
instrument for fostering global peace and security, and as
a dynamic forum for promoting a spirit of understanding
and cooperation among the nations of the world.
Clearly, significant progress has been made in
meeting these challenges, and my delegation recognizes
the role of the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whose diplomatic skills and
untiring efforts have contributed so greatly to the
continuing ability of the United Nations to achieve the
successes on which the whole world depends.
In April this year, the eyes of the world were
focused on South Africa as the people of that country
went to the polls to elect, for the first time, a Government
that would represent all South Africans, regardless of
race, religion or creed. Today, in a triumph for the spirit
of reconciliation, peace and compromise among all South
Africans, we welcome the new, non-racial and democratic
South Africa back into the family of the United Nations.

While congratulating the people of South Africa for
their substantial achievement, the Kingdom of Swaziland
also salutes the role of the United Nations in bringing about
an end to a regime it had long opposed. As a result the
millions of South African people who had been denied a
voice in this Hall will once more be heard. South Africa’s
triumph is therefore also a victory for the principle of
universality, on which the United Nations was founded.
As neighbour, partner and ally, Swaziland, and the
other countries in the subregion, have particular reason to
rejoice at the successful process of transition in South
Africa. Quite apart from the benefit of peace to the area
brought about by a successful political transformation, we
all look forward to enjoying the fruits of closer economic
and trade cooperation with the region’s most influential
country.
Swaziland has been most impressed with the very
clear policy of His Excellency President Mandela, stated
consistently since he took office in May, on the importance
of close cooperation with others in the region.
We have already welcomed South Africa into the
Southern African Development Community, and other
initiatives are under way to forge closer trade and economic
links between our newly liberated neighbour and the rest of
the subregion, for South Africa cannot expect to stand on
its own in the future. It is a fact that the economic
destinies of the nations in our subregion are inextricably
bound together.
Even as we celebrate the return of peace and stability
in South Africa, our continent continues to provide some of
the worst examples of people’s inhumanity to one another.
Swaziland watched with horror as the tragedy unfolded
earlier this year in Rwanda. Many words have been spoken
here about the dreadful scenes we all witnessed, and our
hearts went out to the millions whose lives were shattered
by the effects of the civil war there. No other justification
is needed to spur on our efforts to address the issue of
conflict prevention and resolution than the loss of so many
lives, so quickly, in Rwanda. We pray that a formula for
true, lasting peace may be found, and that the two peoples
may be able to find some way of living side by side with
each other.
The situations in Burundi, Liberia, Sudan and Somalia
also continue to give us cause for grave concern.
Swaziland supports all peaceful efforts aimed at bringing
about negotiated settlements to the problems in these
countries.
Despite the many set-backs to peace on our
continent, the past twelve months have also seen
substantial progress among a number of countries -
progress which owes much to the efforts of our
Organization.
I have spoken already of our admiration for the
developments in one of our neighbouring countries, South
Africa, which took the path of reconciliation and peace
towards the much-needed process of reconstruction and
development.
The same degree of respect applies to our other
neighbour, Mozambique, which, after so long a period of
bitter hatred amongst its people, has at last chosen to lay
down weapons in favour of the ballot box. Swaziland
joins the world in praying for a peaceful election process
later this month, and calls on the leaders to allow the
same spirit of reconciliation and unity that brought an end
to the war after so many years to continue after a new
government has been chosen.
We appeal to the international community to
continue to provide the financial, technical, moral and
material support that will be necessary for Mozambique
to rebuild itself, and to give its people a chance to fulfil
their high potential.
The Kingdom of Swaziland warmly welcomes the
agreement that brought about a peaceful solution to the
situation prevailing in our sister Kingdom of Lesotho.
We welcome the opportunity presented now for the
Basotho people themselves to address their concerns. It
is our fervent hope that the agreement will be
implemented successfully, without undue delay, so that
lasting peace and stability may come to the kingdom.
The direct effects of developments on our continent
are of obvious concern to the Kingdom of Swaziland.
But in this day and age of global interdependence, the
potential effects on us of situations outside Africa are of
equal importance. Two recent developments provide
particular cause for hope in areas of long-running dispute.
In the Middle East, the seeds of peace and
reconciliation, sown last year by Prime Minister Rabin
and Chairman Arafat, and encouraged by the United
States, Norway, the United Nations and others, are at last
bearing fruit. Talk of trade and cooperation is replacing
2

the noise of gunfire, as the bitter rivalries of generations
give way to a new order of peace in the region.
Swaziland salutes all those who contributed to the
process of peace in the Middle East; we appeal to the
leaders of the region to join in the process and to allow it
to continue without disruption, so that precious resources
may be directed towards worthwhile development goals.
The Kingdom of Swaziland has long been concerned
about the spread of nuclear weapons, and the effect this has
had on world stability. We were therefore encouraged by
the recent initiatives on the part of the United States and
Russia to substantially reduce the number of their weapons.
We also support all efforts on the Korean peninsula,
where disaster has been pending, to bring about real
progress on the nuclear issue. This issue has been the
focus of major instability for the entire far-east region, and
Swaziland fully supports all efforts to bring about a
peaceful resolution to the problem.
We look forward to the peaceful reunification of the
two Koreas, and encourage all moves to bring this to
fruition.
Wars and conflict situations in Africa and around the
world continue to stretch our belief that people can ever
live peacefully with one another. More and more, the
resources of the United Nations are being overextended to
meet the challenges these situations present, and conflict
resolution finds itself close to the top of the agenda for
action by this Assembly.
Mercifully, the Kingdom of Swaziland has been spared
the horrors of internal conflict, but no country can really
feel immune to the effects of war and confrontation,
wherever these may be occurring. Deciding on the best
way for the world to cope with conflict situations is
therefore a problem we all share, and we in Africa are
conscious of our particular responsibility for deciding on
mechanisms to limit, prevent and cope with conflict
situations developing on our continent.
This issue has been central during discussions at
subregional and regional conferences. Most recently,
important resolutions were adopted at the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) summit in Tunis, and at the Southern
Africa Development Community summit in Gaborone,
which went some way towards deciding on the regional
response to one of Africa’s most pressing problems.
But despite almost unanimous willingness for our
countries to become involved more directly in the
continent’s conflicts, it was clearly recognized that the
majority of us lacked the resources to lend an effective
hand.
The Kingdom of Swaziland therefore supports the
growing call for an integrated approach to conflict
resolution on our continent, which would bring close
cooperation between Africa and the rest of the world by
establishing mechanisms to coordinate the resources of
both in the most effective way. The OAU is clearly in
the best place to mobilize the efforts of its members - and
most important of all, to undertake preventive diplomacy
before a situation has the chance to develop - while the
United Nations can continue to play its role as
coordinator of the international response.
Many of Africa’s present conflicts could well have
been prevented or contained if properly coordinated
mechanisms had already been in place. The Kingdom of
Swaziland welcomes discussion here so that a plan of
action can be agreed upon quickly on this vitally
important issue.
In this regard, and as a measure of Swaziland’s
acceptance of her responsibility to the rest of the world,
His Majesty King Mswati III announced at the OAU
summit in Tunis this year that he would be taking steps
to decide how best the Kingdom’s small defence force
could be used alongside other troops in multinational
forces for the benefit of global peace and stability.
His Majesty has begun the process of investigating
under what conditions the nation’s soldiers can be
offered, bearing in mind the small size of the defence
force and our relative lack of appropriate weapons and
equipment. Clearly, we cannot allow our soldiers to enter
into potentially dangerous situations without proper
protection and without adequate training.
These are some of the issues to be looked at before
we can fully commit ourselves to taking this more active
role in global peace-keeping, and we will be approaching
the Secretary-General for consultations on this important
initiative.
This session of the General Assembly is entrusted
with the task of discussing "An Agenda for
Development". The focus of the world is on the
requirement now to channel our resources towards
achieving lasting global stability through the sustainable
3

development of our countries, providing us with improved
standards for all our peoples.
The welcome end to the period of confrontation
between the world’s super-Powers should mean that
increased global resources can now be redirected to
achieving a new and more balanced world economic order.
Closer attention can now be given to the plight of all
developing countries, which continue to suffer the effects
of serious development neglect. This crucial point was
discussed at length at last weekend’s meeting of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Madrid, where the
view of the developing world was made very clear.
The continent of Africa contains the highest number
of the world’s poorest countries, and any agenda for
development should take into account the special
circumstances surrounding the inability of this region to
develop effectively.
We in the region know ourselves, all too well, what
factors continue to obstruct our progress. It is a familiar
catalogue, including resource constraints; inappropriate
development policies; the slow pace of industrialization and
transformation into producers of processed goods;
inadequate infrastructure; natural disasters; and a continuing
round of armed conflicts.
We know the problems, and we are trying our best to
overcome them. We understand our responsibility to our
people to mobilize our resources in the most effective way
to overcome the obstacles to national development. The
need is clear, and our resources and abilities are limited,
but we are trying hard. We also recognize that we cannot
hope to achieve long-term sustainable development without,
at least, the short-term assistance of the rest of the global
community.
Much of what we need is contained in the United
Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the
1990s, and our continent’s collective appeal is for the swift
and full implementation of its many programmes. But each
nation has its separate, distinct needs.
Swaziland welcomes recent initiatives towards
strengthening South-South cooperation, and we believe they
will result in real progress towards overcoming the
economic challenges facing us all in that grouping.
In trying to meet our national economic development
objectives, the Kingdom of Swaziland has adopted a broad
and integrated approach aimed at achieving sustainable,
"human-centred" development, through policies that focus
on the priorities of the reduction of poverty, universal
access to primary school, and affordable primary health
care.
Recent United Nations initiatives also guide us in
our Government policies. As a follow-up to the Earth
Summit, for example, we have established a national
environmental authority to ensure that environmental
concerns are properly integrated into all stages of public
policy and national development strategy formulation.
Swaziland welcomed the opportunity to address the
recent United Nations Conference on Population and
Development in Cairo, and the adoption of the
Programme of Action constitutes a significant step in our
collective aim. The Kingdom had already embraced the
option of acceptable child spacing as the cornerstone of
our population growth policy, and we have begun a
comprehensive programme of education for our people in
the realities of and efforts to deal with overpopulation.
These and all aspects of the economic development
of the Kingdom will be debated by the whole nation
during the process of national economic consultation,
which was recently initiated by His Majesty the King.
The process is designed to allow all Swazis the
opportunity to be involved in deciding the future direction
of the Kingdom’s economy, and will embody the nation’s
wishes for future priorities and strategies. These in turn
will form the basis of our request for future support from
our friends in the international community, and we will be
keeping the United Nations fully informed of
developments.
The process follows on from last year’s very
successful political reforms, resulting from a similar
period of national consultation, which concluded last
October with direct elections to Parliament under a new
system of secret ballot. The democratic elections were
declared free and fair by the international community and,
more importantly, were what the Swazi people themselves
had chosen.
Both processes - political and economic reform -
show clearly Swaziland’s principle of rule by consensus
of the people. We believe this principle is at the heart of
the peace and stability we have enjoyed for many
generations, and it has spared us the horrors of internal
conflict suffered by so many on our continent.
4

I spoke earlier of South Africa’s return to the
international community, as, among other things, a triumph
for the United Nations in upholding the principle of
universality. The Kingdom of Swaziland urges the
Assembly to apply the same principle to investigate the
merits of the case of the Republic of China in Taiwan.
His Majesty King Mswati III joined a number of other
Heads of State in raising this issue at the forty-eighth
session of the General Assembly. His Majesty called for
the establishment of an ad hoc committee to determine
whether or not the Republic of China had a reasonable case
for rejoining our Organization. This call has been taken up
by an increasing number of countries that support the idea
of looking into the issue in more detail.
Quite apart from the principle of universality, there are
other important factors for us to consider when reviewing
the case. The Republic of China in Taiwan has much to
offer to the world community. It clearly has the resources
to be of more use to the rest of the international
community. More important, though, is the desire of the
Republic of China to be of use - and assistance - to the rest
of the world.
The Kingdom of Swaziland, along with a large
number of other developing countries throughout Africa,
Asia and the Americas, has had first-hand evidence of the
Republic of China’s willingness to offer generous
humanitarian and development assistance.
As more and more worthy targets appear for the
United Nations resources, we can surely ill afford to reject
the call to investigate further whether that country’s
assistance can be put to wider use through the agencies of
our Organization.
At the heart of the issue, though, is the fact that 21
million people believe that they are not represented in the
United Nations. These people believe that they are
excluded from our founding principle of universality. In
consideration of this right, which they believe has been
denied them, the time has surely come for us to listen to
their voices.
The Kingdom of Swaziland welcomes and supports the
participation of the Republic of China In Taiwan in the
activities of the United Nations, and we therefore call once
more for the establishment of an ad hoc committee to
review the case for their re-admittance to the Organization.
The United Nations has a distinguished history of 49
years of growth and achievement. The challenges we
faced almost 50 years ago, as the world emerged from
global conflict, have changed in substance but not in
importance.
We have the opportunity now, in this forum, to lay
the foundations for an agenda for development that will
bring about the stability and peace we all desire.
The Kingdom of Swaziland is proud of its
membership of the United Nations and commends the
work of all who have contributed to the many successes
over the years. The nation is deeply indebted to the
United Nations agencies, whose efforts are contributing so
much to the attainment of our development goals.
On behalf of His Majesty King Mswati III, Her
Majesty the Indlovukazi, and the whole Swazi nation, I
should like to reaffirm my country’s full support for, and
commitment to, the Charter of the United Nations. May
Almighty God bless these deliberations with the success
they deserve.


Allow me at the outset to congratulate Mr. Essy on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session and to wish him every success in discharging this noble duty.
A well-deserved word of appreciation is due to his predecessor, Ambassador Insanally, for the remarkable competence and skill he displayed as President at the last session.
We highly esteem the Secretary-General's unreserved commitment, at the head of the world Organization, to make broad reforms in it and to increase its effectiveness in all fields.
After the fall of the iron curtain in Europe, Albania joined the family of democratic nations, leaving behind a deep isolation and a totalitarian regime. In two years, thanks to the determination of the democratic Government to carry out profound and urgent reforms, Albania has taken important steps in all fields. State institutions have been transformed, drawing upon the positive experience of developed States. The former secret service was dissolved and the army was placed under civilian control and underwent reform in compliance with the requirements of a demilitarized, profoundly democratic
society. Today, Albania boasts an independent judiciary and a constitutional court which supervises the constitutional character of the laws passed by Parliament. Currently in Albania, there are more than 30 registered political parties,	hundreds of non-governmental
organizations, and more than 320 magazines and newspapers, of which 90 per cent are privately owned. At present, Albania's religious communities practice their own beliefs in exemplary harmony and tolerance, according to the centuries-old traditions of my country.
By promoting democracy and strengthening the institutions of the rule of law, the democratic Government seeks to guarantee the country's internal social and political stability. However, Albania continues to be the poorest country of the European continent and faces a series of economic difficulties. By firmly pursuing the economic policy of shock therapy, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and the international community, the Government is implementing a series of short- and medium-term programs that have given a great impetus to free individual initiative. In two years' time, agriculture, land, apartments, transport, services, trade and about 2,500 small and medium-sized enterprises have been privatized. From 400 per cent, the inflation rate has dropped to less than 30 per cent a year; the currency is stable and practically convertible; and production is on the rise. In 1993, Albania recorded growth rate of 11 per cent, the highest in Europe. Foreign investments are also increasing.
In the coming months we shall move ahead without losing time. The nearest objectives in legislation are the approval of the new penal code, the penal procedure code and the constitution, which will meet most advanced European standards. We will also try to increase cooperation with various international organizations, particularly with the agencies of the United Nations system.
Albania attaches special importance to strengthening friendly relations and cooperation with the international community, the European Union, the United States of America, the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and other friendly countries in the world. Albania's President Berisha is resolutely devoted to the establishment and strengthening of these ties in order to do away, once and for all, with the bitter consequences of the severe 50-year isolation which our people suffered. We want to have friendly relations, especially with our neighbors, and we are making efforts so that a climate of good understanding and cooperation, based on mutual respect and benefit in the spirit of the basic principles of
the Helsinki Final Act, will prevail all around us. We have established such relations with Italy and are on the way to their further and all-round development.
We would also like to have on a consistent basis the sort of good, tension-free relations we are currently enjoying with Greece, the only country of the Balkans that is a member of the European Union. We regard these relations, not merely as bilateral, but also as closely linked to the prospect of the integration of Albania and the Balkans into Europe. Advances are being made in the relations of good-neighborliness and broad cooperation with Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, on the basis of a long historical tradition.
As regards the new Balkan State, our eastern neighbor, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, we are resolutely committed to building relations of exemplary neighborliness with it and to helping that country overcome its internal and external difficulties. We are convinced that its integrity, its internal stability, its recognition and its membership in all international forums are of vital importance for peace, security and stability in the region. Our indispensable good relations with Macedonia are linked to and conditioned by the presence of an Albanian population that ranks second in size to Macedonians. We think that sound inter-ethnic understanding between Macedonians and Albanians, established on the basis of the due recognition of the Albanians' human and national rights, is indispensable for the domestic stability and prosperity of that Republic and the entire region.
We would like to have peace, good-neighborlinesses and fruitful cooperation with Montenegro and Serbia, but these relations will remain frozen and mortgaged to the overall solution of the Yugoslav crisis, especially the political settlement of the Kosovo issue. The Kosovo issue is not merely and solely a question of respect for the human rights of the two million Albanian people and the recognition of a few rights in the areas of education and culture. The question concerns recognition of the political self-governing entity of the Albanians, for which the population of Kosovo has cast its vote in a democratic manner.
Belgrade should seriously consider this option. We consider regional cooperation and integration an indispensable condition for our integration into Europe. We have been making continuous efforts to promote understanding with our neighbors. For the further promotion of Albania's democratic and economic changes
there is a need for security and confidence in the Balkans. We hold that the developed countries could contribute with a full strategy and program in order to encourage the radical democratic changes in the entire Balkan space, a kind of Marshall Plan designed to promote peace, democracy and modem civilization there, an economic- political program for the all-round rehabilitation of the region.
National and ethnic problems left over from the past, backwardness in terms of economic and social development, and the new problems resulting from the change of systems make it still possible for old political mentalities to dominate the stage of inter-Balkan relations. Those mentalities are opposed to true democratic developments, even in the countries which call themselves ancient democracies.
As a Balkan country, Albania is concerned about the war and the crises that have encompassed our peninsula. We are convinced that at the foundation of the present-day Balkan crisis lies the revival of aggressive nationalism, which has unfurled the banner of territorial annexationist claims. The end of the cold war has again brought onto the scene the demons of old Balkan politics which seek a redrawing of the existing borders and the re-dismemberment of some States to the benefit of others. The Milosevic regime's opposition, through a bloody war, to the will of the peoples to break away from the former Yugoslav Federation was the first challenge to the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, while the dismembering of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the first act carried out in the name of creating a hegemony-seeking Greater Serbia at the expense of this former republic of the Federation, a Member of the United Nations and of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
In today's Balkans the nations that consider themselves more powerful and better armed are seeking to extend their territories through force and war in order to expand their power. Expansion and aggressiveness inspire their policies towards their neighbors. National divisions, inter-ethnic hatred or religious diversity are encouraged and artificially provoked, and they are converted into major national and international policy issues in an attempt to disguise historically unfounded territorial claims. At the foundation of what politicians today call "ethnic conflicts" in the Balkans lie the aggressive nationalism of a hegemony-seeking nation, racism and xenophobia, genocide and massive "ethnic cleansing". That is why we have often insisted that any settlement that would legalize the
accomplished fact of "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia would create a dangerous precedent for new tragedies of this kind, starting in the Balkan region.
Today, Serb and Greek nationalism are seriously threatening the Balkans. Such elements consider that the collapse of Communist dictatorships in the Balkans created a vacuum to be exploited to achieve their nationalist ambitions.
Hence, Serb nationalism launched an aggression in the north and a war to realize a Greater Serbia by creating a real holocaust at the end of this century against the Bosnian people and by strengthening apartheid in Kosovo.That nationalism is bogged down in grave crimes. In our judgment, only the intransigence of the international community and the refusal to recognize the violation of the principles that all of us have accepted will compel the Serbs in Belgrade, Pale and Knin to give up war as a means of solving problems. The dismemberment of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the "ethnic cleansing" on its territory are unacceptable. We have supported and still support the request of that Republic for the lifting of the arms embargo against it, an embargo which - there is no doubt - has been an encouragement to the aggressor. Similarly, we support the recent Security Council resolutions 941 (1994) and 942 (1994), which we believe are steps in the right direction for putting an end to hostilities in the region. However, we are opposed to resolution 943 (1994), which is a concession to the Milosevic regime and makes a settlement of the Yugoslav crisis and the establishment of general peace in the Balkans remote.
I would like to recall that the crisis in the former Yugoslavia started in Kosovo and that it persists there, alive and very dangerous. Sanctions against Belgrade should not to be eased but should be further tightened and truly implemented if we want the crisis hotbeds in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the occupied territories of Croatia, Sandiak and Vojvodina, and especially in Kosovo to be eliminated. The Albanian Government insists that the lifting of sanctions against Serbia be conditioned on the settlement of the Kosovo issue.
We should be realists. It was not Milosevic's goodwill but the unanimous stand of the great Powers of the Contact Group that recently made Belgrade announce an interruption of its aid to Serbian aggression in Bosnia and accept international monitoring of that act. On this occasion we should stress that these decisions are positive and welcome. They should be irreversible steps, for we consider that the future of peace and stability in the Balkans will also depend, to a considerable extent, on a just settlement of the Kosovo issue. Albanians in Kosovo have been deprived of all rights. Serb nationalism rejects dialog. It is brandishing weapons and engaging in threats by the use of tanks; it is organizing police terror daily from village to village, from one city quarter to another. We have insisted and still insist on carrying out a dialog between Kosovo's legitimate institutions and its leadership, on the one hand, and Belgrade, on the other, in the presence of a third party, on the restoration of the democratic institutions that were abolished with the use of tanks and on the definition of a status that should include recognition of the right to self-determination at an opportune moment. This is the only way, in our view, to reach an overall settlement of the Balkan crisis, which may grow into conflicts far larger than previous ones unless it is tackled with proper determination and responsibility.
Greek nationalism, too, is another growing threat to Albania and the Albanians. It is seeking, through a series of maneuvers, to block the reforms in Albania and to destabilize it in an attempt to render the settlement of the Albanian question more difficult and delay it. To facilitate the position of its ally in the north, it is making territorial claims against Albania.
Greek nationalism is dangerous not only on account of its tradition but also because of the fact that it has the privilege of being a somewhat forgotten nationalism. For, since Greece is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and of the European Union, there is a tendency to ignore it. The truth is that Greece today, as a member of NATO and the European Union, is subject to a certain control by and dependence on those organizations, and this is a positive thing. However, it is also true that over the past two years Greek nationalism has blocked action by those institutions several times because of the consensus needed to take decisions.
Today, the establishment and progressive consolidation of positions in Greek official circles is a bitter fact. The power game that is taking place in Greece is undoubtedly being played through the free vote, but, in distinction to all the other countries of Western Europe, it is being played with nationalist slogans. It is an undeniable fact that after the game is played official Greece will emerge more nationalistic than it was before. It is precisely for these reasons that Greece, the birthplace of democracy, our millenary neighbor, avoided and gave up the opportunity to serve as a promoter of the integration of the Balkan countries into Europe after the fall of the iron curtain. At the same time, through its official and unofficial policy it became a true champion of Serb nationalism - not, of course, for the sake of Serbia’s interests but for the sake of interests and ambitions which it hopes to achieve by remaking the Balkans.
We do not mean that Greece can be compared to Serbia, for that would not be realistic. But what causes great concern is the progressively official character Greek nationalistic policy is assuming. It is the Greek Government which has blocked the recognition of Macedonia and has imposed a blockade on it, ignoring the fact that its border is also the border of the European Union. It is Greek state nationalism that blocks European Union aid to the poorest European country, Albania, rendering its economic growth more difficult. The Mitsotakis Government officially demanded the autonomy of "northern Epirus", as they call the south of Albania; the Papandreou Government declares that it has incorporated the south of our country in Greek defense planning. The official character the Greek Government has given to its policy on "northern Epirus" poses a serious threat to the Balkans.
Greek nationalism is trying to manipulate about 60,000 Greeks who live in the south of Albania - according to the 1989 census, they comprise 1.85 per cent of the country's population - as a means to destabilize Albania and to achieve its annexationist designs. For this purpose, Greece is emitting organized, nationalistic and fundamentalist propaganda through radio stations, air-dropped leaflets and the distribution of materials which claim the south of Albania and demand the overthrow of the democratic Tirana Government. On 10 April 1994, an armed band was sent into Albania, where it killed two Albanian army men; hundreds upon hundreds of firearms have been smuggled into Greek minority villages and young Greek minority people have been recruited and sent to attend Greek military schools without the knowledge of the Albanian Government. The recent verdict passed by an Albanian court on five Albanian citizens of Greek origin on charges of collusion with the Greek secret services, sending out military intelligence, the distribution and illegal possession of arms and so on, was exploited as an excuse to attack the Albanian Government at all international institutions and forums, including this august Assembly, to block 35 million ecu in European Union aid to Albania, to expel in retaliation 60,000 Albanian citizens who were legally employed in Greece in a matter of a few weeks, maltreating them, beating them up and killing six of them.
I am pleased to inform the Assembly that the Greek minority of Albania did not let itself fall prey to such a chauvinistic policy. The Greek minority expressed this stand openly two weeks ago during Albanian President Sali Berish's visit to Greek minority villages in the south of Albania. All this has arisen because ethnic minorities in Albania live in harmony with Albanians, and are not maltreated by the Government. On the contrary, with the establishment of the democratic regime, they are step by step enjoying the most advanced standards as set forth in United Nations instruments, the Copenhagen Document and other international conventions on minorities. This has been confirmed by dozens of foreign observers, ethnic minority specialists, parliamentarians, representatives of international institutions, including the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) High Commissioner for ethnic minorities, Mr. Max van der Stoel, various non-governmental organizations, journalists and so on.
With the establishment of the democratic regime in Albania, members of the Greek minority are represented in or lead local organs of power; are represented in the Albanian parliament in the ruling parties and the opposition parties, and even in a separate party; they are present at all levels of the administration as ministers, ambassadors, members of the supreme court, and so on; they go to Greece freely and with no obstacles from the Albanian State; they learn or are taught in their mother tongue, and a recent decision of the Albanian Government has created more opportunities to extend this possibility; they have their own schools at all levels, a separate branch in the Greek language at the Gjirokastra University, their own mass media, radio broadcasts and newspapers in the Greek language, as well as their political and cultural organizations.
The Albanian Government has openly declared that the crisis in its relations with Greece will in no way affect the harmonious relations between Albanians and members of the Greek minority in Albania.
On the other hand, we call on the Greek Government to apply the international conventions relating to ethnic minorities. It cannot shirk its responsibility with its senseless denial of the presence of national minorities in Greece. How could the Turkish, Macedonian and Albanian minorities vanish in Greece at a stroke? The Greek Government should put an end to the suffocating climate that prevents these minorities from asserting their own national identity.
How could the Greek Government forget the 1944-1945 massacre of the Albanian population of Chameria, when thousands upon thousands of people were stabbed to death and killed with firearms by Greek chauvinistic nationalists. And some of those who could escape alive, old folk and children, were expelled to Albania and Turkey, thus creating a real tragedy of divided families, whereas their land, homes and other property were usurped by Greek colonists, who still possess them today in contravention of international civil law.
We have always appreciated the importance of good relations with Greece, free from any concern and tension, for our development, peace and security. Because of the reasons already mentioned, this has not always worked out. We tried to overcome the present-day crisis in our relations, provoked against our interest and will, through dialog either on a bilateral footing or through international mediation. The Greek minority people in Albania, too, have publicly supported unconditional dialog between the two Governments. Unfortunately, the Greek side has so far rejected a meeting of our two countries' Foreign Ministers, proposed by the Albanian side, as well as the mediation of the United Nations Secretary-General, the European Union presidency and the United States Administration. On the contrary, they are still bringing pressure to bear on the democratic Albanian Government.
The Albanian Government will continue to make every effort to be constructive and strive for peace in its policy towards its Balkan neighbors, aware of the fact that the Balkans is one of the hottest and most dangerous spots in the world today, and therefore the attention of the international community should not be distracted from it.
In conclusion, I should like to stress that we share the view and join the efforts aimed at revising the Charter and structure of the United Nations, especially as it concerns such important organs as the Security Council, which takes decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security, in order to enhance their efficiency in response to today's challenges in a fast-changing world. The crisis the world is currently experiencing urgently raises the need to achieve consensus on such a restructuring of the Security Council, so as to make this important decision-making body as representative and democratic as possible and even more effective in the adoption of decisions and their implementation. I take this opportunity to reiterate the candidature of my country for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council from

the Eastern European Group for the 1996-1997 term. We think that giving this seat to Albania after 40 years of membership in the United Nations would also be an encouragement to small countries to assume the responsibility incumbent upon them and commit themselves to safeguarding peace, security and world order.
We look confidently to the further enhancement of United Nations peace-keeping activities. To this end, Albania maintains that the United Nations needs an efficient mechanism to warn of conflicts in advance and to intervene in time in order to prevent their outbreak. We would like to stress the conclusion we have drawn from Bosnia's tragic experience. We seriously believe that the tragedy could have been averted if there had been serious attention by the United Nations when it recognized the secession and independence of that Republic from the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The military intervention Serbia perpetrated in order to halt more secessions from the federation would have been avoided if the new Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina had been placed under the firm protection of the United Nations.
It is never too late to draw lessons. We think that the United Nations should set up a modem system of trusteeship that could be set in motion whenever necessary to prevent human catastrophes like that in Bosnia. Today, this is dictated by the situation in Kosovo, which is very close to posing a potential threat like that posed by Bosnia; it is dictated also by the situations in Rwanda, Somalia, Haiti and other places.
As we said last year, we are in favor
favor of United Nations intervention wherever there are clear signs, as determined by early-warning monitoring, of a threat of human catastrophe. As we all know, the consequences of such catastrophes have negative effects on regional and international peace and security. We hold that in such cases there is no reason for the Security Council to hesitate to take a decision on intervention without the prior consent of the State or Government that is the cause of and is responsible for the catastrophe. Otherwise, such human catastrophes will never be prevented, and international peace, security and stability will always be threatened. What we demand is in full compliance with the universally accepted idea, that it is easier to avoid a crisis or conflict than to try to solve it after it has broken out.