YouSaid · the spoken record

Youssouf Ouédraogo

lines on the record: 82
first: 1999-09-24
most recent: 2006-09-24
sittings or episodes: 6
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Similarly, in the face of the recent surprising, to put it mildly, allegations by Guinea, we would like to reassure that beloved, fraternal country, as well as the international community, that Burkina Faso had no part, directly or indirectly, in those unfortunate events. We repeat our readiness to welcome or support any initiative that could shed light on this matter, which we find profoundly distressing. At the national level, Burkina Faso is resolutely continuing to consolidate and anchor the democratic process begun in 1990.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It is wrong and unfair that in efforts to find lasting solutions to conflicts one should yield to the easy temptation of accusation, recrimination, condemnation and exclusion. Burkina Faso has never hesitated to demonstrate its good faith, to show its willingness to cooperate with the United Nations and the international community, or to express its desire for transparency. That is why we set up an inter-ministerial committee on Angola and Sierra Leone to follow up and monitor implementation of the sanctions decreed by the Security Council. We also invited the Council to undertake any investigations in Burkina Faso that it deemed necessary to find the truth. Two United Nations delegations therefore recently visited the country. Their leaders stated that they had accomplished their missions freely and peacefully.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“35 Throughout its history, and particularly since the 1990s, Burkina Faso, learning from its own experience experience grounded in a culture of dialogue and negotiation has based its contribution on the quest for solutions to national and subregional conflicts on the basis of dialogue and agreement. We have done so because we are convinced that dialogue and agreement which are certainly not the weapons of the weak are the only way to reach lasting peace. We are therefore very surprised and disappointed that for some time now my country has been forced to confront accusations and all sorts of completely baseless recriminations. Is this the result of a deliberate desire to harm, or simply of misunderstanding?”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“That democratization must include a thorough reform of the decision-making processes of the system, and of the Security Council in particular, and should go hand in hand with giving greater attention to development issues, particularly through a more thorough examination of the idea of a development council, as proposed by the Millennium Summit. It also means making the Organization truly universal. In this regard, Burkina Faso welcomes the admission of Tuvalu as the 189th Member State. We also think it is unfair to continue to marginalize the Republic of China, a country that meets all the requirements of a sovereign State to take its place in the United Nations.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“As most heads of State and Government have said from this rostrum, the time has come to undertake the necessary reforms at the national, regional and international levels to build a more just, equitable, unified and fraternal world. Let us hope that the basic challenge, I would even call it heroism, of the new millennium will be to move forward together in solidarity, calmly and democratically towards globalization while we remain ourselves that is, retain our intrinsic values and our dignity as free individuals. With regard to the United Nations, we are convinced that making it more democratic is absolutely necessary.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“As the Assembly is aware, despite the progress made during the second millennium, there still remain questions and concerns among developing countries, particularly those in Africa. Their questions and concerns are not caused solely by the acceleration and unprecedented worsening of their continued impoverishment. Unfortunately, they also stem from the fact that today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, international relations continue to be based essentially on force. That sad fact is made worse because, with the end of the cold war, we are passively and almost with a resigned attitude witnessing a single mind-set developing.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Whether that involves resolving the smouldering or open conflicts that continue to decimate our populations and to force them to flee by the thousands into exile, or whether it entails looking for lasting solutions to the problems of underdevelopment, the unbearable debt burden, the AIDS pandemic, malaria or natural and environmental disasters, we must, whatever the cost continually go back to our sources and history. I therefore make a solemn appeal to the conscience of the peoples of the United Nations to prevent hegemony and domination from being the hallmark of our Organization during the third millennium. That would be a betrayal of this history, and make our collective memory a selective memory.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“But it will also be etched in gold, for we witnessed prodigious scientific and technological progress and economic and industrial growth, even though the structure for sharing their fruits was slow moving and unfair. No continent more than Africa, no people more than Africans, bear more heavily today the stigma of the scourges they have suffered, which will for ever mark them, or of their sharing but little if anything of the benefits of progress. My delegation therefore believes that we should embrace that history together and in a spirit of solidarity, agree to be the living and collective memory of it and learn its lessons so that we may strengthen our capacity to solve with greater efficiency and equity the problems of security, peace, development and a better quality of life that make up the core of our priorities.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Namibia, on the effectiveness of his guidance of the previous session of the General Assembly. I also wish to renew Burkina Faso's appreciation and support for the work of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, who guides the work of our world Organization with courage, lucidity and determination. The waning millennium will no doubt forever be etched in the memory of humankind. Unfortunately, it will be etched in blood, as during it we witnessed, as virtually powerless bystanders, the rise of slavery, colonization and racial discrimination; the escalation of the most atrocious kinds of war; the ongoing degradation of the environment; and the deterioration of the terms of trade.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“They also give us the opportunity to strike while the iron is hot and to embark immediately on their implementation where it is possible. In that context, the general debate in progress is a real challenge; a challenge to stay the course, but also a challenge to our ability to get down to basics. 34 But before I go on, I wish to convey to the President, on behalf of my delegation, heartfelt warm congratulations on his election to the presidency of our Assembly. This election is a well-deserved tribute to him and his country, Finland, with which Burkina Faso enjoys an excellent relationship of friendship and cooperation. My country is a Bureau member and we wish to assure the Bureau of our full willingness to cooperate with it. Our congratulations also go to His Excellency Mr.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Exactly one week ago, the Millennium Summit was held in this very Hall, in which more than 150 leaders, heads of State and Government took an active and interactive part. This Summit, which my delegation wishes to salute once again, has played a great service in bringing together so many eminent personalities to truly take stock of the state of the world through a stark re-reading of the mission of and the basic strategic objectives assigned to the United Nations. What more can be said? How can it be better said? The conclusions arrived at by our leaders, which go to the very substance of the diverse and changing problems that undermine humanity, frame the items inscribed on the agenda of the fifty-fifth session.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Burkina Faso intends to make a modest contribution to building a more human world of greater justice and solidarity, because we are convinced that the new international order to which we all aspire requires that political, economic and social forces throughout the world join hands and become catalysts of progress for the benefit of humanity.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Burkina Faso believes the human being to be the supreme measure of all things. That is why human rights and the dignity of humankind are at the centre of our concerns. In fact, since 1991, my country has been steadfastly undertaking an irreversible process of democratization that has led to several rounds of municipal, legislative and presidential elections under conditions recognized by international observers as being calm and unbiased. The process is being consolidated and the culture of democracy and citizenship in a republican system is well under way. The stability and security of our country in the current turbulent environment bear witness to that fact. We believe that no price can be placed on democracy and freedom. That is why we will spare no effort to strengthen and extend those values.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“That is why we firmly support the initiative to create a study group to examine the particular and exceptional situation of the Republic of China on Taiwan so as to determine how that entity could be represented in the United Nations. In that connection, in the interests of justice within international relations, we must restructure the Organization so that we can better respond to the demands of our time and the expectations of humanity. If the United Nations is to be more democratic and more just, such reform must go to the heart of its main body, the Security Council, whose composition and operating methods must be reviewed and corrected. The operational capacities of the Organization — the structures and activities linked to the promotion of economic and social development — must also be strengthened.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Since I am touching upon that subject, I would like to reaffirm our full solidarity with the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and I hope that, as a result of the concessions made by that country with regard to the Lockerbie affair, the unfair sanctions against the brotherly Libyan people will be lifted for good. Since the historic decision at Ouagadougou, this requirement has become imperative, in our view. In this context, the issue of the Republic of China on Taiwan also deserves attention. In the interests of equity and of the principle of universality, Burkina Faso believes 14 that it is unfair virtually to ostracize 22 million Chinese people.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In this respect, Burkina Faso welcomes with interest and satisfaction the European initiative to hold an economic summit next year for the European Union countries and their African partners. As everyone knows, we can make many plans, have many ambitious dreams and imagine all sorts of transformations for our world. But if we do not place justice, equity and solidarity at the heart of all our projects, they will remain fantasies. Justice demands, for example, that we not starve a population through the use of international sanctions in order to punish its Government.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In order to promote the genuine and lasting human development to which all developing countries aspire, we must work for greater justice and equity in international trade, through the implementation of various measures, including price stabilization and export guarantees for the products of developing countries through the revaluation of raw materials and the stabilization of export earnings; index-linking of the prices of raw materials to those of industrial products; free access for the products the South to northern markets through the elimination of protectionist measures; reform of the Bretton Woods institutions to bring them into line with the needs and preoccupations of the developing countries; and the promotion of a genuine North-South dialogue.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Despite the decisions taken by the ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organization, the integration of the less advanced countries into the multilateral trading system is still an issue, particularly with regard to the special and differentiated treatment that should be granted to those countries. The greatest challenge in the twenty- first century will undoubtedly be the struggle against the marginalization of the countries of the South. The burden of debt remains a constant concern, too, despite the initiative of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative and the important decisions taken by the Group of Seven Summit in Cologne, which I welcome.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Illiteracy greatly limits the access of the poorest to knowledge and, by extension, to information about how their countries are run. The most disadvantaged and vulnerable strata — women, children and elderly people — do not fully enjoy the benefits of a legal protection system. At a more general level, there are unacceptable disparities in international economic relations between the industrialized and the developing countries. The latter are becoming increasingly vulnerable because of the chronic structural imbalance in trade with the developed countries.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“At the dawn of the twenty-first century, it is distressing to note that the world economy is still dominated and controlled by a minority of States that manipulate its rules and the way it operates in their own interests and to the detriment of the interests of the great majority — the countries that make up the South. With regard to social development, poverty has continued to increase in developing countries, where about 1.5 billion people — one quarter of the world's population — are living on less than $1 per capita per day. Food security is far from guaranteed in those countries, while in the affluent countries food is destroyed on a huge scale in order to stabilize prices. The scarcity of drinking water supplies and medical services condemns a third of humanity to a life expectancy of no more than 40 years.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“My country has joined in the fight against anti- personnel mines by signing and ratifying the relevant Convention. Burkina Faso is gratified at the growing support of the international community for the initiative of the Economic Community of West African States relating to a moratorium on the production and transfer of light weapons. Together with other members of the international community, my country is also participating in peacekeeping operations, in particular in the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Accordingly, at the thirty-fifth OAU Summit in Algiers, it took the courageous and historic decision of declaring that the year 2000 would be a year of peace and security throughout the continent. 13 Of course, we know full well that in order for that objective to be attained, the support of the international community is crucial, not only at the political level, where its backing will be needed for the implementation of our decisions and resolutions, but also at the equally important level of logistics and material support, technical assistance and humanitarian considerations. But any peace is fragile that is not backed by genuine disarmament. That is why we support all international initiatives in this field, in particular the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“It is clear that, because of their increasingly complex and interrelated nature, the various conflicts I have mentioned cannot be resolved in a just and lasting way unless the efforts of all are conjoined. This includes not only the parties to the conflict and the international community — meaning the United Nations — but also the regional and subregional organizations. In this respect, we noted, throughout our mandate as Chairman of the OAU, the determination and commitment of this Organization fully to discharge its responsibilities, as evidenced by the various initiatives it has undertaken. We stand convinced that Africa has resolutely considered the serious consequences these multiple conflicts entail for the economic and human development of its population.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In doing so he will enjoy the continuing and vigorous support of the OAU Secretary General, Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, and the cooperation of the United Nations and all of the States that have played a very positive and discreet role in finding a pacific solution to the conflict between these two brotherly countries. To this end, he will require the cooperation of both parties and the support of all, particularly the United Nations. The fratricidal conflict in Angola has lasted more than two decades, despite all of the sanctions and measures taken against Mr. Jonas Savimbi and his movement, UNITA. Burkina Faso is convinced that, as in other cases — particularly in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — it is only through a dialogue between the parties that a just and lasting solution can be found.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Turning to the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, President Blaise Compaoré, during his tenure as the head of the high-level OAU delegation and in close cooperation with the United Nations, made every effort to promote a peaceful settlement of this conflict, in conformity with the mandate he was entrusted with at Ouagadougou by the thirty-fourth Summit of Heads of State or Government, in June 1998. Our efforts led to the acceptance by both parties of the Ouagadougou framework agreement, and, at the thirty-fifth OAU Summit, held in Algiers, of the modalities for the implementation of that agreement. We are convinced that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the current Chairman of the OAU, to whom we have passed the torch, will strive to ensure a successful outcome to this delicate situation.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Though peace has been restored in Guinea-Bissau, and in Sierra Leone the Lomé Agreement, signed on 7 July 1999 with the active participation of Burkina Faso, has put an end to the gunfire, we must continue tirelessly to strive to resolve the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the Horn of Africa and in Angola. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a solution can be found if security issues, which remain the essential concerns of the various States involved in the conflict, are taken into consideration. Accordingly, Burkina Faso considers that the Lusaka agreements must be accepted by all of the parties if indeed they wish to give peace a chance.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“But my country, Burkina Faso, is among those that believe that such an intervention should take place only on the basis of a clear and precise mandate and under the supervision of the United Nations. Though the objective of this type of intervention — protecting a victimized minority — may seem defensible, the manner in which it was carried out is a cause for concern because it represents a challenge to the United Nations and to the basic norms of international law. Burkina Faso is gratified that the United Nations has taken up its proper role in the resolution of this conflict. But Africa is undoubtedly the continent that has suffered the most from these crises.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In the Middle East, the level of tension between the parties remains very high, even though recent political changes have given rise to hopes of a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question, particularly since the signing of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum on 4 September last. In an international situation so fraught with conflict, we can only rejoice at seeing the spectre of war, which had seemed inevitable, recede from East Timor thanks to the wisdom and realism of the parties to this painful conflict. I cannot fail to mention the military intervention of the NATO countries in Yugoslavia and more specifically in Kosovo, an operation whose legitimacy was supposedly based on the right of humanitarian intervention.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“It must be underscored that the United Nations — born of the general upheaval of the post-war period and charged with working towards peace and a genuine collective security for our world — has accomplished a great deal, with the assistance of regional or subregional organizations such as the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Organization of American States, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and so on. But despite all these efforts, the quest for peace remains an immense and difficult undertaking. On the international scene, wars, conflicts and confrontations of 12 all stripes continue to rage, wiping out any progress made in the field of development.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“We are faced with increasing challenges, which is making the task of the United Nations more difficult. And yet we sense that the coming millennium will be a time of growth for our peoples, in particular those of the developing countries. The waning century threw down every possible challenge, but it also gave rise to great hopes. It has been one of the most productive as regards legal instruments aimed at enhancing the protection and promotion of human rights. Nevertheless, grave dangers emerged during this period that came close to jeopardizing humankind's very existence. The memory of the two great wars remains very much alive.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Kofi Annan, whose work at the helm of the United Nations deserves our appreciation and our fullest support. Finally, I would like to congratulate the three new Members that have joined the great family of the United Nations — Tonga, Nauru and Kiribati. This session of the General Assembly — the last of the century — is beginning at a time when recurring and persistent inter-State and inter-ethnic conflict and hostility are characteristic of the international scene. The globalization of the international economy and the liberalization of world trade appear to have worsened the economic and social differences between peoples. The lofty objectives of our Organization — the promotion of peace, security, justice and equality — seem to be receding into the distance.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Your brilliant election, Mr. President, to the presidency of the General Assembly at this session pays tribute to your personal merits and your eminent qualities as a diplomat, and to your country, Namibia, a country that is to us a symbol of the struggle against oppression. First of all, allow me to address our most sincere and warm congratulations to you. Your country and Burkina Faso share the same ideals and values, and a similar vision of the future of Africa and the world. Suffice it to say that we extend to you in advance our willingness and cooperation for the success of your mission. We must also pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, who so brilliantly discharged his important responsibilities during this particularly trying year. I pay tribute as well to our Secretary-General, Mr.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)