When I assumed the presidency of my country
less than two months ago, I recalled that in the tradition of
the Aymara, an indigenous people of the Republic of
Bolivia, a human being and a country — and, may I say,
the United Nations — do their work if they manage to find
harmony in seven fundamental fields.
For the Aymaras there is a type of harmony that rises
from the head, and that is the harmony we need to maintain
with our beliefs and principles.
There is a second type of harmony which goes from
the feet down. That is the harmony we must maintain
with nature, the Earth and the environment.
There is a third harmony that goes from the body
out to the right side. That is the harmony we must have
with our families, with those closest to us.
A fourth type of harmony moves towards the left.
That is the harmony we must have with our neighbours,
our colleagues at work and those others who, without
being very close to us, surround us.
There is a fifth type of harmony which moves
forward from us, and for the Aymara people that is
harmony with the past. They believe that human beings
face the past and not the future, because we can see what
is in front of us, and the past is the only thing we can
really see.
A sixth type of harmony is behind us. That is our
harmony with the future, because although we do not see
the future we have an intuition about it and a sense of it.
Often, although it has not yet come, we can already feel
its weight on our shoulders.
The seventh and final type of harmony is self-
harmony, an inner harmony.
If we achieve harmony in those seven areas, we will
have a harmonious body, a harmonious country and a
harmonious world. It is with that vision that we have

begun to govern in Ecuador; and I believe it is with that
vision that the United Nations is doing its work.
We can discuss many issues here. I want to focus on
two, both related to left-sided harmony — harmony with
our neighbours, international harmony — and their
implications for the development of our peoples.
In Latin America, as in many parts of the world, we
face one of the gravest crises in our history. We have been
considering the advantages of globalization. Now we are
also suffering the problems of globalization. When we
speak of a global system, we speak of a real network,
which, like a large cobweb, encompasses us all. The
problem with such a network is that wherever we touch or
apply pressure to the web we produce a vibration and an
impact throughout the web.
The great majority of the countries of Latin America
have made enormous efforts to overcome the problems of
previous decades. They have worked to reduce their fiscal
deficits to a minimum, to open up to the global economy,
to participate in trade and to share the principles of open,
fair and transparent trade, free of discrimination. They have
understood that integration is the tool for progress in the
future. They have established regional markets, and now
they seek a continental market. After so much effort, which
at times has been costly in internal terms, we have found
that that effort can be wasted, that it may not be a way out
of our problems, because of an international crisis, which
did not originate in our countries; it came from outside, but
because of globalization, and the network connecting us, we
are all affected.
We understand the mechanics of the system. We
understand how something that affects markets in Asia has
an impact on Latin America. Yet, while we understand the
mechanics of the system, we cannot see its fairness. If
while working together we encounter problems that do not
originate in our region, we must ask the industrialized
countries in particular to take decisions that will ensure that
not all the countries of the world suffer to the extent that
we are suffering now.
There is talk of risk of a global recession as severe as,
or even more severe, than that of the 1930s. We see the
stock markets of the largest countries of our region affected
daily. We see a crisis that is already striking the
industrialized countries. I think this is the appropriate forum
for us to consider the need to work together. We small
countries like Ecuador can do little in a crisis of this
magnitude but call for reflection and true fraternity among
our nations so that a problem affecting the whole world
can be overcome. Otherwise, a crisis as big as this leaves
many of us with no option but to wait and see how we
can protect ourselves against these troubles.
The countries of Latin America see ourselves as a
region, and we believe we must behave as a region. Every
country has its own characteristics and has to do what is
necessary individually, but it is the region as a whole that
is being affected by all these changes.
The countries of Latin America have not come here
simply to ask for money and loans, as they have done at
other times of crisis. The countries of the region have not
appeared here one by one to try to overcome their
difficulties on an individual basis, as on other occasions.
This time we have made joint proposals — just, global
proposals. We hope these proposals will yield results.
All analysts maintain that unless interest rates are
lowered, in particular in the industrialized countries, this
global trend is undoubtedly not going to change. The 0.25
per cent drop in interest rates was widely considered
important but insufficient in view of the magnitude of the
current crisis. It is therefore crucial that we deal with this
matter here in the Assembly.
Along with this international crisis, Ecuador is
confronting an issue that is fundamental to its
development: its relations with Peru, and the search for a
definitive peace with Peru. We have a problem that has
been dragged out over many decades. In its most recent
stage, for the last 56 years, we have had a protocol of
peace, friendship and boundaries, which should now enter
a definitive phase. Peace is our objective; we see it as an
ethical, moral and economic good. Nothing is more
advantageous to the budgets of our countries than peace.
We can do great things for the benefit of our economies.
In this case, peace is accompanied by a set of
incentives, specifically, the possibility of $3 billion in
loans from multilateral entities for border development
projects, irrigation, roads, agricultural systems, schools
and health centres, to give a few examples. This $3
billion — a very large sum for both countries — can be
put into action if we achieve peace.
Over the past three years, we have been holding
talks. Commissions have reached agreements on border
integration, trade, navigation in the extraordinarily
important basin of the Amazon river and measures of
security and confidence-building for the future. But the
2

most delicate and difficult issue has yet to be resolved: the
establishment of the borderline between the two countries.
We have held talks at a number of levels — among our
Foreign Ministers, in the negotiating commissions, among
the countries that are guarantors of the protocol — and
these conversations have also risen to the level of the
presidencies of Peru and Ecuador. We have had three
meetings in less than two months in order to seek that final
agreement. Last night, I spoke with President Fujimori; he
is planning to travel to the United States, and we agreed
that tomorrow we will see each other here in New York for
a fourth meeting to try to continue seeking the definitive
formula that will resolve the question of our border in a
way that is fitting, acceptable to the two countries and
appropriate for our peoples.
The principles are clear. As countries, we cannot enter
the twenty-first century dragging with us problems that date
back to the nineteenth. We must embark on the twenty-first
century with a clear and positive vision that is directed
towards the future.
We share all the tenets of the United Nations on issues
related to this one. We are completely in agreement with
the Ottawa Convention on the question of landmines. Our
country signed that Convention, and at the end of last week
in Brasilia, the Presidents of Peru and Ecuador submitted to
President Cardoso of Brazil a joint communiqué requesting
that plans be drawn up for the removal of all the landmines
that have been placed in the border area over the years.
This is a positive and very real step; it means that the
Convention will not simply be signed and ratified but will
also be applied in practical terms in the field.
We are also completely in agreement with the
proposals of the United Nations on the reduction of military
budgets and expenditures. We believe that money should be
invested in poverty reduction and in the social programmes
and projects our peoples need so much. We are completely
in agreement with the conventional disarmament
programmes. We believe that trust must replace distrust,
and we believe that this task, accomplished jointly, can
allow us to leave behind long decades of mutual suspicion
and the great scepticism that sometimes pervades our
countries. We are in agreement as regards general and
complete disarmament. We agree with the prohibition of
nuclear weapons. We welcome the decision of the Southern
Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR) to make all the
countries of that region into a nuclear-weapon-free zone.
We believe in peace, and we are working to achieve
it. It will be hard to find, in the future, two Presidents of
neighbouring countries with a history of problems who
are so firmly committed to peace, so deeply convinced
that they must achieve peace, and so zealously at work to
reach a speedy, just and honourable peace. We hope our
efforts will soon meet their reward.
We completely support the initiatives of the United
Nations on the subject of the protection of human rights.
Ecuador has adopted its own national human rights plan
into law. We are the second country in Latin America,
and one of the first in the world, to adopt such a plan. It
is not a plan of the Ecuadorian Government, but a plan
made by Ecuadorian society, coordinated by the Ministry
with the participation of representatives of various sectors
of the society. We believe in human rights, and we
defend them in their entirety and without reservation. Our
Minister for Foreign Affairs was the first United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights before joining our
Ministry for Foreign Relations, so our support in this field
is complete.
In addition, we are concerned about the issue of
sustainable development, and we will vigorously promote
environmental issues. For the first time in history, a
woman from a country that is not in the northern
hemisphere has become chairperson of the world’s largest
intergovernmental organization on the environment. That
woman’s name is Yolanda Kakabadse, and she is the
present Minister of the Environment in Ecuador. We seek
to indicate several things by this, which are easily
understandable in what I have just said.
These are the central issues in the link between the
United Nations and my country: peace, the international
crisis and the search for a just global accord, the
environment and human rights. Other issues could be
taken up, but I prefer to focus on this message.
I believe that there is no better way to pay tribute to
the United Nations and to commemorate the fiftieth
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
than for two countries with democratically elected
Governments to seek peace and endeavour to sign a peace
agreement — perhaps sign one this year — so that the
development of our peoples can proceed and their quality
of life can improve.
In this way we can sum up the most important
human rights. Democracy, freedom, development, life, the
right to work, gender-related issues, the problems of
minorities and the most disadvantaged groups and the
protection of children are encompassed in these words
that are so simple and so important: peace, development
and international cooperation. We want to emphasize these
ideas here, in this Organization which has done so much to
bring them about throughout the world.
I wish the Assembly every success in its work for the
benefit of all of humanity.


Costa Rica is extremely pleased at Mr. Didier Operttiâs
election to preside over the work of this fifty-third session
of the General Assembly. We say this not just as the
ritual greeting required by protocol, but as an expression
of our deeply felt congratulations to a gifted citizen of the
Americas and as an expression of our certainty that in this
position the noble qualities you have displayed as a great
jurist in the inter-American system and as the
distinguished Minister for Foreign Affairs of our sister
Republic of Uruguay will once again be shown.
In presenting our respectful greetings to the
Secretary-General, my delegation also wishes to express
its sincere recognition of the enormously courageous
efforts he has made in the Secretariat in favour of
maintaining international peace and security, as well as
his efforts to renew and modernize the United Nations.
Costa Rica congratulates you, Sir, for your work and
encourages you to continue in your endeavours, which do
honour to Ghana and to Africa.
We are approaching the twenty-first century, the
third millennium of our era, at a dizzying speed. In a few
years, all of us here will be men and women of the past
century. Nevertheless, we have the obligation to bestow
upon the new millennium a world of greater solidarity.
This subject calls for reflection. What have we done so
far, and most of all, what are we doing about the
imminent future? What positive contributions can we
make to the new horizon that is opening up in the annals
of history?
Undoubtedly, the very existence of the United
Nations constitutes a most positive element. In 1945, this
Organization emerged as a successor, on a larger scale, to
the ideal of peace embodied in the League of Nations.
The 51 countries represented in San Francisco aspired to
build a world in which harmony would prevail and where
international security would be supported by a far more
solid foundation. Today, in this Hall, almost all the
countries of the world are represented â€” we hope that in
the near future there will be no exceptions â€” and each of
them has taken upon itself the obligation to abide by the
purposes and principles of the San Francisco Charter.
Under the vigorous leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt,
the members of the Commission on Human Rights of the
Economic and Social Council worked untiringly, freely
and openly discussing the subject, and trying to
harmonize approaches that encompassed both Western
humanism and the ancient philosophy of the East. The
fruit of their efforts was the adoption, on 10 December
1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
26

During those bitter years, when the shadows left by
the worldwide conflagration had not yet cleared, and those
of the bipolar confrontation were already looming, some
believed that the Declaration was a pleasant, romantic and
entirely unrealistic suggestion.
Others saw it, on the contrary, as our speciesâ best
hope, in the conviction that international relations have
ethical value only insofar as they guarantee the dignity of
human beings, which is our very essence as rational
creatures, through respect for our natural attributes. As the
former President of Chile, Mr. Eduardo Frei Montalva once
stated, the ratification of the Declaration was a
demonstration of faith in peace, faith in the peoples of the
world and faith in moral progress.
I am proud to be able to say that Costa Rica
enthusiastically supported the Declaration; since then, Costa
Rica has expressed its firm belief that human rights cannot
be subordinated to the interests of States. Today our
country is the seat of the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, and
the University for Peace of the United Nations. Throughout
Costa Ricaâs history as a Member of the United Nations, it
has consistently been committed to the cause of human
rights, in both the international arena and the domestic
sphere.
On this occasion, I reiterate to the Assembly all Costa
Ricaâs firm, solemn and unconditional commitment to
continue fighting actively, whenever and wherever, to
achieve full respect for all human rights.
Today my country reaffirms that its voice will
continue to be heard in all forums on behalf of the noble
ethical and moral ideals that we proclaimed 50 years ago.
Perhaps the most important legacy that the United
Nations of the twentieth century will leave to the United
Nations of the twenty-first century will be the certitude that
human rights are a matter of universal concern. This
conviction has allowed the broad conceptual, legal and
political development of the subject of human rights. We
have debated and signed pacts, conventions and protocols
on increasingly specific aspects of human rights.
Despite this prodigious pile of legal instruments,
humanity is still very far from having inscribed human
rights on its very spirit. In many aspects, the commitment
to an ethic of coexistence is as absent from the events of
today as it was half a century ago.
Costa Rica observes with regret the instances of
intolerance and violence that still persist in our world, the
ethnic, religious, cultural, national, ideological or gender
discrimination: the conflicts in the Balkans, the tragic
wars endured by some African peoples, the situation in
Afghanistan and the savagery of terrorism in various parts
of the world. We are extremely concerned by the limited
progress of the Middle East peace process and the
increasing virulence of national extremism and religious
fanaticism in certain countries.
My country believes that these serious problems
must be faced from an ethical standpoint, with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the basic code
for the conduct of both States and individuals.
The legal validity of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights is no longer debated today. However, for
a long time, doubts and objections were raised as to the
possibility of establishing mechanisms to guarantee it.
Thanks to the efforts of many years, the United
Nations now has a High Commissioner for Human
Rights. My country is proud to have been one of the main
sponsors of the establishment of that office.
One of the most important events that has taken
place this year was the successful culmination of the
effort to establish an International Criminal Court.
The valuable experience of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia â€” of which
the Second Vice-President of Costa Rica, Judge Elizabeth
Odio, is a member â€” undoubtedly contributed to
strengthening the conviction on the need for a permanent
court to try the most serious violations of human rights.
My country embraces the adoption of the Statute of
the International Criminal Court, which took place in
Rome on 17 July of this year, whereby the international
community rejects and condemns the most heinous crimes
against our universal conscience. We are especially
pleased that the Rome Conference included within its
definition of crimes violations of the basic norms of
international humanitarian law, applicable both to
international and internal conflicts. In addition, in the
light of the tragic experiences of some Latin American
countries in the recent past, we are gratified by the
inclusion of the legal definition of forced disappearance.
I am pleased to announce that, in the coming days,
I will have the honour of signing the Courtâs Statute on
27

behalf of my country, and I express Costa Ricaâs firm
intention to proceed with its speedy approval and
ratification.
My country is convinced of the necessity to establish
a commission that will prepare, before the year 2000, the
essential conditions for the Statute to enter into force. Costa
Rica believes that the commission should be convened as
soon as possible.
This year, in addition to celebrating the fiftieth
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
my country will celebrate another anniversary which, for
Costa Ricans, is no less important: the fiftieth anniversary
of the abolition of the Costa Rican army, decreed on 1
December 1948. Only 10 days later, Costa Rica adopted the
Magna Carta of international ethics, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The abolition of the army was the culmination of my
countryâs long anti-militaristic history. In 1866, the then
President of Costa Rica, Mr. JosÃ© Mar'a Castro, stated that
one of the foundations of external peace is a strict
adherence to international law, among whose prescriptions,
as listed by President Castro, are dignity, good faith, loyalty
and frankness. Today, as then, my country believes that in
order to invoke international law and aspire to be a
respected and valued State without need of military support,
Costa Ricaâs principal duty is to govern its domestic and
international conduct by a system of values that is grounded
in the fundamental rights of individuals.
As a result of its historical and moral tradition, Costa
Rica believes that there are no small countries when it
comes to consolidating and preserving peace. Such has been
Costa Ricaâs rule of conduct when it has had the
opportunity, as it does now, to be a member of the Security
Council.
For this same reason, Costa Rica has tenaciously
supported the work aimed at general disarmament, and in
particular the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction,
and has vigorously condemned the carrying out of nuclear
tests. In that regard, my country urges all those States that
have not yet done so to adhere fully and unconditionally to
the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Because of the values that have emerged from its own
experience, Costa Rica has invariably repudiated terrorism
in all its manifestations, wherever and by whomever it is
committed. We do not believe that there is any justification
for attacks against innocent people. Likewise, we condemn
those Governments that support, shelter and give
assistance to those who commit or instigate terrorist acts,
in clear violation of their international obligations.
We believe that the international community must
make special efforts to prevent and eliminate international
terrorism. In this context, we stress the recent negotiations
on an International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombings, and we urge Member States to sign
it. We also trust that during this session of the General
Assembly decisive progress can be made on the
preparation of an international convention for the
suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism. My delegation
wishes to express how deeply pleased it is that the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on
Their Destruction is to enter into force within six months.
My country urges all those States that have not yet done
so to accede to that Convention as soon as possible.
We are pleased to see that in Central America â€”
notwithstanding the conflicts and the turmoil that our
countries faced during the last decade â€” there are signs
of progress towards the elimination or substantial
reduction of military expenditures. Some countries have
eliminated their armed forces, and others have reduced
them significantly. Costa Rica does not intend to either
export or impose any models on others, but it warmly
applauds the decision of these brother countries.
The international community should acknowledge the
specific progress that has been made in reducing military
expenses by developing countries. In this spirit, Costa
Rica wishes to propose the creation of a special fund for
Central America, which would be established through
contributions of developed countries and organizations.
The idea would be that each dollar not spent on military
budgets would be at least matched by contributions for
social development programmes to strengthen democratic
systems in our region.
The Central American peace process has been one of
the most successful ones of recent times. Only a decade
ago, in this same Hall, we were exhausting ourselves
discussing and commenting on the effects of the Central
American crisis. Today, our countries rarely make the
headlines of the international press. However, we would
like to stress that, notwithstanding Central Americaâs huge
social and economical problems, it resolutely continues to
work to consolidate for its children a more dignified and
freer way of life, more in accordance with the spirit of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have
28

progressed in the areas of electoral democracy and freedom
of expression. Now the time has come to consolidate
participatory democracy. Therefore, at the end of this
century and of the millennium, Costa Rica has begun a
process of national political dialogue, with broad popular
participation, in order to strengthen our more than 100-year-
old democracy.
The Central American countries have worked
strenuously for the integration and liberalization of our
economies. We have achieved important progress in our
integration mechanisms and structural adjustment processes.
We are participating actively in the negotiations aimed at
creating a free-trade area throughout the Americas, and we
continue to maintain a policy of openness and commercial
links among the Latin American countries.
Despite the regional efforts to redraft its economic
plans and to adapt them to the world marketâs requirements,
Costa Rica views with apprehension the creation of
economic unions or commercial blocks that beget new
discrimination against third countries. Similarly, new
conditionalities in the commercial policy of the
industrialized economies and the use of managed-trade
mechanisms are a clear impediment to the ideal of free
trade and create new inequalities of access to the world
economy.
At the same time, we observe that, while the global
trade in raw materials and agricultural products is losing its
vigour, the exchange of high-technology goods is growing
stronger. This means that the portion of trade traditionally
carried out by the developing countries is becoming weaker
in the global context. In this regard, Costa Rica urges the
opening of markets, not only of the small economies, but
also of the large and industrialized economies. Costa Rica
also advocates commitment to the ideal of free trade that
gave birth to the World Trade Organization and respect for
its rules and resolutions in order to create an international
environment more propitious for developing countriesâ
economic progress.
Free trade encourages economic growth, and economic
freedom encourages the creation of wealth within the
nations. In accordance with these principles, my country
undertook, in 1997, the chairmanship of the negotiating
process for the free-trade zone of the Americas, and we are
trying to contribute dynamically to its progress.
We are also making efforts to attain fair and non-
discriminatory access for Central American products to
markets in the United States and the European Union â€”
the regionâs principal trade partners. In both markets, our
countries have been negatively affected by the diversion
of trade and investment that have resulted from the
granting of preferential concessions to third countries,
which are displacing our main exports. We refute the neo-
protectionist arguments of the groups who are trying to
obstruct the access of Central American products to those
markets. For this reason, we are promoting the
strengthening of the Caribbean Basin Initiative in order to
correct those diversions and inequities. Furthermore, we
believe there should be better opportunities for our
exports to the European Union through its generalized
preferences system. We are also promoting tariff
reduction for agricultural products in all the industrialized
countries.
At the same time, Costa Rica urges industrialized
nations to cooperate with the efforts to strengthen the
international financial institutions in order to ensure the
stability of the world financial system. Institutions such as
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and
regional entities such as the Inter-American Development
Bank must provide support to overcome the crises that
cause financial instability, especially in the emerging
markets.
While some believe that economic profit and ethics
have nothing to do with each other, experience has shown
us otherwise. Capitalism without rule of law and not
subject to ethical rules usually causes scourges such as
the spread of drug-trafficking, the reign of organized
crime and corruption.
My country, like many others, has been affected by
these phenomena. Mr. Miguel Angel RodrÃguez
Echeverr'a, President of Costa Rica, is actively
participating in both the fight against and the prevention
of these scourges, and he gave proof of his commitment
to this cause when he contributed to the success of the
recent special session of the General Assembly on drug-
trafficking. For Costa Rica, these struggles can be won
only if they have a solid ethical foundation. Genuine
ethical leadership can do more for the long-lasting and
sustainable prosperity of a society than the best laws and
the most detailed treaties.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not
only a statement of rights, it is also a clear statement of
every human beingâs duties to the community. One of the
fundamental obligations of all persons is to behave
fraternally with their fellow men and the environment.
29

Costa Rica has not been exempt from the problems
caused by environmental degradation. However, my
countryâs authorities and many organizations of our civil
society are working strenuously to solve them. In a
relatively short time, we Costa Ricans have achieved major
progress in the task of recovering and preserving our rich
biodiversity, while at the same time transforming it into a
source of income. For example, Costa Rica is today one of
the developing countries that has undertaken a leading role
in carbon-fixation projects. We have negotiated important
bilateral agreements based on the filtration capability of our
forests. Those agreements have allowed us to become the
first country to issue â€œsale of oxygenâ€ certificates as
specific proof of the quantity of captured emissions.
My country has been the recipient of important
international cooperation programmes. In many areas we
continue needing them. Nevertheless, we firmly believe that
cooperation is a two-way street in which we can all teach
and learn, give and receive. Costa Rica believes that its
experience in ecological matters may be useful to many
other countries and it makes it available to the international
community.
Furthermore, my country would like to express its firm
intention to offer technical cooperation for development, in
the modest measure of its capabilities, through the action of
a specialized office that is being established for such a
purpose. Thanks to this office, Costa Ricans will share with
other nations our experiences in the areas of health,
education, ecology, human rights and electoral
development.
For Costa Rica, the respect for diversity consecrated
in the Universal Declaration must be an essential
characteristic of the Member States of the United Nations.
In this regard, we are always conscious of the valuable
lesson of the African thinker, Salif Tall Tierno-Bokar, when
he taught that the rainbow owes its beauty to the varied
tones of its colours in the same way that the voices of
various believers make up a harmony that rises up to
divinity.
The survival of the human species cannot be based on
a system of separate existences. Since human beings first
appeared on the face of the earth, they must have had an
awareness of their individual limitations and must have
understood that they could not survive without the other
members of their species. Today, such natural wisdom of
our far-distant ancestors continues to be valid. We must live
in community in order to build the future.
The concept of love for our fellow men is at the
core of all religions. The ancient texts of the great
masters of China, Mexico and India, and the Torah, the
Gospel and the Koran, regardless of any differences, are
all permeated with a deep sense of identity among
individuals.
Moral and spiritual perfection, the dream of so many
thinkers and the innermost aspiration of so many peoples,
cannot be reached without a basis in the constructive and
fraternal coexistence of all the nations.
At this moment in history, we the people who
inhabit the earth must create a civilization of peace and
solidarity. The twenty-first century should be the century
of the culture of peace, which is also the culture of
freedom, tolerance and solidarity.


It is with the greatest
pleasure that I congratulate my colleague from Uruguay,
Didier Opertti, on his election to the presidency of this
session of the General Assembly. In his election I see the
recognition of the role played internationally by the
Republic of Uruguay, an Ibero-American country and a
friend of Portugal, as well as our appreciation and our
confidence that his personal, intellectual and professional
qualities will result in success in our work.
I would also like to pay tribute to the outgoing
President, Hennadiy Y. Udovenko, for the dedicated and
competent manner in which he steered the work of the
General Assembly at its fifty-second session.
To the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, I renew my
tribute for the remarkable manner in which he has been
carrying out his difficult functions during a period in
which the United Nations is increasingly called upon to
intervene in many aspects of international life.
I would like to dwell upon some questions of
particular importance to my country, beginning with those
of a political nature, including Africa. I recall that my
Austrian colleague has already addressed the Assembly on
behalf of the 15 States members of the European Union.
When releasing last April his excellent report on the
causes of conflict and the promotion of lasting peace and
sustainable development in Africa, the Secretary-General
did not hesitate to qualify as “colossal” (S/1998/318,
para. 5) the scale of the human tragedy that persists in
parts of the African continent, which has been devastated
by the conflicts that have affected a number of States
since the end of the cold war.
Within its possibilities and in accordance with the
historical, cultural and social ties that bind it to many
regions and countries of Africa, Portugal continues to
make efforts towards helping overcome those conflicts by
peaceful means and towards the promotion of economic
development, social progress and good governance, which
are indispensable for their eradication. I would like to
underline the readiness Portugal has shown to participate
in United Nations peacekeeping missions, particularly in
Africa. By way of example, I recall the role played by
Portuguese forces within the framework of the peace
15

process in Mozambique, and in the ongoing United Nations
missions in Angola, in Western Sahara and, most recently,
in the Central African Republic, as well as in the
evacuation operations undertaken in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and in Guinea-Bissau.
I must express here the very serious concern of my
country at the situation in Angola, a country to which we
are bound by so many and such deep ties. The signs of
rupture are becoming more dangerously evident in the
peace process, which has proceeded with such difficulty.
The refusal by the União Nacional para a Independência
Total de Angola (UNITA) to comply fully with the
obligations of the Lusaka Protocol, which it freely signed,
with regard to its demilitarization and transformation into
a political party, and its obstruction of the normalization of
State administration contribute to the resort to military
options outside the framework of the negotiated solutions
adopted by the international community.
As a member of the troika of observer countries to the
Angolan peace process and as one of countries that
contributed most to the United Nations Angola Verification
Mission (UNAVEM) and to the United Nations Observer
Mission in Angola (MONUA), Portugal remains committed
to promoting concord in Angola in close cooperation with
the United Nations and, in particular, with the new Special
Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Issa Diallo,
whose difficult mission should be helped and supported.
We are, however, fully aware of the fact that all the
diplomatic efforts will be in vain if those responsible in
Angola do not have an effective will for peace. The
Government and UNITA must assume their responsibilities
to the Angolan people, whose right to peace, security and
well-being is legitimate and inalienable. We appeal, once
again, for the Lusaka Protocol to be respected, and in
particular appeal to UNITA to assure immediately the
Protocol?s implementation, in strict accordance with the
terms that have been demanded of it by the Security
Council.
The gains of a multi-party system in Angola must not
be jeopardized. Its participants, particularly having endorsed
peace and national reconciliation, must not see the erection
of barriers to the respective mandates, and all must be
given the conditions of security necessary to face the
reconstruction of the country.
The Secretary-General deserves our full support in
continuing to promote all the necessary responses that the
gravity of the situation requires from the international
community.
Guinea-Bissau — a friend of Portugal with which
we also share many varied and strong affinities — has
since June been the site of a conflict that has had grave
human, economic and social consequences for its people.
At the express request of the parties to the conflict,
Portugal and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking
Countries (CPLP) — which is principally made up of
African countries, and has among its main goals the
political and diplomatic coordination of its members?
policies — carried out from the start mediation efforts
designed to stop the fighting, obtain a negotiated solution
to the conflict and bring humanitarian assistance to the
population of Guinea-Bissau. At no time was it possible
to doubt the legitimate intentions that led the CPLP, of
which Guinea-Bissau is a founding member, to respond
to the request made to it. The CPLP?s intervention
aligned itself with that of the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS), eventually permitting
the signature of a ceasefire agreement between the
Government and the military junta, which opened the way
to a negotiated settlement of the conflict.
Still on the African continent, a word is also due on
the events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We
defend unequivocally the need to respect the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of that vast country, whose
stability is strategically essential to the region in which it
is located. We support unconditionally the African peace
initiatives that seek a negotiated and peaceful solution to
the complex political problems of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, which are at the heart of the
conflict and cannot and should not have a solution based
on the use of force or on the presence of foreign military
forces.
Notwithstanding continued difficulties, we still
believe in a democratic, free and prosperous future for
Africa. We are therefore committed to bringing to fruition
the initiative we launched in 1996 to hold a summit
between the European Union and Africa, which is now
scheduled for 2000. We therefore welcomed with
satisfaction the decision taken by the most recent
Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in
Ouagadougou to endorse that initiative.
I would now like to refer to another source of
serious and justified concern for the international
community, this time on the European continent: the crisis
in Kosovo, which jeopardizes peace and stability in the
16

Balkans and is producing heavy human losses, in terms of
deaths, injuries, internally displaced persons and refugees.
There can be no doubt as to who bears the primary
responsibility for the eruption of the current crisis. The
adoption a few minutes ago by the Security Council of a
resolution co-sponsored by Portugal is a clear signal of the
determination of the international community and cannot be
ignored by those to whom it is addressed.
Portugal welcomes the constructive spirit that
dominated the most recent round of ministerial talks on the
question of East Timor, held under the auspices of the
Secretary-General, whose efforts at mediation, as well as
those of his Special Representative, Ambassador Marker
and his collaborators, I would especially like to
congratulate. I believe I can, for the first time, say that
effective and promising steps have been taken towards
creating the conditions to achieve a just, comprehensive and
internationally acceptable solution to this problem, with full
respect for the legitimate rights of the East Timorese
people, in accordance with the principles of the Charter and
the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.
While safeguarding the basic positions of principle of
the parties, it was agreed to negotiate for East Timor a
wide-ranging autonomy that we wish to see rest on
genuinely democratic and participatory rules for its people,
who, it is hoped, will progressively establish an ample
degree of self-government. It was also agreed to associate
more closely the East Timorese — whose will, freely
expressed in accordance with their legitimate right to self-
determination, will be essential to validate any definitive
solution to the question — with the process of negotiations
under way, entrusting the Secretary-General with the
responsibility of promoting that wide consultation.
It is necessary now to achieve tangible progress with
regard to the more critical aspects of the situation in the
territory, such as the reduction of the Indonesian military
presence, the release of all East Timorese political
prisoners, including Xanana Gusmao, and the monitoring by
the United Nations of the evolution of the situation on the
ground.
We believe that we are still at a turning point. Nothing
substantial has yet been settled or guaranteed. That is why
we consider it essential that the international community
continue to follow closely the evolution of this process in
its varied aspects, so that the goal of finally enabling the
people of East Timor to enjoy a future of freedom, peace
and security is not delayed any further.
In just over a year, on 20 December 1999, the
territory of Macao, currently under Portuguese
administration, will return to the sovereignty of the
People?s Republic of China, in fulfilment of the terms of
the Luso-Chinese Joint Declaration of 13 April 1987. The
transition process has been carried out in a constructive
and pragmatic climate, reflecting the good relations that
exist between the two countries. We are convinced that
this climate will persist until the end, thus guaranteeing a
transfer of power conducive to the future stability and
prosperity of Macao, while respecting its autonomy and
uniqueness.
As a short note on the question of official
development assistance, I would like to put on record
that, according to data on 1997 recently issued by the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), Portugal was the donor that registered the
largest increase in this type of aid — 27.3 per cent.
Within the framework of the International Year of
the Oceans, Portugal dedicated the last World Exposition
of this century — EXPO ?98 — to the theme “The
oceans: a heritage for the future”, attempting in this
manner to contribute to a progressive enlightenment of
humanity with regard to the risks and challenges related
to the preservation of the oceans.
Still in this area, Portugal has participated actively
in various activities undertaken in the context of the
United Nations, namely at the level of the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) and the Independent World
Commission on the Oceans. In fact, Portugal was granted
the honour of the presidency of the latter, in the person of
Dr. Mario Soares, and its work led to the adoption of the
report approved in Lisbon at the beginning of this month,
which appeals for a democratic, equitable and peaceful
management of the “ocean ... our future”, and which will
be submitted to the General Assembly.
Portugal is a non-permanent member of the Security
Council until the end of this year. We have sought to
contribute effectively to the strengthening of the Council?s
authority and the effectiveness of its action, in accordance
with the purposes and principles of the Charter. On the
other hand, increasing the transparency and democratic
nature of its functioning is essential to us, allowing, in
this way, non-members to better follow the work of the
Council.
17

This year, as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, none can
purport to defend international law and legitimacy while
ignoring the fulfilment of those fundamental rights.
Terrorism is one of the most perverse forms of human
rights violation, and a coordinated international effort to
combat it is urgently required.
I should like to mention that Portugal is a candidate
for membership in the Commission on Human Rights, for
a mandate that will begin in January 2000 and that will
coincide with the Portuguese Presidency of the European
Union.
In an era of globalization — of markets, information,
circulation of people and cultural exchange — we also have
a duty to include in the international agenda the
globalization of human rights. This will be the best tribute
we can pay to the Universal Declaration that was issued 50
years ago.


It is not without some emotion that I appear before this
Assembly both as Head of State of Burkina Faso and
current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity
(OAU), to extol, here in this sanctuary of nations, peace
and harmony between human beings.
To promote peace and security for our era and for
future generations is the objective of the nations of the
world gathered here. It is also the message which I bring
on behalf of Africa, being convinced that, armed with this
immense hope, the Organization for African Unity and
the United Nations, intimately linked, can make a reality
of humanity’s legitimate aspiration to a better destiny.
But first, I should like to congratulate you, Sir, as
well as the other members of the Bureau, upon your
election and the confidence placed in you to bring the
work of this fifty-third session to a successful conclusion.
I also congratulate your predecessor, Mr. Udovenko, on
the energy with which he discharged his duties.
Mr. Secretary-General, I would like to address my
congratulations to you and your staff on the work you
have done in so little time and offer my encouragement
16

for the battles still to be won. It is entirely to the credit of
the whole United Nations system that it carries the torch of
peace higher every day.
The century which is drawing to its close will be
remembered as one of great challenges. Seriously shaken by
the two world conflicts, it also mustered the necessary
resources to sound the death knell of colonialism and
apartheid.
The liberation of colonized peoples and territories was
historically necessary to ensure greater justice, tranquillity
and well-being for our civilization, a civilization which
finally understood that its survival lay in the organization
of a genuine collective security. But the cold war, which
led to bipolar confrontation exacerbated by ideological
antagonism, made this security illusory. International peace
and security have not been consolidated with the end of the
cold war. Conflicts and disturbances which no authority
could contain quickly followed. The resurgence of these
crises and the inadequacy of the solutions proposed to
resolve them bring to mind the plight of the Danaïdes,
those mythological beings who were condemned to fill up
a bottomless barrel.
The international community’s failure to restore peace
to Somalia and to prevent genocide in Rwanda will stand
out in the history of the African continent. This failure has
undoubtedly greatly contributed to awakening our somewhat
lethargic consciences and forcing us to confront ourselves.
It has revealed to Africa, which may still have had its
doubts, the limitations of the United Nations.
The twentieth century thus ends with this
acknowledgement, which, though shocking for more than
one reason to those still lulled by the illusions of an age-old
humanism, is at least realistic and belongs to the new era
that is beginning. It is an acknowledgment that the United
Nations, to which Africa has given so much, cannot do
everything for the continent in its struggle to quell the
numerous hotbeds of tension and ensure its development.
The conclusion to be drawn from this fact is self-evident:
Africa must recognize this reality and come to terms with
it.
The thirty-fourth Assembly of Heads of State and
Government of the Organization of African Unity, held in
Ouagadougou on 8-10 June 1998, devoted the thrust of its
deliberations to this new reality, which challenges and
commands Africa to take control of its own destiny.
Assessing the scope and importance of the
responsibilities this entails, and which are theirs to
assume, the heads of States took the decision to affirm
their common will to focus fully — more than in the
past — on the prevention, management and resolution of
African conflicts. This commitment will certainly ensure
greater visibility both for the Organization of African
Unity and for the continent’s various regional
organizations in their search for peaceful solutions to
these conflicts.
Though Africa’s experience in taking control of its
own affairs is still quite recent, encouraging results have
been recorded in the management and resolution of
certain conflicts, results which deserve to be saluted here.
The task, therefore, is not beyond the capacity of
Africans.
It is my ardent wish that this experience be extended
to the whole continent, to the most ancient crises as well
as the most recent. From north to south, from east to
west, Africa must henceforth more systematically involve
itself in the management and settlement of conflicts
wherever prevention was not enough, where it did not
succeed in guaranteeing peace.
To this end, initiatives to strengthen the continent’s
capacity to respond quickly to crises have been generated
by Africans themselves. The advantage they have over all
other initiatives is that they are African. In order to be
developed and implemented, they need the unequivocal
support of the international community. Subregion by
subregion, they need to be developed, without exception
and in harmony.
Preventing, managing and resolving the conflicts in
Africa, whose number and complexity are increasingly
disturbing, requires solid and reliable mechanisms,
appropriate to local conditions, mechanisms dedicated to
the cause of peace, without which Africa cannot
undertake sustainable development.
Clearly, the world’s problems are immense, complex
and alarming. The extreme difficulty of dealing with the
establishment of peace in isolation gives multilateral
diplomacy an ever-growing role in the resolution of
conflicts.
The United Nations and regional organizations such
as the Organization of African Unity can bring a great
deal to this task. The OAU, for example, possesses a
Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and
17

Resolution. Created in Cairo in 1993, this Mechanism,
whose effectiveness and practicality we are working to
ensure, should to be the crucible in which a genuine
preventive diplomacy can be forged.
That is all the more imperative since the consequences
of conflicts, whether internal or international, are always
devastating.
At the institutional level, therefore, we are equipped to
respond to conflicts, and we also have the will to do so,
for, as I emphasized during the thirty-fourth OAU summit,
“the issue of security and peace in Africa is primarily
of concern to Africans. No mechanism has any chance
of succeeding effectively over time if it is imposed
from outside.”
Of course, external solidarity, if it is sincere, will
always be welcome, given that in such a complex and
changing field concerted and resolute action can only be
beneficial. I have already emphasized that the management
of conflict situations often requires the deployment of a
level of human, material and financial resources beyond the
capacities of our countries. Thus, international organizations
should continue to show solidarity and partnership with
Africa.
I therefore call upon the United Nations, with its
wealth of experience, to contribute not only to
strengthening structurally the Mechanism for Conflict
Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa, but also
to provide technical and logistical support, since in the end
we share the same ideal: assuring for our world the security
and peace essential to its development and flourishing.
In this test of international solidarity, one thing is
certain: Africa must definitively and first of all rely upon
itself. We Africans are aware that in order to be masters of
our destiny we must forge it ourselves. In response to this
imperative no sacrifice has been spared by any State of our
continent to establish an internal climate that is conducive
to growth and sustainable development. After the years of
uncertainty and stagnation, Africa has entered a new era,
marked by clear economic recovery in the wake of bold
reforms and characterized by greater austerity and
rationality in the management of public and State affairs.
This movement towards transparency in management and
good governance has been accompanied by the
establishment of homogeneous subregions in which the
common destiny of Africans is daily forged, thanks to the
sustained harmony of our principles and policies of
integration, the ultimate objective of which is the
establishment of an African economic community in the
first half of the twenty-first century.
At present Africa faces two challenges: peace and
political stability on the one hand, and sustainable
development on the other. In their struggle and daily
efforts to emerge from underdevelopment, African
Governments and peoples are not alone. They know how
to rely on the sincere support of their friends. This
includes the operational development system of the
United Nations, which I should like to commend for its
dedication to the uplifting struggle against poverty and
other forms of deprivation that afflict African peoples.
It is therefore regrettable that the United Nations
agencies that are at the heart of the struggle for human
security in Africa — such as the United Nations
Development Programme and the United Nations
Children’s Fund, to cite only two examples — are seeing
their financial resources slowly dwindle while the mission
entrusted to them calls for a redoubling of efforts and
resources. That is why I call upon all to demonstrate their
goodwill by contributing to the operational development
system of the United Nations the resources it needs in
order to assist Africa in confronting the challenges of
peace and development.
The same goes for the question of debt. It would be
desirable for the eligible countries to have their debt
rescheduled at the same time as they are initiating
reforms. It hardly needs recalling that debt is an
unbearable burden for our still fragile economies.
Globalization offers us the means and advantages
required to succeed in the boldest undertakings, provided
that we clearly define our objectives and involve our
peoples in the challenge of propelling Africa along the
path of progress. It is incontrovertible that globalization,
which implies a spirit of partnership, limits the
independence and initiatives of States. But can humanity
continue to flourish if the gap between rich and poor
nations, between the affluent and the destitute within the
same nation, grows inexorably?
The time has therefore come to rethink seriously the
responsibility of international institutions in the regulation
of the globalized economy in order to ensure a balance
between economic growth and social prosperity. To do
18

that, it is more than indispensable and more than timely to
engage in a restructuring of the United Nations, and
especially of the Security Council, in order to make it a
true instrument for the application of the principles of
justice, equity and democracy.
Africa accounts for one third of the Members of the
United Nations. That is why it is unacceptable that, after
more than 50 years of our Organization’s existence, an
entire continent — Africa — should be absent from the
permanent membership of the Security Council, which,
paradoxically, debates problems that are for the most part
African.

If the United Nations were to apply the principle of
equity, would the sanctions against the Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya continue despite the opinion of the International
Court of Justice and, above all, despite the decisions and
resolutions of heads of State in the Organization of African
Unity, the League of Arab States, the Organization of the
Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement calling
for those sanctions to be lifted? Today Security Council
resolution 1192 (1998) has underscored the primacy of law
for resolving this dispute, and the majority of nations within
our world Organization hope that conditions of transparency
will be met so that the trial can be concluded, in the
interest of the victims and the Libyan people.
Moreover, Africa hopes that the Security Council will
dispatch a mission of inquiry to the Sudan in the wake of
the bombing of the pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum.
Africa forcefully condemns terrorism in all its forms
and manifestations and calls upon our world Organization
to create the necessary conditions for a frank debate of this
issue and for strong and concerted action against this
phenomenon, while keeping in mind that unresolved angers
and frustrations born of economic or historical conditions
restrict our capability to act.
In the same vein, can the United Nations continue to
deny the legal and international reality of a State such as
the Republic of China on Taiwan, whose 22 million women
and men are excluded from making any contribution to the
activities of our Organization?
I am among those who believe that Africa is on the
path of hope. I remain convinced that the economic,
political, cultural and social obstacles that confront Africa
call forcefully for its children to rediscover the road to
unity that will allow them to take effective control of
their destiny. Without union, Africa will remain on the
periphery of history. Common sense tells us that we
Africans must once and for all rid ourselves of that image
of the outstretched hand that bedevils us and build the
covenants of friendship, dignity and pride that will confer
so much solidarity and generosity. This quest for
independence does not deny the importance of solidarity
among peoples. It means reaching a new understanding of
human rights and the rights of peoples; it means taking on
the responsibility of knowing how to remain ourselves.


On behalf of the delegation of Guinea-Bissau,
I am pleased to extend our congratulations to you, Sir, on
your election to the presidency of the General Assembly
at its fifty-third session. I am particularly pleased because
it is unanimously agreed that you have exceptional
intellectual, political and diplomatic qualities which will
ensure the success of our deliberations. It also gives me
pleasure to pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy
Udovenko, and to thank him for his dynamism and
initiative and for the integrity which he displayed
throughout his mandate.
I wish to reiterate to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, our appreciation for the tangible results we have
seen in the Organization since his election, and to
encourage him to persevere with the same determination
in implementing his reform programme, which we
wholeheartedly support.
As we prepare to enter the new millennium, it is
important to be aware of the increasing interdependence
of nations, large and small, and of the consequences of
globalization, so that through fruitful dialogue at the
global level, we may together find appropriate responses
to the numerous challenges facing us, particularly the
fight against international terrorism. Poverty,
underdevelopment and the major pandemics must not
remain the sole responsibility of the countries affected by
these scourges, because for tomorrow’s world to be stable
it must be united founded on the principles of social
justice and the equality of peoples and nations. Hence, the
primacy of law must continue to guide us in seeking

lasting solutions to the numerous regrettable conflicts
throughout the world. We are pleased to note that all the
peoples of the world share a determination to live in peace,
within their national borders, with their neighbours and the
rest of the international community.
My country welcomes the positive developments in the
Lockerbie affair, which has been a matter of concern to us
for many years. It has been the subject of decisions by
regional organizations, such as the Organization of African
Unity (OAU) and the League of Arab States, as well as the
Non-Aligned Movement. We hope that the parties involved
will spare no effort to ensure that justice is done in
conditions of fairness and impartiality, with all the
necessary guarantees, taking into account the recognized
rights of each party. We feel that the clarifications called
for by the Libyan authorities are legitimate, because they
are based on the objective criteria of neutrality and fair play
which govern any judicial procedure worthy of the name.
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau was admitted as a
fully fledged member of the United Nations in September
1974, following a lengthy and difficult struggle for national
liberation. For almost a quarter of a century we have been
committed to respecting and defending the principles
enshrined in the United Nations Charter, because they are
essential guidelines for active participation in international
life and for the building of our young nation.
Early on we understood that in order to give shape to
our political independence we needed to establish the
conditions for harmonious economic development from
which all sections of our population could benefit. With the
assistance of the international community, therefore, our
young State focused on ways and means to build a land of
freedom and peace.
It goes without saying that 11 years of struggle for
national liberation scarred our people and left an indelible
mark on their minds and bodies. Since Guinea-Bissau is a
poor country with very limited resources, everything needed
to be built, despite the fact that we did not have the
financial means or the necessary skills. Therefore, inspired
by the courage that enabled us to galvanize ourselves to
free our country, we set to the task determined to create the
right conditions for the full development of our citizens and
the improvement of their living standards.
Over the past four years we have succeeded in laying
the foundations of a democratic State based on the rule of
law and respect for human rights. As members of the
Assembly know, building a nation is a long-term task
requiring both determination and perseverance. Guinea-
Bissau, which is among the poorest countries of the
world, is no exception to that rule. Over the past two
decades we have focused on consolidating our national
unity by strengthening the ties of solidarity that unite our
citizens, whose maturity had enabled them to wage, and
succeed in, one of the most exemplary national liberation
struggles in Africa. It is precisely this awareness of
belonging to the same people that has enabled all sectors
of our population to unite and work hand in hand for the
development of the country and the well-being of all.
Therefore, since its independence in 1973, despite the
economic difficulties all States face, Guinea-Bissau has
lived in peace and has known a period of great political
stability.
However, since 7 June our country has experienced
tragedy, previously unimaginable, just when it was
beginning to make notable progress with regard to
democracy and respect for human rights and in the
economy.
An unprecedented crisis for which we were not even
minimally prepared has deeply shaken and paralysed our
country for some four months now, endangering the
foundations of the state of law and the existence of
democratic institutions in the Republic. The act of
aggression by a party of our country’s national army is a
serious violation of the constitutional provisions in force
in Guinea-Bissau. The international community, in
particular the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and
the United Nations, have unreservedly condemned this act
of aggression.
From this podium, we wish to thank the United
Nations family for the solidarity and support it has
provided to the President of the Republic, Mr. João
Bernardo Vieira; the legal Government of the Republic of
Guinea-Bissau; its leaders; and especially, the innocent,
victimized population. I should like in particular to
convey our gratitude to the neighbouring countries of
Guinea-Bissau for their active solidarity with our people.
On behalf of my Government, I specifically thank the
authorities of Senegal, Guinea, Cape Verde, the Gambia
and Portugal for having rapidly created an appropriate
rapid-response team to evacuate citizens and foreign
nationals who wished to leave, especially our own
desperate compatriots, a great number of whom have
sought refuge and safe haven in neighbouring countries.
Each of these brother countries has distinguished itself
admirably in an exemplary display of compassion and
2

humanity. I wish to thank them most sincerely on behalf of
our Government and all of my compatriots.
I also wish to pay tribute to the courage of my own
fellow citizens and to reiterate, on behalf of our
Government, our keen awareness of the difficulties they
face and of the need to ease their suffering by finding a
speedy solution to the current crisis, so that peace and
stability may be restored to our homeland, and by
establishing conditions to allow our people to return to their
country.
It is its desire to find a peaceful and negotiated
solution to this crisis that has inspired the Government of
the Republic of Guinea-Bissau in its contacts with the
members of the self-proclaimed military junta. Indeed,
through the joint mediation of members of the Community
of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and the Economic
Community of West African States, we have signed a
ceasefire and begun a constructive dialogue, which we will
pursue on the basis of recognition and respect for the
constitutional legality of our country and the need to work
together to restore peace and stability.
We are grateful to all people of goodwill who have
come forward, both in Africa and overseas, to assist us in
overcoming all of these difficulties and in finding a final
solution to the conflict in Guinea-Bissau.
The people of Guinea-Bissau are peaceful. They have
age-old relations of friendship and brotherhood with their
neighbours in the Republics of Guinea, Senegal and the
Gambia. These relations are based on the common destiny
which history and geography have bequeathed us. It is a
precious legacy that present and future generations must
preserve and defend in the conviction that their identity and
their social and cultural values will endure. It is this same
committed and unfailing solidarity which enabled us to free
ourselves from the yoke of colonialism, as did our brothers
in Guinea and Senegal.
As we have already had the opportunity to point out,
the presence of Guinean and Senegalese troops in Guinea-
Bissau is based on the implementation of bilateral
agreements duly signed and ratified. In addition to the
existence of an unquestionably legal framework, however,
it is important to know and recall that, through their
intervention, the Guinean and Senegalese troops bravely
assisted their comrades in arms in Guinea to overcome an
attempted coup that has been condemned by the OAU, the
United Nations and the entire international community.
They have made a courageous contribution to the
maintenance of constitutional legality and democracy in
Guinea-Bissau. Allow me here to pay tribute to them for
their decisive action and to offer them our full gratitude.
For some four months, Guinea-Bissau has been
experiencing a major tragedy that has brought great loss
of human life, serious material damage and much
suffering to our people, who have been internally
displaced and made refugees in neighbouring countries,
Cape Verde and Portugal.
Once again, I wish to thank the Assembly for its
solidarity with our country and people. Its assistance is
valued and will be valuable in healing the wounds and
assisting all the citizens of our country to understand each
other better and work together for the common future of
their homeland. I can assure members that we will spare
no effort to ensure that, through dialogue and joint
endeavours, peace will return to a Guinea-Bissau united
and reconciled in solidarity.
More than ever, we recognize the need to establish
a pluralistic democracy in a state of law and an
egalitarian society that will guarantee full respect for civil,
political and human rights. Today more than ever, we are
aware of the importance of peace in our country and in
other conflicted regions of the world where peoples of the
same country have been torn apart. I am thinking in
particular of the fratricidal wars which for some years
now have ravaged other African countries, Angola and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular.
At a time when we are preparing to commemorate
the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, it is appropriate to proclaim our complete
commitment to the fundamental principles of democracy,
good governance and respect for human rights, which
underpin our search for harmonious development and a
better standard of living. The international community, the
United Nations in particular, has always heeded the
aspirations of the people of Guinea-Bissau. With its
solidarity, it has made our struggle for national liberation
its own battle for the emancipation of peoples throughout
the world. Today, as in the past, we need its support to
rebuild our country and restore confidence and hope to
our compatriots, who impatiently await the moment when
they can return to their country, their homes, their
families, their friends and their workplaces — to peace
and stability.


Allow me, on behalf of
the Bulgarian delegation, to congratulate Mr. Opertti on his
election to the presidency of the fifty-third session of the
General Assembly and to wish him every success in
guiding this important session to tangible results.
I would like also to express our appreciation to
Mr. Udovenko for the proficiency and insight with which
he presided over the fifty-second session.
The Republic of Bulgaria, as an associated country,
has aligned itself with the statement on behalf of the
European Union, delivered by Mr. Wolfgang Schüssel,
Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Austria.
While the search for new approaches and responses
to the processes of globalization confronts humanity with
new challenges, existing cases of conflict, unrest and
underdevelopment bear the mark of the divisions and
confrontations of past decades. The question we have to
address now is whether the next millennium will be one
of continued unrest and confrontation or one of peace and
prosperity for all United Nations Member States, big or
small.
Globalization and interdependence are bringing
profound changes to the world we live in. An increasing
number of issues, such as the economic and financial
crisis, organized crime, terrorism and regional conflicts,
cannot be effectively resolved by individual countries.
Therefore, international cooperation is more necessary
than ever.
Today we are combining our efforts against the new
global threat, terrorism. But we must not forget that
terrorism appears mainly in unstable regions or weak
countries, and from there spreads to the rest of the world.
That is why the problems of such unstable countries can
neither remain their own responsibility, nor even
problems of their regions. The problems seem to be much
more global. The question today is how to combat the
criminal world, how to manage crisis and regional
conflicts, how to feed and shelter refugees. Tomorrow the
question will be how to guarantee democratic stability
through long-term engagements. The other approach is
only to react to the consequences, thus adding new
problems. Such an approach does not solve the problem,
but becomes part of it; moreover the problem is
multiplied through its negative influence on neighbouring
countries.
We also believe that economic security is an
essential part of the framework in which our efforts to
make a better world are made. We are convinced that
security can be guaranteed not by “hot money”, but only
through real, long-term investments, which are crucial for
a successful economic restructuring.
27

Bulgaria has managed to gain some knowledge and
experience in handling the problems of the reform process.
In the past year and a half the Government has managed to
achieve: first, economic stability as a basis for moving
forward with structural reform and sustainable economic
growth; secondly, modernization of the public
administration; and, thirdly, efficient enforcement of the
rule of law in civil society.
Resolute steps have been taken, in compliance with
the Government programme “Bulgaria — 2001”, to
translate into practice the new foreign policy priorities. At
its core are the integration of Bulgaria into the European
and transatlantic political, economic and defence structures,
and the creation of a climate of confidence, stability and
cooperation in South-Eastern Europe.
We are now engaged in active diplomatic efforts
aimed at promoting the principles of democracy and
stability in the region of South-Eastern Europe in order to
contribute to the peaceful settlement of conflicts. I would
also like to stress that my country has already achieved
significant progress in another important area, combating
organized crime and corruption and promoting regional
cooperation in this field.
Let me now address the complex situation in the
Balkans. I would like to note the progress made in the
implementation of the Dayton Agreement. We consider that
the extended presence of the Stabilization Force (SFOR)
would contribute to the consolidation of peace and stability
in this region.
Bulgaria is particularly concerned about the continuing
tension in Kosovo. The crisis has reached a point where
there is no more room for general statements and palliative
solutions. The conflict in Kosovo has resulted in
thousands of civilian casualties. There is a serious threat of
deepening the crisis and a substantial risk of spillover to
other parts of South-Eastern Europe. We are convinced that
the only credible instrument for solving the problem is
negotiations between the parties involved, which have to
examine in a responsible manner all proposals for a
peaceful settlement. We support Security Council resolution
1199 (1998) adopted yesterday.
It is worth pointing out that as early as last February
Bulgaria proposed that the countries generating stability in
the region should unite their efforts in search of a peaceful
solution to this problem. The joint declarations of the
Foreign Ministers of countries of South-Eastern Europe,
adopted on the initiative of Bulgaria, reflect the will of
these countries to make their contribution to the efforts of
the Contact Group. They also illustrate the new spirit in
relations between the States in the region and their
responsible approach to security and stability. For the first
time in many years our countries managed to put aside
their differences so as to elaborate and express a common
position on a problem of immediate concern. This
approach sets the groundwork for the establishment of a
politico-diplomatic mechanism for crisis management and
prevention.
In our view, those States which would like to
contribute to stability and security in the region have to
take into consideration the interests and positions of the
countries situated there. A common understanding has
been expressed that any measures aimed at settling the
problems of the region, sanctions included, should take
into account the political and economic stability of South-
Eastern Europe. They should not infringe upon the
interests of the countries involved. Therefore, we believe
that efficient measures should be of a political, and not of
an economic, character.
28

An issue of special relevance for Bulgaria and also, I
believe, for other countries of the region, is the negative
impact on the national economy of the strict implementation
of the economic sanctions imposed until recently by the
Security Council on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As
is well known, Bulgaria strictly abided by the Council?s
decisions, suffering as a result economic losses which have
almost been equal to Bulgaria?s foreign debt for three years.
Given the continued relevance of that issue internationally,
Bulgaria supports the view that since all provisions of the
Charter are of equal importance, assistance to third States
affected by sanctions has to be taken into consideration
together with the imposition of sanctions. The elaboration
of a concrete United Nations mechanism for this purpose is
therefore of the utmost importance.
It is incumbent upon the United Nations to find ways
and means of alleviating the negative consequences of
sanctions with regard to third States. It is our view that
closer and more direct participation in the whole process by
all third States which could be adversely affected by the
imposition of sanctions is necessary. We are confident that
discussion of this issue at the present session will yield
more concrete results in accordance with the decisions
already adopted and the report of the Secretary-General to
be submitted under resolution 52/162.
We are convinced that lasting stability in South-
Eastern Europe is possible only through multilateral security
cooperation coupled with effective economic,
infrastructural, cultural, information and other integrated
links to other parts of Europe. In this regard, the expansion
of the European and transatlantic organizations to South-
Eastern Europe will create a belt of security in the area and
prevent possible regional crises in the future.
As an integral part of Europe, Bulgaria regards our
accelerated accession to the European Union and full
membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) as an expression of our political choice based on
broad public support. These priorities are embedded in the
national security concept approved by the Bulgarian
parliament last April. Since Bulgaria is determined to
promote and enhance the values of democracy, we are
certainly interested in ensuring that these values become
widely accepted throughout South-Eastern Europe.
The Republic of Bulgaria welcomes its inclusion in the
process of enlargement of the European Union, together
with other associated countries of Central and Eastern
Europe and Cyprus. The Bulgarian Government is fully
aware that our accession aspirations are contingent on the
success of the domestic, economic and legislative reforms.
It is against this background that a national strategy for
accession to the European Union, outlining the main
activities of the country from a long-term perspective,
was adopted last March.
The Bulgarian Government has developed a clear-cut
national strategy to meet the criteria for NATO
membership, based on a comprehensive national
programme of preparation which is being constantly
updated and optimized. Bulgaria has the political will and
is undertaking concrete steps to fulfil in regional terms
the objectives of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
and the enhanced Partnership for Peace. Our positive
attitude is reflected in the ongoing regional political
dialogue and the practical follow-up measures to enhance
regional security and defence cooperation in South-
Eastern Europe.
We consider multilateral confidence and security-
building measures to be an important aspect of political
cooperation in the region. An important example of this
cooperation is the initiative to create a multinational peace
force in South-Eastern Europe. In the course of the
negotiations on this project, Bulgaria proposed hosting the
joint headquarters of the force in the Bulgarian city of
Plovdiv. The establishment of the force will strengthen
the spirit of confidence and cooperation in the region.
Another key aspect of regional cooperation is the
process of good-neighbourly relations, stability, security
and cooperation in South-Eastern Europe initiated at the
Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the
Countries of South-Eastern Europe in Sofia in 1996.
Annual ministerial meetings have been held since then, as
well as a number of specialized expert meetings devoted
to issues of common interest in various fields, including
transport, energy, transborder cooperation, combating
organized crime and drug-trafficking.
Closely linked to the maintenance of international
peace and security is the fight against terrorism and
international crime. We condemn all terrorist acts and
lament the loss of life and the destruction inflicted by
them. The most recent deplorable examples of such acts
were the horrible bomb attacks in some African countries.
We share the view that the threat of terrorism requires a
decisive and joint response by the whole international
community. Bulgaria supports the activities of the United
Nations aimed at setting norms and standards for the fight
against terrorism and international crime through
29

negotiating various legal instruments and creating the
appropriate institutions for this purpose.
We consider that successfully combating terrorism and
organized crime in some countries cannot be achieved
through the efforts of their Governments alone. It requires
the effective involvement of other States, which have the
means and the experience in this field. Bulgaria fully
supports the recent initiative by France and Great Britain to
convene a high-level conference in London this autumn
aimed at depriving terrorists of their support. We note with
appreciation that on 18 July this year, the Diplomatic
Conference in Rome adopted the Statute of the International
Criminal Court. I would like to reiterate my country?s
confidence that the establishment in the foreseeable future
of the International Criminal Court will be an efficient step
towards deterring possible perpetrators from committing
terrorist acts.
The broadening of the human aspect of development
through democracy and participation has been widely
accepted and has become one of the priorities of United
Nations activities. This year we celebrate the fiftieth
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the fifth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and
Programme of Action. The principle of the indivisibility of
universally recognized civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights continues to be a key element of today?s
system for the promotion and protection of human rights
and freedoms. The designation of 1998 as the International
Year for Human Rights could stimulate a further
restructuring of United Nations human rights activities,
strengthening the staff of and securing adequate financial
resources for the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights. In this respect we would
like to commend the relevant measures taken by the High
Commissioner, Mrs. Mary Robinson, and to reiterate our
support for her efforts to this end.
Better implementation of international standards could
be achieved by improving the existing mechanisms and by
open dialogue on most sensitive issues, including those
related to human rights in individual States. Accordingly,
the Bulgarian Government attaches great importance to the
enjoyment of all human rights by Bulgarians living abroad
and considers respect for their rights to be an essential
element for the enhancement of bilateral relations.
Bulgaria supports the ongoing process of reform
pursued consistently by the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan,
and aimed at the streamlining and strengthening of the
Organization and at making it more efficient and responsive
to the new realities. One of the substantial issues of
overall United Nations reform is the question of
representation on and increase in the membership of the
Security Council. Bulgaria reiterates its willingness to
support such an enlargement of the Council, which could
guarantee its effectiveness and enhance its capacity to
maintain international peace and security. In our view the
enlargement should envisage the preservation of the
balance between the permanent and non-permanent
members, as well as among regional groups. As the
membership of the Group of Eastern European States has
doubled in the last decade, an additional non-permanent
seat for this group should be secured. A decision on the
enlargement of the Council and on its working methods
should be supported by the broadest possible consensus,
including all the Council?s permanent members.
Bulgaria attaches great importance to the activities
of the United Nations in the field of sustainable
development and is closely following the United Nations
dialogue and the activities of United Nations bodies and
agencies on the issues of demography, social
development, women and narcotic drugs. The special
session of the General Assembly on narcotic drugs, held
in June of this year, merits particular mention in this
regard. That session reflected the determination of
Member States to combine their efforts in the fight
against drugs, and its results contributed to the common
effort to achieve sustainable development.
As a country with an economy in transition, Bulgaria
cooperates actively with the United Nations system of
specialized agencies and programmes. Our interest is to
develop this cooperation further. We are looking forward
to more streamlined activities thanks to the potential of
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for
capacity-building and assistance in the development and
execution of joint projects. At the same time, the basic
principles of universality and primary responsibility of
Governments for the process should be preserved. In this
regard the system of resident coordinators and the effort
to make this more operational will play an important role.
Here I would like to express our satisfaction with the
performance of the UNDP office in Sofia.
For Bulgaria, development and economic growth will
be impossible without full participation in world
economic and financial exchanges. In our opinion, the
United Nations and its institutions could be more strongly
involved in the solution of the specific problems of
economic transition and reforms.

Disarmament issues continue to have an important
place in overall efforts to secure a better world for future
generations. We agree with the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, that disarmament is at the centre of our mission of
peace and development, and we welcome his decision to re-
establish the Department for Disarmament Affairs. The
Bulgarian Government attaches high priority to international
efforts to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
We call for an early entry into force of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) as an important step in
that direction, and support the decision of the Conference
on Disarmament to establish an ad hoc committee to
conduct negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty. In
this context, we were deeply concerned by the nuclear tests
conducted by India and by Pakistan earlier this year.
Bulgaria has associated itself with statements by the
presidency of the European Union calling on India and
Pakistan to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to sign the CTBT, as well as
to participate in negotiations on a fissile material cut-off
treaty with the aim of maintaining a strong global non-
proliferation regime.
We favour the strengthening of the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling
of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on
Their Destruction, and believe that further acceleration of
the negotiations and an early conclusion of the protocol to
the Convention is required.
As a State party to the Convention on the Prohibition
of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of
Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, Bulgaria
would like to contribute to enlarging the number of
accessions to the Convention in order to achieve recognition
of the prohibition of chemical weapons as a universal norm
of international law. As a concrete effort to this end,
Bulgaria will host a regional seminar on the issue later this
month.
With regard to conventional arms, anti-personnel
landmines are widely recognized as a pernicious weapon
which indiscriminately kills and maims hundreds of
thousands of people worldwide. Convinced of the need
for a total prohibition of anti-personnel mines, on 29 July
this year the Bulgarian Parliament ratified the Convention
on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and
Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their
Destruction, thus contributing to its early entry into force.
We are also ready to contribute to the efforts of the
international community to reduce conventional weapons,
including small arms, and especially their excessive and
destabilizing accumulation in areas of conflict. We regard
universal participation in the United Nations Register of
Conventional Arms as an important step towards effective
transparency, both on a regional and a global scale.
In the context of the new challenges in the field of
international peace and security, United Nations
peacekeeping operations continue to be an essential
element in the Organization?s activities. My country
appreciates the efforts of the Secretary-General to ensure
wide support for these and to put in place the necessary
arrangements that will enable the United Nations to
deploy peacekeeping forces rapidly and effectively in
areas of conflict. We are convinced that the new
generation of peacekeeping operations should include in
their mandates a proportional combination of political,
military, humanitarian, reconstruction and other relevant
activities. In this regard, we believe that there are still
unused opportunities to strengthen United Nations
cooperation with regional organizations in the field of
preventive diplomacy, crisis management and
peacekeeping.
In conclusion, I would like once again to declare my
country?s readiness to cooperate actively with all other
Member States in the successful implementation of the
lofty goals of the present session of the General
Assembly. We are confident that our discussions on the
important agenda items before us will be translated into
practical measures.