‘GLIMMERS OF HOPE’ IN AFRICA NOT ENOUGH - LASTING PEACE MUST BE ESTABLISHED,

 

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO LA FRANCOPHONIE SUMMIT

 

(Delayed for translation of text, originally delivered in French.)

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Tenth Summit of La Francophonie, delivered by Ibrahima Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 26 November:

I should like first of all to thank His Excellency Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso, and the Government and people of that country who are hosting this summit in their capital.  I should also like to pay a well-earned tribute to His Excellency Abdou Diouf for his efforts as Secretary-General of your organization.

At a time when economic globalization is accelerating and the gap between the rich and the poor is growing, this summit is a timely reminder of the importance of solidarity.  I applaud your desire to make la Francophonie a common area for sustainable development.

Humanity cannot hope to advance if it is deprived of the contribution of millions of human beings worldwide who have been reduced to abject poverty, made victims of recurrent crises, and left behind by modernity.

Indifference in the face of destitution and hunger is unacceptable.  Each of us has the right to a decent standard of living; without it, our human dignity is diminished.  We already have a framework for achieving it -- the Millennium Development Goals.  One of these goals is precisely to achieve sustainable development and ensure the viability of our environment.  The others include cutting poverty and hunger in half, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, and ensuring universal primary education, all by 2015.

While progress has been made in several regions, others, such as sub-Saharan Africa, will require special assistance to overcome the vicious cycle of poverty.  An extraordinary effort of solidarity will be needed.  It is clear that the efforts made up to now have not been commensurate with the challenges.

In the Millennium Declaration, and at the major conferences held since then, rich countries promised to help poor countries which carry out reforms.  They must keep their promises by increasing development assistance, alleviating the debt, and ensuring fair access to markets for the products of poor countries.

But these measures, however necessary, cannot replace the desire for change on the part of governments and people, nor substitute for national capacity.  Development cannot be sustainable if governments do not create a favourable economic environment.  They must also adopt social policies to put education and health care within everyone’s reach and institute gender equality.  And society as a whole must be clearly committed to peace, democracy and justice.  In too many countries, on this continent in particular, armed conflicts and violations of human rights are causing horrendous suffering and posing a major obstacle to development.

I appeal to all parties in conflict, in Côte d'Ivoire, the Sudan and elsewhere, to demonstrate a lofty sense of responsibility towards their people.  Africa cannot allow itself to be torn apart:  it has a good many other problems to solve.  The States members of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, including several francophone countries represented here, seem to have understood this, judging by the encouraging results of their first summit held in Dar es Salaam.  But we cannot be satisfied with glimmers of hope here and there.  We must establish lasting peace throughout the continent.  I urge the francophone countries to set an example by strengthening their cooperation in conflict prevention and peace restoration, and by encouraging respect for the rule of law, democracy and good governance everywhere.  I call upon the international community to support these efforts.

We have a very important meeting in New York in September 2005 to assess the progress made since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration.  This will be an opportunity for world leaders to renew and deepen the commitment they have undertaken to forge a global partnership for development.

It will also be an opportunity to come together around a shared concept of collective security.  The system of collective security on which the Charter of the United Nations is based has served humanity usefully, but it must be updated if it is to help counter the new threats with which we are faced.  For that, we need a common understanding of the nature of these threats, and a certain commonality of ideas as to the principles to be applied in combating them.

Lastly, this meeting will be an opportunity to adopt decisions on revitalizing the United Nations.  International institutions must adapt to new realities and new challenges, and the United Nations is no exception.  Among other things, this means reforming the Organization’s principal organs, including the Security Council, whose composition reflects a world long gone by.  It also means giving developing countries a bigger say in decision-making.  Lastly, it means strengthening relations between the United Nations, other international institutions and regional organizations.  The High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change which I established to make proposals along these lines will shortly submit its report to me.

The Panel’s recommendations should help Member States to take the necessary decisions, especially at the meeting in 2005.  We should be guided by the ambition to make the United Nations a more effective tool of collective action in the face of new challenges, such as terrorism and extremely lethal weapons proliferation, and of those older but no less threatening ones -- poverty, hunger and disease.

Governments have worked together to give us the Millennium Declaration.  They must work together to make it a reality.

Through the example it sets, la Francophonie has an important role to play in inspiring the unity we seek.  You have shown that diversity, far from being a problem, is a strength.  I am counting on you to help us make the world’s diversity a guarantee of peace and prosperity for all inhabitants of the globe.

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