DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION GREATEST CHALLENGES FACING LIBERIA, CHAIRMAN OF LIBERIA'S COUNCIL OF STATE TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Press Release
GA/9123

DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION GREATEST CHALLENGES FACING LIBERIA, CHAIRMAN OF LIBERIA'S COUNCIL OF STATE TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

She Commits Transitional Government to Peace Process, May 1997 Elections; Western Samoa, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal Also Speak

The successful disarmament and demobilization of combatants and their reintegration into civil society was one of the greatest challenges facing the Liberian National Transitional Government, Ruth Perry, Chairman of the Council of State told the General Assembly this morning, as she committed her new Government to the constant maintenance of the cease-fire and the implementation of the peace process leading to elections in May 1997.

"This task requires us, as a matter of urgency, to first disarm our children and redirect their lives", said Mrs. Perry -- the first female head of Government in Africa -- adding that rehabilitation and relief for children was one of her principal concerns. The painful reality of child soldiers, child labourers and abandoned children meant that the formidable task of rehabilitating them into productive citizens lay ahead. She appealed for assistance in rebuilding educational institutions, especially those providing vocational and technical training, as well as for more troops to support the new focus on demobilization and disarmament.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malawi, George Nga Mtafu, said that the installation in August 1996 of an interim government in Liberia, "gave us all hope" that the warring factions had chosen the path of reconciliation. However, the July 1996 coup in Burundi was a major setback to democracy. "We denounce the coup d'etat", he said. Malawi does not condone any take-over of power by whomsoever, through unconstitutional means. Quite frankly, we, in Africa, are sick and tired of this 'disease'. We want once and for all time that the ballot box be the referee in African politics."

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Equatorial Guinea, Miguel Oyono Ndong Mifumu, said that his country was building a democracy based on the participation of its people. While his country had been victim of a disinformation campaign carried out at an international level by radical groups, its ideals had none the less managed to interest the rest of the world. Foreign investment was taking giant steps, cooperation with friendly countries was being re-established and economic growth in 1996 would be more than 7 per cent.

Statements were also made this morning by the Prime Minister of Western Samoa, and the Foreign Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic and Nepal.

The General Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. Thursday, 10 October, in the final day of its general debate.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to hear addresses by the Prime Minister of Western Samoa and the Chairman of the Council of State of the Liberian National Transitional Government. Also, the Assembly would continue its general debate with statements by the Foreign Ministers of Malawi, Kyrgyz Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Nepal.

Statements

TOFILAU ETI ALESANA, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Western Samoa, while welcoming the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty (CTBT), which he would sign, acknowledged the Treaty's shortcomings and regretted that it was not possible to reach consensus. He also welcomed the decision of the United States, United Kingdom and France to sign the protocols of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free-Zone Treaty.

Western Samoa fully supported the ongoing efforts to revitalize the United Nations, he continued. However, its small delegation found it difficult to cope with the work of the five related Assembly's working groups and at times felt dispirited by the pace and direction of discussions. Security Council membership should be expanded, while giving particular consideration to the cases of Japan and Germany. During the current session, discussions should focus on ideas which stood a reasonable chance of gaining consensus, instead of the continuing endless open-ended discussions. The current scale of assessments had led to unfair assessed contributions for small developing States. A more equitable system of assessments must be devised based on the capacity to pay.

Noting that the first review of the implementation of Agenda 21, the programme of action adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), would take place next year, he said that Western Samoa would continue to emphasize the importance of the Barbados Programme of Action for the sustainable development of small island developing States. The United Nations had greatly facilitated his country's efforts to implement that Programme of Action. As a member of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), his country would continue to press for international action to address the consequences of rising sea levels caused by climate change. The current commitments to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions would not lead to a reduction which would arrest global warming. The industrialized countries must enter into additional commitments which would extend beyond the year 2000. He called for a quick conclusion of negotiations on a protocol or another legal instrument to strengthen commitments relating to climate change.

GEORGE NGA MTAFU, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malawi, said that it was not surprising that the reform of the United Nations was still a major theme in the Organization's deliberations. Those should now include the democratization of the Security Council, the composition of which should

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correspond, equitably, to the increase in the membership of the Organization. Its methods and procedures should be enhanced so as to bring about more transparency and accountability. Work on that matter should move forward resolutely; the working group of the Assembly discussing the matter was open- ended in space, but not time.

The President of Malawi had addressed the General Assembly two years ago, heralding a new era in the country's history, he went on. On 17 June 1994, Malawians had ushered in their first democratically elected Government after 30 years of dictatorship. Malawi was a very small, land-locked country, but like other countries it had a vision of its future as a better and prosperous nation. Cooperating partners were invited to invest in Malawi, where the economic and investment climate were better than ever before.

It was hoped, the Minister said, that the mid-term review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s would reignite the political will of all partners. The Special System-wide Initiative on Africa, which conferred the leadership of programmes to Africans, "confirms what we have always desired to see happen", he added.

The July coup d'etat in Burundi was a major setback to democracy, he said. Malawi supported the position taken so far by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the countries of the region. "We denounce the coup d'etat. Malawi does not condone any take-over of power by whomsoever, through unconstitutional means. Quite frankly, we, in Africa, are sick and tired of this 'disease'. We want once and for all time that the ballot box be the referee in African politics."

The installation in August of a Transitional Government in Liberia, led by Ruth Perry, "gave us all hope" that the warring factions had chosen the path of reconciliation, he said. The leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was to be commended in that regard.

Western Sahara was still a cause for genuine concern, he continued. The extension of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was a show of commitment; all players concerned should show some flexibility so as to find an amicable solution to the current impasse.

"We support the aspirations of the more than 21 million people of the Republic of China on Taiwan, for recognition and full participation in all activities of the international community", he said. A discussion of the issue would ease tension in the region, he added.

RUTH PERRY, Chairman of the Council of State of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, said her country's civil war, which began more than six years ago, had unleashed one of the worst man-made disasters in recent memory. It had claimed over 250,000 lives, about 15 per cent of the population; forced over 800,000 Liberians to seek refuge in neighbouring

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countries; and left several hundred thousand others internally displaced. Regrettably, the most vulnerable groups -- women, children and the elderly -- continued to be victimized by the ravages of disease, hunger and malnutrition, which were commonplace under such conditions.

The wanton killing of civilians and the destruction of basic infrastructure, which intensified in April of this year, continued to retard economic activities and deprived the people of their fundamental human rights, she continued. The painful reality of child soldiers, child labourers and abandoned children in the country meant that a formidable task of rehabilitating them into productive citizens lay ahead.

Since 1990, she said, ECOWAS had deployed a peace-keeping force in Liberia. It was hoped that the initiative, the first by a subregion, would have received the full support of the United Nations. Unfortunately, the assistance of the international community had been both slow and inadequate, thereby imposing severe pressure on the scarce resources of the member States of ECOWAS. The efforts of ECOWAS must be complemented by the international community through the provision of substantial material and financial support to facilitate the implementation of the peace process. She appealed to the United Nations to assume its share of the burden of peace-keeping in Liberia. The subregion was facing extreme economic hardships due to external factors beyond its control.

Reviewing the events leading up to the resumption of fighting in April, she said that after several failed peace agreements, ECOWAS had convened a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria in August 1995. At that meeting, a decision was taken for the first time to include the leaders of the three major warring factions in a six-man Council of State. Accordingly, a cease-fire was implemented and Monrovia was maintained as a safe haven. The members of the Council of State were inducted into office in September of 1995.

In April of this year, however, fighting had resumed and dealt another set-back to the peace process, she said. She extended the profound regrets of the Liberian Government and people to intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as others who sustained losses as a result of the April fighting. Her administration would do everything within its power to prevent the recurrence of such lawlessness.

She went on to say that the events of April had enabled the leaders of the subregion to identify deficiencies in the agreement and to take measures to prevent the recurrence of such a breakdown in the implementation of the peace process. Although they had reaffirmed the Abuja accord as the best framework for finding a lasting solution to the Liberian conflict, they nevertheless resolved that a change was necessary in the leadership to restore confidence. Thus, the parties had unanimously selected her as Africa's first female head of Government. It represented a major victory and recognition of the active involvement of Liberian women in the peace process. The resolution

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of the Liberian conflict was therefore not only a challenge to her and all Liberian women, but to all women in Africa and the world.

She said, "Our leadership is challenged with the difficult tasks of pursuing national reconciliation, reunification, repatriation and resettlement of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the creation of an enabling environment for the holding of free and fair elections by May 1997." Additionally and more demanding, her Government must ensure the successful disarmament of combatants, and their demobilization and reintegration into civil society.

"This task requires us, as a matter of urgency, to first disarm our children and redirect their lives", she said. It was also necessary to address the immense suffering which the war had inflicted on the Liberian people. An independent elections commission must be established to conduct free and fair elections under international supervision.

She expressed confidence that, with international support, the tasks would be achieved. All of the parties to the conflict had pledged to her their commitment to the implementation of the revised schedule. "Despite some signs of retrogression, our timely intervention and appeals have been heeded, thus averting derailment of the process." Efforts to maintain the cease-fire must be sustained at every stage of the peace process by timely intervention and insistence that the terms and conditions of the peace agreement must be respected by the parties. She appealed for assistance to enable the deployment of additional troops to sustain the new focus on disarmament and demobilization.

The failure to achieve peace over the past six years, she said, made it imperative that long overdue measures be taken to ensure the final and successful implementation of the Abuja peace agreement. Following the selection of a new head of Government, provision had to be made for the regular monitoring and assessment of the implementation of the peace agreement -- a responsibility assigned to the special representative of the Chairman of ECOWAS and the ECOWAS Committee of Nine on Liberia.

In addition, she continued, ECOWAS member States agreed to impose sanctions on any person or group of persons obstructing the implementation of the peace agreement. Those necessary measures would require equal support from the international community. She added that the urgent need to rehabilitate and grant relief to the children was one of her principal concerns. In order to facilitate the rehabilitation of the children, she appealed for assistance in rebuilding educational institutions, especially those providing vocational and technical training.

ROZA OTUNBAYEVA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, said the newly independent States were rapidly getting involved in the globalization of the world economy, gaining clear benefits, but also incurring

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significant damage. Apart from liberalization of trade and opening of State borders, the fragile economies of those States were being affected by transnational organized crime, including the drug trade. Drug dealers exerted a corrupting influence on State institutions, which eroded the basis of the newly acquired statehood. Drug trafficking and the arms trade were prolific in areas of conflict. Powerful international criminal forces were reaping profits from the continuation of conflicts in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The five central Asian countries were the second group of States, following eastern European nations, to sign a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Drug Control Programme to pursue regional cooperation in combating the evil of the drug trafficking.

Transitional economies were going through a difficult period of economic rehabilitation, she said. The most urgent problem today was the attraction of direct foreign investment. Her country was inspired by the experience of countries in central and eastern Europe that had successfully made the transition to market economies. Timely and adequate assistance and credits provided by the international community, combined with enormous efforts by the countries themselves, would enable the countries in transition to quickly find a way out of the crisis and join the category of development donors. Several post-Soviet independent nations might shortly form a vanguard group in that process.

She said regions like the Fergana valley, which were replete with such acute problems as unemployment, environmental degradation, poverty, gender inequality and crime in all forms, must draw the attention and efforts of all countries concerned in central Asia, the United Nations system and donor countries. Consistent and vigorous efforts to resolve the overripe problems that had emerged in that densely populated valley were badly needed preventive actions, which would strengthen security and stability among countries of the region.

Turning to conflicts in the region, she expressed support for the peace efforts made by the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to attain a peaceful solution to the inter-Tajik conflict. She commended the contributions of Russia and Iran and welcomed the intermediary role of Turkmenistan, which had offered an office of good will for conducting the inter-Tajik negotiations. Due to the protracted nature of the crisis in Tajikistan, which had caused great civilian suffering and had consequences for neighbouring countries, only a peaceful solution to the inter-Tajik conflict could form a basis for long-term sustainable development of the country and central Asia in general. The outflow of refugees continued and the humanitarian situation remained critical. Coordinated efforts by the United Nations system, regional organizations and the Bretton Woods institutions were necessary to contribute to a peaceful settlement of the conflict and alleviate the pain and suffering of the Tajik people.

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MIGUEL OYONO NDONG MIFUMU, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Equatorial Guinea, told the Assembly that the credibility of the United Nations depended on its will to democratize the General Assembly and the Security Council. The reform of the Security Council was an extremely important and complex issue. The Council should be endowed with the necessary mechanisms to facilitate wider consensus in the decision-making process and should also have an increased number of non-permanent seats.

Peace, stability and the promotion of democracy were intimately linked to the right to development of all the peoples of the world, he continued. The hope envisioned by four world conferences -- the World Summit for Children in New York, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio, the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing -- should not be betrayed. The problem of Africa's external debt had still not been resolved, although there had been some timid attempts made recently by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Equatorial Guinea was building a democracy based on the participation of its people, he said. Equatorial Guinea had held legislative, municipal and presidential elections consecutively in 1993, 1995 and 1996, all within an atmosphere of peace and order. The Government was promoting human rights, with the technical and financial assistance of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights. Various courses and seminars had been organized for police and security forces, as well as administrative and judicial authorities.

Equatorial Guinea, a country which aspired to consolidate its rule of law, had been victim of a disinformation campaign carried out at an international level by radical groups, he said. However, Equatorial Guinea's ideals of peace and healthy social order had managed to interest the rest of the world. Foreign investment there was taking giant steps, cooperation with friendly countries was being re-established and economic growth in 1996 would be more than 7 per cent. He asked the Assembly and the international community to disbelieve anything but the facts as they were, and in closing, called for international solidarity which was "the soul of the United Nations".

PRAKASH CHANDRA LOHANI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, said United Nations peace-keeping operations were indispensable for the maintenance of international peace and security. Nepal, a major troop-contributor to peace-keeping operations, supported the establishment of a headquarters team that could be rapidly deployed within the Department of Peace-keeping Operations (DPKO) to enhance the rapid response ability of the United Nations. Such a team would be within the framework of the system of stand-by arrangements to which Nepal had committed 2,000 troops and 200 police monitors.

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However, the financial standing of the United Nations was precarious and the cross-funding of the regular budget from the peace-keeping account was becoming the rule, not the exception, he said. The continuation of that practice, which invariably resulted in late reimbursements to troop- contributing countries, was detrimental to the rapid deployment capability expected from the United Nations. Also, a just system for providing compensation to peace-keepers injured or killed on mission must be mandated by the current Assembly.

The adoption of the CTBT represented only partial progress towards the goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons, he said. Continuing efforts to reach that goal must be complemented by efforts to control the proliferation of other weapons of mass destruction. Nepal supported a total ban on chemical and biological weapons.

The economies of many African and least developed countries were deteriorating and those countries were being marginalized due to the unfavourable conditions prevailing in the global market, he said. The difficulties of land-locked developing countries were heightened by the high cost of production and transport of exportable commodities. Such countries were unable to offer the competitive advantages essential for attracting foreign investment. As a minimum, additional financial resources and the transfer of technology were needed to redress their handicaps. He called upon the World Trade Organization to ensure that the products of the least developed countries would be given free and unrestricted access to world markets.

He said the decline in the resources for United Nations operational activities for development concerned the least developed countries. Without direct foreign investment, developing countries which lacked basic infrastructure and which were without natural resources were left without support.

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