SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR. PAKALITHA MOSISILI AT THE 58TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Your Excellency Mr. Julian R . Hunte, President of the 58^th Session,

Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,

Your Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,  

Mr. President, my delegation associates itself with the compliments extended to you on your election to the presidency of this session,  to your predecessor, His Excellency  Mr. Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, and  to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan.  

Mr. President, as we converge into this city of New York, we are once again reminded of the stark reality of the scourge of terrorism whose  effects have reverberated across the world.  Two years ago, early this month, and in this very City, humanity suffered the worst threat visited on it by terrorism.  

We continue to share  the grief of those who will forever miss the love and support of their  loved ones.  We must therefore reaffirm our resolve to partner together  to eliminate those elements which threaten to destroy humanity and its way of life.  Our best hope for success is, and should be,  our collective strength.  We owe it to ourselves and future generations of humankind to pool resources and strategies together to annihilate the scourge of terrorism.  In doing so, we must simultaneously and genuinely examine and begin to understand what forces and factors drive an inherently good human being to such desperation as to commit such drastic acts of violence, not only against others, but against self in the process.  Our preventive measures must address such forces and factors to disarm potential terrorists.

Mr. President, the progress report on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in Lesotho, documents that the single greatest obstacle to the development of our nation, and indeed to reaching the objectives as laid out in the MDG, is the scourge of HIV and AIDS.  In our part of the world, Southern Africa, governments are overwhelmed by the high levels of morbidity and mortality, especially among the working age group in all sectors, including Health and Agriculture. HIV and AIDS have become the leading cause of food insecurity and famine that plagues  so many of our people  today.   

Mr. President, we are also frustrated because our efforts toward the achievement of the MDG of education for all by 2015, through  the introduction of free primary education,  is faltering due to the high rate of absenteeism by both teachers and pupils.  Teachers are sick and dying.  Children, especially girls are  dropping  out of school to take care of their sick relatives. The number of malnourished, traumatized, orphaned and out-of-school children, is increasing at an alarming rate.

We therefore  stress the need for urgent assistance to Lesotho and to the Southern African Region, with increased supplies of the anti-retroviral and other related HIV and AIDS drugs, in order to curb the scourge.   Lesotho and the Region also need financial and technical resources for training and capacity building in HIV and AIDS Programme  Implementation and Management.

Mr. President, Lesotho is concerned  that the goal of poverty eradication, which is  the first MDG and one of the  cross-cutting themes of all the major United Nations Conferences and Summits, could elude the international community.    Indeed, this critical state of affairs is highlighted in the Economic Report on Africa, 2003, which reflects that in 2002, of the 53 countries in Africa, only five achieved the 7% growth rate required to meet the MDG, while 43 countries registered growth rates below 7% and five countries registered negative growth rates.

Against the back-drop of a democratizing continent, a pre-condition set for assistance by the developed North, there is a growing consensus that the decline in ODA and other financial flows to Africa, increases the marginalization of the Continent in the global economy.  Without new inflows of external resources, the pace of development in Africa will forever remain elusive.  My delegation therefore wishes to reiterate its  appeal to the developed countries to meet the commitments  made at all the major United Nations Conferences and also at the Millennium Summit.  Furthermore, we wish to stress the need for the  review of the list of heavily indebted poor countries and those on the borderline, so that all poor countries like Lesotho, which face  debt servicing difficulties, could be considered  under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) debt initiative.  My delegation also shares the view that debt cancellation for Least Developed Countries should be considered as a viable option for enabling the said countries to inject that money into their economies.   

Mr. President, my delegation reiterates the call  for increased  support  to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). We are aware that Iraq today dominates the world spotlight as also confirmed in recent testimony before the US Congress which was asked to approve 87 Billion Dollars for the rehabilitation of Iraq.  But in sharp contrast, an injection of only about  six Billion Dollars into NEPAD, would go a long way in achieving what is a continental agenda. African leaders need extensive support as they address, inter alia, the root-causes of the agricultural crises in the Continent.  For us in Africa, agriculture is the engine of overall growth, for it addresses the very core of people’s livelihoods, mainly in the rural areas.  It responds to issues of food security and contributes to growth in other economic sectors.  

Mr. President, Lesotho is  deeply concerned that armed conflicts continue to  hinder economic growth in Africa and elsewhere.  We are also shocked by several  reports of extreme lack of respect for basic principles of international humanitarian law by parties to armed conflicts. Equally  regrettable are incidences of  egregious violations of the rights of women and children.   We therefore commend the United Nations for all its efforts aimed at the elimination of human suffering in armed conflict.     Indeed, the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals, the  birth of the International Criminal Court (ICC),  and the setting up of the Special Court for Sierra Leone,  have brought considerable optimism and proved beyond any doubt that the world has grown weary of impunity.  It is our fervent hope that Member States will continue to provide the necessary support and cooperation to these institutions.  

Mr. President, Africa hungers for  peace.   The Continent must never again have  to witness acts of violence and atrocities such as those that were recently committed  in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. We hope that the international community will continue to support all endeavours aimed at attaining lasting  peace, security and stability in these countries.  

My delegation is encouraged by the progress made so far, to restore law and order in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including the establishment of an all-inclusive transitional government of national unity.  The international community has to  intensify its efforts to assist millions of the  Congolese people, who are not only displaced but are also facing serious food shortages.   My delegation is confident that, with the necessary support,  the national transition government in the DRC will restore peace and security in the country and heal the deep wounds caused by war and ethnic hatred.  We are also  gratified that the  Security Council mandated a special panel to investigate the  plunder of natural resources in the DRC.  It is our wish and that those responsible will be brought to book.

Mr. President, at last, the people of Angola have peace after one of Africa’s long running fratricidal wars.  The scars of war in Angola will forever remain deeply embedded in the most vulnerable of the population, that is, women and children of that country, whose motherhood was abused and childhood deprived.  Reintegration and rehabilitation assistance to Angola, therefore, should in the main, target these groups.  

The future of Somalia continues to hang in the balance despite the efforts by Kenya, IGAD, AU and all other stakeholders to bring an end to carnage in that country.  Somalia has been turned into a breeding ground for war-lords  who have no respect for human life but greed for power and money.  We tend to agree with those who argue that the deployment of an international force  would help to facilitate the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes.  At the end of the day though, the responsibility for bringing peace and reconciliation in Somalia lies,   first and foremost, with the Somalis themselves.  

Mr. President, at a time when  there were positive indicators in the search for a peaceful and acceptable solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, we are concerned that the recent resumption of a cycle of violence shall  render the road map to peace futile.    The drastic and repressive measures, the unilateral erection of a wall dividing the two, and re-occupation of Palestinian towns and villages, and the targeting, with the aim to kill HAMAS leaders, are all measures which cannot help the course of ensuring that the Palestinian people enjoy their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination in a sovereign and independent state.  In like manner, the continuing suicide missions by militant groups to kill Israelis indiscriminately, cannot and must not be condoned or justified.  But then, Mr. President, two stark realities must be addressed. First, that the root-cause of the problem is the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.  Secondly, that no one country can be an honest broker in the Middle East.  History itself places some countries so much with one party to the conflict that they cannot, with  the best of intentions,  be non-partisan.   Consequently, my delegation strongly urges the United Nations to take the initiative and lead the process, and thus lend legitimacy and credibility to the efforts to find an abiding solution. 

The same goes for the people of Western Sahara.  In the civilized world of the twenty-first century, it is simply untenable  that we still have colonisers in some parts of the world, in disregard of the widely accepted principles of self-determination and democracy.  The international community must intervene so as to bring finality to the status of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.  The brotherly people of Sahara have suffered long enough and undully!  

On a positive note, we welcome the lifting of sanctions against Libya by the UN Security Council.  Nevertheless, it is our belief that the lifting of the sanctions would have been more significant if all the members of the Security Council had raised their flags in favour.  

By the same token, it is now time to collectively address all issues related to the unilateral economic blockade against Cuba.  It is simply untenable for the United Nations to look on helplessly when a Member State strangles another Member State of this august body, simply because they hold and practice  different economic philosophies  or political viewpoints.  These truths must be confronted and discussed in honesty and without malice  to anybody.  Otherwise,  our credibility and raison d’etre are called into question.       

In conclusion, Mr. President, I wish to refer to the question of the reform of the Security Council.  It is now a trite fact that the United Nation’s credibility, including its adherence to multilateralism, is being openly questioned.  It will take a lot of work to change this perception by the many, especially in the developing world. The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Annan, made reference to the need for “Radical Reform to restore the UN credibility”.  We therefore welcome the Secretary General’s idea to establish a High-level Panel of eminent personalities to look into the challenges to peace, security and other global issues.  It is our hope that their recommendations will pave a way towards a better international order.