STATEMENT
B Y
THE HONOURABLE ANIL KUMARSINGH GAYAN
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND REGIONAL CO-OPERATION
OF
THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS

Mr. President,

It gives me great pleasure to address this August assembly under your distinguished leadership. Please accept our heartiest congratulations on your election to preside over this first session of the New Millennium and rest assured of the total support and co-operation of my delegation.

We thank His Excellency, Dr. Theo Ben Gurirab, the Foreign Minister of Namibia for the excellent manner in which he presided over the work of the 54th Session of the General Assembly. This year again, we wish to compliment the Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan for his remarkable leadership in the conduct of the work of the United Nations. We pay special tribute to the President of the 54th Session of the General Assembly and to Secretary General Kofi Annan for the imaginative and tireless efforts in bringing to a resounding success the Millennium Summit which was held here just a couple of weeks ago. We also welcome Tuvalu as the newest member of the UN family.

During the historic Summit, the largest gathering of Heads of State and Government the world has ever seen the relevance and importance of the United Nations in a global society has been emphasized. Most prominently world leaders have pledged their commitment to ensuring that the United Nations adapts to the new era and strengthens its capacity to deal with the challenges of maintaining peace and security, eliminating poverty, and promoting development and progress for the benefit of all humanity.

Right from its inception the United Nations has been a beacon of hope to mankind for a more secure and prosperous world. The Millennium Declaration adopted last week provides fresh impetus to the United Nations to re-dedicate itself to the fulfillment of the lofty ideals of our Organisation, namely to uphold world peace and security and promote cooperation and development in all areas of human endeavour.

Maintenance of world peace and security remains the biggest challenge for our Organisation. The continued existence of nuclear arsenals and the threat of a nuclear disaster represents a major impediment to the maintenance of peace and security. With the end of the Cold War, the feeling of insecurity created by nuclear militarisation has diminished, but the international community's aspiration for global disarmament and complete elimination of weapons of mass destruction within a defined time-frame has eluded us.

We welcome all the efforts the international community is making towards achieving universal acceptance of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Yet more than 30,000 nuclear weapons are deployed around the world, including weapons that are still maintained in a high state of readiness. The risk that nuclear weapons may explode by design or accident is ever growing. My delegation is convinced that the early convening of an international conference on nuclear disarmament to address issues of global denuclearisation, including the total elimination of all existing nuclear weapons within a specific time frame, is of crucial importance. Such a conference will allow all States, more importantly those possessing nuclear capabilities and which do not fall under the purview of the NPT and the CTBT, to voice their concerns, and contribute substantially towards achieving a world free of nuclear-weapons.

The role of the Security Council in the crucial area of international peace and security is manifestly evident. However, this central organ of our Organisation may be rendered even more effective if it is further strengthened to make it respond positively to the emerging new realities which the new millennium is bound to confront.

Members of the United Nations attach great importance to the need for reform of this supreme body. It is to be noted that under the existing provisions of the Charter, which date back from the time when two-thirds of the members of the United Nations were under colonial rule, a handful of States on the Security Council have the power to make decisions that bind the whole membership. Such a mode of operation has become completely out of tune with today's realities and, for this institution to retain its credibility, it should undergo a comprehensive reform, taking into consideration proper and equitable geographical representation. In this regard, Mauritius supports the position of the Non- Aligned Movement and the Organisation of African Unity on the expansion and representativity of the Security Council, and we are looking forward to an early conclusion of the work of the Open-ended working group on the Question of Equitable Representation. We support an increase in the membership of the Security Council and we are in favour of making the Security Council an effective representative body that can act in the interests of mankind at large.

The meeting of the Security Council at the level of Heads of State during the Millennium Summit was an unparalled opportunity for the fifteen members to discuss at the highest level, how to make Peacekeeping Operations more responsive. We are all aware that deployment of UN troops in conflict situations is seen as the last chance for restoration of peace and, in this venture, we simply cannot afford to fail. Therefore the discussions which took place at the Summit Level of the Security Council need to be seriously pursued so that the future orientation of Peacekeeping Operations may be effected on a sound basis. In this respect, we welcome the proposals for improving the United Nations' peacekeeping performance contained in the Report of the Panel on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, also called the Brahimi Report, and we look forward to their speedy implementation.

It is indeed a sad reflection that at the dawn of a new century, several African nations such as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Somalia and the Comoros remain trapped in civil conflicts with disastrous consequences for millions of people on the continent and in the subregion. At the regional level, the OAU as well as leaders of the concerned sub-regions, have spared no efforts to address each of these conflicts but we need to realise that no great success has been achieved so far. The intransigence of the main protagonists involved continues to remain the stumbling block towards the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Africa. The involvement of the United Nations in these conflicts has unfortunately also met with little success. We need to be imaginative and we need to explore with the civil society in each country in conflict ways and means to convincingly establish that the fruits of peace are achievable. We need to look at the permanence of our interests and these are based in peace and stability.

We note with concern that despite all the efforts and steps taken by the OAU for a speedy return to the Constitutional order in the Comoros, the Anjouanese Separatists and the Military Leadership in Moroni have signed the Fomboni Declaration in defiance of the OAU and the International Community. We urge the International Community to refrain from lending any support to the Fomboni Joint Declaration which, we believe, will undermine the unity and territorial integrity of the Comoros. Indeed it is unacceptable that the future of the Archipelago of the Comoros be compromised by two individuals who are both non elected and do not represent the aspirations of the population. We reiterate our support to the OAU in its ongoing efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in accordance with the provisions of Antananarivo Agreement which remains the most viable framework for a lasting, consensual and durable solution to the crisis. We call on the military regime and the separatists in Anjouan to cooperate with the OAU so as to achieve an early resolution of the crisis.

The signature of the Agreement for cessation of the hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea in June this year has been a positive step that has been welcomed by the international community. We urge the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and other states to continue support for these two countries to take the next steps to conclude a settlement for lasting peace. Our region deserves no less.

While inevitably the international community, through the United Nations and regional and subregional organisations, must continue to do all it can to end the existing conflicts and prevent new ones, there is an important aspect of civil conflicts which cannot be overlooked any longer. It has been established beyond doubt that civil conflicts such as those in Angola and Sierra Leone have resulted from personal ambition or greed for private enrichment on the part of powerful individuals rather than in pursuit of a legitimate cause and struggle for the common good. In pursuance of their sinister designs, these individuals wage long wars on and against their own people and, acting with impunity, inflict untold sufferings on the masses including women, the elderly, and children, cause refugee problems within and outside their national frontiers, and retard development and progress of their countries.

We believe that such dangerous persons should not only be condemned and stopped as early as possible from pursuing their unpatriotic designs but should be made to answer to their people and to the international community for the crimes they commit.

The proposed International Criminal Court should serve as the Tribunal of the international community to try and punish such individuals and, the sooner it starts functioning, the better it will be for humanity at large. The International Criminal Court will not only be a deterrent for people who engage in heinous crimes but will also be an important instrument for maintenance of international peace and security. Unless such a step is taken the world will continue to face similar tragedies and the perpetrators of such tragedies will go unpunished.

At long last we see a glimmer of hope for the suffering people of Somalia. We congratulate the. leaders of IGAAD for their initiative to put together a peace and reconciliation process which will allow the establishment of a representative government to take charge of the affairs of the country. We appeal to all factions in Somalia to come together and take part in this new initiative with a view to stopping the misery which the Somali people have endured for too long now. For its part the international community should extend its total support to the IGAAD initiative.

Important steps have been made this year towards peace in the Middle-East. We congratulate President Arafat and Prime Minister Barak for the courage they have demonstrated during the difficult negotiations in Camp David recently under the guidance of President Clinton. We believe that having reached such a crucial stage of the negotiations, President Arafat and Prime Minister Barak must meet the daunting challenge of taking the next additional step forward to reach a final agreement. We are confident that both the leaders have the capacity to bridge the gaps and reach a mutually satisfactory agreement. We appreciate that the issues outstanding in the path of such an agreement are delicate and difficult but we are confident that the leaders of the region will respond to the ardent wish of peoples around the world for a peaceful Middle East.

It may sound like an anachronism but it has happened just a few months ago in the pacific region, namely in Fiji and in the Solomon Islands, that small bands of thugs have overturned democratically elected governments. In the case of Fiji, Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry together with his whole cabinet of Ministers was held hostage for as long as fifty six days, in a struggle for political power. The Prime Minister was set free only after he finally conceded that his democratically elected government would resign.

The international community watched helplessly as the tragic situation unfolded in Fiji. The fact that this is not the first time that a democratically elected government is overthrown by unorthodox and violent means makes the situation all the more serious and calls for the immediate attention of the international community. Mauritius unequivocally condemns all attempts by any group to thwart the will of the people by force. I am reminded here of the statement of the United Nations Secretary General at the opening of the OAU Summit in Lome this year when, applauding the OAU decision to exclude governments which have come to power by unconstitutional means from participating in OAU meetings, he expressed the wish that some day the UN also should take a similar decision.

The time has come for us to seriously consider such avenues in order to send a clear signal to people who are bent upon perpetrating constitutional violations in total disregard of the will of the people.

Mauritius remains fully committed to the respect and promotion of human rights, democracy, good governance and the rule of law. These principles are comprehensively enshrined in our constitution. Over the last 32 years since independence we have firmly upheld these fundamental values. With regard to Human Rights our commitment goes far beyond our national borders, as reflected in our membership to various UN Committees, where we play an active role. Multi-party, free and fair elections constitute core traditions jealously cherished by the people of Mauritius. In the exercise of our valued democratic rights, on 11 September, just 10 days ago the people of Mauritius, for the seventh time since our independence in 1968, have elected in office a new government headed by Sir Anerood Jugnauth, who remains committed to supporting strongly at the national, regional and international levels, the principles of human rights, democracy, good governance and the rule of law.

Since we met in September last, we have witnessed several acts of terrorism in various parts of the world endangering the lives of numerous innocent people. The hijacking of the Indian Airlines jet, the kidnapping of unsuspecting tourists from the Malaysian holiday resort and bomb attacks in some capitals are some grim reminders of the dangers we face at the hands of unscrupulous and heartless fanatics. We condemn all acts of terrorism and call on the International Community to take concerted action to deal with this problem. For our part Mauritius stands prepared to play a significant role in the United Nations and its various organs to combat all such acts which pose a threat to international peace and security.

The welfare of the individual and people-centered development should be the guiding principle behind all our endeavours. The Secretary General has, in his excellent report "We the peoples" drawn attention to the appalling statistics of the world population living in abject poverty and deprivation. Even today, billions of our fellow sisters and brothers live in conditions ranging from famine to inadequate health care, illiteracy and lack of other basic amenities. For a speedy solution to these problems, we urge states to abide by their commitment taken at the World Summit for Social Development held in Geneva to implement the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, for the establishment of an enabling environment for social development and poverty eradication. Our delegation would also like to underscore the importance of promoting gender equality and empowerment of women as effective ways of combating poverty, disease and hunger. In the same vein, we urge the international community to take decisive action at the local, regional and global levels to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Plan of Action, as agreed at the Special Session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: Gender equality, Development and Peace for the 21st century.

Debt

Alleviation of the debt burden of developing countries and increase on flows of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), have become essential ingredients for poverty eradication and social and economic welfare, helping to integrate these countries in the world economy. Developed countries should undertake to speed up the opening of international trade by eliminating tariffs and subsidies, facilitating transfers of technology and taking other radical measures to help poor nations develop the capacity to benefit from globalisation.

Globalisation of the world economy has a profound impact on almost all aspects of international relations. While offering immense opportunities to developed countries, globalisation remains a cause of anxiety for developing nations. Globalisation is taking place particularly in the economic activities where comparative advantage in all transactions will be the bottom line for survival and this situation is irreversible. Globalisation has up to now mostly benefited the developed economies that have up market advantage, advanced industrial production capacities with economies of scale, and are equipped with cost-efficient production technologies. These nations stand at a higher comparative advantage with enhanced production possibilities adding significantly to further wealth creation for their people. In contrast developing countries are finding it very hard to adjust and cope with this process in spite of genuine commitment and willingness to do so. There is a resulting marginalisation of a large number of developing countries, especially the least developed ones. The development gap can only be met if the efforts made in the developing world are adequately accompanied with higher level of investment, technology transfer, institutional, human resource and infrastructural capacity-building. Developed countries have the responsibility to help level the playing field to enable the globalising world economy to maximise human welfare at the global level. Developed and developing countries have a mutuality of interest in making globalisation work for all States irrespective of the level of their development.

Mauritius gives great priority to global partnership in addressing the key issues of poverty alleviation, achieving sustainable growth and development, and, to peace and security. We believe regional cooperation continues to be the inevitable route toward strengthening international partnership and cooperation. Regional cooperation is not only desirable but constitutes a necessary dimension in the process of regional integration of many economies into the global economy.

We are a member of the COMESA, IOC, SADC, IOR-ARC, and the OAU. The development of regional capacities and synergies will, we are hopeful, be mutually beneficial and enable Member States to confront the challenges of globalisation more meaningfully.

Small island developing states which constitute one fifth of the membership of the United Nations are in a particularly difficult situation due to their vulnerability to a wide range of ecological and climatic and economic factors. The specificities of these states have been articulated in the Barbados Programme of Action for the sustainable development of Small Island States. Constraints to their sustainable development include a narrow resource base which does not allow them to benefit from economies of scale, and they have small domestic markets. They also rely heavily on external markets which are usually geographically distant and costs for transportation, energy and infrastructure are high. In addition small island states have little resilience to natural disasters. A vulnerability index of socio-economic and environmental parameters has been prescribed for these states in the Barbados Programme of Action. We urge the United Nations and other international organizations to coordinate their efforts in developing and refining such an index which should be used together with other factors by the WTO and the Bretton Woods Institutions to accord special and preferential treatment to this category of states.

At the same time, the international community should find new ways to help developing countries mobilize the resources needed to finance their sustainable development. In this respect, we look forward with great eagerness to the High-level International and Intergovernmental event on Financing for Development to be held in 2001 which will enable countries to work together in order to foster and promote a sounder basis for the transfer of resources between developed and developing countries.

The environinent is yet another key area where the cooperation of the international community is most urgently required. Development and growth and indeed, the very survival of mankind, stands compromised should environmental degradation be left unattended. Mauritius is committed to the "UN Framework Convention on Climate Change" and strongly supports UN initiatives in the environmental sector. We urge the Member States to adopt and ratify the Kyoto Protocol so that it can enter into force no later than 2002. My delegation is happy to announce to this August assembly that Mauritius will shortly ratify the Kyoto Protocol. We equally support the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to combat desertification.

Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is, under the United Nations system, an acquired and inalienable right for every state, however big or small. We are conscious that the UN favours the completion of the decolonisation process.

For a number of years we have continuously brought before the General Assembly the question of the Chagos Archipelago which has always formed part of the State of Mauritius. This Assembly will recall that the Chagos Archipelago including the island of Diego Garcia was detached by the colonial power just before our independence, in violation of the UN Declaration 1514 (XV) of December 1960 and Resolution No. 2066(XX) of 16 December 1965 which prohibits the dismemberment of colonial territories prior to the accession of independence. We have all along sought to resolve this issue bilaterally with the United Kingdom through dialogue but there has so far been no tangible progress. This issue has now reached a critical stage and we are extremely anxious to have meaningful negotiations with the UK with a view to resolving this matter in the shortest possible time span. We also reiterate our demand that pending a resolution of the issue, the former residents of Chagos Archipelago and their families who were forcibly evicted to Mauritius by the colonial power be allowed to return to their homeland.

We launch a fresh appeal to the former colonial power, the United Kingdom, to come forward and engage in serious and purposeful discussions with us for the early settlement of the Chagos Archipelago question. We wish to stress that Mauritius will never abandon its intention to reunite its territory and to assert its sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.

We also urge France with whom we have been discussing the issue of the return to us of the island of Tromelin, another outer island territory of Mauritius, to work with us constructively for an early resolution of this important issue. There is an agreement in principle for the "co-gestion" of the island and its surrounding maritime space and we need to work out further modalities so as to arrive at a final solution on this issue.

Le 6 septembre 2000, des chefs d'état et de gouvernement des Etats Membres des Nations Unies ayant le français en partage se sont rencontrés et je m'en félicite.

Cette réunion nous a permis d'établir des constats, qui ont débouché sur la vérité suivante: les Nations Unies constituent la clé de voûte qui permettra à l'humanité de s'affiranchir des jougs et autres préjugés freinant l'évolution des relations internationales et de la mondialisation, les deux moteurs pour un avenir meilleur pour tous.

Cette réunion fut l'occasion pour les Etats Membres des Nations Unies ayant le français en partage d'affirmer de manière marquée leur détermination à parvenir à cet objectif; je tiens à souligner que ces lendemains auxquels nous aspirons et en lesquels nous espérons doivent se faire dans le respect et la promotion de la pluralité de nos peuples, de leur diversité ethnique et culturelle, de leur plurilinguisme. Nous nous devons de respecter, de maintenir, de préserver la nature du monde, cette mosaïque arc-en-ciel qui, à travers la mondialisation et les Nations Unies, sera une source de richesse inestimable tant pour les états que pour les individus.

Cette vision de ce que doit être la République de Maurice la vit au quotidien. Notre vécu nous pousse à souscrire à cette vision, pour le bien de tous.

Les espoirs et les rêves sont bâtis sur des actions concrètes. Les Nations Unies, grâce à l'aide de tous ses Etats Membres, doit connaître un développement et un accroissement de ses moyens. C'est à ces seules conditions que la paix deviendra réalité concrète. Sans la paix et la sécurité tout effort de développement est compromis et le bonheur auquel les peuples du monde aspirent restera lettre morte.

It goes without saying that to achieve the objectives of a more peaceful, just and prosperous world, nations need to re-dedicate themselves to new commitments in the 21st century. Our delegation is ready to assume this responsibility and looks forward to a fruitful outcome for the session that lies ahead, under your distinguished leadership.

I wish to end with a note of optimism with regard to the capacity of the United Nations in addressing global issues and spearheading development and progress. My delegation is confident that our Organisation and its Specialised Agencies are poised to play an even greater role in the global reconstruction. We live in a highly demanding world, it wants results, seeks accountability and is not ready to condone failures. We all have a responsibility to make the world a safer place and to ensure a better future for our people. We can do it.

Let us do it.

Before I conclude, I wish to take the opportunity to confirm the candidature of Mauritius for election to one of the Non Permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council for the period 2001-2002, the elections will be held during the present session of the General Assembly. As far back as January 2000 Mauritius announced to all countries of the East African region that we would seek election for a non- permanent seat on the Security Council. At that time Mauritius was the only declared candidate. The Government of Mauritius considers itself fully qualified to serve in the Supreme Organ of the UN for the larger interests of peace and security and to contribute in a substantial measure to the important work of the Council.

As a multi-party democracy in a multi-ethnic society, Mauritius has a track record in international relations and we consider that the standing of the Security Council depends upon that of its constituent members. The Security Council will be called upon to take important decisions in the interests of peace and security and it is important that the Security Council acts as a homogeneous body. It is the wish of Mauritius that our candidature be considered on its merits. We will very much appreciate your support in this regard.