It is a pleasure for me to extend to you, Sir, on behalf of the Tunisian delegation, our warmest congratulations on your election to the presidency of the current session and success in the accomplishment of your noble mission.
We are completely convinced of your success, knowing as we do your outstanding qualities, your long experience and your continued efforts in the service of justice and peace. This election is a tribute by the international community to your friendly country, Malta, for the important role it plays within the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and on the Mediterranean and international scene.
The Tunisian delegation will be pleased to co-operate closely with you during your presidency of this session in order to attain the objectives for which our dynamic organisation is working.
It is also a pleasure for me to extend to your predecessor. His Excellency Mr. Joseph Garba representative of fraternal Nigeria to the United Nations, our beat wishes and appreciation for the great competence with which he presided over our last session and the considerable efforts that he made to resolve our problems with wisdom and effectiveness.
It is also a special pleasure for mo to take this opportunity to express directly to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Javier Perez do Cuellar· our profound esteem for the commendable efforts that he unceasingly makes so generously in the service of peace the world over and for the implementation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations in international relations.
I am also pleased to extend a welcome, on behalf of my delegation, to the Principality of Liechtenstein. This admission supports the universality of the United Nations, the world forum of all countries large or small at this time when the concept of international solidarity is being strengthened.
While the last session witnessed a number of positive developments which aroused optimism and reassurance that the world would continue to evolve toward stronger understanding, the difficult context in which the present session is being held is a source of concern and disquiet, because of the crisis which is developing dangerously in the Gulf region.
The present escalation of this crisis is the harbinger of the gravest of threats to security and peace in the region and in the world at large. This is why we wish to give it our complete attention before referring to the many successes achieved by the United Nations in different fields, thanks to the combined efforts of its members.
Tunisia has voiced its profound concern about this crisis from the very beginning. It was our hope that the two parties to the conflict might arrive at a solution to the dispute through dialogue and negotiations, given the relations of fraternity and good-neighbourliness that bind them. Unfortunately however, the situation quickly became complicated and assumed considerable proportions, due to military escalation, the fact that the dispute spilled over to neighbouring countries and the intervention of certain States from outside the region.
Tunisia has made tireless efforts to contribute to the containment of the crisis because of the privileged relations that it has with both the fraternal countries, Iraq and Kuwait and because it belongs to the Arab Muslim world and is profoundly committed to international law and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as well as that of the League of Arab States, primary among which are the non-interference in the internal affairs of other States, the commitment to resolve conflicts by peaceful means and the non-threat or use of force in the settlement of disputes between States.
In all its endeavours, Tunisia has sought to confine the conflict within its Arab context, in the belief that widening the scope of the conflict would jeopardize the search for a peaceful solution. We believe that if an Arab solution to the conflict had been given a real chance, many of the subsequent complications, such as the landing of foreign forces on Arab soil could have been avoided, and we would thus have been spared the emotional impact that the crisis has had on Arab and Muslim peoples and the threat of a war that could break out at any time and that would be detrimental to the region regardless of its outcome. Furthermore, international relations and the economic situation would undoubtedly be influenced by this war which might break out. In spite of the difficulties of the present situation and the complexity of inter-Arab relations it is still our belief that there exists a chance of finding a solution to this crisis within a strictly Arab context. Such a chance should not be overlooked it exits and it is necessary.
On this basis, and in an attempt to contribute effectively to resolving the crisis, Mr. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia, stepped up contacts and consultations with many fraternal and friendly heads of State. We received a number of special envoys from the two countries directly concerned and emissaries from many other Arab and non-Arab heads of State. We also sent special envoys to the two Arab States directly concerned, the permanent members of the Security Council, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the leaders of the European community, with messages and concrete proposals that might constitute the framework of a solution in accordance with international legality and based on the following principles: release of civilians being held in Iraq and Kuwait; withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait; replacement of foreign forces by Arab forces; guaranteeing the security for all the States of the Gulf; resolving the vital problems that led to the crisis; resolving the problems of the Middle East and the Arab nation, which the international community has not yet been able to deal with, because it has not been able to implement numerous United Nations resolutions that it was adopted thus far.
Tunisia still pursues the path of peaceful solution. Our President has sent the Tunisian Prime Minister as envoy to President Saddam Hussein, with specific proposals, in search of a window of opportunity in this grave situation. We hope that those proposals could be implemented in response to the need for harmony among peoples and the imperatives of peace and security in the region. We note with satisfaction the favourable reception of those proposals. We take this opportunity to reaffirm our adherence to the Security Council resolutions concerning the Gulf crisis. In this respect, we have submitted a report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. We have also informed many international institutions and organisations, about the negative impact on our national economy resulting from the implementation of the embargo while at the same time stressing the exceptions concerning medication and foodstuffs mentioned in Security Council resolution 661 (1990) itself. On the basis of these ideas, and completely in accordance with human rights principles, we reject, and have always rejected, the involvement of civilians in conflicts and any violation of their freedom of movement.
Tunisia has always supported and upheld the moral authority of the United Nations. It has placed its capabilities at the service of the United Nations. The latest example of this was Tunisia's participation in the process of the independence of Namibia. We believe that the United Nations is the depositary of the high values enshrined in the Charter, which establishes an international code of conduct and remain firmly convinced that the Organisation is able to shoulder its responsibilities in safeguarding peace, as it has done on many occasions in different parts of the world. Tunisia has been supported by the United Nations on every occasion whenever it suffered aggression because of its stance in favour of the cause of justice and freedom.
Our fond belief in international legality and firm commitment to its true meaning cannot be dissociated from each other. If the crisis in the Gulf is a form of a breach of legality, there are many precedents in the history of the United Nations that show that in the ease of other injustices the voice of the United Nations has not been heard and there has been no deterrence. The most striking example of this is the injustice that has been inflicted on the Palestinian people, whose legitimate right to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent State on their own soil has been denied, while Israel persists in refusing to withdraw from the occupied Arab territories.
It is unnecessarily to recall the dozens of resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council concerning the Palestinian cause which have so far remained dead letters because of Israeli stubbornness and disdain for international law.
We firmly believe the United Nations is called upon to implement its resolutions on this issue as assiduously and as firmly and trenchantly as it does in the case of the Gulf crisis lest people the world over get the impression that the handling of world issues is selective, discriminatory and dependent on the parties involved, the interests at stake and the circumstances.
The current painful situation in the Gulf region, with the risk of explosion that it entails, must not make us forget the daily suffering of the Palestinian people, who, without weapons, is heroically resisting Israeli occupation, an occupation which is injurious to their identity their existence and their land. From this rostrum we pay a heartfelt tribute to the heroic uprising, the intifadah which is about to enter its fourth year of struggle, while acts of repression continue unabated. We once again make a pressing appeal to the international conscience to support firmly the Palestinian people, under their legitimate leadership, so that they may completely recover their right to independence freedom and dignity.
Surely it is the international community's most urgent duty to oppose Israeli plans to modify the demographic map of the occupied Arab territories through the settlement of Jews from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands. In accordance with international legality and the resolutions of the United Nations, we stress the need to convene as soon as possible an international conference for peace in the Middle East, with the participation of all the parties concerned, including the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which, with a high sense of responsibility has demonstrated its commitment to the search for a peaceful, just and lasting solution of the Palestinian problem and the conflict in the Middle East.
Fraternal Lebanon has recently made some progress towards a definitive solution guaranteeing to its people security, stability and territorial integrity.
We welcome the progress that has been achieved, thanks to the determination of the children of Lebanon, in restoring harmony in the country, and thanks to their accurate assessment of their responsibility for overcoming the deadlock. This made it possible to arrive at the Taif Agreement and also made possible the continuing selfless work of the Arab Tripartite Commission, which is now tackling the last obstacles, which we hope will be removed as soon as possible in the higher interests of Lebanon and in order to bring about the return of calm and prosperity in the framework of reconciliation and civil peace.
While the Middle East has many crises that await solution, the region also has many positive aspects and a desire for stability and peace. I would like at this point to welcome the achievement of peaceful unity between the two Yemens and the emergence of a single unified Yemen.
We are firmly convinced of the ability of the United Nations to participate effectively in overcoming the Gulf crisis with its repercussions and find an appropriate solution to the conflict in the Middle East, just as it has done successfully in the case of other conflicts where it has shown itself to be on the side of justice and freedom, and quite capable of eliminating many hotbeds of tension.
We were profoundly pleased to see Namibia, that fraternal country, join the ranks of independent States and take its rightful place among nations, thanks to the unyielding struggle of its people and the support of the international community. We wish to pay tribute to the front-line States for the great sacrifices that they made to aid the cause of Namibia. We also laud the role played by the United Nations in support of the independence process in Namibia.
I wish to take this opportunity to extend, on behalf of Tunisia, my warmest congratulations to the delegation of Namibia on the occasion of its admission to the United Nations as a full Member. We are certain that the young State of Namibia, whose people paid a high price for its independence, will fully play its role in the service of the African continent and in the service of the cause of justice, freedom and peace, by contributing to the strengthening of the Organisation of African Unity and the efforts of the United Nations in the areas of development, stability, security and peace.
Proud to be African, Tunisia has unceasingly worked for solidarity among the Continent's peoples and will spare no effort in helping the Namibian people to build its young State in accordance with the recommendations of the Organisation of African Unity. We hope that the international community will come to Namibia's aid in order to enable it to meet the challenge of development and progress.
The achievements and the progress made on the African continent in the field of decolonisation and independence will remain incomplete as long as injustice persists in South Africa, where the white minority continues to violate the most basic of human rights by practising racial discrimination and violate international norms and conventions.
While expressing our joy over the release of the leader and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela who has regained his freedom after more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, we note with cautious optimism the few modest initiatives taken by the Government of South Africa, which in fact fall short of introducing the radical changes that would guarantee equality for all and establish a democratic regime where the majority is able to exercise its legitimate rights.
That is why the international community must not relax its pressure in the form of an economic embargo or other effective measures until Pretoria compiles with law and justice, especially now that these pressures are beginning to produce results and prove their effectiveness.
We must remain vigilant In order to thwart any intrigues and manoeuvres that may be designed to fuel antagonisms and internal strife in order to abort the expected process of change and spread terror and disorder.
Tunisia is following with deep concern the developments in the situation in Afghanistan. We have expressed our profound satisfaction following the signing of the Geneva conventions and this withdrawal of Soviet troops from that fraternal country, but the in-fighting among brothers unfortunately persists and continues to take a heavy toll in Afghani lives and cause destruction in the country.
It is our hope that international efforts to help Afghanistan recover its national unity within a framework of harmony will succeed sad that it will be able to establish the system of its choice in full freedom and at last tackle the reconstruction and development of the country.
We express the same hope regarding the framework agreement concluded on 28 August 1990 by the five permanent members of the Security Council in respect of Cambodia. This agreement conferred important administrative responsibility upon the United Nations. It is our hope that this will contribute to the settlement of the conflict that persists in that friendly country and that it will be possible to achieve lasting peace in the region. We also hope that the parties to the conflict will profit from this valuable opportunity to promote reconciliation among themselves through constructive and effective dialogue and thus restore harmony and peace to the Cambodian people.
We also view with satisfaction the efforts made to unify the Korean peninsula. Tunisia, which has traditional bonds of friendship with the two States, is delighted at the resumption of contacts between the two with a view to reconciliation and national unity. We see in this a contribution that is bound to strengthen the climate of peace and co-operation in the Asian continent and the world at large. Perhaps we are not far from the day when we shall see the Korean peninsula represented in this Assembly.
The increasingly frequent use of peaceful means to resolve international disputes represents a positive element in the establishment of a world based on understanding and agreement. But the strengthening of this tendency requires that we renounce the arms race. It requires the abandonment of the policy of hegemony and the use of force in international relations in order to arrive at complete disarmament - a prerequisite for international detente to be a reality. This detente has become a vital and urgent requirement not only to safeguard peace in world over but also because of its positive impact on the world economy which is now undergoing an untenable crisis one of whose main causes is the major imbalance between the considerable expenditures of industrialised countries on weaponry and the modest funds allocated to development assistance.
Undoubtedly, security, peace and stability will create an atmosphere of serenity in the developing countries and will make it possible for them to limit their military expenditures and thus to apply their potential to action for development.
Tunisia, on the strength of its convictions and pursuant to the path it has charted for itself at the regional level, has worked for the strengthening of security and co-operation in the Mediterranean region and, in this respect, we view with satisfaction the understanding shown by our European friends and their growing conviction of the need for joint action in order to strengthen solidarity among Mediterranean States.
The question of pollution has unceasingly concerned the international community because of its negative impact on the environment. It has harmed to different degrees all the countries of the world in varying ways - for example, the pollution of the oceans and seas, desertification, soil erosion, deforestation, sudden and violent changes in global climate, as well as toxic wastes that certain industrialised countries attempt to dump on the territories of others, particularly in Africa.
Aware of the serious nature of this question, Tunisia reacted at the national level by taking the initiative in 1988 to create the national environmental protection agency and enacting the laws we need to combat all types of pollution.
On the African level, Tunisia is preparing to contribute effectively to the success o£ the Year of the Environment in Africa, which is planned for 1991, and we will thus show our readiness to co-operate with our African brethren and exchange experiences in this field.
Among the dangers threatening the integrity of the individual and the health of society is the spread of narcotic drugs. Although Tunisia is neither a producer nor a consumer of those drugs, it is resolutely fighting this scourge by establishing many control agencies in order to monitor probable transit points and stem the development of this traffic. It is acting in constant collaboration with specialised international agencies in order to eliminate this phenomenon.
Tunisia, which made radical changes in its society on 7 November 1987 - changes which led to the establishment e£ a democratic regime based on pluralism and freedom of thought is a State where law and institutions rule and which has unceasingly worked to strengthen human and community rights - confirms its strong devotion and total commitment to the United Nations Charter and also proclaims its intention to translate the Charter's lofty purposes and principles into concrete reality on the national and international levels.
In that context, at the beginning of the year Tunisia presented a preliminary report concerning the implementation of the international Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to the Committee against Torture.
Tunisia also submitted on 16 and 17 July 1990 its third report on the implementation of the international Covenant on civil and political rights to the Commission concerned.
On another level, and pursuant to its desire to strengthen the rights of children, Tunisia signed the United Nations Convention on the Sights of the Child which will be ratified in the very near future. We enthusiastically support the initiative to convene the World Summit for Children which will be an opportunity for the international community to voice its commitment to the rights off the child.
Furthermore, Tunisia supports all initiatives aimed at strengthening the rights of the handicapped.
Tunisia has been delighted at the profound changes that have occurred in today's world and, above all, in Eastern Europe with a view to enshrining public freedoms and the foundations of democracy and respect for human rights.
These are considerable achievements that augur well for an international community that can at last enjoy development, prosperity and dignity. On the other hand, we must in all objectivity voice our concern over the tendency to marginalize, at least in political discourse, the developing countries in general and the African continent in particular. That tendency, we believe, has a negative impact on the material and moral situation of the third world countries which are confronted by a situation of worsening poverty due to a reduction in external resources and the dichotomy between long-term development objectives and short-term structural adjustment.
While recognising once again before the Assembly our responsibility to remedy that situation, we note with some bitterness that the major sacrifices made at the national level are gravely endangered because our financial obligations exceed our real ability to pay. Zn that respect, the study on the global economy conducted by the United Nations Secretariat as well as the World Bank report devoted this year to poverty, highlight the aggravation of that phenomenon and its negative impact on the resumption of development in the developing countries.
The World Bank has advocated the implementation of a strategy to fight that scourge, which will constitute the main challenge to the international community in the 1990s. We support that initiative, which buttresses the appeal made by the developing countries to the international financial institutions to take the social dimension into greater account in their economic recovery programmes. The success of that strategy, as we see it, will depend on an improvement in modalities of assistance and on increased support from the international community in the implementation of national policies freely established by the developing countries for the struggle against poverty.
experience has shown that the developing countries cannot achieve sustained growth while withstanding the hardships of inflation and the weight of foreign indebtedness. Mr. Camdessus, the Director General of the International Monetary Fund, eloquently described that situation as one of "growth spurts”. He also stressed, at last July's session of the Economic and Social Council, the Fund's decision to contain and attenuate the effects of the recovery programmes in order to guarantee a better balance of adjustment, growth and social justice.
That initiative demonstrates the need to give priority to non-inflationary growth based on a system of multilateral co-ordination and broadened monitoring, even if the question of reconciling effectiveness and justice, productivity and humaneness, remains. In that respect, the President of the Republic, Mr. Ben Ali, had the opportunity, during his presidency of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), to express Tunisia's position on indebtedness to Mr. Bettino Craxi, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the debt question, to whom we should like to extend our sincere thanks for the report now before the Assembly.
Need we dwell on the precarious situation of the indebted developing countries, and in particular on the situation of Tunisia, which is among the medium-income countries? We believe that Mr. Craxi's report reflects the main concerns expressed by our countries in that respect. It is our fear that the foreign debt problem may lead the international community and multilateral agencies into an impasse at a time when we see on the horizon the premises of a real peace. That may occur because of the absence of a real will to change international financial mechanisms and find an appropriate solution to the problem.
In that respect, Tunisia supports the proposals contained in Mr. Craxi's report concerning a reconversion of bilateral debt through participation in the establishment of a development bank in the Mediterranean, the cancellation of debt-servicing for the least developed countries and the establishment of new payment timetables from 30 to 40 years. The implementation of those proposals, we feel, would contribute to resolving the foreign debt crisis of the developing countries. Heed we recall that a solution to the crisis constitutes one of the commitments undertaken by the international community at the eighteenth special session of the General Assembly devoted to the resumption of growth and development?
Towards that end, the special session of the General Assembly focused the collective and concerted will for action on the progressive alleviation of the profound imbalances current in the world economy, taking into greater account the role and interests of the developing countries. That session also had the merit of speeding up the integration of the Eastern European countries into the international economy and of facilitating their accession to international institutions in order to enable them to increase their role as dynamic trading partners.
We also view with satisfaction the contribution of that session to the strengthening of multilateralism in international economic relations. We take this opportunity to reaffirm the importance we attach to respect for the consensus achieved at the special session. We believe that to be all the more important now on the eve of two major gatherings - the eighth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the conclusion of negotiations in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the success of which will depend on respect for the interests of all, the effective participation of all countries, and their compliance with the conclusions that will be reached through the mobilisation of the necessary political will.
The Declaration of international Economic Co-operation rightly stresses that an open and credible multilateral trade system is essential for the promotion of growth and development. We continue to believe that the establishment of such a system remains possible, bearing in mind the growing interdependence between different sectors and national economies and that it is indeed urgent in order to remedy the asymmetry in structures of production and consumption at the global level.
Now that the growing interdependence of nations is broadly acknowledged, we must identify the ways and means of managing that interdependence in order to take into greater account the aspirations and legitimate concerns of all. Thus, the recent developments toward economic integration agreements and free-trade zones continue to arouse both hope and concern, given the challenges faced by less productive trade partners.
In our view, it is important to take measures to dispel those fears. We hope that the implementation of such arrangements will contribute to creating trade and not to distorting it. It is in that spirit that the five countries of the Maghreb created the AMU, one more step towards integration and co-operation among their peoples and the African peoples in general.
This year, important progress has been achieved in co-operation among the countries of the Maghreb. Tunisia had the honour to participate in the strengthening of that co-operation when it held the chairmanship of the AMU. We are convinced that concerted Maghreb action will continue in the interests of the peoples of the region in order to achieve economic and social development, and that that will be a factor of stability, understanding, and the strengthening of peace and security at the regional and international levels.
In this respect the Union of the Arab Maghreb has promoted the establishment of constructive and open co-operation with peace-loving nations and with most regional groups, especially those that are linked to the Union by traditional and historic relationships based on geographic proximity, particularly in the Mediterranean region, where it is possible to develop a platform of co-operation and understanding based on the principle of shared development for the sake of prosperity and the security of the coastal countries.
She co-operation that we seek to establish between the countries of the northern and southern Mediterranean should have as its objective the reduction of disparities, thanks to a freely-entered-into policy that tackles our development problems - first and foremost, indebtedness, immigration and the environment.
I should like, at the conclusion of my statement, to underscore the close interdependence between development imperatives and the continuation of the process of democracy in the developing countries. The phenomenon of economic recession that we have noted in many countries constitutes a real danger to regional and international peace.
In this respect, hopes for detente and international understanding would be jeopardised unless all member countries were to show resolute political will in the search for an equitable solution to the problem of indebtedness. This would be the best guarantee of a new international order, such as is perhaps just now emerging. The international community must therefore go beyond any selfishness and must establish co-operation and co-ordination between its members so that we can approach the third millennium with hope and serenity, and so that we can achieve development for all countries during this development decade, for which President Ben Ali appealed at the last session of the General Assembly.


On behalf of President Premadasa and the people of Sri Lanka, I extend to the President and to the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session our warmest greetings and good wishes. We offer him our special congratulations on his election. That unanimous election is a fitting tribute to his statesmanship as well as to his country. Malta and Sri Lanka have enjoyed close relations, particularly in the Commonwealth forums and in the Non-Aligned Movement. My delegation offers him our support and co-operation. Sri Lanka wishes to express its appreciation of the excellent manner in which the out-going President, Mr. Joseph Garba of Nigeria, conducted the work of the forty-fourth session.
I wish to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar, for his outstanding contribution to strengthening the role of the United Nations in current international affairs.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome the delegation of independent Namibia as a full Member of the United Nations. The freedom struggle of the people of Namibia has been one of the most inspiring popular movements of this century, and we are certain that the delegation of Namibia will contribute in good measure towards the success of this session. I also welcome Liechtenstein, as the newest Member of the United Nations.
As we welcome the forty-fifth session, we find ourselves facing a period of complex developments whose course is not yet clear. Some developments offer hope for the future and enhance the prospects for peace, while others are less encouraging.
The improved relationship between the two super-Powers, which control devastating military arsenals, has certainly reduced the threat of a global nuclear conflagration, yet a sense of euphoria would be premature. Much more remains in their armies to disband. Testing to improve further the lethal effects, accuracy and range of nuclear weapons continues unabated. Regional conflicts and conventional wars continue. The sense of mutual accommodation and understanding that now seems to guide relations between the super-Powers must be extended to cover their relations with the rest of the world. All inter-State relations should be conducted on the firm footing on which the United Nations is founded - respect for the sovereign equality of all States irrespective of their size and power.
We have witnessed several dramatic developments during the past year.
East-West rivalry has receded, and a new international order is emerging.
Financial power and economic strength rather than military might are emerging as the new determinants of global influence. Yet this is not the end of history, nor even the absolute triumph of one idea over all others. We are still in a period of change.
Tomorrow we shall witness the emergence of a united Germany, and Sri Lanka heartily welcomes that new development. We welcomed the reunification of Yemen earlier this year. We look forward to the successful conclusion of the efforts of the Korean people to overcome its differences and to take its rightful place is the Assembly as a full Member of the United Nations. The international community must. encourage the intensification of dialogue in Korea.
I should also mention that the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, to which Sri Lanka has the honour to belong with sis other £3uth Asian nations, has made remarkable progress during the past year on several programmes of common interest. Those programmes were intended not only to enhance the living standards of the people of our region but also to contribute to world peace and progress.
Despite those favourable developments, we also see in other settings the unhappy consequences of divisive tendencies, be they political, economic or ethnic. Old prejudices have persisted, defying solution. Disparities and inequalities have been aggravated, hindering economic growth and stifling national development. While the debate about alternative economic systems plays itself through, for many developing countries the options have even narrowed.
Many developing countries have had to contend with political and other factors that have been obstacles to progress. Resources best deployed for investment in the future of our peoples have had to be diverted to meet other threats, zone of which have even challenged the very existence of States.
Many of those countries have made radical adjustments in their economies, often at the bidding of International financial and lending institutions. However, despite this, the general position is that the stagnation and even decline in their development programmes have not been averted. In the 1990s the trends towards integration of new economic groupings in Europe and the growth of vibrant economic centres in Asia are likely to be accelerated. Ideally, that should lead to a greater openness in world markets. However, some concerted global action is required to prevent any drift towards unilateralism and the construction of walls of protectionism and discrimination that would stifle access of the exports of the developing countries to the affluent markets of the developed world.
The 1990s will also see the emergence of newly energised economies in Eastern Europe, and it is hoped that that will contribute to the expansion and enrichment of the world economy. Here too, it is essential that the economics of the developing countries should not, for political or economic reasons, be further isolated and ignored in their bid for transfers of technology and scientific knowledge, external resources and credits for other markets. In that connection, Sri Lanka looks forward to the Special Ministerial Meeting of the Economic and Social Council in July 1991, which will study in depth the impact of the recent evolution of East-West relations on the world economy, in particular on the economic growth and development of the developing countries.
The multilateral mechanisms of the United Nations system should be effectively used to promote balanced, even and equitable growth in all sectors of the world economy. While interdependence is now an accepted reality, international economic co-operation has not been adequately advanced, the healthy world economy requires that no single group of countries should remain depressed or isolated. Similarly, in a national economy, it is vital that all people should have the opportunities and the necessary resources to participate productively in the development effort.
In Sri Lanka we are seeking to tap the latent energies of all segments of our people. The poorest of the people are being given a sense of their own worth and dignity by President Premadasa through a programme called Janasaviya, which literally translates as the strength or solidarity of the people. That initiative, rather than providing charity, offers the poorest families the resources required not only to meet their immediate consumer needs but also to participate in productive economic activity. That has helped to release the creative energies of a group that has far too long been considered fit only to receive charity.
The provision of suitable housing constitutes important support for the alleviation of poverty as well as for the evolution of stable and viable societies, h housing settlement well integrated with the environment promotes a sense of belonging, builds a feeling of security and encourages community participation among its inhabitants. All this is essential for steady and sustained economic activity.
A proposal made in this Assembly Hall by President Premadasa to declare 1987 the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless has spread its benefits well beyond that year. The Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 is being implemented as the most ambitious programme that the international community has so far adopted in the field of human settlements. The support of the international community must continue so that the full potential of the Strategy can be realised.
Permit me at this stage to touch on another economic initiative which could bring economic benefit to millions. Last month I had the pleasure of attending the second ministerial meeting of the Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Co-operation (IONAC) held in Arusha, Tanzania. An Agreement was adopted at the meeting which, once ratified, would formally make ICKAC en inter-governmental organisation, with its secretariat in Colombo. I0MAC seeks to develop on the rich promise of the new ocean regime for the economic advancement of millions of people in the Indian Ocean region through inter-regional co-operation, as well as through co-operation with technologically advanced countries. I wish to acknowledge the help of the United Nations system, particularly the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Co-ordinator of the Office of the Law of the Sea, as well as non-governmental organisations and donor Governments whose support and encouragement has mad, viable this unique partnership in ocean resources development. My delegation will co-operate with Tanzania, which will be initiating a resolution on IOMAG at this session.
For some years now, the role of the United Nations in international affairs, political as well as economic, has been a major issue of debate. The pros and cons of multilateral, bilateral, and indeed unilateral, approaches have been discussed in this forum, also in the context of disarmament and the changing great-Power relationship. In the political field, the essence of multilateralism is that global issues are best considered with the participation of all States in a spirit of mutual understanding and co-operation so that solutions eventually reached will have taken serious account of the interests of the States concerned. That super-Power confrontation in the past has obstructed the United Nations in taking decisive action has been a matter for regret. If, by the same token, the emerging super-Power relationship of co-operation were now to facilitate decisive action, it would also be regrettable if in this new situation the interests of the less powerful States were to be neglected.
In the settlement of political issues, the United Nations can play a major role, not only in identifying, on the basis of Charter principles, consensus all directly affected but also in providing a framework within which the process of implementation can be carried out. This was the case in respect of Namibia. Similarly, the United Nations has other achievements to its credit.
The United Nations and the Secretary-General have played a key role towards the settlement of the complex and interrelated issues involved in the situation in Afghanistan. The Geneva agreements, concluded in April 1988, and the completion of the withdrawal of foreign troops in accordance with these agreements, set the basis for a comprehensive political solution. All parties concerned should work towards the complete cessation of hostilities and the creation of the necessary conditions of peace and normalcy which would enable Afghan refugees to return home in safety and honour.
Regional initiatives, together with efforts of the Secretary-General and the Security Council, have helped bring about favourable developments in respect of Cambodia. Sri Lanka is happy that agreement has now been reached on a framework for a comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodia conflict. We welcome in particular the agreement reached by all Cambodian parties at Jakarta to form a supreme national council. We look forward to further successful negotiations which would finalise a plan of implementation to ensure a viable and enduring settlement bringing peace and security to the Cambodian people.
Sri Lanka followed with keen interest the work of the Secretary-General's mission of good offices in respect of Cyprus. The presence of foreign occupation forces in the Republic of Cyprus has remained an obstacle to a lasting settlement of all aspects of this question. Sri Lanka supports the independence, territorial integrity and non-aligned status of the Republic of Cyprus.
Unlike in the case of Namibia, the efforts of the United Nations have not been successful in respect of South Africa where the abhorrent apartheid system continues to deny the majority of the people their inalienable rights through ruthless forms of repression. The release of the patriot Nelson Mandela offers some hope. However, the essential structures of institutionalised racism remain in place, particularly in the political field, even though the liberation organizations have reiterated a preference for realising their objectives through peaceful means. Apartheid remains a central factor causing instability even beyond the borders of South Africa. The United Nations should intensify its action in support of the total destruction of apartheid, and the establishment of majority rule in a united, non-racial and democratic society, guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms and human rights of all the peoples of South Africa.
Another major issue that has remained on the United Nations agenda without settlement is the question of Palestine, in many ways the core of the complex of interrelated issues that has for so long denied the Middle East region peace and security. Sri Lanka believes that the question of Palestine can be settled only on the basis of the recognition of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and the withdrawal of Israeli forces fro, Palestinian and ether occupied Arab territories. Only this can guarantee the security of all States in the Middle East within secure and internationally recognised borders. Various bilateral and Multilateral efforts towards a settlement of the Palestine question continue. An international conference on the Middle East, as called for by the United Nations with the full participation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, would be the most appropriate framework to consider the question Palestine.
A further flash-point of tension and conflict has now arisen in the Middle East. Sri Lanka has been greatly distressed that the dispute between Kuwait and Iraq, which was under discussion in the Arab League, could not be settled through negotiations and has led to the Iraqi Military intervention in Kuwait. Sri Lanka upholds the principle of the sovereign equality and independence of all States. We call for the peaceful settlement of disputes and oppose the threat or use of force. These are unshakeable principles. Sri Lanka expresses the fervent hope that the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and those of the Mon-Aligned Movement will be applied to the situation in Kuwait and that it will be possible to reach a settlement enabling the withdrawal of Iraqi forces free Kuwait and a settlement of the disputes at issue between Iraq and Kuwait. The government of Sri Lanka has taken necessary steps to comply fully with the Security Council resolutions on the issue.
The current situation in Kuwait has also caused human, social and economic problems of massive dimensions. Hundreds of thousands of guest workers in Kuwait have left or are leaving under conditions of great difficulty. Sri Lanka has been one of the worst affected; out of more than 100,000 employed in Kuwait, more than 90 per cent of female workers hailing mainly from a rural background and innocent victims of this conflict. My government is now making arrangements at considerable cost to evacuate these helpless persons. We express our sincere appreciation to all those government and organizations which have helped Sri Lanka carry out this responsibility.
The recent developments in Kuwait and other affected areas, have also imposed a heavy burden on Sri Lanka’s economy, as no doubt on the economies of other countries. The World Bank has particularly identified the economies of loath Asia as those which have been most adversely affected by the developments in Kuwait, including the loss of important exports to the region, the loss of remittances of expatriate workers and the rising price of oil.
These developments in the Gulf area have also underlined the imperative seed for the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace. This Assembly has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment that concrete action for the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration would be a substantial contribution to the strengthening of international peace and security as well as to the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful development of the States of the region. Sri Lanka regrets that it has not been possible this year to adopt a consensus resolution in the United Nations ad hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean. We sincerely hope that those States have felt it necessary to withdraw from the Committee will soon be able to return to it and work together with the Indian Ocean States and others. Sri Lanka, for its own part, remains committed to hosting the United Nations Conference on the Indian Ocean in 1992, and we welcome any suggestions that would make possible a successful and result-oriented Conference.
Permit me to say a few words on the situation in Sri Lanka, which has figured - sot always without distortion - in the international media. We have had to face a serious threat to our territorial integrity when separatist violence reached its peak is the island, A fragment of the Tamil community in the country took to terrorism in order to force their demands on the rest of Sri Lanka, A period of violence and instability is the northern areas ensued, claiming a death toll of several hundred.
Matters deteriorated to the point when the Government at the time, is 1987, agreed to the introduction of as Indian peace-keeping force into the affected areas. Despite a bloody campaign lasting two years, those forces were usable to bring peace to Sri Lanka or halt the terrorist violence.
President Premadasa appealed to all militant groups to negotiate their grievances peacefully and participate freely in the democratic processes to which Sri Lanka has long been committed. The militant groups, including the most uncompromising among then, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), responded positively to this appeal. The Government then proceeded to a dialogue with those groups. Meanwhile, at the request of President Premadasa, the Indian peace-keeping force was also withdrawn from Sri Lanka.
However, virtually in the midst of the negotiations, the LTTE, in June of this year, plunged the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka into violence and chaos, ruthlessly attacking police posts and even policemen who had already laid down their arms. The LTTE, intolerant of any opposition to its vision of a mono-ethnic secessionist state, systematically eliminated leaders and cadres of rival Tamil parties. Civilians were similarly massacred. The Government had no option in this situation but to take all possible steps to safeguard the lives of those under threat and to halt the LTTE in its bloody tracks.
Negotiations with all parties other than the LTTB continue under the direct guidance of the President himself on the basis of his negotiating triad of consultation, compromise and consensus. The conflict in Sri Lanka is thus one against the LTTE, which has rejected the negotiating option acceptable to all others, and is therefore not against the Tamil community.
Many civilian lives have been lost; several cold-blooded massacres of the Muslim community in the Eastern Province have left hundreds dead. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans of all communities have been forced to flee the Northern and Eastern Provinces, where the LTTB has been active, to the safety of other parts of Sri Lanka, where all communities are able to live in harmony. Movement of food supplies and the operation of essential services are obstructed by the LTTB. A massive exercise has been mounted by the Government, with the support and help of international agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, to ensure that essential food supplies reach the civilians and the refugees.
The Sri Lanka Government remains open to a political settlement of the ethnic question. However, to be part of the process, the LTTB must forswear violence and abandon arms. Any party which seeks to represent the Tamil minority must through democratic means seek the votes of the people. No one can represent the people through the hidden bomb, the landmine and the gun.
The LTTB’s external ramifications, including its links with other terrorist groups as well as international drug cartels, are extensive. An evil trinity of international terrorism, drug trafficking and the illegal arms trade clearly exists and requires nothing less than a global effort to destroy it. Many of the problems each State must face are indeed problems we all share and need to confront together.
Technology, which knows no national boundaries, has given us nuclear overkill, the dubious capability to destroy ourselves several times over. Happier applications of science and technology have, of course, improved the quality of life for some of us, shrunk distances, spread knowledge and made us more conscious of each other. At the same time, we realise that, despite these advances, the resources of planet Earth, which makes all this possible, are not infinite. We need to manage and utilise these limited resources more rationally and more equitably. The myopic and greedy depletion of these resources will not only exhaust them, but also cause irreparable harm to the Earth's environment and pose unknown dangers to life on Earth, particularly if the protection and preservation of the environment are not understood and accepted as a national and global imperative.
Sri Lanka is a small island of about 25,000 square miles, where the preservation of the environment is one of the country's major priorities - at State level, as well as at other levels, involving the people, including children. We should also like to make a modest contribution to the international consideration of the issues involved. Sri Lanka offers Colombo as the venue for the 19tb General Assembly of the World Conservation Union in 1993.
Two days ago this Assembly was the venue of a historic Children's Summit. The Summit declared, inter alia in paragraph 8 of its Declaration:
"Together, our nations have the means and the knowledge to protect the lives and to diminish enormously the suffering of children, to promote the full development of their human potential and to make them aware of their needs, rights and opportunities." It rightly concluded that recent improvements in the international political climate could facilitate the task.
Each of us here represents a nation State, and therefore the United Nations is, in a sense, a Parliament of Nations. Together, we hold the world in trust for our children. We owe them at least the duty to leave this planet not much worse than when we inherited it from the generations before us. This is the minimum responsibility we are expected to fulfil; let us not neglect it.
In conclusion, I reaffirm my country's unstinted encouragement and support for all the activities of the United Nations to achieve the cherished objectives enshrined in its Charter.


It gives the Algerian delegation great satisfaction to see you, Sir, presiding over the work of the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session. In electing you to the presidency, the Assembly paid a well deserved tribute to your well-known personal and professional qualities and to Malta, with which Algeria has long enjoyed relations of friendship, understanding and co-operation. As I convey to you our warm congratulations, I wish to assure you of the friendly and complete co-operation of the Algerian delegation.
Our congratulations and fraternal greetings go also to your predecessor, Mr. Joseph Garba of Nigeria. The ability, wisdom and devotion he displayed during his term deserve our gratitude.
It is always a pleasant duty for my delegation to reiterate its gratitude to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar, for his tireless efforts that so perfectly embody the commitment of the United Nations and its irreplaceable service to peace and development.
The people of Yemen are now represented in this Assembly by a single delegation. Algeria is proud, joyful and satisfied at this, and we reiterate our warm good wishes to that fraternal people which is now reunified.
We also welcome among us the delegation of Liechtenstein, which we congratulate on its admission to membership of the United Nations. The great transformations which have been taking place on the international scene and the resultant clean break with the cold war, herald the emergence of a new political order. New joint action and co-operation signal the end to earlier antagonisms between the two super-Powers. It is only fair to recognize that this has already had positive effects, if only because it has paved the way to the resolution of certain regional conflicts, consolidated the process of disarmament and affirmed the promotion of co-operation and security in Europe, making it possible in the heart of that continent for the peaceful reunification of Germany.
In that connection, Algeria conveys its warmest wishes to the German people, which is about to celebrate its unity, tie also express the hope that a reunified Germany will use its economic and political power to strengthen world peace and security and to bolster international solidarity and economic co-operation.
While it is only fair to acknowledge the potential benefits of all these developments, it would do no harm to point out that by and large they have affected only one part of the planet: In the other part, the South, all we see is the persistence, even the deterioration, of negative situations. There is an increasing contrast between the new prospects opening towards greater security,  freedom and well-being on the one hand, and ever-increasing injustice, violence and underdevelopment on the other. This indicates the magnitude of the challenges involved in establishing a new political order that can respond to the fundamental needs of all mankind.
There is not a more telling illustration of the magnitude of the challenge than the tragedy of the Palestinian people. International law has been constantly flouted in the Middle East, the repression o£ the Palestinian people and its intifadah is daily growing more systematic, harsher and more inhuman; the rejection of peace has grown more obdurate and, through the arrangement of mass emigration of European Jewish citizens to the occupied territories, Israel's expansionist option is more than ever openly avowed.
It was in the midst of this clear deterioration of the situation in the region that the Gulf crisis burst upon us with its attendant grave dangers for the entire Arab world and the threats it poses to international peace and security. For Algeria, this crisis is a new and deep wound in its flesh. We abhor the use of force to settle disputes, particularly since, in this case, the rift is having the double effect of casting the fraternal people of Kuwait into total distress and of exposing another fraternal country, Iraq, to being weakened or even potential destruction. Both those effects are equally unacceptable. We must also consider all the foreign workers living in those two sister countries, who face the horror of destitution and exile and the anguish of an uncertain future.
When the crisis broke out, Algeria made very clear its commitment to international legality, the provisions of the United Nations Charter and the norms and principles of international law, and firmly advocated a negotiated Arab solution free from any direct or indirect foreign pressure or interference. My country also noted that the responsibilities of States and of the international community in this crisis must be aimed above all at the victory of reason over any logic of war, particularly since the direct involvement of foreign forces in the region on an unprecedented scale would likely exacerbate confrontation, a development that is bound to have a serious effect on the peoples and countries of the region, and the international community which will not escape its effect.
That is why we believe it is essential for the parties involved to display the greatest possible restraint in order to make possible the search for a solution by all appropriate political and diplomatic means.
Since the United Nations was founded to save mankind from the scourge of war and not to contribute in any way to creating new suffering, recourse to Chapter VII of the Charter must not give rise to any doubts and must result from a faithful interpretation of the spirit and the letter of all the provisions of the Charter. In that connection, Algeria has drawn attention to the danger that concern only with the effectiveness of economic sanctions, which will starve the Iraqi and Kuwaiti peoples, could ultimately clash with the international law of humanity.
It must be recognised today that the international community has all too often let flagrant violations of international law go unpunished. In the Middle East in particular, Israel's occupation of Arab territories since 1967 and its subsequent annexation of the Golan and El Quds, followed by its repeated invasions of Lebanon and occupation of the southern part of that country, as well as its repeated aggression against Tunisia in 1986 and 1988, the air raid against Iraq in 1981 and finally its systematic suppression of the Palestinian intifadah have all been the subjects of United Nations resolutions that Israel has rejected out of hand and openly flouted.
Therefore, it is our profound hope and urgent appeal that, in order to promote an unequivocal consensus on the Gulf crisis, the Security Council will display the sane commitment, determination and unity of action to ensure the full and strict implementation of the pertinent United Nations decisions, so as to bring about a just and comprehensive solution that would put a definitive end to the conflict in the Middle East and restore to the Palestinian people all their legitimate rights, including their right to their own independent State.
Towards that end, the appropriate framework will be the international conference on peace in the Middle East, on which there is broad unanimity, especially with regard to the essential participation on an equal footing of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PŁO), the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
Similarly, it is our hope that the Security Council will bring to bear its full authority to put an end to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and thus enable the legitimate Government of Lebanon to exercise full sovereignty over its entire territory.
In close co-operation with the two other members of the High Arab Tripartite Committee, Algeria will continue to work relentlessly to restore a unified, sovereign, peaceful and prosperous Lebanon. We very much welcome the fact that the Lebanese Parliament has adopted constitutional reforms, and we would like to congratulate the legitimate Government and institutions of Lebanon on this progress towards national consensus.
Finally, we would appeal for international support for the setting up of an international assistance fund to Lebanon, as recently decided.
Pursuant to Security Council resolution 598 (1987) and on the basis of the Algiers Agreements of 1975, Iraq and Iran have taken the initiative of settling all aspects of their dispute, thus putting an end, after the cessation of hostilities to a long period of truce that could not, however, be called peace. Because Algiers spared no effort in working for that happy outcome, Algeria finds cause for self-congratulation in the fact that those two Muslim countries have embarked on the path of lasting peace and understanding, which is the only way towards friendship and co-operation between their two peoples. It is Algeria's hope that a peaceful solution of the current crisis will be an incentive to all the Gulf States to embark on the same path and thus restore the trust and co-operation which will free the Gulf and its States from foreign interference.
The reaction of the Arab peoples to the Gulf crisis is closely linked to the discriminatory handling of the violations of international law that have been committed with impunity in the region. This has convinced the Arab peoples that the international community applies a double standard, which very naturally nurtures a profound feeling of injustice. It is equally clear that that reaction also reflects strong aspirations after inter-Arab solidarity, that would rise to the level of the profound attachment of the Arab peoples to the Arab nation, a solidarity that is so essential if we are to eliminate all divisive factors which tend to weaken the ability of Arabs to take charge of their common destiny.
It is because they share that conviction that the countries of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which recently met under the presidency of President Chadli Bendjedid, are constantly striving to consolidate the march towards unity upon which they have embarked.
Within the framework of permanent machinery for concerted and co-ordinated action to achieve common goals, specific and concrete actions strengthen at every stage a process that is in full accord with the requirements of the times and which is further carried forward by the irresistible will of the peoples of the region, whom a common cultural heritage naturally prompts to base their hopes for development and prosperity on their striving for unity.
The meeting in Algiers last June of the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the non-aligned Mediterranean countries - the third after La Valette and Brioni - proved to be extremely timely in view of the need to evaluate in common the new facts of the international, economic, and political situation and its impact on the Mediterranean non-aligned countries.
In that connection, the Conference considered ways and means of intensifying dialogue and co-operation with their partners in the European Economic Community (EEC) and the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe with a view to meeting the legitimate concerns of the European Economic Community Mediterranean Countries, widening the scope of consultation between the two sides of the Mediterranean and setting up an institutionalised framework for such consultation.
Much has happened in Europe that is now actively paving the way towards a new economic and security situation in that continent. It is the hope and resolve of our countries that the Mediterranean dimension, which has been marginalized in recent times, will assume its fu3I historic importance in the light of the common challenge of security and development, which should be established and strengthened to the advantage of all the coastal States if they are to be realized.
In more ways than one, 1990 could be called the year of the United Nations. In Namibia, the United Nations amply demonstrated its great ability to implement the independence plan it had conceived. In South Africa, it has gone every step of the way in the struggle of the South African people to restore their inalienable rights in a unified and democratic society. The legalization of political struggle in South Africa and the initiation of a long-awaited dialogue that would truly dismantle apartheid are the results of international pressure. Therefore, it is essential to be vigilant when we see that divisive and diversionary tactics as well as repression still pose a threat to those objectives.
The United Nations stand on the side of the collective African will already bears fruit and gives us every reason to hope that a solution will soon be found to the problem of Western Sahara. The joint good offices of the current president of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which as recently as August 1988 led to the presentation of peace proposals acceptable to both parties to the conflict - the Kingdom of Morocco and the POLISARIO Front - have resulted, last June, in the drawing up of a genuine settlement plan which was subsequently endorsed by Security Council resolution 658 (1990).
Algeria welcomes this crucial stage in the process which aims at the organization and supervision by the United Nations in co-operation with the Organization of African Unity, of a referendum on self-determination for the people of the Western Sahara without any administrative or military constraints.
My country wishes to reiterate its tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, and to the current president of the OAU for their efforts in that context. They know that they can count on Algeria's full support and co-operation in their efforts to finalize the settlement plan and to ensure its impartial implementation.
National reconciliation processes supported by international dialogue and encouraged by the United Nations with a view to reaching peaceful settlement of certain regional conflicts are designed to serve the same goal - namely, to facilitate and support the free choice by peoples of their leaders, their economic and social systems, and their institutions as well as to preserve the sovereignty, independence, unity and very often - as in the case of Afghanistan, Cambodia and Cyprus - the non-aligned status of such countries. This also applies to the Korean peninsula, where the meeting between the two Prime Ministers of those two Governments represents progress towards the peaceful reunification of Korea. This is progress that Algeria welcomes and encourages.
While the integration of the Eastern countries into the world economy has from the outset aroused resolute support on the part of the international community, since it provides fresh prospects for greater prosperity in the North, the simultaneous deterioration of the economic situation in the developing countries and the tragic widening of the North-South gap bear witness to the aggravation of the imbalances created by the international economic system.
The spread of poverty, which has been further exacerbated by the harshness of structural adjustment programmes, external indebtedness, deterioration in the terms of trade, and malfunctions in the international trade and monetary systems, have all demonstrated that international co-operation in the area of development remains outside the ambit of the renewals now so characteristic of international political relations.
In this, the United Nations system has a major role to play, in view of the intimate link between peace and development. The revitalisation of growth of the developing countries was defined by the eighteenth special session of the General Assembly last April as the most important challenge of the l990s.
It is important that the consensus that emerged on that occasion in favour of a Declaration on international economic co-operation should take a concrete form that would be commensurate with the commitment to enable international co-operation to rise to the challenge of development. Similarly, the programme of action in favour of the least developed countries which was recently adopted in Paris deserves even more determined support from the international community to put an end to economic regression and to lay the foundations of economic development in those particularly vulnerable countries ,
More generally speaking, the resuscitation of the North-South dialogue is a necessary target if we are to promote international economic relations that are fairer and more equitable. South-South co-operation is a fundamental principle of Algeria's policies. We are convinced that promoting varied trade between the countries of the South is a very promising dimension in international economic relations and a vital necessity if the developing countries wish to rise to the status of full-fledged partners in a world that is undergoing fundamental changes.
In this context, the creation of a summit consultative group on South-South co-operation, whose first summit was held in Kuala Lumpur in June 1990, is likely to give concrete meaning and decisive political thrust to South-South co-operation.
The report of the South Commission with respect to international co-operation in general and South-South co-operation in particular must be viewed as a valuable contribution. It is based on innovative thinking and advocates a fruitful approach and realistic steps which we owe it to ourselves to take into account both individually and collectively. I should like here to pay a fraternal tribute to a great man and worthy son of Africa, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, as well as to the entire membership of the South Commission over which he presides.
Any new outlook in international relations should be a reflection of the international will and should be based, therefore, on the contributions of all States in a context of co-equality regardless of their international weight, their level of economic development or their military might. This means that if the United Nations is to be an impartial tool of the collective will and collective action, it must constantly ensure respect for the rules of objectivity and equality of treatment. The United Nations is the very embodiment of all the best that humanity desires for itself. The vision that the United Nations has of the world cannot therefore be identified with that held by any particular State or group of States. Transcending strategies and interests defined in terms of restricted economic circles and exclusive military clubs, it is rather by merging individual advantage and common cause that this noble work can be accomplished.
That vision demands a great deal of the Members of our Organization, particularly of those who have power and prosperity in their favour. It requires that they be exemplary in their behaviour in the international arena. In effect, their individual and collective contributions will be decisive in strengthening international peace and security and bringing about the international economic co-operation that would promote sound development.
Hence in the world will be much more effectively guaranteed if economic development is more widely shared. It is our profound hope that the United Nations will work to provide humanity with what may prove to be its most valuable asset.


Mr. President, events in Eastern and Central Europe that were gratifying to all of us occurred or were about to occur when the United States and the Soviet Union were meeting in your country. While congratulating you on being elected to your high office, I also wish to pay tribute to Malta, a non-aligned country that provided the background for one of the episodes that accompanied - and perhaps contributed to - the fundamental changes in present-day international relations.
I should also like to pay tribute to Joseph Garba of Nigeria, who presided with talent and authority over the forty-fourth session of the Assembly, during which, inter alia, we adopted by consensus a Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa; that Declaration played a part in creating the international climate which led to the release of that great fighter, Nelson Mandela.
If the United Nations today is witnessing not a rebirth but a new birth, we also owe this to the tireless efforts, great patience and calm perseverance of the Secretary-General who, true to his mission and his responsibilities, has upheld against all odds the principles, purposes and objectives of the Charter. The independence of Namibia, which we welcomed here in April upon its admission to the Organisation, was one of his principal concerns.
Just as we hail unified Yemen and unified Germany, we also welcome among us with particular pleasure Liechtenstein, whose initiative gives further proof of the universality of the Organization's usefulness in these difficult and uncertain times.
Barely had we witnessed the final throes of the East-West confrontation when we found ourselves at a new turning-point in history. A combination of geopolitics, selfish considerations, half-truths, cunning tricks and flagrant bias have brought us to our present pass. Iraq has invaded Kuwait, and Burkina Faso, like the rest of the international community, condemns that flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of the sovereign rights of a Member State. Today the situation is at worst an intolerable attack on law and justice and at best a conflict between law and justice.
Nevertheless, the clear-sightedness and experience of peoples prevent them from being misled by concealed interests that by their nature are constant and unchanging. Principles that were ignored in similar situations in the past are now being cited for the sake of those interests. In the name of that clear-sightedness and experience, I should like to set forth Burkina Faso’s view of the problems that beset us and that make the struggle for justice and peace so loner and so arduous.
The important political, economic and social changes that we have witnessed and participated in are occurring along a line and in a context that is gradually beginning to be seen for what it really is: a split papered over with the un-kept promises of some and the un-avowed purposes of others. By engaging in such fruitless exercises we are quite simply compromising the future of the world's children, even though last Sunday in this very Hall we solemnly recognized that "There can be no task nobler than giving every child a better future".
In whatever context we place them, the problems are numerous and the solutions few. A good climate makes a good harvest only if the seed is good. What kind of seed are we sowing?
In the Middle East the situation, under the impact of the events in the Gulf region, remains highly sensitive, the more so because we do not understand what difference there is between an annexation that took place two months ago and another that has now persisted and been developing in various unofficial but concrete forms for 22 years. The immigration of Soviet and Eastern European Jews to the occupied Arab territories is further inflaming an open wound. The intifadah continues to be a revolt against injustice and a call for justice to prevail.
The convening of an international conference on peace in the Middle East, bringing together all the parties concerned, is becoming an increasingly pressing imperative for those who seek a genuine and definitive solution to the problem.
Lebanon, which has long been the victim of a conflict that is overwhelming it, awaits the restoration of its State and the coming of national reconciliation. We hope that the efforts of the Tripartite Commission will be successful.
With regard to Afghanistan, my country remains concerned at the pernicious continuance of fratricidal combat. A comprehensive political settlement in accordance with the consensus resolutions adopted at the forty-third and forty-fourth sessions of the General Assembly should be supported in order to achieve the unity and harmony needed for the country's reconstruction and development.
In Korea the opening of preliminary discussions at Seoul foreshadows a better future for reunification. Burkina Faso is of the view that one way to encourage that process would be to avoid taking negative and partisan attitudes and thus to enable the long-divided Korean people to reunite.
With regard to Cambodia, we hope that the framework document of 28 August 1990 drawn up by the five permanent members of the Security Council will lead to an agreement among all the parties to the conflict and that peace will come back to stay.
Reaffirming Burkina Faso's support for the unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-aligned status of Cyprus, we hope that the Secretary-General's mission of good offices will bear fruit.
My continent, Africa, is prey to acute conflicts, for which, we feel, the international community should, in one way or another, help to find a peaceful settlement. More specifically, with regard to Western Sahara, Burkina Faso continues to support the joint good offices of the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. It expresses its satisfaction at the adoption of Security Council resolution 658 (1990) on 27 June 1990 and hopes that the organization of a true referendum on self-determination will bring lasting peace and stability to the region.
With regard to Liberia, Burkina Faso reaffirms its firm support for an appropriate solution and stresses the urgent need for increased humanitarian assistance to the Liberian people. Burkina Faso supports the convening of a special summit meeting of the Economic Community of West African States to promote reconciliation and a peaceful and definitive resolution of that fratricidal conflict.
In Mozambique and Angola, we encourage the efforts being carried out to restore peace through dialogue.
In South Africa, apartheid remains, and although Nelson Mandela is out of prison he is not yet free. Burkina Faso, along with the international community, is waiting for the abolition pure and simple of apartheid and is waiting for Mr, De Klerk to take irreversible steps in that direction. The economic sanctions are still necessary, and the South African people must maintain the same vigilance in the face of attempts at division and the fomenting of internal strife.
Agreement, co-operation and now interaction between the two military super-Powers mark a break with the past and are producing an impact on all international relations, particularly through the reducing of hot-beds of tension, the consolidation of the disarmament process and the functioning of the Security Council as it was envisaged in 1945.
I have already said that a good climate does not make a good harvest unless there is good seed. What do we have on the economic side? It is clear that at the end of the twentieth century we are witnessing a unique phenomenon. We are privileged witnesses of an acceleration of history with a scope that is difficult to measure. The only certainty is that we are watching the scene being set in the theatre of the unknown that the twentieth century has always been for the authors of science fiction.
The international community must set the scene, but it must take every precaution to ensure that there will not be a tragedy. In other words, the progress achieved by mankind in the political and technological areas throughout the twentieth century must not be compromised by economic distortions, which can lead only to a confrontation prejudicial to the welfare and the survival of the species.
There is an urgent need for North and South to learn to march together and in harmony so that neither enters the future a step behind. That was already, we need not recall, the main objective of the First United Nations Development Decade. Since then, and at the start of the Fourth Development Decade, disappointment has reached its peak among the poor; the poorest of the poor are filled with despair, while others take refuge in shameful selfishness.
It is intolerable that today, in this era of abundance and technological successes that defy the imagination, more than a billion human beings live in absolute poverty; that as many - 900 million adults and 100 million children - are illiterate; that 1.7 billion have no access to drinking water; that 800 million are hungry; that one child in three is malnourished; and that 14 million children die before the age of five.
What is even more unacceptable, because it shows the failure of North-South co-operation, is that the flow of resources from developed countries to developing countries, which was positive 10 years ago, has been reversed outrageously, falling from $42.6 billion in 1980 to minus $33 billion today.
The indebtedness of the developing countries in 1990 exceeds $1,300 billion, with debt servicing of $200 billion. In view of the drop in commodity prices that the developing countries have suffered in the past few years, the deterioration in the terms of trade is only becoming worse. Thus, Burkina Faso, a cotton-exporting country must today pay the equivalent of the value of 30 tons of its product to buy a tractor, as opposed to 10 tons in 1970. Because of this, any investment effort aimed at economic growth is dependent today on external assistance. We have seen that this assistance is an aberration in terms of flow of resources and is an unbearable burden in terms of dues and taxes. Moreover, it has become discriminatory and insufficient, not to say sparse.
The decade of the 1930s, a lost decade for the development of our countries, has also, paradoxically, been the decade during which the concept of the quality of life has become universal. Thus, rich countries have striven to implement social policies with the ultimate aim of securing the well-being of the human person. For their part, the poor countries, while ensuring the survival of their populations, now justly demand that development have a greater qualitative content.
Moreover, it seems that rich and poor have finally agreed to recognize the urgency of preserving and restoring our environment. It is to be hoped that this common heritage of mankind - endangered by the actions of the human race, and technological development principally - will be restored by the human race through the implementation of the latest techniques. The same applies to the survival of our planet and its civilisations. We must urgently orient research towards technologies that will reduce the emission of certain gases such as chlorofluorocarbons and carbon dioxide, responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer, the development of the greenhouse effect and acid rain, whose combined effects are irreversibly altering our environment.
The next United Nations Conference on the Environment, scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, will be the occasion for re-establishing a truth which seems to have been forgotten, namely, that development is indispensable for the well-being of people but at the same time it has its own limits. That applies to the environment but also, and above all, to societies whose balance is frequently threatened by economic choices favouring development/growth to the detriment of the more harmonious development which encompasses all aspects of human life.
As I stressed at the forty-fourth session of the General Assembly, that is where our conception diverges from that of the rich countries when we speak about such important ideas as democracy and human rights. I repeat here that for us the defence of democracy and of human rights come via the promotion of a more just international economic order.
In this regard, we cannot pass over in silence our partners' failure to respect the goals set by common agreement here in the General Assembly and throughout the United Nations system for international economic co-operation for development. The poor results of both the eighteenth special session of the General Assembly, held from 23 March to 1 April 1990, and the second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Paris from 3 to 14 September, are clearly signs of a lack of political will. However, we hardly need recall that our countries have agreed to huge sacrifices to restore our macro-economic balance and have adopted bold programmes to stimulate growth, despite structural disorders and the profound crisis affecting the world economy. As far as Burkina Faso is concerned, we made our own adjustments several years before we appealed to the international financial institutions. We now expect the Bretton Woods institutions and our traditional partners to give us the new resources that will provide the revivifying oxygen necessary for economic recovery and for social well-being, which are objectives of our second five-year development plan. The aim of the second plan is to consolidate the gains made in the priority sectors during the first plan, while stressing economic growth and human development.
On the domestic front still, since October 1977 Comrade President Blaise Compaore and the Popular Front have been working, within the framework of the People's Democratic Revolution, to create the fundamental and real conditions in which the people itself can take on the management and direction of their affairs. The first Congress of the Popular Front called for a constitutional process, and so in 1991, there will be major electoral events in the country, enabling it to go on putting in place the political institutions in keeping with its people's requirements for social and political democracy.
Our ambitions are neither out of the ordinary nor out of place. They stem from the will to survive and to integrate ourselves into the community of nations. Generally speaking, we take as our basic objectives those set by the United Nations itself. These relate inter alia, to food self-sufficiency, access to drinking water, primary health care, literacy and improving living conditions. To attain these objectives, which are the basis for all development, we are using our own territory and means; we are relying on the regional framework and South-South co-operation; and we welcome any contribution from outside our country and region consolidating the South-South co-operation effort and the North-South contract of solidarity.
In general terms, we are convinced that, for the pivotal decade of the 1990s, external assistance must be in large quantity and of good quality and must take account of the particularities of the recipients. We should therefore review the aid philosophy and try to solve the problem of poor countries, indebtedness in order to inject enough new resources into their economies for there to be growth and development. Unless adequate steps are taken, we fear that the impoverishment and marginalisation of whole Nations will in time become a serious threat to international peace and security.
In this respect, East-West detente, the socio-political upheavals in Eastern Europe and the integration of the whole Eastern European region into the rest of Europe, which we see beginning, are consolidating the North-South divide. The Governments represented here and they alone are responsible for seeing to it that this new division in the world does not contain within it the seed of future conflicts.
Wisdom would dictate that the dividends of peace following on detente should serve peace through massive investment in development. Reason dictates that the North - that is, yesterday's East and West - should join forces to support the South in its daily struggle for survival, growth, development and a better life. The twenty-first century will, if we so desire, be the century of the greatest good for the greatest number. And is that not also democracy?