REGIONAL PEACE-KEEPING EFFORTS NEED GLOBAL SUPPORT TO BE FULLY EFFECTIVE, GHANA AND ZAMBIA TELL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Press Release
GA/9117

REGIONAL PEACE-KEEPING EFFORTS NEED GLOBAL SUPPORT TO BE FULLY EFFECTIVE, GHANA AND ZAMBIA TELL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Fiji Welcomes End of Nuclear Tests; Suriname Notes World Concern On Timber Project; Panama, Seychelles Also Speak in Continuing Debate

Regional or subregional efforts could only complement and not substitute for international peace-keeping and peace-building, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ghana, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told the General Assembly this afternoon as it concluded its second week of general debate.

International support was necessary to buttress regional endeavours, such as recent efforts of West African countries to calm the strife in Liberia, the Deputy Foreign Minister continued. While the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) received support from some countries and from the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), he said "these token forms of support are grossly inadequate, viewed against the enormity of the tasks in Liberia and the present state of the economies of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) members."

The representative of Zambia, Peter L. Kasanda, also praised the efforts of ECOMOG, which he said contained the situation in Liberia. He agreed that international support for the continued work of ECOMOG was needed to consolidate achievements in Liberia.

Addressing concerns of the South Pacific region, the representative of Fiji, Poseci W. Bune, said the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) meant that the natural resources of the South Pacific could be utilized to support economic and social development. However, the import and dumping of nuclear waste and other forms of hazardous waste in the South Pacific region must end. The countries of the Pacific region would not stand by and allow any further reckless and mindless nuclear contamination of their environment or people.

The President of Suriname, Jules Albert Wijdenbosch, said he knew of international concern regarding Suriname's plans to employ its timber resources to support development. To address that concern, he said, Suriname

General Assembly - 1a - Press Release GA/9117 23rd Meeting (PM) 4 October 1996

would abide by commitments made at the 1992 Rio Conference, while it weighed the interests of potential investors, of its indigenous population and of future generations. The international community should also abide by its obligation to provide technological and financial assistance.

Statements were also made this afternoon by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Planning and Environment of the Seychelles and the representative of Panama.

The Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 7 October, to continue its general debate.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this afternoon to hear an address by the President of Suriname. The Assembly was also to continue its general debate, hearing statements from the Foreign Ministers of Seychelles and Ghana and the representatives of Zambia, Panama and Fiji.

Statements

PETER L. KASANDA (Zambia), said social development was the greatest challenge facing the international community. More resources must be invested to end human deprivation. Atrocities against children continued and international child prostitution and pornography were on the increase. He called on Member States to implement the various international programmes and agreements designed to fight poverty and improve the status of women and youth.

He said Zambia supported the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty (CTBT), which his country planned to sign, and he called on nuclear-weapon States to inject a new spirit of commitment to ensure nuclear disarmament in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The time had come to convene a special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. The Assembly should work towards a global ban on land-mines during the current session.

He said that in Liberia, the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) had prevented the situation from degenerating. To consolidate the achievements in Liberia, the international community must support the continuation of ECOMOG. Among recent conflicts in Africa, he went on, the situation in Burundi was a major challenge. Measures taken to reopen parliament and to end the ban on political parties were positive. However, Governments should be replaced only through constitutional methods or internationally accepted means. Until a constitutional Government was established in Burundi, Zambia would withhold recognition of that country's regime. In Angola, the quartering of troops and the disarmament efforts had moved the peace process forward; while a recent regional attempt to bring the parties together had failed, peace efforts would continue. When peace became rooted in Angola, continued economic support would be needed from the international community.

While the United Nations had facilitated international economic cooperation, its machinery needed to be improved, he said. Issues such as foreign direct investment, currency stability and external debt problems called for multilateral cooperative arrangements. However, some United Nations agencies were facing budget cuts. He noted that, at the same time, the United Nations had initiated the System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa, a decade-long process of promoting African development. To implement the initiative, the United Nations needed a strong institutional capacity, but that capacity was being eroded by the financial crisis. He welcomed the focus

General Assembly - 3 - Press Release GA/9117 23rd Meeting (PM) 4 October 1996

of the Initiative on peace-building, conflict resolution, national reconciliation and socio-economic development in Africa.

JULES ALBERT WIJDENBOSCH, President of Suriname, said Suriname would establish and maintain relations with friendly nations and international and regional organizations in accordance with international law and on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of the non-aligned movement. It would strengthen its efforts for full integration into the subregion -- into the wider Caribbean and the Americas -- through membership in the Caribbean Community and the Association of Caribbean States, and through participation in the free trade zone to be established in 2005.

He said the United Nations had proven to be effective in pursuing the essential tasks of maintaining peace and promoting development. While the continuation of the United Nations as a centre for multilateral discussion and action was indispensable, there existed a need to redefine its functions. The bureaucratic structure must be reformed in order to make it more effective and efficient, and all States must provide the necessary funds, according to the current scale of assessments.

He said that the International Year of the Eradication of Poverty and the International Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, 1997-2006, had the full support of the Government of Suriname. Poverty, if not adequately addressed, was not only a threat to social harmony and economic and political order, but also to stability and the growth and consolidation of democracy and human rights.

The Suriname Government, he said, was aware of international concern regarding Suriname's resolve to employ its timber resources for the development of its people. Therefore, Suriname would abide by the commitment it made at the 1992 Rio Conference and would continue to cautiously weigh the interests of potential investors, its indigenous people, and future generations. He hoped that the international community would also abide by its obligation to provide the necessary technological and financial assistance needed to achieve Suriname's goals in this undertaking.

Illicit drug trafficking posed a serious problem to the Suriname Government, he observed, because it did not possess adequate resources to guard the hundreds of miles of its shoreline and its vast underpopulated land areas. As part of its policy of maximum cooperation in the fight against drugs and drug trafficking, Suriname had entered into agreements with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Suriname police authorities had agreed to cooperate with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, giving equal attention to both supply and demand.

JORGE E. ILLUECA (Panama) said that at its last session the Assembly had supported the convening in September 1997 of a universal congress on the

General Assembly - 4 - Press Release GA/9117 23rd Meeting (PM) 4 October 1996

Panama Canal, with the assistance of a number of organs and agencies of the United Nations. It was important to inform the international community how his country would handle its responsibilities in the transfer of the Canal in 1999. The congress would have universal participation, just as the Canal would be universally available to all nations. In a few years, Panama would be ready to assume full control of and responsibility for the Canal. As of 31 December 1999, Panama would be able to make full use of its entire territory, after the struggle of generations. Panama would still be a small nation, but it would be unified to take its place as an integral part of an increasingly interdependent world.

He went on to say that growing inequalities among nations and certain injustices persisted. Terrorism and transnational crime fed off each other and were growing threats, particularly in the area of drug trafficking. He supported Mexico's initiative to call a special session of the Assembly in 1998 to address the overall issue of drug trafficking and related crimes. Panama was committed to the establishment of a centre to combat drug trafficking.

He said the problems of poverty and corruption were undermining the democracies of Central America. Certain countries of the region were particularly vulnerable to current economic disparities. His Government was aware of the complex relationship among peace, democratization and development. The efforts of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had been particularly useful in Panama, and were an indication of the Organization's effectiveness.

He said the Government of Panama would strive to make a significant contribution in a number of areas in the current session, and particularly in the environmental work of the Organization. In matters of international peace and security, he supported the total ban on anti-personnel land-mines, and he welcomed Brazil's initiative to make the region a nuclear-weapon-free zone.

POSECI W. BUNE (Fiji) said the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) allowed the countries of the South Pacific to breathe a sigh of relief. Now, regional Governments could use their natural resources to support economic and social development. He urged the United Kingdom and the United States to ratify the protocols relating to the South Pacific nuclear-free-zone. However, he went on, the Treaty represented only a first step towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. Efforts must continue to end the import and dumping of nuclear waste and other forms of hazardous waste in the South Pacific region. The countries of the Pacific would not stand by and allow public health to be endangered by any further reckless and mindless nuclear contamination which destroyed the environment.

He said slow economic development had threatened the stability of small island States and the South Pacific region. The international community must

General Assembly - 5 - Press Release GA/9117 23rd Meeting (PM) 4 October 1996

increase official development assistance (ODA) and improve the quality of assistance. Cooperation must be undertaken to create a more equitable international economic environment which would promote sustained economic growth and development. Trade barriers and restrictions to market access must be dismantled. Access to capital from international financial institutions must be improved. Transfer of technology was needed to encourage the flow of investment capital to developing countries.

DANIELLE de ST. JORRE, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Planning and Environment of the Seychelles, said countries that had developed more rapidly had lost interest in the States that were trying to survive, whose struggles had been worsened by the persistent problems of health, education, poverty, drugs and crime. If the world were to develop harmoniously, she said, self- interest must be replaced with determination to end crimes against humanity and a commitment to well-being for all.

If the existence of the United Nations were now threatened, and if the international community undermined and weakened, it was because some powerful countries had not fostered an international environment where the wealthy and poor had equal say. The richest countries acted as if the problems encountered in some countries could be reduced to mere statistics. Those two poles -- wealth and poverty -- were spinning further apart, and not for want of international meetings on the problems of poverty, trade and sustainable development.

Programmes committed to sustainable development and growth could not ignore environmental realities, she said. Yet some countries found their natural resources being exploited by bigger Powers. To compound that situation, environmental damage and debris were left behind. Evaluation criteria that were applied to developing countries should be reviewed in the light of the "vulnerability index", which was an important factor when developing the profile of any given country, though too often neglected.

MOHAMED IBN CHAMBAS, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ghana, said internal strife within States, nurtured by racial and religious intolerance and the resort to arms for the settlement of disputes, threatened the very existence of a number of States, where the intransigence of warlords posed serious challenges to the international community. There had been efforts to meet those challenges in West Africa, despite the recent setbacks suffered from the attacks on ECOMOG forces last December in Liberia and the outbreak of fighting in Monrovia in April and May 1996. But more needed to be done. Although the implementation of the programme for disarmament and demobilization of the fighters and their reintegration into normal civilian life, as well as the holding of democratic elections in Liberia were now all behind schedule, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in August in Abuja

General Assembly - 6 - Press Release GA/9117 23rd Meeting (PM) 4 October 1996

saw the Liberian factional leaders renew their support for the peace process and their pledge to cooperate with the efforts to bring the Abuja Agreement back on track.

So far, he said, it had been possible to restore the capital of Monrovia to its status as a safe haven, and reinstate the Council of State and the Liberian National Transitional Government. The cease-fire had remained largely respected, although there were still disturbing reports of hostilities between some of the factions. While expressing gratitude for the aid of some countries to ECOMOG and the cooperation of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), he said, "these token forms of support are grossly inadequate, viewed against the enormity of the tasks in Liberia and the present state of the economies of ECOWAS member States". The Liberian factional leaders were tired, he said, and the subregion had been able to broker peace amongst them, but it lacked the means to provide the resources to implement the peace accord. The international community should respond to the call for resources now, or run the risk of another deterioration of the situation. Regional or subregional efforts could only complement, and not substitute for, international efforts.

He expressed grave concern over the continuing lack of progress on the question of Western Sahara. With all its shortcomings, the settlement plan agreed to by the parties, under the auspices of the United Nations, remained the best option for pursuing a long-lasting solution in the interests of the Sahraoui people. It was of particular concern that the identification process in preparation for the referendum had been suspended and the Identification Commission withdrawn, as a result of the failure of the parties to agree on some important procedures and methods. To break the stalemate, he called upon the Assembly to encourage the principal parties to the conflict to engage, under the auspices of the United Nations, in direct talks that could open the way for the continuation of the identification process. Urgent action was required to bring an end to the present unacceptable situation which posed a veritable threat to subregional and regional security.

* *** *