MALIAN EXPERIENCE POINTS TO VIRTUES OF PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY AND CLOSE COORDINATION WITHIN UN SYSTEM, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Release
SG/SM/6491
AFR/46
MALIAN EXPERIENCE POINTS TO VIRTUES OF PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY AND CLOSE COORDINATION WITHIN UN SYSTEM, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL
19980317 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement delivered in Geneva today at the ceremony to launch the publication by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) of the book A Peace of Timbuktu: Democratic Governance, Development and African Peacemaking:I am delighted to be with you today to mark the publication of a work devoted to peace in West Africa, a part of the world to which I am particularly attached because it was there that I was born and grew up.
Allow me to welcome His Excellency Mr. Mahamadou Diagouraga, Commissaire au Nord of Mali and Representative of the President of Mali, whose presence among us demonstrates the Malian Government's, and President Konare's, commitment to peace in Mali and throughout Africa.
A Peace of Timbuktu, whose publication we are celebrating today, describes the Malian Government's efforts to prevent the disturbances in the country from degenerating into civil war, to promote reconciliation among all the people of the country and to foster the reintegration into society of refugees and marginalized groups.
The authors have given us both a lively story and a comprehensive analysis. Their work highlights the key roles of democratic governance and civil society in building lasting peace. They examine the efforts of the international community, demonstrating how even small actions, undertaken at the right moment, can restore hope among struggling people. And most importantly, they show how disarmament can help create the conditions -- the security -- in which development can take place and take root.
The insecurity and violence that plagued Mali in the early 1990s was fuelled in part by the proliferation of small arms. Once a peace agreement was reached and the rebels agreed to demobilize, the United Nations assisted in the collection of some 3,000 weapons relinquished by the former combatants.
Nearly two years ago this month, those weapons were set aflame in a great bonfire in Timbuktu, a vivid display that the conflict had come to an end. A photograph of "La Flamme de la Paix" now graces the cover of the book
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being published today. The symbolism of that event burns still. But continued vigilance and cooperation will be required if we are to build on the restoration of peace in Mali and stem the proliferation of small arms in West Africa.
One possible step which I would strongly support is a subregional moratorium on the trade in small arms. A precedent exists: last November, every member of the Organization of American States signed the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. I urge all concerned governments to explore such a possibility in the African context.
The international community, for its part, and especially the United Nations, will continue to support and encourage such initiatives. The experience in Mali points again to the virtues of close coordination within the United Nations system. The study itself is the result of cooperation between the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research and the United Nations Development Programme. I would like to express my appreciation to the authors, Mr. Robin Edward Poulton, a senior research fellow at UNIDIR, and Mr. Ibrahim ag Youssouf, a consultant with UNDP in Bamako.
Mali's experience is also a success for preventive diplomacy: further proof that prevention is far less costly, in human and financial terms, than addressing problems only after conflict has broken out.
I pledge to do my utmost to ensure that the Malian model is brought to the attention of governments and policy makers around the world. Congratulations again to all involved for your contributions to this publication and to the quest for peace in Africa.
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