RENEWED INTEREST BY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CAN HELP FRESH EFFORTS TOWARDS CYPRUS SETTLEMENT, GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS TOLD
Press Release
GA/9101
RENEWED INTEREST BY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CAN HELP FRESH EFFORTS TOWARDS CYPRUS SETTLEMENT, GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS TOLD
19960926 Other Global Issues Reviewed in Statements by Ukraine, Italy, Brunei Darussalam, Paraguay, Zimbabwe, Democratic People's Republic of KoreaThe time had come to make a further determined and sustained effort to solve the Cyprus problem, President Glafcos Clerides of Cyprus told the General Assembly this morning, adding that he was encouraged by the rekindled interest and more active engagement of the international community.
The recent tragic events involving the death of two Greek Cypriots and the wounding of many others at the hands of Turkish occupation troops and Turkish extremists, imported mainly from Turkey, would not alter his Government's commitment to seek a peaceful solution of the Cyprus problem through negotiations, he continued. His Government was prepared to embark on face-to-face negotiations in 1997 once the ground had been sufficiently prepared to ensure success. The search for a solution would require, however, effective guarantees, complete demilitarization of Cyprus and the presence of an international force.
Recent international efforts in the former Yugoslavia had been a success not only for a peace settlement, but in the appearance of a potential machinery for effective cooperation between different international structures in crisis management, according to Hennadi Udovenko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. That experience could serve as an example of a future global security architecture. Such a new security arrangement, however, could not be built without radical reform of the United Nations itself, including a substantial revision of the existing financial system of the United Nations.
Offering a number of proposals for United Nations reform, Lamberto Dini, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy, said the Secretariat should be restructured around two focal points: peace and security; democracy and development. The Secretariat's three economic and social departments should be merged into a single entity under the leadership of an Assistant Secretary- General, who would also serve as an executive secretary of the Economic and Social Council. The Security Council must be reformed through a rotation mechanism, with the Assembly electing, by a two-thirds majority, those countries which would rotate more frequently into Council membership -- a proposal which balanced the interests of countries with emerging political and economic capacities, including Italy, and those of the developing countries.
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Choi Su Hon, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said his Government had proposed the establishment of a new peace agreement for the Korean peninsula and an interim agreement between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States. An interim agreement could address such issues as the management of the demilitarized zone and the formation of a joint military body. Although the United States and south Korean authorities had responded to the proposal with a military exercise and an arms build-up, his Government still called for talks on an interim agreement as a step towards reconciliation, non- aggression, cooperation and exchange between north and south.
Other statements were made this morning by Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, Paraguay and Zimbabwe.
The Assembly will meet to continue its general debate at 3 p.m. today.
Assembly Work Programme
The General Assembly met this morning to hear an address by the President of Cyprus and to continue its general debate. Scheduled to make statements were the Foreign Ministers of Italy, Brunei Darussalam, Ukraine, Paraguay and Zimbabwe, as well as the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Statements
GLAFCOS CLERIDES, President of Cyprus, said his country had continued to participate in the work on the institutional and financial reforms needed to make the United Nations more productive and dynamic. A fundamental priority must be to ensure that its financing was placed on a firm and lasting foundation. He added that Cyprus had been voluntarily contributing one third of the total cost of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and had also increased by one third its contribution to United Nations peace-keeping operations in general.
He said Cyprus shared the view that arms control and disarmament remained essential components of international security, contributing to confidence-building and conflict resolution. As part of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem, his Government had proposed the complete demilitarization of the Republic of Cyprus. It had offered to disband the National Guard of Cyprus and hand over all weapons to an international force in exchange for the complete withdrawal of all foreign troop, as demanded by United Nations resolutions. The northern occupied part of Cyprus had been characterized by the Secretary-General as one of the most densely militarized areas in the world. The presence of 35,000 Turkish troops and hundreds of tanks and other armaments constituted a clear and present danger to peace and security in Cyprus and in the region.
Recent events in Cyprus had highlighted the urgent need to implement the demilitarization proposal, he said. "The brutal killings of two Greek-Cypriot unarmed demonstrators, witnessed on television screens by the entire world, and the wounding of many others, including two United Nations peace-keepers, by the Turkish occupation troops and Turkish extremists imported from mainly Turkey to the occupied part of the island, marked this year's anniversary of 22 years of invasion and occupation of substantial territory of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkish forces." Two United Nations reports on those tragic incidents stated clearly that the responsibility lay with Turkey and the illegal Turkish-Cypriot regime.
It had also become abundantly clear that the Turkish action was orchestrated well in advance and involved the importing from Turkey of 3,000 terrorists, he said. The plan was aimed at demonstrating that the two communities could not live peacefully together in Cyprus and therefore separatist and partitionist solutions should be sought. He also expressed
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sorrow for a subsequent killing of a Turkish soldier and the wounding of another. The recent tragic events would not deter his Government from its commitment to seek a peaceful, negotiated solution.
He said he was encouraged by the rekindled interest and more active engagement of the international community in the Cyprus problem, as witnessed by the appointments of special representatives by interested countries, and the appointment of the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Professor Han Sung-Joo. Various United Nations resolutions and the Secretary-General himself had declared that the status quo in Cyprus was unacceptable. The time had come to make a determined and sustained effort to solve the Cyprus problem. To that end, his Government would be working earnestly with the Special Representative and with all others to prepare the ground for negotiations on the main outstanding issues.
Any settlement of the Cyprus problem should be based on a State of Cyprus with a single sovereignty, an international personality and a single citizenship, with its integrity safeguarded and comprising of two politically equal communities in a bicommunal and bizonal federation. Such settlement must exclude union in whole or in part with any other country or any form of partition or secession. The search for a solution would require effective guarantees, demilitarization and the presence of an international force.
He said his Government was prepared to embark on face-to-face negotiations in 1997 once the ground had been sufficiently prepared to ensure success. However, after 22 years of negotiations which had produced no result on the main issues, it was not ready to embark on another round of fruitless talks. His Government would also pursue its application for membership in the European Union, which would benefit both communities. The question of Cyprus continued to be a case of accountability -- the accountability of those who violate principles of the Charter.
LAMBERTO DINI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy, said the United Nations urgently needed reforms. The General Assembly should become more democratic through direct links to the institutional realities of its Member States. Also, the Assembly's subsidiary bodies should be simplified by merging some committees and streamlining the agenda. The Secretariat should be restructured around two focal points: peace and security; democracy and development. The three economic and social departments of the United Nations Secretariat should be merged into a single entity under the leadership of an Assistant Secretary-General, who would also serve as an executive secretary of the Economic and Social Council.
Security Council reform should be guided by the principles of democracy, equitable geographic representation, efficiency and transparency, and not lead to new regimes of privilege but rather stimulate a greater involvement of all countries through a rotation mechanism. Italy proposed maintaining that the General Assembly be given the authority to elect, by a two-thirds majority,
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those countries which would rotate more frequently into Council membership. This proposal would balance the interests of countries with emerging political and economic capacities -- including Italy -- and those of the developing countries.
To accommodate the needs of the new generation of peace-keeping, every Member State should be prepared to make larger and more qualified military contingents available to the United Nations. Measures to make peace-keeping more effective should include: involving troop contributors in decision- making; annual reviews of mission and mandate and the availability of military forces; establishment of unified command structures; and improved financing.
He said prevention of conflict and the application of peaceful solutions to controversies could not be pursued solely at the political and military level, but must also work in the areas of economic, social and cultural development of peoples. Poverty, underdevelopment and cultural isolation disrupted relations among countries, constituting threats to international peace. The work of the United Nations was vital in maintaining peace and promoting development, and Italy would strengthen its collaboration with the United Nations specialized agencies responsible for those efforts. Efforts that had already strengthened the Economic and Social Council should be continued. At the upcoming World Food Summit, to be held in Rome in November, new strategic objectives for international action in the field of food security could be established.
Welcoming the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, he said Italy would renounce all production and export of anti-personnel land-mines and begin the destruction of existing devices. Negotiations on an international ban on land-mines should be opened at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva. Italy, a country committed to the establishment of an international criminal court, was ready to host a conference to address that goal in 1998.
Prince MOHAMED BOLKIAH, Foreign Minister of Brunei Darussalam, said the time had come to give practical substance to the many fine statements made at the General Assembly last year. He was particularly pleased that the President had emphasized practical economic and social development, and also felt the Assembly must not be paralyzed by the analysis of reform. Concrete proposals were needed from the Working Groups, and time could then be spent on the hard work of building consensus. The Organization was increasingly being asked to solve problems in many new areas of international concern which transcended national borders. However, its resources were overstretched.
The tragedy of Bosnia represented a warning, he said. Brunei Darussalam welcomed recent developments there and would continue to give strong support to the new Government there. All in the Assembly should recognize the extent to which the events of the past five years had revealed their own shortcomings. The Security Council should now begin to insist that all
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agreements be resolutely kept.
In the Middle East, the new Government in Israel appeared to be challenging the very basis of recent fragile hopes of peace, he said. Solutions which had appeared to be within the grasp of the parties were now under threat. Rather than becoming more manageable, the scope of the so-called Middle East problem had now expanded to include the people of Iraq. The leaders of Israel must continue the peace process in the full spirit of the agreements reached in Madrid and Oslo.
He said it was essential to find a new approach to the tremendous changes taking place today. In South-East Asia, an approach had been chosen that made it possible to promote programmes aimed at preventive diplomacy and regional economic cooperation. It had also made it possible to offer wider assistance to the cause of South-South cooperation. He commended Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar for their intention to join the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). A practical result of the dialogue process in the region had been the signing of the South East Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty at the last ASEAN summit. In that spirit, his country had endorsed the resolution on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty as a first step towards worldwide nuclear disarmament.
He said he wished to stress the need for inclusion, drawing in all parties to a problem, working towards consensus rather than demanding compromise, bringing everyone into the mainstsream of decision-making. The kind of results hoped for were shown just this month in the achievements of the Government of the Philippines and the leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front through the good offices of Indonesia. Their efforts had brought to an end over 20 years of violence and hostility.
HENNADI Y. UDOVENKO, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that by signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty tomorrow his country would take yet another step towards disarmament. With the final withdrawal of strategic nuclear warheads from the territory of Ukraine and elimination of the world's third largest nuclear arsenal, Ukraine had, since 1 June of this year, become a nuclear-weapon-free State. In doing so, Ukraine had made an unprecedented contribution, which had not yet received adequate recognition by the international community, to diminishing the global nuclear threat.
He said the process of nuclear disarmament should become more dynamic; the President of Ukraine had put forward an initiative for a nuclear-weapon- free zone in central and eastern Europe between the Baltic and the Black Sea. Support for the idea of a non-nuclear central Europe would promote an atmosphere of confidence among the States of the region and would prevent the emergence of new dividing lines on the European continent.
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Recent international efforts in the former Yugoslavia, he continued, had been a success not only for a peace settlement, but the appearance of a potential machinery for effective cooperation between different international structures in crisis management. He highlighted the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) operation, which was carried out under the Security Council mandate, by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), together with its partners, including Ukraine, and other countries. The ultimate success of the peace process needed the active and action-oriented involvement of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the implementation of civil aspects of the Agreement.
He said the experience of the peace settlement in the former Yugoslavia could serve as an example for the elaboration of future global security architecture by all Members of the United Nations. The international community may have acquired a reliable mechanism for the solution of acute problems. The elaboration of a comprehensive concept of peace-keeping must be accelerated. Peace-keeping could eventually be re-oriented towards preventive diplomacy.
However, he went on, a new global security architecture could not be built without radical reform of the United Nations itself, and that means a substantial revision of its financial system. The current financial crisis was the result of both a wrong taxation policy and unsound spending. Ukraine had unwittingly been made one of the United Nations debtors. That was because the "relocation" of his country to Group (c) in the scale of financing of peace-keeping operations had been delayed several years. The accumulation of a substantial debt was a direct result of the Assembly's unfair decision 47/456 whose sponsors were perfectly well aware that it would lead to the current financial crisis. They had refused to increase the contribution of those nations which could afford to pay while putting a larger burden on the shoulders of countries which could not. However, Ukraine would start paying its debt to the United Nations. As early as this year, it would reduce its debt by $20 million and increase its real payments in the coming years.
He told the Assembly that national security had more than political and military aspects -- there were economic, ecological and social dimensions. For Ukraine, that was not an abstract idea; the Chernobyl catastrophe had turned the ecological dimension of national security into a priority. Ten years later, its grave consequences were still being experienced. If humankind continued to ignore common sense and to think only of the present, Chernobyl might become a reflection of the world's future.
RUBEN MELGAREJO LANZONI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, said that reform of the United Nations should make it a more integrated organization, allowing it to achieve more fluid communication and more efficient coordination. Those reforms should also eliminate unnecessary expenditures, consolidate its development programmes and rationalize the use of existing resources.
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Continuing, he said the General Assembly was the most important organ of the United Nations because of its universality and free debate of ideas. His Government supported an increase in the permanent and non-permanent membership of the Security Council, according to an equitable geographic distribution. Within that context, he favoured the inclusion of Germany and Japan, as well as other Latin American representatives. The veto in the Security Council should be subject to new mechanisms that would make its use more objective.
He stated his country's support for the United Nations emphasis on sustainable development and cited a paragraph from the final declaration of UNCTAD IX on the "great limitations" imposed on countries lacking access to the sea. Those countries needed adequate international cooperation to maintain and improve their transportation infrastructure and commercial links.
The Foreign Minister said that the disappearance of a bipolar world had not meant the end of conflict. Thus, Paraguay was deeply satisfied by the results obtained by the United Nations peace-keeping operations in Haiti, Nicaragua and El Salvador, as well as the mission in Guatemala, which very recently achieved a major success. He also welcomed the reconciliatory attitude expressed by the Government of the Republic of China, and expressed the hope that dialogue would soon resolve the situation with the People's Republic of China.
He said his country had learned a difficult lesson and was now able to live in democracy and pluralism. The democracy Paraguay was building today was the result of the active participation of its citizens and also of international solidarity. It was an irreversible process. Paraguay's external policies were based on regional economical integration, the axis of which was the Common Market of the Southern Cone (MERCOSUR), because "we are convinced that Latin American integration is the primary element for the economic insertion of our country into the rest of the world, as well as for the consolidation of our democracy". A second significant element in Paraguay's external relations was the fight against international organized crime. The Government had recently prepared a draft law against money laundering and one year ago had accepted the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.
STANISLAUS I.G. MUDENGE, Foreign Minister of Zimbabwe, said the United Nations must play a vastly expanded role in peace-keeping in the post-cold war era. It must also make a positive contribution to the new phenomenon of globalization and its increased levels of economic and social interdependence. In view of the related need for reform, the slow pace of work on the equitable representation of and increase in the membership of the Security Council was disturbing. The present arrangement has to change, to enable Africa, Latin America and Asia each to have at least two permanent seats, with incumbents enjoying the same rights and privileges as the present permanent members.
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Additional non-permanent seats should also be allocated to each of those regions, so as to ensure equitable geographical representation proportionate to the numerical strength of each region in the Organization.
He also called for reaffirmation of the General Assembly role as the highest decision-making body in the entire United Nations system. Zimbabwe would oppose any proposals that might lead to a usurpation of the Assembly's authority under any guise or form.
Reform should not necessarily be equated with downsizing of the United Nations system, he said. An optimally streamlined and strengthened United Nations system would not necessarily be responsive to the needs of its membership as long as it had chronic cash flow problems. The appalling record of some Member States in dishonouring their financial obligations had brought the credibility of the Organization and the commitment of its membership into question.
He said the attention paid to conflicts which threatened peace in any part of the world should not be based on their geographical location, strategic interests, or other narrow considerations of the big Powers. The much-belated intervention and subsequent failure of the United Nations in Somalia, and its half-hearted interventions in Rwanda, Burundi and Liberia, had exposed the Organization to harmful criticism which had further reduced its credibility. In Angola, the United Nations must redouble its efforts, urging the Angolans to persevere along the present bumpy road of peace on the basis of national reconciliation and unity.
He called on the international community to review its current minimalist approach on Somalia and explore new possibilities for constructive engagement. The United Nations should also support the efforts of Burundi's neighbours to help that country achieve peace and stability. In Liberia, it must send a clear message to the warlords that common humanity might soon require that they be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Regarding Western Sahara, the international community should honour the spirit and letter of its commitment made to the disenfranchised people there and ensure the holding of a free and fair, United Nations-supervised referendum, on the basis of the United Nations plan for Western Sahara.
Citing the successful launching a few months ago of the World Trade Organization, he said that for the new multilateral trade regime to work, Member States must resist the temptation to initiate practices of policies that seek to reintroduce colonialism in another guise. Developed countries should abandon projectionist policies and, with the international financial institutions, consider debt forgiveness for low-income developing countries.
Drawing attention to last week's review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa, he said that international commitments made in 1991 had not been fulfilled. Zimbabwe was also alarmed at the growing extent
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of abject poverty, which now engulfed 20 per cent of the world's population. Governments must spare no efforts to roll back that advancing scourge. In addition, the search for safer, environmentally sound and sustainable approaches to development had become more urgent than ever.
To remain relevant and effective, the United Nations must remain at the centre of global activities, he said. Zimbabwe was taken aback by the efforts of those who sought to prescribe to the United Nations a reform exercise which would force it to reassign its Charter role of promoting development to the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the blind forces of the market. The strength of the United Nations lay in its universality and its impartiality in implementing its mandate as outlined in its Charter. While it had played a significant role in other areas, it had largely failed to have any significant impact on the development process in developing countries. As the General Assembly outlined its medium-term plan for the period 1998-2001, the development process must receive the Organization's irrevocable commitment.
He went on to say that it was Africa's turn to provide a Secretary- General for the Organization. Africa had so far had one term and, following normal practice, was entitled to a second. African leaders meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon this year, had endorsed the candidature of the incumbent, Boutros Boutros-Ghali; they stood ready to engage all Members of the Organization in consultations on the matter.
CHOI SU HON, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said the reunification of the north and south of Korea -- both characterized by different ideas and systems -- was only possible through confederation. To achieve national reunification through confederation, new institutional mechanisms must be established to ease tension and ensure peace and security.
Since the implementation of the 1953 Armistice Agreement remained paralysed due to the unilateral measures of the United States, a new peace arrangement was imperative, he continued. His Government had proposed the establishment of a new peace agreement and the idea of concluding an interim agreement between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States. Such an interim agreement could address such issues as the management of the demilitarized zone, ways of addressing the instances of armed conflict and the formation of a joint military body. "The United States and south Korean authorities, however, replied to this peace-loving proposal of ours by aggravating tension with their large-scale war exercise and arms build-up on the Korean peninsula", he said.
Calling for talks on an interim agreement, he said such agreement would be a step towards the creation of an agreement on reconciliation, non- aggression, cooperation and exchange between north and south, and signed by those parties. He added that the existence of the "United Nations command in
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south Korea" constituted a legal obstacle to durable peace on the Korean peninsula. In the two years since the adoption of the framework agreement between the United Sates and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea aimed at resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, his Government had fulfilled their agreement obligations, he said. The United States should fulfil its obligations, including the alleviation of economic sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic.
Disarmament, notably nuclear disarmament, remained a priority, he added. Nuclear-weapons States should provide negative security assurances to the non- nuclear-weapons States; commit themselves to non-use of nuclear weapons and establish a timetable for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.
Regarding stability in north-east Asia, he said any attempt to foster military collusion with outside forces or any pursuit of an arms race should end. However, the military collusion with the United States was being intensified and the United States, Japan and south Korea were attempting to build a "tri-partite military alliance". The arms race was further accelerating due to the unrealistic Japanese policy of becoming a military superpower, which included the build-up of nuclear weapons. The Democratic People's Republic urged the Japanese authorities to end their confrontational acts against it and the arms build-up which it was pursuing under the veil of "immediate response in case of emergency".
On United Nations reform, he said issues relating to international peace and security should be brought directly before the General Assembly, and the Assembly should be responsible for endorsing any Security Council action calling for sanctions, peace-keeping or the use of force. Reform of the Security Council should be gradual. Japan was attempting to become a permanent member of the Council even while it had still not apologized or paid compensation for war crimes committed during World War II.
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