General Assembly Session 59 meeting 36

Mr. Bshaina (Libya)

I take this opportunity to thank the President for organizing this very important meeting. I also express our gratitude to the Secretary-General for his interest in African issues and his ongoing efforts to establish and strengthen peace and to promote all development initiatives in Africa.

African heads of State and Government reaffirm their resolve and total commitment to the success of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). They have pledged to undertake effective and specific actions to implement NEPAD, which they view as a truly African initiative that responds to all their aspirations for full development.

The convening of this meeting to review both progress in the implementation of NEPAD and international support for the New Partnership clearly demonstrates that the international community is now trying to meet Africa's needs and to implement the commitments and the declarations adopted in many international forums, in particular the Millennium Declaration.

Africa knows that, first and foremost, it is up to Africans to carry out NEPAD. However, international support is crucial. Thus, we urge the United Nations and the international community as a whole to work for the attainment of the NEPAD objectives by taking practical, concrete steps such as mobilizing financial resources, implementing pledges and commitments, increasing official development assistance and direct investment and reducing the debt burden. Other steps should include a new initiative giving African exports access to world markets, in particular the markets of developed countries, assistance for strengthening human resources, in particular through investment in the areas of health and education, drinking water and the creation of infrastructure necessary for economic development.

To make this new partnership truly effective and positive, our partners must first respect the will, history and culture of Africans. That means not imposing on countries political or other conditions or impositions that ignore the specificities and distinctiveness of African societies or that do not take into account the fact that development is a historical process and cannot be achieved by making political decisions.

Secondly, priority must be given to infrastructure projects, in particular communications projects and projects creating good road networks that would help development in all its aspects. That will promote stability and strengthen peace and security in Africa.

Thirdly, special attention should be given to projects that improve water resources. We need to promote the best possible use of all Africa's water resources for various purposes, such as agriculture, in order to radically solve food supply problems and to end poverty in all African countries.

Fourthly, there is a need to eliminate all restrictions on technology transfers for development activities of a socio-economic nature.

Fifthly, the African tragedy needs to be taken into account. Over the past centuries, we have suffered the pillaging of African material resources. Bear in mind the role that those resources played in the development of some countries.

Sixthly, our partners in the donor community should realize that in contributing to the financing of this partnership they are benefiting their own societies materially and socially. Reducing emigration or preventing it by legislative and administrative measures will not serve a purpose. Investing in development projects in the countries where emigration originates would help keep people in place and prevent mass migration to other countries. Seven, dealing with one of the most serious problems facing Africa: the brain drain of its talent towards the developed countries, due to a number of interlocking factors. Creating a favourable environment in Africa for African talent so that those people can play the role intended for them by their countries, which spend a great deal of money on their education, would be beneficial for NEPAD and would enable us to avoid untold losses and expenses.

Mr. Sardenberg (Brazil)

The Brazilian delegation associates itself with the statement made by the Permanent Representative of Qatar on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

My delegation also wishes to thank the Secretary-General for his two reports on the items we are discussing today -- and yesterday -- namely, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.

Since last year's report (A/58/352) and debate, some further progress has been achieved, both in the implementation of NEPAD and in the promotion of peace in Africa, as highlighted in the reports and acknowledged by many previous speakers.

Brazil would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those who were responsible for those achievements, mainly African stakeholders, the Secretary-General and the United Nations system, as well as Africa's development partners. We wish to convey a special message of recognition and support to the African Union, its previous Chairman, President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, and its current Chairman, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and his African peers for their commitments to the advancement of NEPAD, in particular the establishment of the conditions for sustainable development by ensuring peace and security in the whole Continent.

In that connection, Brazil highly praises and welcomes the unequivocal determination of the African Union to resolve the crisis in Darfur, which we consider to be a laudable and timely act of African ownership and leadership.

In his report (A/59/285), as many delegations have stressed, the Secretary-General acknowledges that fewer countries in Africa are now suffering civil strife or conflict. That welcome development nonetheless takes place in the context of the perseverance of several situations of instability that must be adequately addressed, preferably by means of conflict-prevention or peacebuilding mechanisms aimed mainly at the root causes of the conflicts.

Providing for a common understanding of potentially risky situations that can be addressed in a peaceful manner is, in our view, a clear improvement in terms of building relations with the African continent, bearing in mind that post-conflict situations and internal turmoil can easily turn into new conflicts if a number of measures and policies are not implemented in a timely fashion.

It is certainly a positive development that, today, there is a clear recognition that Africa, in partnership with the international community, has better equipped to manage -- and preferably avoid -- conflicts on the continent's soil. That is so, first of all, because democracy is highly valued on the continent and democratic African Governments are fully committed to encouraging their brothers and sisters to join the democratic world and share the dividends of peace and security in a democratic system. Through concerted efforts either by the African Union or by regional organizations, all corners of the continent are now under the close scrutiny of responsible African leaders who do not hesitate to provide their support for building peace and promoting democracy.

Nonetheless, for peace and democracy to be sustained, democratic Governments must be able to address the high expectations and legitimate demands of their peoples in terms of development, since both social and economic development and democracy are highly prized values on the continent, and since both are closely associated. Development and democracy must come hand in hand to the continent, and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is the appropriate framework to provide them with the necessary impetus. The international community and all those who support NEPAD should devote equal attention and priority to both issues.

Secondly, conflicts can be managed or avoided, since many helpful assessments exist regarding remedies to be applied to different situations. After decades of trying to apply the same prescriptions to different maladies, the international community and Africans themselves are fully aware of best practices and specific hindrances. Economic and social management policies have to be developed in accordance with the needs of each country and each circumstance. Again, the partnership with African organizations provided by NEPAD is the best course of action to be followed.

As a non-permanent member of the Security Council, Brazil is now witnessing increasing efforts by Council members, together with the Secretariat, to develop multidisciplinary mandates for peacekeeping operations tailored to each situation. There is a long way to go before these operations can better address the need to properly manage the challenges of peace and security and the creation of a sustainable environment for development and long-term stability. However, as mentioned in the Secretary-General's report, the partnership that is being built between the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council gives us all hope that we are on the right path.

Unfortunately, recent developments in Guinea-Bissau show us that, despite laudable efforts by the Economic and Social Council's Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau to marshal increased international support -- in particular financial and economic support -- for that country, the resurgence of instability could not be avoided. Brazil regrets that the response of the international community to the many steps taken by the authorities of Guinea-Bissau towards democracy was not sufficient. The only possible solution must therefore be found through sustaining our efforts and fully implementing the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau concerning renewed support for that country, including by revising the mandate of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) and increasing the capabilities of the United Nations system in the country in coordination with increased bilateral assistance.

As mentioned yesterday by the representative of India (see A/59/PV.33), the India-Brazil-South Africa initiative has selected Guinea-Bissau as the first beneficiary of a programme of cooperation to be undertaken by the three countries. We are ready to start implementing this programme, and we would like other Member States to join us. Without urgent international support, Guinea-Bissau may not be able to surmount the current obstacles it faces in advancing in its transitional phase towards democracy and peace.

We highly appreciated the recent report prepared by the Office of the Special Adviser for Africa on South-South cooperation. Many of the initiatives taken by Brazil are listed in the document. Brazil is launching programmes in Africa, mainly together with Portuguese-speaking countries, that are closely linked to the priorities of NEPAD. Literacy and education; health, particularly in the area of prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS; job creation; agriculture; and science and technology: those are some of the areas covered by bilateral and multilateral programmes of cooperation, many of them conceived under the auspices of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP).

Moreover, in 2004, CPLP countries will hold the fourth round of joint military exercises among the armed forces of all member States, five of which are African. We believe this is an important contribution to enhancing African capabilities regarding preparation and capacity-building for participation in peacekeeping operations. Brazil is strengthening its cooperation links with other African countries as well, particularly in agriculture and health. However, allow me to stress our understanding that the strongest ties between Brazil and Africa are still being developed in multilateral forums. By forging strong alliances with African countries in international negotiations, such as those conducted in the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization, regarding, for instance, market access and drug licenses, Brazil believes we are actively supporting African efforts towards the implementation of NEPAD.

We fully recognize that efforts by the international community complement those taken at the national level. That is the reason we insist on the need for a free and more equitable multilateral trade system in order to generate the jobs and wealth that are essential for the development of countries in Africa, as well as in Latin America and parts of other continents.

Lastly, allow me to recall the initiative launched by President Lula and his counterparts from France, Chile and Spain, concerning the fight against hunger and poverty. Twenty-six African countries have joined the initiative and await its development. Eradicating food deficiencies and ending poverty are our main goals. As President Lula stated in September here in New York, African countries and peoples are the ones who will profit the most from the positive results we are expecting from this effort of the international community, an effort that has been embraced by 120 countries. Brazil is fully engaged in the campaign against hunger and poverty, which is the first of the Millennium Development Goals.

In conclusion, I wish to stress that the Brazilian delegation looks forward to the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. We hope that the report will provide a major contribution to the ongoing discussion on ways of strengthening the United Nations through reform of its institutions and processes. We are sure that an expanded Security Council, with permanent members from Africa, Latin America and other regions, will increase the chances for African peace and development.

Mr. Moutari (Niger)

A problem occurred in a Python script. Here is the sequence of function calls leading up to the error, in the order they occurred.

<type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'>: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xf4' in position 1425: ordinal not in range(128)
      args = ('ascii', u'\n\t<p id="pg004-bk01-pa01">The delegation of Nige...from international decisions in those fields.</p>', 1425, 1426, 'ordinal not in range(128)')
      encoding = 'ascii'
      end = 1426
      message = ''
      object = u'\n\t<p id="pg004-bk01-pa01">The delegation of Nige...from international decisions in those fields.</p>'
      reason = 'ordinal not in range(128)'
      start = 1425