My delegation joins others in warmly
congratulating Ambassador Razali Ismail on his election to
the presidency of the fifty-first session of the General
Assembly. His election is indeed, and in fact, a tribute
both to him and to his great country, Malaysia. I would
assure him of my delegation’s full cooperation during his
tenure of office.
It also gives me great pleasure to extend the
profound gratitude of my delegation to the outgoing
President of the historic fiftieth session of the General
Assembly, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal, who
presided over the session with such great skill, dexterity
and expertise.
Lasting peace and security on our planet are the very
cornerstones of progress and prosperity in our nation
States. They are the cornerstones of accelerated
development, to which we all, developing and least
developed countries, aspire.
Mankind has fervently sought to live in peace and
security throughout the ages, but lasting peace and
security in our world have been very elusive, particularly
during this century. In the early part of this century, we
became embroiled in the First World War. We all thought
that that was the war to end all wars, and then came the
Second World War, two decades later. It was the worst
destructive war of our times, and it left many challenges
to peace and security in its wake.
The end of the war saw our world bipolarized and
busy with the pursuit of spheres of influence by the two
super-Powers, which culminated in a new era, the cold-
war era. Prospects for peace and security in our world
faded as the super-Powers and other major Powers began
a race for the production and stockpiling of new weapons
of war and mass destruction.
The world entered a new phase, the nuclear age,
when several Powers began to develop, test and produce
nuclear weapons. The testing of those weapons to make
them even more powerful took place in many parts of the
world, including my country’s own region in the South
Pacific. In such a milieu, peace and security became a
constant prayer but a distant hope, as many of us in the
non-nuclear world were filled with foreboding that our
world was on the brink of nuclear extinction.
In such a horrific scenario, common sense began to
prevail, and that common sense, buoyed by the initiatives
of this important Organization, the United Nations, led to
the conclusion of several important but limited treaties
and to the Conference on Disarmament. Those initiatives
12

were ultimately crowned with success when, on 10
September 1996, in an extended fiftieth session of the
United Nations General Assembly, the vast majority of the
world’s nations adopted the text of a Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the CTBT.
In the context of the South Pacific region, with the
adoption of the CTBT, the signature by the United States
of America, the United Kingdom and France of the
Protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear-Free-Zone Treaty —
the Treaty of Rarotonga — and the ratification by France
of the Protocols, my country and the countries of the region
can breathe a sigh of relief at the cessation of the assault on
our environment. Now our Governments can focus on the
economic and social utilization of our natural resources to
improve and increase the standard of living of our peoples
without having to worry as much as we have in the past
about the effects nuclear testing was having on the health
of our people and the environment of the region. To further
enhance this positive and welcome development, we urge
the United States and the United Kingdom to ratify the
Protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear-Free-Zone Treaty.
My country hails the adoption of the CTBT as one of
the greatest achievements of the international community
this century. It represents an imposing foundation for the
establishment of lasting peace and security in our world.
The CTBT may not be the paragon of virtue most of
us probably expected it to be. It is, nevertheless, a bold and
constructive initiative that is meaningful and at the same
time a reassurance of our survival of the nuclear menace.
All of us must take the responsibility of assuring the
success of the Treaty. My country calls on all nations of the
world, in the interest of lasting peace and security on our
planet and in the interest of all mankind, to sign and ratify
the CTBT. Fiji signed the CTBT the day it was opened for
signature. My Government has already decided to ratify it.
In the final analysis, we do not see the adoption of the
CTBT as the final nail in the coffin of nuclear weapons. To
achieve our ultimate and pre-eminent aim and our desire for
lasting peace and security in our world, my country would
like to see the CTBT as merely the first step towards an
end to the production of all nuclear weapons, an end to the
stockpiling of all nuclear weapons, the ultimate destruction
of all nuclear weapons, the establishment of a nuclear-
weapon-free world and general disarmament as a whole.
Today, while we rejoice with a degree of relief at the
adoption and signing of the CTBT, it is at the same time
also incumbent upon us not to relax our vigilance with
regard to the moves and proposals in certain quarters to
import and dump nuclear waste and other forms of
hazardous waste in our region. I refer specifically to
reported plans afoot by certain unscrupulous nuclear-
waste dealers to use the Palmyra Islands and certain other
sites in the Pacific as permanent disposal facilities for
nuclear waste.
My country wishes to make it clear to all concerned
that we in the Pacific region will not sit idly by and allow
any further reckless and mindless destruction of our
environment and detriment to the health of our people
through any form of nuclear contamination.
The stark reality of international affairs in our world
today is that total nuclear disarmament and general
disarmament, or even accelerated movement towards
those goals, will not end tensions and conflicts and threats
to peace. Even when weapons were made of stone,
tensions, threats to peace and conflicts existed. And when
we look at the events that are happening at present in a
number of countries around us, my country recognizes,
and I am sure we all do, that we must create in our
international life a system of preventive diplomacy that
can respond promptly, positively, peacefully and
effectively to potential conflicts and threats of genocide,
and de-escalate internal tensions and threats to internal
and regional peace. My country wishes to recall its
recommendation to the fiftieth session of the General
Assembly that earnest and urgent action should be taken
to set up a special United Nations department or unit to
pursue preventive diplomacy in conflict prevention and
conflict resolution. The department, in collaboration with
competent countries and authorities, should have the
capacity to receive, collate, analyse and interpret
intelligence information and reports with a view to early
detection of potential conflicts and early reaction to
contain, minimize and resolve such conflicts in
collaboration with relevant Member States. We should
take every step within our power to prevent fires rather
than having to put them out, to save lives rather than
having to condemn the loss of lives.
Accordingly, my country welcomes the offer made
by Norway in the General Assembly to establish a fund
for preventive action at the United Nations and that
country’s pledge to provide some financial contribution to
the fund annually.
In our efforts to promote, establish and maintain
peace and security in our world, it is incumbent upon us
13

to recognize and realize that security has several
dimensions, not the least of which is economic security.
Sluggish economic development and limited
development growth have affected developing countries and
in particular, small island States, threatening national
regional stability in one way or another. My country
therefore calls on the international community, first, to
increase official development assistance and to improve the
quality of such assistance to developing countries; secondly,
to cooperate in the creation of a more equitable
international economic environment and thereby help to
promote sustained economic growth and sustainable
development, and at the same time, help to eradicate
poverty; thirdly, to dismantle trade barriers and restrictions
to market access; fourthly, to improve the access of
developing countries to capital from international financial
institutions and commercial sources; and lastly, to facilitate
and assist the flow of investment capital and appropriate
technologies to developing countries.
We have noted with concern that donor countries have
failed to comply with the internationally agreed targets of
official development assistance and commitments for new
and additional resources. There is urgent need for a
substantial expansion of official development assistance and
for qualitative improvements in official development
assistance by donor countries through a reduced cost of
repayment. In fact, my country has noted with deep regret
that while some developed countries have been making
efforts to meet the official development assistance level,
such assistance from some rich countries has been declining
noticeably, and the decline has been taking place in the
post-cold-war era, when it was to be expected that such
countries were in a better position to increase the flow of
official development assistance as a result of greater
stability in the world and reduced tensions between former
antagonists. In fact, in the case of a few traditional donors,
aid has almost completely dried up. In some cases, aid is
being systematically reduced. It appears that our region is
no longer a strategic area for competition by the former
cold-war antagonists to gain our favour.
My country is concerned to see the recent trend in
some countries to seek to impose alien norms on countries
with a unique, traditional and customary nature of society,
especially indigenous societies. On the other hand, with
respect to Japan and some South-East Asian countries such
as Malaysia, development assistance is provided with no
intention of interfering in their internal affairs.
International cooperation for development lies at the
very heart of improving the living conditions of the great
majority of people in our world who live in developing
and least developed countries. My country fully supports
an Agenda for Development, which is aimed at restoring
the imperative of development as a central concern. Such
an agenda should contain specific, concrete and pragmatic
proposals that could be translated into action programmes
and implemented on the basis of global priorities.
The Agreement amending the fourth Lomé
Convention between the countries of Africa, the
Caribbean and the Pacific and the European Community,
signed in Mauritius on 4 November 1995, includes a
Second Financial Protocol that ensures that the European
Development Fund will be available for development
projects in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries up to
the end of February 2000. This commitment by the
European Union is a direct endorsement of a multilateral
accord and a North-South development instrument that
has worked and that has been widely acclaimed
throughout the world. Many critics are predicting the end
of Lomé by the year 2000. However, within the
Community itself, and within the 70 African, Caribbean
and Pacific States, the idea of a successor agreement to
Lomé IV is a fait accompli. That in itself is a firm and
unambiguous recognition of the dire need for such an
instrument beyond the year 2000.
It is therefore our — and indeed everyone’s —
responsibility to protect and defend the principles and
philosophy behind an accord such as the Lomé
Convention. Those who are carried along by the
liberalization of the so-called winds of change that are
sweeping through the continents must realize that parts of
our international community will still require preferential
arrangements in the interest of economic and political
parity and of equity, peace and stability in the world.
It is sad to note that the developed countries have so
far failed to fulfil their commitments to provide new and
additional financial resources and technology transfer to
the developing countries on favourable terms. The
implementation of such commitments is most necessary
for international economic cooperation, as is meaningful
and effective follow-up to major conferences.
My country calls for the prompt and full
implementation of the commitments and recommendations
of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), which are more relevant today
than ever before. We believe that under UNCED
14

developing countries should have the right to benefit fully
from the utilization of their natural resources if they are to
achieve sustained economic growth and maintain
sustainable development.
We wish to highlight the continuing urgent need to
promote and facilitate industrialization as an instrument to
facilitate rapid economic and social development in
developing countries, which will contribute to the
elimination of poverty and the generation of productive
employment. The strengthening of the industrial bases of
developing and least developed countries should become an
international imperative.
My country calls on the international community to
ensure an open, rule-based, equitable, secure, non-
discriminatory, transparent and predictable multilateral
trading system with the aim of achieving the complete
integration of the developing countries into the world
economy and the new international trading system.
We call upon Member States to implement fully the
commitments agreed to in the Final Act adopted by the
World Trade Conference, which confers special and
differential treatment on developing countries. We believe
that the carefully balanced package of rights and obligations
with respect to the World Trade Organization should be
carefully preserved and that the essential priority should be
the implementation and fulfilment of such rights and
obligations and the adoption of measures to mitigate
adverse consequences on the developing countries.
The present unfair trading system is stagnating the
economies of small island States when the international
community is committed to protecting them. Fiji has
deregulated its economy and its trade system, but we are
deterred in our efforts to gain access to the markets of
some developed countries, which still retain regulatory
barriers of one kind or other.
My country therefore warmly welcomes the statement
by the British Foreign Minister in this Assembly that the
developed world must demolish the barriers it still
maintains against imports from the developing world and
the concomitant commitment to bring a vision of global
free trade to reality by the year 2020.
It is sad to note that the debt crisis persists as one of
the main constraints to development in developing
countries. We wish to stress the urgent need for the
international community, particularly donor countries and
international financial institutions, to adopt an effective,
comprehensive and equitable development-oriented and
durable solution to the debt problem of developing
countries.
My country strongly supports the World Food
Summit to be held at Rome next month. It is the first
time that world leaders will meet to debate and renew a
commitment to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and to
address the issues of food security for all peoples through
the adoption of policies and actions at the national,
subregional, regional and international levels.
As we pursue initiatives on several fronts to promote
and facilitate lasting peace and security in our world, we
have to be mindful of areas of tension that exist
concurrently.
The Washington Middle East peace summit has
come and gone, but at least it succeeded in bringing
together the leader of Israel and the Palestinian leader in
dialogue and discussion. We urge the parties to pursue in
a meaningful way the initiative set in motion by the
Washington summit. We also urge continued restraint by
all. Killing and lamentations may have become an
established way of life in the region, but peace and
peaceful coexistence are the only civilized way towards
progress and prosperity for all. We call upon the parties
to undertake genuine and constructive action to negotiate,
achieve and maintain a just and lasting peace in the
Middle East.
The Dayton accords succeeded in bringing a halt to
armed hostilities in war-torn Bosnia. General elections
have been held, but the situation remains fragile and the
conclusion is inescapable that the international
peacekeeping presence in Bosnia should remain for some
time to come to consolidate the gains that have been
achieved so far.
Recent events in Cyprus have reminded us that the
tense situation in that country persists, and my country
continues to urge all parties to accelerate the pace of the
negotiations in the interest of finding a constructive, just
and lasting solution as early as possible.
Recent events in the Straits of Taiwan have
highlighted the tension that exists in that region of the
world, a region which is otherwise currently witnessing a
most dynamic economic growth. Both the People’s
Republic of China and Taiwan, which are also active
participants in post-forum dialogue with the island
countries of the South Pacific Forum, contribute
15

significantly to the development of the South Pacific region.
My country welcomes the spirit of cooperation between
Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China and encourages
the continuation of such dialogue and cooperation.
The genocide in Rwanda and Burundi imposes an
obligation on our community of nations to pursue every
possible initiative to prevent tragedies of such magnitude
and to avoid a recurrence whenever and wherever they
occur, and not on a selective basis or to serve the self-
interest of one or another major Power. The conclusion is
inescapable that such problems should not be left entirely
to regional organizations to resolve, since they may have
neither the capacity nor the resources to deal effectively
with the situation.
My county condemns international terrorism and will
fully support all international efforts and measures to
eliminate international terrorism. We will also support
initiatives to negotiate an international agreement to ban the
use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel
mines.
We fully support international efforts in crime
prevention and criminal justice and are fully appreciative of
the preparatory work being done on the establishment of an
international criminal court.
My country would like to reemphasize its strong view
that the question of the protection and security of small
States should remain a central concern of the United
Nations. For as long as drug traffickers, international arms
dealers, money launderers and international white-collar
criminals continue their criminal activities, and as long as
mercenaries and terrorists exist, small States will remain
vulnerable to acts of aggression from without as well as
from within. Small States especially look to the provisions
of the United Nations Charter for the respect and
preservation of their sovereignty.
My country continues to urge all parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to
move speedily towards the conclusion of an effective
protocol that would ultimately bring about improvements in
the global climate system. My country is one of the many
that is vulnerable to rising sea levels, hurricanes and other
phenomena associated with disastrous climate changes. Our
physical survival could be affected if immediate action is
not taken to address the problem of climate changes in our
world. The meeting of the South Pacific Forum held in the
Marshall Islands from 3 to 5 September this year
highlighted the Forum’s concern that climate change has
become a crucial issue within the region. It called — and
we share that call — for urgent action, particularly in
view of the second assessment report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which stated
that the balance of scientific evidence suggested a
discernible human influence on the global climate. The
Forum welcomed the outcome of the second session of
the Conference of the Parties to the Framework
Convention on Climate Change and called for acceleration
of negotiations on the text of a legally binding protocol or
another legal instrument to be completed in time for
adoption at the third session of the Conference of Parties
in order to achieve significant progress towards the goal
of lower greenhouse-gas emissions.
The South Pacific Forum also called upon all
countries to support the activities of the Ad Hoc Group
on the Berlin Mandate and reaffirmed its support for the
inclusion of the draft protocol presented by the Alliance
of Small Island States for consideration in the negotiating
process.
My country warmly welcomes the recent
establishment of the International Seabed Authority and
the election of the judges of the International Tribunal for
the Law of the Sea. These new developments, together
with the successful completion last year of the United
Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly
Migratory Fish Stocks, will maintain the momentum in
the implementation of the Law of the Sea Convention. In
particular, we support the promotion of the regime for the
sustainable utilization of the living resources of the sea.
It is our sincere hope that the International Seabed
Authority will administer the resources of the sea for the
benefit of mankind. My country calls on the international
community and the United Nations, in accordance with
the decision of the General Assembly taken in July 1994
to provide adequate funding and adequate technical
support to the International Seabed Authority so that it
can competently discharge in a most effective and
efficient manner the responsibilities we gave it under the
Convention. My delegation is pleased to be a sponsor of
a draft resolution seeking the granting of observer status
in the United Nations for the International Seabed
Authority.
The United Nations has done a remarkable and
excellent job in carrying out its mandates during the 51
years of its existence. It has played a significant,
discernible and indispensable role in human affairs, from
the peaceful resolution of conflicts and peacekeeping to
16

economic development and social progress, from food and
agriculture to employment and labour standards, from
helping the children of our world to fostering human rights
and justice. The international community is deeply indebted
to the United Nations, which should continue to be a forum
for multilateral cooperation and not an instrument that
major Powers may use to serve their own national self-
interests. My country acknowledges with profound gratitude
the assistance and cooperation it has been receiving from
the United Nations in its national and regional development
efforts. Fiji continues to pledge its commitment to the
United Nations and to what it stands for.
It is appropriate to observe, however, that in order to
respond to the many demands of this complex world in
which we all live, the United Nations has had to expand.
Over a period of years, it has become very heavy, thereby
greatly increasing the cost of its operation. The unhealthy
state of United Nations finances does not derive, however,
solely from the Organization’s enhanced and expanding
structure. It has also been exacerbated by the non-payment
of dues and assessments. We call on all Member States that
have not paid their dues or assessments and are in arrears
to pay them promptly, fully and without conditions.
My country appreciates the steps taken this year by the
United Nations administration to improve management, to
make services more efficient and more effective and to cut
costs. Notwithstanding the action that has been taken, my
country believes that more can and should be done to make
the Organization leaner and more streamlined and at the
same time to reduce costs further. The various organs,
agencies and departments of the United Nations need to be
rationalized in line with the modalities of today’s world,
and structural changes and more personnel reforms must be
instituted to make it more responsive to the constant
demands of a continuously changing international
community.
My country believes that the scale of assessments for
the apportionment of expenses should be reassessed to
make it more equitable and less burdensome for small
island States.
My country believes that the time has come for the
reform of the Security Council. We submit, as we did last
year, that the organs of the United Nations should reflect
changes in the global political landscape as well as the
principles of geographic representation and equity. The
Security Council should, in our view, be enlarged to
accommodate the existing global political landscape.
Since peace and security underpin the very
foundation of this Organization, my country fully supports
the international peacekeeping missions of the United
Nations. We are committed to the maintenance of
international peace and security and, despite the fact that
we are a small, developing island State with a small
population, we have actively participated in the vast
majority of United Nations peacekeeping missions. Fijian
soldiers are serving in the Middle East with both the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and the
Multinational Force and Observers, as well as in Iraq and
Kuwait. They have served in Afghanistan, Somalia and in
Rwanda. Our policemen, too, have served in Angola,
Cambodia, Namibia and Iraq, and are currently serving in
Eastern Slavonia and in Croatia. Several of our men have
lost their lives in the service of the international
community and in the pursuit of peace and security in our
world.
Peacekeeping is the responsibility of all Member
States, whether they contribute troops and personnel or
not. We therefore urge all countries concerned to expedite
the settlement of the assessments for peacekeeping due to
the United Nations. And in turn, we urge the United
Nations expeditiously and fully to settle the amounts or
arrears outstanding to Member countries for their
participation in peacekeeping operations.
As I stated previously, international security has
many dimensions. The security of the world’s indigenous
peoples is one such dimension. The history of the world’s
indigenous peoples is replete with wholesale slaughter,
genocide and, in some cases, total annihilation during the
era of exploration, discovery and colonization.
The Prime Minister of Fiji, the Honourable Sitiveni
Rabuka, told the United Nations last year that it:
“must guarantee that external values and forces do
not continue to coerce political concessions,
economic reforms and social changes not desired by
indigenous peoples themselves”. (Official Records of
the General Assembly, Fiftieth Session, Plenary
Meetings, 40th meeting, p. 49)
At the opening of the regional workshop on the draft
United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous
peoples held in Fiji last month, the Prime Minister of Fiji
declared that:
17

“In our Pacific home, we have been sole proprietors
in most places for no less than three thousand years;
in most other places, for much longer.”
Our Prime Minister stated that it must be legally
accepted that:
“We are the first settlers, first dwellers or proprietors
of our land. Secondly, we are a collective group that
was imposed upon by uninvited external forces who
disrupted the normal march of our history. As victims
of what continues to be described as imperialism and
colonialism, we cannot, in our quest for freedom,
allow the vestiges of foreign domination to encroach
upon us, either through internal machinations or
external collusion.”
The Fiji workshop agreed in principle that, wherever
possible, efforts to strengthen the text of the current draft
declaration should be encouraged. The unanimous view of
the workshop was that efforts by States to undermine the
existing language of the draft should be actively resisted by
indigenous peoples. The workshop further resolved that
Pacific indigenous peoples should seek to promote greater
support for the draft declaration within the United Nations
system so that the overall objective of achieving an
effective and meaningful declaration on indigenous peoples
is reached.
My country, which has had a multiracial population
for the last 150 years, warmly welcomes the observance of
the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
We strongly urge, during the International Decade, the
adoption of the declaration on the rights of indigenous
peoples. My country believes that the declaration should not
be the alpha and the omega of indigenous rights, but should
be merely a first step towards the negotiation, under the
auspices of the United Nations, of a comprehensive legal
convention on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Tension and fears among the indigenous people in Fiji
led to the military overthrow of the Government in 1987
and the promulgation of a new Constitution in 1990 by an
interim Government. That Constitution provided indigenous
Fijians majority representation in Parliament. That
Constitution was reviewed by a three-member commission
headed by Sir Paul Reeves of New Zealand. After over 12
months of review, the commission recently submitted its
report and recommendations to the Government. The
Government has duly submitted the report to Parliament
and a Select Committee, comprising representatives of all
the political parties in Parliament, has been appointed to
consider the Commission’s report and recommendations.
Lasting peace and security in our world has been an
illusion for the greater part of this century. With the new
global changes, with our recent adoption of the CTBT,
with rising optimism regarding the Conference on
Disarmament, with what can be perceived as a genuine
desire for peace, and with more meaningful international
collaboration in the areas of economic cooperation and
development, there is some hope for achieving lasting
peace and security in our world.


Permit me at the outset to
congratulate you, Ambassador Razali, on your election to
the presidency of the fifty-first session of the General
Assembly. Your election is a fitting tribute to your
distinguished career in diplomacy, an expression of
confidence in your abilities and a reflection of the high
regard in which you and your country, Malaysia, are held
by the international community. You have our confidence,
and I can assure you of Tanzania’s full support and
cooperation as you guide the deliberations of this session.
I commend also your predecessor, Mr. Freitas do Amaral
of Portugal, who very ably presided over the historic fiftieth
session of the Assembly.
My appreciation goes also to the Secretary-General,
His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a
distinguished son of Africa, who for the past five years
has worked tirelessly to enhance the image of the
Organization as well as its ability to meet the challenges
of the rapidly evolving international environment. He has
provided dedicated leadership at a particularly difficult
time in the history of the United Nations, enduring often
unwarranted personal criticism even as he was operating
in a situation of diminishing resources on the one hand,
and escalating, often conflicting, expectations on the other
hand.
My predecessor in office stood at this rostrum
exactly two years ago and, in bidding farewell to the
United Nations, spoke of the political transition then
under way in my country and of preparations for the first
multi-party elections in Tanzania in over 30 years. He
underlined his intention to bequeath to the people of
Tanzania a functioning democracy leveraged upon a
shared national culture of political accommodation and
tolerance. Today, I am proud to be here as a product of
that process of transition, to reaffirm our commitment and
abiding faith in the United Nations in its endeavour to
promote international peace and security as well as
economic and social development throughout the world.
The United Nations has, since its inception,
expanded its role in the international system
tremendously, becoming a major player in national
development and international cooperation. The various
summits that it has organized in recent years, coupled

with its numerous activities covering the entire spectrum of
political, social and economic spheres, in all corners of the
world, is testimony to the critical role of the United Nations
in resolving the national and international problems facing
mankind.
The United Nations has helped maintain international
peace and security at very critical times. It has overseen the
delivery of peoples and nations from the shackles of
colonialism and institutionalized racism to independence.
As a result of these efforts, membership has increased
almost fourfold. The ideals of freedom and justice and
human rights are understood by most of the world, even if
they may not always be observed. The United Nations has
built a common global culture of shared values, and it has
also helped in promoting development, building social and
economic infrastructures and much more.
Today, the United Nations stands at a crossroads. New
challenges, not least those brought about by a rapidly
changing international environment, keep demanding its
undivided attention. The challenge before us, as we stand
on the threshold of the new millennium, is to invigorate and
reinforce this Organization, drawing upon the collective
resources and knowledge of our world and acting in
partnership.
Likewise, the ideal we all share for participatory
democracy in each Member country needs to find
expression on the international plane as well. In the course
of the last few years, we have agonized over the process of
reform within this Organization. We all want an efficient
and revitalized United Nations — one that is more attuned
to the realities we live with and capable of meeting the new
challenges we face. We must reform its methods of work
and bring greater institutional and policy coherence into the
Organization. Adjustment and realignment are necessary
processes for the renewal and continued relevance of this
Organization. Tanzania salutes all those individuals,
institutions and Governments that have contributed to this
process of review.
It is our hope, however, that any reform will preserve
and enhance the basic principles underlying the United
Nations. We want reform — but only the kind of reform
that will ultimately strengthen the hand of our Organization
in promoting its ideals. We want greater transparency in the
work of our institutions, and the reinforcement of the
principles of sovereign equality of States and justice. We
need democratization of our institutions, and greater balance
in representation on the Security Council between the
developed North and the developing South.
We cannot, however, expect the United Nations to
be, and do, all this and more without giving it the means
with which to work. Meeting our financial obligations to
the Organization must, therefore, complement our
demands upon the Organization and serve to demonstrate
our commitment to the ideals it seeks to promote.
Just as we have the right to applaud the
achievements of the United Nations, we must also have
the courage to concede that it has yet to make a dent in
the scourge of abject poverty that afflicts the greater part
of its membership. This is where we must now direct its
attention and resources. The 1995 World Summit for
Social Development in Copenhagen was a good starting
point, and we must implement the letter and spirit of the
commitments made there. Unless the issue of poverty is
addressed comprehensively, we cannot achieve
meaningful and enduring peace. We must restore the
development agenda to the heart of the philosophy and
work of the United Nations.
The world is largely considered peaceful because
there has not been a third world war. Yet, for those who
are menaced by regional conflicts, for the victims of
oppression and injustice, and for those who subsist in
unremitting poverty amid a world of plenty, their world
is at war. Taken together, these people account for the
largest part of the world population, and the United
Nations must give them the attention they deserve today.
Our United Nations cannot speak of a peaceful world
when the future of our children — and their right to grow
up as children — is undermined by conflict and poverty,
and when urban squalor is breeding anarchy in local
communities. Peace must be pursued in a comprehensive
manner, taking account of these equal, if not greater,
threats to peace within societies and among countries.
Our collective shame at poverty amid riches must
find expression in our joint action to promote
development. Today, the developing world is bombarded
by many development initiatives. We are urged to work
harder, to liberalize our economies, to cut Government
spending, to institute sound macroeconomic policies, to
promote the private sector and a host of other measures.
Invariably, our countries have done so, quite often at
great social expense, the magnitude of which developed
countries would not countenance in their own economies.
We have done so in the knowledge that ultimately it
is we who must take the bull by the horns. Indeed, we
accept that we must be more competitive in the market
place and bring greater efficiency to Government. We
2

need to use our resources more rationally; we need to fight
waste and corruption in Government; we need to streamline
our bureaucratic processes, liberalize our economies and
open our markets to international commerce. That is why
most of us are signatories to the establishment of the new
world trade regime under the auspices of the World Trade
Organization. Yet our capacity to access, and benefit from,
the global markets — the markets of the developed
world — is constrained by our underdevelopment, the
protectionist policies of the industrialized countries, and the
ever-deteriorating terms of trade.
Unregulated market forces will not help the very
weak, poor and vulnerable countries, whose special
circumstances and needs must be attended to. For us, that
is the priority agenda for the World Trade Organization, not
the introduction of new issues before we perfect the system
we have now. The Ruggiero plan to extend tariff-free
access in the markets of industrialized countries to products
from developing countries is welcome and deserves wide
support.
We now need a mutually beneficial creative
partnership between the developed North and the
developing South. Sustainable economic recovery and
growth in the South is beneficial to the North as well. Only
a prosperous South will be a more meaningful player in
global commerce. We shall then be able to buy more from
the North, thus freeing the conscience of the developed
world from the unending obligation to extend charity, and
control illegal immigration. This creative partnership must
also recognize the interdependent nature of our world and
how ultimately we affect each other. To help the South
recover is not an act of simple charity but of building the
foundations for a more secure and stable world. We made
a call for action at the ninth United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX) at Midrand in
South Africa earlier this year. We must reiterate that call
today.
Tanzania, like the rest of the developing countries, is
determined to face its responsibilities for economic and
human development. We cannot, however, make
meaningful progress when the millstone of external debt
continues to hang around our necks, stifling recovery and
growth. The question of the unbearable external debt must
be addressed urgently if our creative partnership against
global poverty is to bear fruit.
Many proposals for debt relief have been discussed
over time. We recognize and appreciate these initiatives,
including the recent proposals for extraordinary debt relief
measures for a selected group of severely indebted
countries. The fact remains, however, that no
comprehensive action is imminent save for limited
measures taken unilaterally, on a case-by-case basis.
Urgent, coordinated and comprehensive action remains
necessary to alleviate this debt burden, including the
cancellation of the debts of least developed countries,
whose servicing obligations gobble up their entire
earnings. Only then can we hope for an economic
turnaround for them. It is the duality of debt cancellation
and access to markets that will enable countries like
Tanzania to benefit in a liberalized world market place,
and hasten the pace of social and economic development.
Another heavy burden for developing countries,
especially those without fossil fuel sources of energy, is
the cost input of energy for development. In this
connection, I wish to hail the World Solar Summit, held
on 16 and 17 September 1996 in Harare, which helped to
focus world political attention on the urgent and
imperative need to provide reliable, sustainable and clean
sources of energy to all the people of the world, including
to the 400 million homes and the 2.4 billion people in the
developing world who currently have no access to
electricity. We all know that, without electricity, no rapid
development of those communities will be forthcoming.
The Harare Summit agreed on a framework for a
10-year solar energy programme. We must all give it the
political support it needs and deserves if it is to be
effective. At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,
we all agreed that failure to develop sustainable and clean
sources of energy would result in problems for all of us,
rich and poor alike. Deforestation in Africa, Latin
America and Asia will affect the countries involved and
not involved alike. As long as 92.8 per cent of the energy
requirements in Tanzania are met from wood fuel, there
is no way that the Government can protect the natural
forests unless alternative sources of energy are available
at affordable rates. It is in the interest of all humanity and
of future generations to facilitate the development of
alternative, affordable, sustainable and clean sources of
energy for everyone.
Tanzania is concerned at the lack of progress in the
implementation of the United Nations peace plan for
Western Sahara. The international community cannot and
must not retreat from this unfinished business. We must
reaffirm the inalienable right of the Sahraoui people to
self-determination and independence and, to that end,
support the holding of a free and fair referendum. We
urge the two sides, the Kingdom of Morocco and the
3

Frente Polisario, to initiate direct talks, which would create
a climate of confidence and permit the resumption of the
implementation of the settlement plan.
We wish to keep our hopes alive with regard to the
situation in the Middle East and earnestly call for faster and
strict implementation of the peace accords. The Israeli
Government has a particular responsibility in this respect.
We reached a time when we thought that our dreams for
the peaceful coexistence of the Palestinian people and the
Israeli people were on the verge of coming true. We
commend all those who have been instrumental in
promoting the peace process. We urge greater restraint on
all sides, which must accept that the secure way to
sustainable peace and security is through negotiation.
I shall now turn to the Burundi crisis. We see our role
in Burundi as one not of benevolence, but of duty — duty
to help our brothers and sisters there to step back from the
brink of mutual destruction to the middle ground of
dialogue, political accommodation and national
reconciliation. We began our efforts within the Organization
of African Unity and gradually turned over the task of
bringing the political forces in sustained dialogue to former
President, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, within the framework
of the Mwanza talks. Not only was the military coup of 25
July 1996 an illegal and unconstitutional act; it also
undermined the efforts in the region to promote dialogue
and restore peace to that most tormented country. The coup
is unacceptable to all regional leaders and we demand a
return to legitimacy and a negotiated political settlement
that will guarantee democracy and the security of
minorities.
In order to speed up the process of compliance, the
region has imposed economic sanctions on Burundi. Those
sanctions will remain in place until all the conditions set at
Arusha are met by the military rulers in Bujumbura. These
are not unreasonable conditions. They are the restoration of
the National Assembly, which is a democratic institution of
legality that derived its mandate from the Burundian people;
removing the ban on political parties in the country; and the
resumption of unconditional political negotiations with all
the parties to the conflict. We have, at the same time, made
it clear to the Burundi people that the sanctions are meant
only to secure the compliance of their military rulers with
these conditions, and nothing more. Once this has been
done, Tanzania, the region and, indeed, the international
community have all reiterated that they are prepared to
resume their assistance and cooperation in the process of
restoring peace and rebuilding that country. We can all
pledge our help, but the challenge of making peace is one
that only the Burundian people and those who claim
leadership of that country can shoulder. The onus of
bringing peace to their county rests squarely upon their
shoulders. The key to a sustainable solution is in their
own hands. We can only help.
At the same time we, the neighbours and the rest of
the international community, have an inescapable
responsibility to save the Burundian people from self-
destruction. We cannot stand by and watch the
perpetuation of killings, the steady degeneration of the
security situation and the catastrophe they portend for the
country and the subregion.
As we seek to help the Burundian people retrace the
path of dialogue, we remain preoccupied by the fragility
of the political situation in the Great Lakes region as a
whole. While Rwanda is steadily progressing along the
path of recovery, the wounds of war and genocide have
yet to heal. That country needs the solidarity and support
of the international community.
One of the serious consequences of conflict in the
region has been the massive human displacement, and
refugees now constitute a tremendous burden for the
neighbouring countries. Tanzania is currently hosting over
1 million refugees from Rwanda and Burundi. The
implications of their presence in such large numbers
within limited localities have been tremendous in terms of
the destruction of the environment, increased insecurity
and criminality, and the social and economic burden they
have imposed upon the host communities. The traditional
hospitality of Tanzanians towards refugees is wearing
very thin indeed.
We appreciate the work of the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian agencies in offering protection and succour
to the refugees. What they have done is very useful, but
it is not enough to offset the burden that these refugees
place upon our communities. We call upon the
international community, in the name of human solidarity,
to redouble its assistance to meet the urgent needs of
these refugees, while at the same time addressing the
long-term effects attendant on hosting them. Above all,
we must help both Rwanda and Burundi to address the
root causes of these human displacements. The ultimate
goal must be the voluntary repatriation of the refugees to
their home countries. To us, the creation of an
environment that will facilitate such a process of
repatriation is now a priority.
4

Whether in Liberia, Somalia or elsewhere in the
world, we see the need for courage and statesmanship to
defeat the temptations of political unilateralism and promote
dialogue and greater human solidarity. The courage to rise
above deep-seated prejudices and fears — the courage to
depart from traditional rigidity that has made conflict
endemic in some parts of the world — is the key that will
open up a new era of dialogue, political accommodation
and national concord. We have seen how such courage and
statesmanship can reverse long-standing hostilities and build
on the realism of our shared destiny as human beings. The
Middle East, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa and
Angola are cases in point. Difficulties remain, but we have
crossed the Rubicon and, with determination, we can
maintain a steady pace towards peace in these and other
areas around the world. The United Nations played a key
role in this task. It will have to play an even greater role in
consolidating the progress towards peace.
The end of the cold war did not, unfortunately, usher
in the spring of collective peace and the blossoming of the
flowers of international cooperation. The world is still
divided — even if not on ideological lines — between
those who are armed and those who are unarmed. Vast
nuclear arsenals remain and their technological
improvement continues unabated. The hopes for collective
peace run the risk of being thwarted by the unilateralism of
those who are armed with the most deadly weapons. My
country is concerned about the vertical proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction and the unremitting desire of
those who have them to rationalize their possession. This
undermines peace.
Since the coming into force two years ago of the 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, we have
witnessed the establishment of the various institutions
envisaged in the Convention. We are pleased that, at long
last, there is positive movement towards ensuring the
regularized use of the oceans and their resources to the
benefit of all people the world over. The Government of
Tanzania attaches great importance to ensuring that the
make-up of the International Seabed Authority in its
formative years is so structured as to facilitate the carrying
out of its responsibilities in the manner envisaged in the
Convention and implementation Agreement of 1994.
The establishment of the International Tribunal on the
Law of the Sea has added a fillip to the Convention, and
the election of its judges last August was another milestone
in the work of the United Nations. In this connection, we
express our appreciation to the States Parties to the
Convention on the Law of the Sea for electing a Tanzanian,
The Honourable Joseph S. Warioba, as one of the judges
of the Tribunal. We congratulate all members of the
Tribunal on being entrusted with such an historic mission.
The founding of the United Nations was inspired by
the human solidarity which the world sought to promote
five decades ago. It is that solidarity which our nations
gathered here last year to commemorate. What holds our
nations together, despite their diversity, is the common
bond and solidarity we feel for each other as human
beings.
Today, more than ever before, we need that
solidarity in order to deal with the myriad problems we
all face together: the problems of poverty and
underdevelopment, peace and security, justice and human
rights, disarmament and the environment, international
terrorism and drug trafficking and many others. All
require joint and coordinated international action. Those
more powerful amongst us can try to solve these
problems unilaterally, but in order for their efforts to bear
fruit, they too need the cooperation of everyone. That is
why I invite this Assembly to embark on a mission to
rediscover human solidarity and to build structures for
global partnership, the better world which the founding
fathers of this Organization set out to establish 51 years
ago.
As an African leader, I wish to end my speech by
commending and supporting the United Nations
Secretary-General for the United Nations System-wide
Special Initiative on Africa he launched on 15 March of
this year, which seeks to provide coordinated action
across the entire United Nations system over a 10-year
period to address the unique development needs of the
African continent. It is my hope that coming in the wake
of the Copenhagen Social Summit, it will benefit from
that Summit’s commitments and create the kind of impact
that has long been missing in previous summit
declarations and plans of action.
Africa is a continent with an ancient and rich
history. It is richly endowed with human and natural
resources. I have great hopes for Africa and, being part of
its new leadership, I pledge to work with anyone who
shares my conviction that Africa is positioned for political
and economic renewal, reform and reconstruction for
development. Together, we can realize the dream of a
more peaceful, a more developed and a more respected
continent. Together, we can realize the dream of a world
closer than ever to the ideals set out in the United Nations
Charter over 50 years ago.
5


It is a pleasure and an
honour for me to address this Assembly. From this lofty
rostrum, the nations of the world speak to one another as
members of one global community, irrespective of size
and differences. The United Nations is today the best
hope for a better future for humankind. What we do here
must therefore contribute positively and effectively
towards the achievement of the noble purposes and
principles enshrined in the Charter of our Organization.
Permit me, Sir, on behalf of the delegation of
Uganda, to express how pleased we are at your election
to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-first
session. Your well-deserved election is a great honour to
your country, Malaysia, with which Uganda enjoys very
cordial bilateral relations. I wish to pledge our full
support to you, Sir, and to affirm our confidence in your
ability to guide our deliberations to a successful
conclusion. Allow me also to pay a special tribute to your
predecessor, Ambassador Diogo Freitas do Amaral of
Portugal, for the able manner in which he presided over
the work of the fiftieth session of the General Assembly.
I salute our Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-
Ghali, for his commitment and dedication to the global
mission of the United Nations during the past five years.
The United Nations continues to be confronted with
the challenge of redressing the development disparities
that exist among nations, particularly between the few
rich countries and the majority of impoverished ones. For
9

the latter, these disparities are manifest in widespread
poverty and the degradation of their ecosystems. They are
also a major cause of the spiral of violence and internal
conflicts, with their attendant suffering and destruction.
In an increasingly interdependent world, these
problems have regional as well as global consequences. It
would therefore be wishful thinking to treat them as if they
were a concern of only the affected countries and regions.
They must be addressed through global approaches and
strategies that ensure lasting solutions.
We note that present advances in transport,
communications and information technology have resulted
in the increasing globalization of the world economy. Both
liberalization and globalization offer opportunities as well
as challenges within and among nations. These twin
phenomena have, in addition, deepened the marginalization
of some regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This
process could breed further polarization within countries,
with very destructive and destabilizing consequences. We
wish to underscore the continuing relevance of
multilateralism and international cooperation as
prerequisites for equitable global growth and development
and for addressing the negative consequences of
globalization.
The increasing trend towards unfair trading practices
and conflicts in international trade is a matter of serious
concern for us. We are witnessing situations in which
developing countries are pushed to open up their markets,
ostensibly to advance free trade and competition, while at
the same time developed countries practice managed trade
and limit access to some export products from developing
countries. This contradiction is unhealthy for the world
economy.
The establishment of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) in 1994 as an entity to act as a custodian and
guarantor of a rules-based multilateral trading system is a
positive development. We therefore welcome the convening
of the first Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade
Organization in Singapore in December 1996. The Meeting
should, in our opinion, give a clear policy direction to the
WTO for the next two years on measures to redress
imbalances existing in the present multilateral trading
system, which are to the disadvantage of many developing
countries, particularly the least developed ones.
The Meeting should therefore give high priority to
undertaking a comprehensive review of the implementation
of the Uruguay Round agreements, with a view to
adopting specific and concrete measures to obviate
adverse effects to the least developed countries and net
food-importing developing countries arising from the
implementation of the agreements; reverse the
marginalization of the least developed countries; and
strengthen their capacity to compete in the global
economy. These measures must include long-term
financial and technical support, the transfer of technology
as critical elements for the effective implementation of the
Uruguay agreements and in the improvement of the trade
performance of developing countries.
With regard to the proposal that the Meeting address
issues outside the WTO built-in agenda, we would prefer
to benefit first from the analytical advice of the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development on the
policy implications of such issues to international trade
before they are taken up by the WTO. In our view, the
Meeting should focus on issues relating to the full
implementation of agreed commitments, such as the
provision of financial, technical and technological support
to developing countries, as well as those aimed at
stemming and reversing the distortive factors to trade.
The increasing role of transnational corporations in
the international trade in goods and services and in the
flow of private capital has inordinately enhanced their
control over resources and the transfer of technology and
know-how in developing countries. In some cases, this
control is beyond the capacity of many developing
countries to check. As the influence of these corporations
grows with globalization, there is an urgent need to
elaborate and adopt an effective and legally-binding
international code of conduct to regulate the activities and
influence of transnational corporations.
We are committed to subregional and regional
cooperation and integration. Within the East African
subregion, we have participated actively in the revival of
East African cooperation, in the strengthening of the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and in
intensifying efforts to make operational the Abuja Treaty
establishing the African Economic Community. It is our
belief that enhanced subregional and regional cooperation
and integration are critical to complement South-South
cooperation and international cooperation for
development. It is also a means of enhancing
10

competitiveness and thereby improving our performance in
the world economy. In efforts to further strengthen
cooperation in East Africa, we propose the establishment of
a cooperation arrangement between the East African
Community and the United Nations. We appeal to the
international community to support these efforts.
The magnitude of debt and its servicing obligations
continues to impose a serious obstacle to our development
efforts. As of March 1996, for example, Uganda’s total
external indebtedness stood at $3.2 billion — which
represented 67.5 per cent of its gross domestic product —
of which 75 per cent was owed to multilateral financial
institutions. Debt-servicing was $141 million, or 27 per cent
of export earnings. Projected debt-servicing for the 1996-
1997 fiscal year is $184 million, or 35.8 per cent of export
earnings. This precarious situation is compounded by the
current rigorous debt-repayment enforcement regime
pursued by creditor multilateral financial institutions.
Uganda is committed to fulfilling its debt obligations
within the means available to it. In this regard, a
multilateral debt fund has been established to offset the debt
owed to the International Development Association, the
International Monetary Fund and the African Development
Bank’s African Development Fund. We are grateful to all
bilateral donors who have continued to support and make
direct contributions to the fund. We also appeal to other
donors to join in this worthy endeavour in order to augment
the resources of the fund, which are still very low.
To complement these efforts, we make a special
appeal to the international community, and particularly to
the multilateral financial institutions, to adopt concrete
measures to effect a drastic reduction of external
indebtedness of least developed countries and other severely
indebted developing countries. In this regard, we commend
as a first step the debt relief initiatives currently in place,
such as the Naples Terms. In our view, however, these
measures remain grossly inadequate to have any meaningful
impact. There is therefore a need to augment them with
additional measures that substantially reduce all types of
debts, including those which entail debt write-offs or
converting part or all of our debt into grants.
We note with appreciation the recent measures by the
Bretton Woods institutions to put in place measures for debt
relief. We urge the dominant shareholders to support these
measures.
African countries, including Uganda, continue to be
adversely affected by record-low levels of export
commodity earnings. The situation is aggravated by tariff
and non-tariff barriers imposed by our trading partners on
our semi-processed and processed export products and by
declining terms of trade due to increased prices of
imported manufactured goods and services. We urge the
adoption of concrete support measures to improve our
export earnings. This could include assistance in the areas
of horizontal and vertical diversification of our
economies, as well as capacity-building.
Today is World Habitat Day. It is a day for the
international community to reflect on and reaffirm its
commitment to the plight of the one billion people in all
parts of the world who lack adequate shelter and basic
services, such as safe water supplies and sanitation
facilities. It is also a day to dedicate ourselves to the
objective of finding lasting solutions to the problems of
homelessness and other social ills associated with rapid
urbanization.
The maintenance of international peace and security
remains a formidable challenge for the United Nations.
Efforts in this regard continue to be undermined by
conflicts and tensions arising from inadequate political
leadership that cannot correctly handle ethnic, religious
and social differences in those affected areas. These have
undermined the rule of law, peace and security, and have
contributed to untold suffering in many of the affected
countries.
In Africa, civil strife and internal conflicts, with their
attendant consequences, are afflicting several countries to
varying degrees. For instance, we are gravely concerned
by the suffering imposed on the people of northern
Uganda by renegade groups. These terrorist acts must be
stopped forthwith for the sake of peace and security in
our subregion.
The conflict in Burundi is a serious threat to the
peace and security of that country as well as to the
subregion. Uganda appeals to all the parties concerned to
accept the mediation efforts of former President Julius
Nyerere, which are aimed at achieving a peaceful political
solution to the conflict through compromise and
accommodation in the context of the Arusha initiative and
peace process.
In this regard, Uganda urges all the parties
concerned to resume, as a matter of urgency,
11

unconditional political negotiations in order to establish
peace and security for all Burundians. We are committed to
working closely with other countries in the subregion to
find a lasting political solution to the problems of Burundi
through dialogue and national reconciliation.
The steps taken by the Government of Rwanda
towards the restoration of normalcy and achieving national
reconciliation are steps in the right direction. These steps
should be encouraged and supported, as they provide a
basis for restoring mutual confidence and trust, which are
critical for a peaceful return and reintegration of Rwandese
refugees from neighbouring countries.
We are concerned about the chaotic situation in
Somalia and call for the reinvigoration of the Organization
of African Unity (OAU) peace efforts.
Common sense must prevail among the warring
factions in Liberia so that the people of that unhappy
country may be given a chance to enjoy peace, security and
national reconciliation. We welcome the efforts of the
Economic Community of West African States in this
connection.
With regard to Angola, we note that the
implementation of the Lusaka Protocol is under way. We
encourage both parties to stay the course.
The efforts of the OAU and the Yamoussoukrou
mediation efforts of President Bédié of Côte d’Ivoire to
seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in Sierra Leone
should be encouraged.
Uganda supports the just struggle of the Sahraoui
people for self-determination. To this end, we urge the
speedy resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara, in
accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security
Council and the General Assembly.
Uganda supports the efforts of the United Nations and
the appropriate regional organizations to diffuse conflicts
through preventive diplomacy, as well as through the
mechanisms of peacekeeping and peacemaking, including
dialogue and confidence-building. In this regard, we
reaffirm our support for the OAU Mechanism for Conflict
Prevention, Management and Resolution, as well as for its
Central Organ. The Mechanism and the Central Organ
should be supported and provided with the necessary
resources to enable them to operate effectively.
The idea of encouraging African Member States to
put in place contingent arrangements for deployment in
situations requiring peacekeeping or military observer
missions in Africa has merit and deserves support. At the
same time, humanitarian programmes with built-in
mechanisms that address the continuum from emergency
relief to rehabilitation, recovery and long-term
development are essential to restoring lasting peace.
We welcome the adoption of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. However, we urge the nuclear-
weapon States to seize this opportunity to commit
themselves to adopting concrete time- frames for the total
elimination of all nuclear weapons, as well as to stopping
the qualitative development and refinement of nuclear
arsenals, including through computer simulation.
Most African countries have embraced and are
vigorously pursuing far-reaching political and economic
reforms. In Uganda, we have implemented fundamental
economic reforms consistent with our development
priorities and strategies and the structural adjustment
programmes of the Bretton Woods institutions. We have
liberalized trade and created the necessary conditions for
encouraging and promoting both domestic and foreign
direct investment. We have improved our economic
management systems, with strong emphasis on fiscal and
monetary discipline. We have endeavoured to integrate
and implement the outcome of the major international
conferences into our national development plans and
priorities.
However, in order to nurture these positive
developments and improve the well-being of our citizens,
we need concerted cooperation and support from the
international community by ensuring, among others, a
favourable external economic environment.
I am glad to state that Uganda is a nation restored
both politically and economically. Allow me to outline
briefly the measures that have been taken and which are
responsible for peace, security and the other positive
changes that prevail in Uganda today. These positive
changes are the result of a policy of reconciliation. For
us, reconciliation itself is a means to an end, the end
being national unity.
In pursuance of this objective, we instituted from the
very beginning the principle of a broad-based Government
which accommodated all shades of political opinion and
ideologies. The pillar of the democratization process is
12

the nationwide political participation in decision-making at
all levels, which has empowered people to take charge of
their own governance.
Uganda remains committed to the protection and
promotion of human rights. A Human Rights Commission
has been established to oversee the observance of human
rights in Uganda. The Commission is complemented by a
national human rights unit in the Ministry of Justice and
similar units will be established in the near future at the
district level. We have ensured that the promotion of human
rights includes a component to redress the inequality of
opportunities through affirmative action in favour of
disadvantaged groups such as women, youths and the
disabled.
In this regard, the 1995 Constitution of Uganda
provides for special representation in Parliament for these
groups. We appreciate the support extended to us so far in
this area and welcome further technical and financial
support, especially towards the review and finalization of
appropriate legislation and the strengthening of relevant
human rights entities at various levels.
Last year, a new Constitution was promulgated after
more than a year of intense debate by a Constituent
Assembly of directly-elected members. On 9 May 1996, the
first-ever free and fair presidential elections were held,
followed by parliamentary elections on 27 June 1996.
Today, Uganda has its first-ever directly-elected President
since independence in 1962.
In Uganda, we share the view that decentralization is
a necessary condition for good governance and
empowerment because democracy cannot thrive unless
space is given for civil society to operate. In pursuance of
this, political decentralization is not only enshrined in the
Constitution, but is already being implemented. Such a
transfer of power to the districts and other lower tiers has
removed the remoteness of government and ensured a
speedier delivery of goods and services to the people.
Years of war and economic mismanagement have left
Uganda with a shattered economy. The present
administration has continued to make steady progress in
restoring the economy under the framework of the
Economic Reform Programme. Inflation has been
successfully controlled since June 1992 at the level of 5.6
per cent, on average. At the same time, Uganda has enjoyed
a high average rate of economic growth of 8.1 per cent due
to macroeconomic stability and strict monetary policies.
In order to attract investments, an Investment Code
was instituted to ensure a friendly and conducive
investment environment. The Uganda Investment
Authority was established as a one-stop centre for
information.
Uganda commends various initiatives taken by the
United Nations to eradicate poverty. Special mention
should be made of the World Social Summit, the United
Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in
the 1990s and the United Nations System-wide Special
Initiative for Africa. We commend this spirit of
international partnership aimed at addressing persistent
poverty in our region. For its part, the Government of
Uganda has embarked on the long road of addressing the
problem by ensuring that the fruits of economic growth
reach the masses of the population. Among the strategies
in place is an Action Plan for the Eradication of Poverty
with a Poverty Task Force as its implementing agency. In
the short and medium terms, the Action Plan focuses on
increasing household income, primary education and road
infrastructure. The political and economic achievements
registered so far prove that a serious, visionary and
committed Government can lead donor conditionalities
rather than be led by them.
We have just concluded the mid-term review of the
implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for
the Development of Africa in the 1990s. For the
satisfactory outcome of the meeting, we wish to thank
most profoundly the Government of Japan and all
delegations which participated actively in this exercise.
One of the fundamental conclusions of the review is that
a lot remains to be done to consolidate the modest
political and socio-economic progress that has been
achieved in some parts of the African continent. This will
require the mobilization of substantial new and additional
resources and, in particular, the provision of a conducive
external economic environment. The review also
demonstrated that a partnership based on shared
responsibility and mutuality of interest is possible and
inevitable.
The United Nations remains a custodian of many
cherished ideals, such as the primacy of democratic
governance. The United Nations was born out of a
yearning for a democratic multilateral system capable of
addressing problems brought about by hideous tensions
13

and conflicts throughout the world, with a view to making
planet Earth a more secure, just and friendly place for
present and future generations. We all agree on the need to
strengthen the United Nations so that it can carry out its
global mandate effectively. We should therefore provide it
with adequate resources. This commitment, invariably, calls
upon each Member State to meet its financial obligations to
the organization in full, on time and without conditions.
Within the context of strengthening the Organization,
measures should be adopted to achieve its democratization
at all levels. Since there is a worldwide trend towards
democratization, this Organization cannot remain unaffected
by these winds of change. Uganda therefore supports
proposals to restructure the Security Council in order to
bring transparency to its working methods, democracy to its
decision-making procedures and equity to reflect the
increased membership of the United Nations.
The United Nations remains, in our view, the
appropriate central forum for addressing global problems
confronting the international community. It must be
strengthened, revitalized and democratized. This is the
challenge that we the peoples of the United Nations must
address as a matter of priority.


It is with great
pleasure that I convey to you, Mr. President, my
congratulations on your election to guide the work of this
session of the General Assembly. At the same time I extend
congratulations to the country that you represent with such
distinction. Your outstanding qualities guarantee a
competent presidency, which will certainly contribute to the
success of our work.
I should also like to express my special appreciation
for the enlightened and committed leadership of your
predecessor, Mr. Freitas do Amaral, who, in the course of
the historic fiftieth session of the General Assembly, made
an undeniable contribution to the continued progress of the
United Nations.
I also take this opportunity to express the highest
appreciation of my delegation for the vision, initiative and
determination that have characterized the work of the
Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in his
pursuit of the noble objectives of our Organization. It is
with pleasure that I reiterate here the support of my
country for his re-election.
Cape Verde, being a small developing country that
is particularly affected by drought and desertification, and
without any means of defence, has every reason to place
a great deal of hope in the success of the United Nations,
particularly with respect to the fulfilment of the principles
and the goals of its Charter, such as the promotion of
peace and security, social and economic development, the
protection and defence of the environment, human rights
and international law.
But small countries are not the only ones looking to
the United Nations with hope. In today’s world, when
interdependencies are increasing and globalization is
spreading to a growing number of sectors of humankind’s
activity, the existence and the work of our Organization
is becoming more and more indispensable to all nations
of the globe.
Governments are, in fact, more clearly aware of the
need for international forums in which, through
accommodation, they can reach consensus and decide on
global policies, strategies and actions that, increasingly,
are in the interests of the whole planet.
However, no institution apart from the United
Nations has the vocation or the capacity to respond to
those needs, since, to a large extent, it is the architect of
the international stage on which we are players today.

Under the auspices of the United Nations many results
have been achieved in the search for solutions to the
problems that afflict humankind. Spectacular progress has
allowed human beings to take giant steps in science and
technology. Nevertheless, there are still huge challenges to
overcome, so that the ideals of the founders of the United
Nations may triumph all over the face of the Earth.
In reality, for many people peace is still a dream, and
promises of the distribution of the dividends from the end
of the cold war have become an illusion. Malnutrition,
disease, illiteracy — the eternal partners of
underdevelopment — still overpower nations, preventing
them from developing to their full potential to the benefit
of their populations. Similarly, in many countries human
rights are flagrantly violated, women are marginalized, and
children fall victim to maltreatment and exploitation. In
other countries, ethnic groups are subject to persecution and
systematic “cleansing”.
At the same time, situations of tension, such as arms
and drug trafficking, the internationalization of organized
crime and an upsurge in terrorism, are becoming
generalized.
But it is necessary to bear in mind that such
phenomena, both because of their origin and impact, can be
fought efficiently only if there is a firm, unequivocal
commitment by all States to improve international
cooperation and better utilize resources within the
framework of the United Nations.
Cape Verde, due to its proximity to the Sahara desert,
is particularly affected by ecological problems, since, like
other countries of the Sahel, it faces continuous
environmental degradation, which threatens the very
survival of its population.
It is therefore natural for us to welcome with joy the
adoption and entry into force of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries
Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification,
Particularly in Africa, in particular its Regional
Implementation Annex for Africa. The particular attention
paid to Africa is clearly justified. This continent is, without
the shadow of a doubt, the most affected by drought and
the most threatened by the advance of desertification. The
ecological balance of the African continent, one fourth of
the area of the planet, is crucial to stabilize the environment
as a whole.
For that reason, the efforts that need to be made to
prevent the desert from spreading must be shared by the
entire international community.
Cape Verde is therefore committed, together with
other countries, to establishing an international mechanism
with the aim of facilitating the implementation and
financing of the projects and programmes of the
aforementioned Convention. We stress the praiseworthy
action, at the subregional level, of the Permanent Inter-
State Committee on Drought Control in the Sahel in
coordinating efforts to fight drought and desertification.
I should also like to underline the significant efforts
made in this area at the national level in Cape Verde. The
reforestation programme launched in the first years of my
country’s independence continues with the same vigour
20 years later, and the results achieved are encouraging.
Since the programme was launched, the area covered has
gone from 7,413 to nearly 181,275 acres. I must also
highlight the major support given by Cape Verde’s
development partners, without which it would not be
possible to maintain the reforestation programme at its
current pace, which is satisfactory to all.
In spite of the success of this programme and of the
efforts made, my country is still affected by the
devastating consequences of drought. In fact, due to the
lack of rainfall in July and the insufficient rain last
August and September, Cape Verde faces a year of crop
failure, which, once again, has given rise to anxiety and
distress among Cape Verde’s farmers.
Therefore, my Government will be forced, once
again, to make an unexpected effort to address the
consequences of such a situation, which, of course, will
have a negative impact on the development process.
We therefore urge international solidarity with the
people and Government of Cape Verde to help our
country overcome the current farming crisis and ensure
employment in the rural areas.
The world is seeing the gap widen between
industrialized countries and developing countries.
Economic globalization and the development of
information and communications technology highlight
existing differences. Restrictive immigration policies,
which are associated with the spread of racism and
xenophobia, are gathering speed day by day, which is
disturbing to us.
2

Meanwhile, developing countries and, in particular, the
least developed, face the consequences of accelerated
population growth, which has direct repercussions on
unemployment.
The pursuit of full employment should be the top
priority of social and economic policies aimed at bringing
about development in order to provide all — men and
women — with the chance to ensure that their means of
subsistence are secure and long-lasting. Unfortunately, the
international community is still reluctant to assume its
responsibilities in such matters.
A heavy burden thus falls upon the developing
countries — the task of recovering from the delays
resulting from an economic order that has not been, and
still is not, in their favour.
This burden is even heavier in view of the inexorable
trend towards the reduction of financial flows to the least
developed countries, both in official development assistance
and foreign direct investment.
In this regard, the Agenda for Development, aimed at
supporting those countries in their efforts for recovery,
should make urgent demands with regard to international
cooperation for development. It should, at the same time,
reaffirm the right to development as a main concern of the
international community. The Agenda for Development
cannot be seen as a mere enunciation of principles, but
should be taken as a true charter of social and economic
goals, with the United Nations playing a key role in its
promotion and materialization.
In order to prepare the United Nations for the
challenges facing humankind as we approach the end of the
century, we are committed to improving of the Organization
by promoting and undertaking reforms with the aim of
strengthening it and empowering it so that it is better able
to fulfil the objectives of its Charter. There have been long
and complex negotiations on the reform and restructuring
of the United Nations system. This exercise has been
characterized by its particular intensity and richness, aimed
at adapting the institutions of our Organization to the new
challenges that face humankind as we approach the end of
the century.
But we are close to the time when decisions of the
utmost importance to the future of the United Nations will
have to be taken. They will have to correspond, with due
balance, to the concerns of large and small countries. What
will certainly not be acceptable is a situation in which
reforms end up maintaining the differences that already
exist today. We support the idea that reforms should
reflect the deep changes that have taken place in the 50
years since the creation of the United Nations. There must
be fair representation for all regions of the world in the
decision-making bodies of the United Nations, particularly
in the Security Council. In this regard, we recognize the
need for Africa to be duly represented, namely with
African countries as permanent members of the Council.
We have all witnessed the successes, however
relative, of the difficult talks on nuclear disarmament, in
particular the indefinite extension of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the very
recent adoption by the General Assembly of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which I had the
honour and pleasure to sign on behalf of my country on
2 October 1996. We believe that these two documents
provide a historic opportunity and a powerful impetus for
the creation of conditions that will allow us to look with
hope to the possibility, one day, of a world free of all
nuclear weapons and of the nightmare of their use. The
process of nuclear disarmament should, from now on,
gain greater attention and follow-up.
The signature in Cairo, on 11 April, of the Pelindaba
Treaty, which is the conclusion of joint efforts made by
the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations,
marked the solemn pledge of the Governments and
peoples of Africa to assume their share of the task of
ridding the continent and the planet of nuclear weapons,
in the same way as did the Governments of Latin
America and the Caribbean in 1967, and those of the
South Pacific in 1985.
Cape Verde, which has consistently supported all
efforts aimed at banning weapons of mass destruction,
cannot but congratulate itself on the strengthening of
international stability and security.
Expectations were therefore raised in respect of the
planned fourth special session of the General Assembly
devoted to disarmament. We note that its mandate will be
defined in the course of this session. We hope the special
session will become a landmark in the creation of an
atmosphere of relief and trust that will help us to reach
the goal of eliminating weapons of mass destruction and
reducing conventional armaments.
A combination of historical, political, economic and
climatic factors, among others, have given Africa the
lowest level of development of any continent over the
3

past three decades. Social and economic indicators are still
negative, as are Africa’s prospects for the future.
Approximately 50 per cent of the population of our
continent lives in a state of absolute poverty and that
percentage will surely increase if quick and efficient
solutions are not found to resolve this crisis. At the same
time, as cause and consequence of this appalling scenario,
we have witnessed a succession of bloody conflicts,
bringing even greater poverty, disease and the degradation
or even destruction of the environment.
For this reason, so many important resources and
capabilities that are essential to assessing and resolving the
complex issues of development are being wasted and, very
often, forever lost on the battlefields.
But it is not only the countries directly involved in
such conflicts that suffer the consequences. The tension
brought about by the presence of armed groups across the
borders of other States, the tragedy of refugees and
displaced persons seeking shelter in neighbouring countries
and very often the consequent destruction of the
environment, the spread of disease, the degeneration of
moral values, the horror of suffering and behaviours far
removed from human values are all situations not confined
to the territorial limits of the States where conflicts occur.
It is therefore with deep sorrow that we witness the
never-ending armed conflicts on our continent, despite the
efforts of both the African and the international
communities to put an end to them. Even when the parties
involved seem to have reached an agreement for the re-
establishment of peace, there are unjustified reversals that
jeopardize the entire process.
An example of this is the conflict that still exists in
Angola, a country with which Cape Verde has deep ties not
only of history and culture, but also of solidarity. We
support the efforts of the Angolan Government and the
international community to undertake all tasks aimed at
bringing about a lasting peace, social stability and the
normal functioning of institutions at the national level,
without which the Angolan people will be unable to enjoy
the tranquillity they rightfully deserve and the wealth they
could and should benefit from, given the huge potential of
their country.
The need for joint action to end the nightmare of war
in several regions of the African continent is becoming
more and more urgent. The creation of the OAU
Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and
Resolution was a far-sighted decision giving our continent
the autonomous ability to help resolve situations of
violence and tension.
Nevertheless, it is important to stress that, in keeping
with the principles that are at the foundation of that
Mechanism, its main aim is anticipation and prevention of
conflicts. Peacekeeping and security in the world remain
the primary responsibility of the United Nations Security
Council, though there may be a justification in some
situations for the involvement of the OAU in specific
peacekeeping and observer missions.
Addressing the causes of the conflicts, however,
remains the most important issue. These causes are to be
found essentially in the conditions of underdevelopment
that persist in most of our countries. Such conditions
nurture the seeds of violence and intolerance, are at the
root of armed conflicts and block the establishment of
structures to ensure democratic participation and its
resulting human rights benefits. Key elements for the
attainment of peace in Africa are therefore the promotion
of lasting development, investment in human resources
and ensuring that current processes of democratization are
successful and widespread. It is imperative that such
processes be duly supported so that they can consolidate
and improve the living conditions of the population and
stand up to possible coups de force or other such threats.
The promotion and use of dialogue must be employed to
resolve situations of civil strife and armed conflict.
In the light of the dimension and scale of the
problem of development in Africa and questions of
security, we agree with the argument that Africa is
currently the major challenge facing the United Nations.
Development, security and peace are major concerns in
the minds of the leaders of the continent and of all others
interested in the future of Africa. These goals are
interrelated and cannot be achieved separately.
Of all the factors limiting the achievement of such
objectives, the reduction of poverty is undoubtedly the
one that must first be overcome through a strategy of
sustainable development. Without this, the remaining
economic and social goals cannot be achieved. The
persistence of poverty is a constant threat not only to
economic development, but also to the political and social
stability of States and to the preservation of the
environment.
Another fact to bear in mind is that solutions for the
problems of development in Africa should be designed
and managed on our own continent, thus making
4

responsibility for Africa dependent on the development of
the countries thereof. In this context, Africa is currently
deeply committed to the search for internal and lasting
solutions to its problems, which in no way suggests a
rejection of the technological and financial resources and
contributions that we believe the international community
should continue to make available so that we can overcome
the major difficulties we still face.
African countries are fully aware that they must take
their destiny into their own hands and have been trying to
implement measures that reflect their seriousness and hence
worthiness to receive support in order to produce the
expected results.
Several African countries have been undertaking
institutional reforms with the aim of opening up their
markets, reducing the role of the State in the economy and
strengthening the private sector in order to make it credible
and able to generate employment. Such reforms, combined
with democracy and the development of civil society, tend
to promote social and economic stability, thereby
marshalling internal resources and encouraging foreign
investment.
In this context, we must stress the importance of
initiatives to promote greater foreign private investment, a
source of employment and added value which is
fundamental to ensuring the continuous and stable growth
of African economies.
Another important initiative in which Africa is
engaged is the African Economic Community, which
received a decisive boost in May 1994 when the Abuja
Treaty entered into force. As a first step in its
implementation, the African countries are engaged in
strengthening the regional integration of their economies
through regional economic communities.
Last year, the Organization of African Unity adopted
the Cairo Plan of Action to give new impetus to the
economic and social development of Africa. Its
objectives — responsible management, food security,
development of human resources, the proper and effective
use of natural resources, cooperation and economic regional
integration — are ambitious but feasible. They depend upon
the political will of Governments and their ability to
marshal the internal means and external support to achieve
these objectives. Mention should be made in this regard to
the principles set out in the important decisions adopted or
being prepared by the United Nations: the United Nations
New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s
and the Agenda for Development.
The Cairo Plan of Action also recalls the need for
the adoption of measures limiting the negative impact of
the Uruguay Round agreements on the development of
Africa in general and of the least developed countries in
particular, and urges creditors to be prepared to assist in
finding ways to reduce the debt burden, particularly as
regards the current levels of debt servicing.
The recent mid-term review of the United Nations
New Agenda was an opportunity for the international
community to renew its commitment to measures aimed
at adding new impetus to implementation, particularly as
regards external debt, the diversification of African
economies, greater access to markets and the transfer of
technology. Africa sincerely hopes that that commitment,
freely entered into by its partners, will be promptly
fulfilled.
Although the current situation tends to raise very
serious concerns, it is nonetheless possible to find
encouraging signs pointing to positive developments in
the situation on the African continent from the point of
view of economic growth and the consolidation of
democracy. And these are more than mere signs; some
examples of clear successes already visible in Africa in
recent years show that it is not heading exclusively
towards chaos and destruction. It is necessary to find
appropriate policies to manage these positive signs,
policies which we must be courageous enough to
implement. We are certain such actions will achieve
results.
Although the signs are positive, they still do not
reflect an irreversible trend. The burden of dependency
resulting from past policies is still too heavy for Africa to
reverse the situation on its own. Now more than ever, the
international community, specialized agencies and the
industrialized countries that are friends of Africa are
called upon to strengthen financial and technical
assistance to the continent so that underdevelopment can
be definitively overcome.
In this regard, we congratulate certain countries on
their willingness to maintain their levels of cooperation
with Africa. Cape Verde is also pleased to note the efforts
and generosity of certain partners, including some from
the South, on behalf of the development of our country.
5

Cape Verde does not expect to be solely a beneficiary
of the actions and initiatives of the United Nations. Despite
its limitations and the fragility of its economy, my country
wishes to contribute to the search for solutions to problems
demanding our attention and to participate in those actions
in which our presence is necessary.
Despite its brief history as an independent country,
Cape Verde has several times had an opportunity to play a
positive role in processes involving other countries, either
contributing to the dialogue and understanding between the
parties involved or through participation in United Nations
peacekeeping operations.
It is the understanding of the Government of Cape
Verde that, despite the structural difficulties it faces, it is
duty-bound to contribute to the creation of a peaceful
international environment and a partnership of solidarity
that will allow all the nations of the world to benefit from
mankind’s scientific and technical achievements and to
improve social management in order to guarantee each
citizen internationally recognized basic rights associated
with the values of freedom, democracy, development and
well-being.
In this regard, we must recall here the suffering of the
people of East Timor, deprived of the right to exercise self-
determination and subjugated to a foreign military
occupation for over 20 years. We note with admiration the
resilience of the courageous Maubère people, who have lost
so many of their sons to the cause of freedom. In this
forum, where so much has been done to support the right
of colonial peoples to decide their own destinies, we join
our voice to those demanding the restitution of legality in
that territory and that the Timorese people be given the full
exercise of their rights, including the right to self-
determination.
In this same context, we cannot remain indifferent to
the recent events in the Middle East. They show clearly that
there is no alternative to the peace process and that
dialogue, tolerance and common sense must prevail over
force, violence and intolerance, failing which the region
could well be plunged anew into chaos and destruction,
thus delaying once again the hope of its peoples to live in
peace and security.
The eyes and hopes of mankind are turned to the
United Nations. We are convinced that our Organization
will emerge from this session with renewed strength and
with new actions and initiatives that will enable us to look
confidently to the challenges that the dawn of the third
millennium holds for all Governments and peoples of the
world.