General Assembly Session 57 meeting 33

The Acting President

Members will recall that, on 16 September 2002, the General Assembly held a high-level plenary meeting to consider how to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

Mr. Baali (Algeria)

My delegation is grateful to the Secretary-General for his exhaustive reports on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa (A/57/172) and on the implementation of the programme for the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (A/57/175).

Those two reports deal with many similar issues, so it is appropriate that the General Assembly should consider them jointly; it is certainly true that peace and development are intrinsically linked and that, as it has so rightly been said, development is peace by another name.

With regard specifically to peace, Algeria welcomes the attention that the Secretary-General has continued to focus on the settlement of conflict in Africa, in particular by sending special envoys or representatives to Angola, Burundi, the Horn of Africa, the Sudan, Guinea-Bissau and the Central African Republic; avoiding the duplication of mediation efforts; mobilizing international support for peace; collaborating more effectively with the African Union and subregional organizations; and supporting African initiatives to resolve conflicts in Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.

With regard to development issues, it should be noted from the outset that the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the General Assembly, meeting in substantive session in September to consider the final review and appraisal of the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, reached the unanimous conclusion that the New Agenda had failed.

The report of the independent Panel of Eminent Personalities appointed by the Secretary-General outlines, in an objective way and with great relevance, the reasons and factors, both endogenous and exogenous, that were at the root of that failure, and sets out guidelines, in the form of lessons learned, for future support and assistance by the United Nations and the international community for Africa's development efforts through the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) -- a framework that will henceforth provide support for all the development strategies and programmes of African countries, as well as for external cooperation and assistance initiatives aimed at Africa.

The independent evaluation of the UN-NADAF -- the high quality of which has been universally acknowledged -- rightly identified as a first lesson the incompatibility of conflict and development. Peace and security are certainly a prerequisite for development. Even though progress has been made in the past 10 years thanks to the joint efforts of African countries themselves and the United Nations, many conflicts continue to exist and to devastate a number of countries in several regions of a continent that is also prey to disease and poverty.

NEPAD, which was recently endorsed by the General Assembly, following the substantive session of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the General Assembly for the Final Review and Appraisal of the implementation of the UN-NADAF, as being the political framework for Africa's development, recognizes conflict resolution and the promotion of peace and security as a sine qua non for any effort at development or progress.

NEPAD, as created by African leaders, developed naturally from their shared awareness of the need to take Africa's destiny into their own hands, taking into account global requirements and the contemporary realities of the African continent.

The commitment of the African countries with regard to respect for human rights, good governance and democracy is aimed at the promotion of an environment of stability and peace that, in turn, is an essential basis for the achievement of sustainable development in Africa. Africans themselves will be responsible for the success of that collective African programme, but it will also depend on the genuine, effective contribution of the United Nations system and the international community as a whole.

The recent creation within the Security Council of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, followed by the establishment last July, within the Economic and Social Council, of an ad hoc advisory group on African countries emerging from conflict, demonstrate the concern of the United Nations about to the instability that is hindering development efforts in Africa. This is a strong expression of its commitment to working in an integrated manner, not only to prevent and resolve conflict, but to help African countries to undertake, in a coordinated and effective manner, the reconstruction of their economies.

That is an encouraging approach that deserves to be supported and consolidated. While my delegation acknowledges the scope and the importance of this, we believe that ongoing collaboration between those two United Nations mechanisms and the Peace and Security Council recently established by the African Union will be essential. In his report on the independent evaluation of the UN-NADAF, the Secretary-General rightly highlights the fact that enhanced coordination and collaboration can produce results that exceed the sum total of individual contributions and can thus magnify the overall impact of the United Nations system.

The reasons given in the evaluation report to explain the inadequate progress made by UN-NADAF include many major factors that hindered the implementation of the New Agenda. These include, in particular, the commitments made by the international community with regard to official development assistance, terms of trade and debt relief.

As Africa's financial resources are generally limited, the active support of the international community is essential if we want to prevent NEPAD from suffering the same fate as UN-NADAF. The follow-up within the United Nations, and at the African level through the Peer Review Mechanism, of the international community's contribution will allow for the continual assessment of progress, as well as of the difficulties encountered in the implementation of NEPAD.

The review and appraisal of the United Nations New Agenda for Africa's Development will inform us in a responsible way about the approach to use in assisting Africa's economic and social recovery and in ensuring a sustainable development that will be in the interest not only of Africans but of the world as a whole.

We hope that through support provided to NEPAD by the international community and the United Nations system, as well as the Group of Eight, Africa will be able rapidly to close the divide that separates it from other continents and help it to become actively integrated into the world's economy.

Mr. Tayeb (Saudi Arabia)

Allow me at the outset to express our deep thanks and gratitude to the Secretary-General for his report contained in document A/57/172 on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. As a matter of fact, and in view of the great importance that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attaches to the realization of peace and stability in Africa, my delegation wishes to commend the vital role played and the tireless efforts deployed by the United Nations and its Secretary-General to assist this great continent in putting an end to wars and conflicts and to work towards the realization of sustainable development and prosperity in our sisterly African countries.

We fully agree with the contents of the report submitted to the Security Council by the Secretary-General on the linkage between peace and sustainable development. Experience, especially in the African continent, has shown that development cannot be realized without an environment of peace and security.

Despite the fact that some African countries have reached a substantial level of economic development, setbacks have been experienced due to conflicts, strife and civil wars. Thus we support the efforts of the United Nations to address the root causes of conflict so that they can be dealt with radically and further conflicts prevented, which will preserve the continent from tragedy and suffering, eliminate tensions and instability and allow for the realization of sustainable development in the continent.

To this effect, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomes the return of peace and stability to several regions in Africa. It is gratified that the borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been demarcated, and that a peace treaty has been concluded between the Government and the rebels in Angola, paving the way for an end to the longest civil war that Africa has ever witnessed.

At the same time, we are concerned at the continuation of strife and conflict that could threaten peace and security and destroy all prospects for development. We feel gravely concerned at, and regret that, the conflict in southern Sudan still rages because of external interference. We are concerned also at the situation in Somalia. As is well known, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made great efforts to put an end to the conflict in Somalia, and hosted the Mecca conference for national reconciliation in Somalia. My country also participated in the peacekeeping operation in Somalia under the auspices of the United Nations. We supported the Conference on National Reconciliation held in Arta, Djibouti, as a very important step towards the restoration of peace and security to that country, which has been ravaged by war for more than a decade now.

We are optimistic that the efforts that are being deployed to address the causes of conflict and to achieve durable peace will enable the realization of sustainable development, which is exactly what the peoples of Africa need to consolidate peace and to intensify their efforts to establish an economic infrastructure that enshrines development as a permanent objective of African countries, with a view to raising the standard of living of their peoples.

Aware of the importance of the international community's support and assistance for developing countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the period 1975-2000, provided assistance to developing countries totalling 4 per cent of the average gross national product of the Kingdom. That assistance included concessional development loans provided by the Saudi Development Fund, which benefited 73 developing countries on various continents through bilateral and multilateral efforts.

My country responded to the call of the Sixth Islamic Summit Conference, held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1992, to alleviate the debt burden of developing countries by cancelling official debts totalling $6 billion. In addition, in view of the water shortages faced by the countries of the African Sahel, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allocated $180 million to implement a special programme to provide water and urgent food aid to rural areas in the Sahel countries.

In conclusion, I should like to assure the Assembly that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue its policy of supporting efforts to achieve peace and security, and that it will make whatever contribution it can to realizing sustainable development in Africa, so that the people of that great continent can enjoy the peace and prosperity that they so richly deserve.

Mr. Zhang Yishan (China)

Over the past year, the international community, in particular the United Nations and relevant international and regional organizations, have done commendable work in helping African countries in their efforts to achieve peace and development, and some progress has been registered in this regard.

The African countries themselves have also recommitted themselves to this cause and have made serious efforts to enhance their own capabilities in the area of conflict prevention and of the maintenance of peace, actively implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development. With the founding of the African Union, African countries took yet another important step towards enhancing collective self-reliance and internal cooperation. Those actions by the African countries have served to strengthen the confidence of the international community in the revitalization of Africa.

However, it should also pointed out that there has been no fundamental change in the difficult situation confronting the African continent. In many parts of Africa, poverty inevitably leads to conflict, and conflict in turn aggravates poverty. Considerable work remains to be done in the area of the eradication of poverty and backwardness and in curbing the spread of AIDS and other contagious diseases.

There is still a long way to go towards peace and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. Peace and development on the African continent are an important part of peace and development worldwide. There can be no significant or lasting prosperity and stability in the world without prosperity and stability in Africa. The international community should therefore give the serious challenges facing Africa the kind of attention they deserve.

In our view, priority should currently be given to the following three areas. First, the United Nations held the International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development this year, producing the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of Implementation, respectively. The two conferences and their outcomes hold special significance for Africa in terms of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The high-level meeting in support of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), held by the General Assembly at this session, also reaffirmed the international community's vigorous support for the efforts of African countries in pursuit of unity, cooperation and the establishment of Africa's development strategies. For the time being, it is important to take advantage of this positive momentum to implement in earnest the existing programmes of action so as to translate commitments into concrete action.

Secondly, it is necessary to establish a global partnership in support of African development and to enhance coordination and cooperation within the United Nations system and between it and other agencies. The solution to African problems requires the combined efforts and cooperation of the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly and the Secretariat. It also requires the involvement of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions. It is important for the various bodies and agencies to undertake a comprehensive set of measures to engage in full and enhanced cooperation and coordination. It is likewise important to increase the input of resources, while respecting the ownership and leadership of African countries in their own development efforts. At the same time, the United Nations focus areas for African issues should be harmonized with the goals and priorities established by NEPAD.

Thirdly, while African countries continue to pursue their efforts in conflict prevention and poverty and disease reduction, the international community and the developed countries in particular should effectively honour their commitments of assistance and help African countries to enhance their capacity-building. It is our hope that the developed countries will, in view of their own long-term interests, demonstrate the necessary political resolve to translate their pledges of assistance to Africa into concrete action. They are called on to turn their support for NEPAD into a new opportunity to open their markets to African countries, provide transfers of technologies, increase official development assistance and reduce or cancel African debt.

It is an important keystone of China's foreign policy to strengthen unity and cooperation with African countries. Ever since the China-Africa Cooperation Forum of October 2000, the achievement of peace, stability and development in Africa has been an objective of Chinese diplomacy, along with an increase in China's foreign trade and cooperation with African countries. China has taken active steps to honour its commitment to provide 10 billion yuan renminbi in debt relief to Africa within two years. To date, China has signed debt-relief agreements with 31 African countries, essentially achieving its stated goal.

Within the framework of South-South cooperation, China will further intensify its cooperation with Africa and provide genuine assistance to the best of its abilities so as to make its own contribution to peace and development in Africa.

Mr. Aboul Gheit (Egypt)

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