YouSaid · the spoken record

CHIEPE

lines on the record: 213
first: 1984-09-24
most recent: 1993-09-24
sittings or episodes: 7
sources: un-general-debate

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“The import of this most welcome development is, of course, not simply that we are close to universality but, also, that the problems facing the Organization have multiplied. Thankfully, our rejuvenated United Nations seems to have borne this increased load of responsibilities with a great deal of enthusiasm. Botswana renews its faith in this rejuvenated United Nations and in its time-tested Charter.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The debt burden continues to be a major obstacle to African economic growth and development. Clearly, necessary measures have not been taken to attend to this compounding problem. The time has come for the donor Forty-eighth session - 11 October l993 17 community and the multilateral financial institutions to heed Africa’s call to reduce or totally cancel the debt stock. We live in exciting times, exciting in both positive and negative ways. We have been fortunate to wake up from the long nightmare of the cold war and bear witness to the birth of a new world, however imperfect. The birth of any new epoch has never been easy or free of pain. The membership of the Organization has multiplied with the rapid emergence of new nations, whose aspirations for self-determination had for so long been frustrated.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“In addition, many African countries, including my own, have had to cope with the serious effects of drought and famine. The civil strife which many African countries have had to cope with have also had a crippling effect on economic activity through damage to infrastructure. In order for an effective process of development to get under way in Africa the international community needs to establish a more open trading system giving access to, and adequate compensation for, commodities produced in Africa. For the past several years the market share for African goods has experienced a dramatic decline. Botswana appeals for a speedy conclusion of the current Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which we believe will strengthen Africa’s trading capacity and allow unrestricted access of our commodities to the world markets.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“This is not an invitation to interference in our internal affairs. We have always maintained that no nation has the right to violate the basic human rights of its citizens while using Article 2 (7) of the Charter as an argument against intervention by the international community. Recent reports have revealed that the United Nations is spending roughly three times as much on peace-keeping and peacemaking as on development assistance. Problems of development, as should be clear to everybody, constitute the underlying cause of world conflicts, and for the United Nations to be effective in the maintenance of international peace, more energy and resources have to be expended on development activities. Of particular concern are the downward trend in Africa’s commodity prices, the debt burden and the shrinking aid flow.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We hope that the proven capacity and efficacy of the United Nations in the field of election-monitoring and supervision will again be put to good use in El Salvador’s March 1994 election. In Haiti, we look forward to the imminent restoration of the presidency of Father Aristide. The success of the United Nations and the Organization of American States in shaping the agreement deserves our commendation. Botswana, a country whose respect for human rights is second to none, supports fully the creation of a post of commissioner of human rights. We have no human rights abuses to hide, nor do we fear criticism - constructive criticism, that is - should the international community find some aspect of our domestic policy or policies to be incompatible with the enjoyment of human rights by our citizens.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We cherish the hope that the sudden improvement of prospects for peace in the Middle East will have a catalytic and propelling effect on the quest for a workable formula for the reunification of the island Republic of Cyprus. So long as the island remains divided, it will remain a source of conflict and instability in the area. So it is with Korea. Botswana hopes the divided peninsula will soon realize that it has become fashionable in this post-cold-war era for age-old problems suddenly to become amenable to solution. Change - peaceful change - through negotiation is the imperative of our time. In Central America, after many years of conflict, El Salvador is finally at peace.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“In the Middle East, the homeland of the Bible and its miracles, we have recently witnessed a miraculous rapprochement between the Jewish people of Israel and the Palestinian people. The foundations of peace in the area have been laid, and no effort should be spared to build on them. No effort should be spared in making the peace process only just begun a just, comprehensive and lasting one. Given the desperate conditions in the occupied territories, we, the international community, have a duty to support and nurture the peace process by contributing generously to the economic reconstruction of the area to enable the Palestinians to taste the fruits of peace.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We appeal to all the parties to the conflict in Rwanda to cooperate fully with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in ensuring that that war-torn East African sister country does not revert to the carnage that has often threatened its very existence. We celebrate the triumph of the democratic process in the south-eastern Asian nation of Cambodia. The shroud of misery and death that for many years eclipsed Cambodia has, hopefully, now been lifted, and lifted forever. We congratulate the United Nations and the Cambodians on a job well done. 89.56 per cent of Cambodian voters, undaunted by violence and threats of violence, have spoken loud and clear that they want peace and reconciliation.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We urge the Secretary-General to continue to spare no effort to ensure that the referendum is held so that the people of Western Sahara can at long last decide their future. Botswana is encouraged by the readiness of all parties to the Liberian conflict to honour their commitments to the Yamoussoukro Accords and other subsequent peace plans. 16 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session We are anxious to see the Accords implemented peacefully and in full. The Secretary- General, in his last report on the subject (S/26422), notes that a successful implementation of the Accords would require sufficient resources. We appeal to all Member States to be generous in their contributions to the trust fund set up for this purpose. It is with a sigh of relief that we welcome the adoption of Security Council resolution 872 (1993) on Rwanda.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“With all the horrific violence now ravaging the KwaZulu countryside and the East Rand townships, in the back yard of the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg, where the negotiations are taking place, the process does not lack enemies or detractors. There is also the unfortunate boycott of the negotiation process by some parties, whose implications it is impossible to ascertain. Nevertheless, the people of South Africa, more than ever before, will need and, indeed, deserve our determined companionship as they walk the last and, possibly, the most difficult mile in their journey to the new South Africa. Regrettably, progress, if any, has been very slow in the implementation of the United Nations plan on Western Sahara.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“In its statement of 29 September 1993 the Ad Hoc Committee of the Organization of African Unity on Southern Africa concurred that enough progress had been made in the peace process in South Africa to warrant the lifting of economic sanctions. This was a momentous decision taken by Africa in the ardent belief and hope that we are truly approaching a historic watershed in the blood-stained history of southern Africa: the end at last of the long nightmare of apartheid. However, as Mr. Mandela and the Secretary General of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania, Mr. Benny Alexander, have conceded, freedom is not yet there.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Once the transitional legislative package has been completed with the adoption of the interim constitution and the constitutional principles and fundamental rights at present under negotiation, the transition will officially begin with the installation of the Transitional Executive Council. To show the great promise that the situation in South Africa holds today, I can do no better than quote Mr. Nelson Mandela’s momentous speech of 24 September to the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid. He said, "The countdown to democracy has begun. The date for the demise of the white minority regime has been determined, agreed and set".”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Negotiations for a new South Africa have been torturously slow and painful, but they have, in a stunning reversal of fortune, produced the first tangible evidence of the onset of real and meaningful change. The legislative structures that are to underpin the transition to the establishment of a democratic Government in the first half of next year are in place. Four bills - namely, those regarding the Independent Election Commission, the Independent Media Commission, the Independent Broadcasting Authority and the Transitional Executive Council - have been adopted by the Negotiating Council and will soon be enacted into law, having been passed by the South African Parliament.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Savimbi, the world seems utterly incapable of doing anything more than calling continuously for peaceful negotiations - a call that is continuously scorned. The international community must do more to save Angola. A terrible crime against humanity is being perpetrated against the Angolan people. We take note of the recent announcement by UNITA that it is ready to accept the Bicesse Accords and the results of the 1992 elections. The Government has in principle agreed to the resumption of peace talks. We hope that this time the peace talks, if they take place, will produce the solution we have been desperately waiting for. In South Africa, the horizon of change is more promising than ever before.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Humanitarian relief is now able to reach the famine-stricken. The United Nations peace-keeping force, among which is our own contingent, is progressively moving towards full deployment and the accomplishment of its mandate. It is hoped that the many cease-fire violations thus far recorded will not sabotage the peace process. The survival of the State and nation of Angola is in very serious jeopardy as the senseless civil war that has been raging there since the mid-1970s has worsened and assumed the dimensions of an unstoppable conflagration. All the efforts of the Security Council to find a lasting solution to the civil war have come to naught as a result of Mr. Savimbi’s stubborn refusal to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict. Unfortunately, in the face of this stubbornness on the part of Mr.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Forty-eighth session - 11 October l993 15 The terrible civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a monumental outrage that must shame us all as human beings. A world that is able to tolerate scenes of tiny innocent children being torn to pieces or maimed by shrapnel and bullets - innocent and helpless victims of a war that makes sense only to its perpetrators - is a world without a conscience. The international community must devise more creative ways and means of dealing effectively with that savage conflict. To turn to our own continent, in Mozambique there is an encouraging movement towards peace and tranquility. The situation there has stabilized enough to give us more hope than ever before that the war-ravaged sister country will soon enjoy the beginnings of economic recovery and national reconciliation and healing.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“An international effort to save a people is in serious jeopardy. An attack on United Nations peace-keeping forces must never be taken lightly, for it is fraught with very serious implications. The horrendous spectacle of the corpse of a United Nations peace-keeper being dragged like a garbage bag on the streets of Mogadishu deserves all the opprobrium civilized humanity can heap on such a callous act of inhumanity. The international community must not flinch in the face of the acts of those in Mogadishu who are bent on thwarting the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation in Somalia. In many ways, the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) has been a success. Botswana is proud to have made a contribution to UNOSOM, however modest.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Even in the Balkans, where the most brutal and senseless civil war imaginable is in progress, particularly in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina - a civil war that for a year and a half has been defying every solution attempted - the United Nations has played a mitigating humanitarian role under the most difficult of operational circumstances. On Somalia, Botswana stands firm in its support for the United Nations mission of mercy in that devastated country. We condemn in the strongest terms the continued attack on United Nations peace-keeping forces even as we deeply regret the loss of innocent Somali lives. We cannot condone the massive loss of civilian lives in Mogadishu, though at the same time we need to be extremely circumspect in apportioning blame to one side of the conflict or the other.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“There is, nevertheless, every reason for us to be satisfied with the valiant efforts which the Secretary-General and his staff have exerted to ensure that the many fires of civil war that have become such dominant features of the so-called new world order do not engulf us all. The United Nations has shown that, given the wherewithal, it can live up to what we expect of it in the realm of peacemaking and peace-keeping. Cambodia has just been saved from self-destruction. Imagine what Somalia could have become had the United States and the United Nations not intervened to safeguard the delivery of the massive humanitarian assistance which the international community has poured into the famished country.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“There is turmoil almost everywhere as age-old nationalisms that have for so long been suppressed explode with a vengeance that knows no limit. True to character, the twentieth century will not, so it seems, fade away peacefully. The post-cold-war era and the celebrated onset of a new world order have thus not brought peace to our world, but more bloodshed, instability and insecurity in many places. Consequently, there has been a rapid expansion of United Nations peace-keeping operations - far beyond the capacity of the Organization’s resources to manage. There is neither the manpower nor the financial wherewithal for the United Nations to be everywhere in the magnitude of presence that is so often requested.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Member States must heed the Secretary-General’s call and fulfil their Charter obligations by paying their contributions in full and on time. At the same time, it would be remiss of me not to emphasize the need and importance of transparency and accountability in the use of United Nations funds. Of late, we have heard of many irregularities in the administration of this Organization’s funds, in particular funds for peace- keeping missions. A number of proposals have been put forward by the various Member States for a review of the rules and regulations governing United Nations finances. The time has come to set up a respectable mechanism to undertake this urgent task. Although the cold war is no more and old ideological empires have unravelled, the euphoria of triumphalism has been short-lived.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We commend the efforts the Secretary-General has undertaken so far to enhance the Organization’s effectiveness. Botswana understands the concerns raised by the Secretary-General when he addressed the Fifth Committee in August. Many demands and problems foisted on the United Nations have put a lot of strain on its coffers. Resources made available by Member States are far from enough to meet these demands. Thus, the Organization is facing a financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude. The biggest problem, as explained by the Secretary-General, is the failure of some Member States to fulfil their financial obligations by paying the assessed contribution for both the regular budget and peace-keeping missions.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We assure them of our fellowship and readiness to cooperate with them in the service of peace here at the United Nations. We also wish to congratulate the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, on the creative dynamism he has injected into the work of the United Nations. We know his work has not been easy. But under his able leadership the United Nations has indeed demonstrated its capacity to serve as a reliable instrument of impartial management of international conflicts. Increasingly, we are seeing the fulfilment of the ideas contained in what I think was the most forward-looking report ever produced by a Secretary- General of this Organization, "An Agenda for Peace". Mr. Ansari (India), Vice-President, took the Chair.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Botswana and Guyana have, since their attainment of independence, both in 1966, been the closest of friends. That is why we have welcomed the election of Ambassador Insanally of Guyana to the presidency of the forty-eighth session with so much warmth and anticipation. I say "anticipation" because we are confident that he has the requisite experience, expertise and diplomatic finesse to make a good and productive President for this most hopeful session of the Organization. Our gratitude goes to the outgoing President of the forty-seventh session, the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, who gave the best account of his skills in the service of the Assembly last year. 14 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session The new Members who have just joined the United Nations are most welcome in our midst.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Finally, it is our fervent hope that Africa's bid for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations will be crowned with success. All we ask is to be allowed the opportunity to serve on the thirty-eighth floor.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Poverty breeds environmental degradation, which in turn reproduces and reinforces poverty. This first world summit on environment and development should address those issues in clear and unambiguous terms. This would involve, among other things, assisting developing countries to gain access to environmentally sound technologies. Botswana reaffirms its faith in the United Nations. This unique Organisation has served us well despite the severe constraints that have so often in the past, frustrated its endeavours In the service of peace. Released from those constraints and infused with a new dynamism and a renewed sense of purpose, the United Nations has the capacity to give form and shape and meaning to the new world order for the good of mankind as a whole.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“But there are limitations as to what a poor developing country can do on its own, given the fact that the question of development is an important aspect of a nation's capacity to address the environmental challenges. In view of this, the 1992 Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on Environment and Development will be a historic landmark in multilateral cooperation. It is our fervent hope that the Conference will adopt concrete decisions aimed at addressing the link between environment and development. Many people in developing countries live in abject poverty, and for the poor long-term sustainabi1ity plays an insignificant role in decisions on production and consumption. What is uppermost in their minds is how to survive or live from one day to the next.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“It is Botswana's policy that the responsibility for conservation and protection of the environment should fall upon those who own and/or manage the country's resources. These include communities, farmers, livestock owners, small enterprises and industrialists. In this respect the Government requires sound environmental impact studies for major development projects. It is the aim of Botswana to ensure that the prices of such resources as land, water and forests reflect the scarcity values in order to increase awareness of the need to conserve such resources. Botswana is committed to playing its part in dealing with issues of environment.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Botswana attaches the utmost importance to issues of environment and development. The conservation of our renewable and non-renewable resources in a major component in the formulation and implementation of development policies. Since independence Botswana has enacted a variety of laws aimed at addressing environmental issues. Last year we adopted a national conservation strategy with a view to ensuring effective coordination between issues of environment and development. The areas of major concern are range-land degradation, the use of wood fuel without replanting trees, the mining of groundwater, the reduction of wildlife species, the generation of wastes which pollute soil and water, and the abandonment of open mining shafts and quarry pits.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Although this amount may appear small compared to global debt figures, the seriousness and enormity of the problem can be readily appreciated when one takes into account the debt-service ratios which are so high that most of the export revenues are used to repay debt instead of financing development- The reduction 'A debt obligations should be made a major priority if Africa is to be able to face the development: challenge in the 1990s. African countries fully understand their responsibility in tackling these problems. They accept the need for policy coordination aimed at affectively dealing with the developmental problems. It is important that the special needs of Africa are not only kept on the International agenda hut that genuine efforts are also made to resolve them.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“It is our sincere hope that the current climate of consensus will be fully taken advantage of in order to reach a satisfactory decision. We look forward to a successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The integration of Eastern and Central Europe into the world economy entails the need for greater access to markets. Resource flows to developing countries and the economies in transit ion alone, without increased trade opportunities, cannot lead to sustained and sustainable development. There is a new sense of urgency to bring protectionism to an end. Africa's critical economic situation persists. In many countries the situation has deteriorated. The continent is faced with a crippling debt burden. At the end of 1990 Africa's debt amounted to over $270 billion.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“The involvement of other States will provide alternative approaches to dealing with these problems. Botswana welcomes the proposal made by the Secretary General on 3 July 1991 in his opening statement at the second regular session of the Economic and Social Counci1 on the convening of an international conference on development financing. We are pleased that this issue will be given serious consideration during this session of the General Assembly. How that the distracting East/West divide has been eliminated the time la opportune to attend to the real problems facing humanity. Some of the vast, resources that have been spent to produce and maintain weapons of mass destruction should now be channelled towards pressing development problems.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Over the years the world has seen the emergence and growth of what some call a "borderless economy"; and yet the world economy has continued to be controlled by the macroeconomic policies of a handful of countries. We cannot talk about democracy, good governance and transparency at the national level and deny the application of these principles to the management of the international economic system. It is appropriate and indeed desirable that pluralism find a niche in the macroeconomic management of the global economy. The major players in the "borderless economy" should appreciate that this is in their self-interest too. The persistence of the world's economic ills is a sore reminder that some of the prescriptions which are preferred by the major actors have fallen short of addressing the root cause of the problems.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“We are pleased that the United Nations Western Sahara operation was set in motion on 6 September 1990. It is hoped that the two parties to that conflict will cooperate with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to ensure that a successful referendum to settle the question of Western Sahara once and for all is held on schedule. In Central America, it is hoped that the leaders of El Salvador will cooperate with the Secretary-General In his efforts to facilitate negotiations to end the ruinous civil war that has threatened to bleed the country to death. We urge the Security Council to continue to take a keen interest in the issue.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“There is today an atmosphere of relatively free political activity in South Africa, free enough at least to allow the convening of an all-party conference to negotiate a new constitution. Nevertheless, the United Nations must continue to insist on the cessation of violence in the townships and elsewhere in the country so that an atmosphere auspicious for negotiation could be created in South Africa. While the onus for the maintenance of law and order rests with the South African Government, black leaders are also duty bound to contribute to the search for a national solution to the destructive violence. It does nobody any good simply to stand, watch and criticize and allow the dark and sinister forces of hired thugs and assassins to cheat the people of South Africa of their right to be free from the scourge of racial tyranny.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Of utmost importance at this crucial Juncture is the adoption of a democratic constitution to end once and for all minority rule in South Africa. Political prisoners have been released and are being released and will all be released simply because there is no sense whatsoever in keeping them incarcerated. General amnesty, however Imperfect, is now in place under the trusted auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which guarantees the safe repatriation of exiles. The repressive laws that have formed the foundation of apartheid and have been the object of the United Nations anti-apartheid campaign for close to half a century have been abolished.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“To this end, it calls upon the national liberation movements and all the anti-apartheid forces to work in concert within the framework of a patriotic front." (A/46/450, annex, para, 4) The situation in South Africa today is almost a replica of the situation in Namibia during the implementation of Security Council resolution 435 (1978) in that territory. If we are expecting the establishment of perfect peace in South Africa as a prelude to the commencement of the negotiations for a new South Africa we are expecting the impossible. The closer we are to the realisation of the new South Africa the more desperate and vicious will be the resistance. The negotiations themselves are most likely to be accompanied by the escalation of violence, inspired or free-wheeling, in the townships and elsewhere in South Africa.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“The conditions of the United Nations consensus Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa may not have been met in letter and spirit, but the time has come for the people of South Africa to proceed to the Conference table to negotiate a new democratic dispensation for their country. The Abuja statement on South Africa issued by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Ad Hoc Committee in July 1991 is unequivocal about the urgent need for negotiations to begin: "The Committee underscores the fact that central to the struggle for the eradication of apartheid is the transfer of power to a democratic government elected on the basis of a non-racial and democratic constitution. It reasserts that negotiations leading to the drawing up and adoption of this constitution is now the most urgent and pressing question.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“South Africa la In the throes of dramatic change despite the seemingly Insoluble urban violence that has created the perception that black South Africans cannot realise that the moment of reckoning has arrived violence evidently orchestrated by sinister elements that are bent on frustrating the birth of a new nation in that strife torn country. The people of South Africa stand poised at the gate of the new South Africa they have sought all these years. The apartheid scaffolding has been removed and dismantled even though the structure - the structure of apartheid - remains intact. The legislative basis of apartheid has been removed for the first time in more than 300 years, and South Africa for all South Africans regardless of colour, race or creed is ready to be negotiated. There is no time to waste.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“The United States initiative represents an opportunity which can only be missed or wasted at great peril to peace. Israel has the opportunity of a lifetime to satisfy itself that all the Palestinians want is a home of their own in the West Bank and Gaza, and not the obliteration of the Jewish State from the face of the Middle East. The Palestinians, equally, ate presented with a rare opportunity to clarify whether Israel wants peace, or confirmation of Its territorial conquests. In southern Africa, the situation gives grounds for hope. The last vestige of white minority rule is about to be expunged.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Lebanon has taken decisive steps, towards internal peace and national reconciliation while the people of Palestine remain homeless. Israel is continuing to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied territories while processing a commitment to negotiations to reconcile the national aspirations of the Jewish people and their Arab neighbours. Creating facts on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza runs the risk of ensuring the failure of negotiations even before they start. Botswana fully supports the United States initiative aimed at convening a Middle East peace conference, where, we hope, the nations of the area and the Palestinian people will come together at a conference table to find common ground for the harmonization of their conflicting nationalisms.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“There is what is called new thinking in the world today and the world is changing so fast that the sap-makers have thrown up their arms in despair and frustration. And yet some things are refusing to change. One of them is the tragic division of the idyllic island of Cyprus, a non-aligned and Commonwealth country that threatens no one. A lot of time and energy has been expended in the search for a solution to the Cyprus problem by the Secretary-General over the years without much luck. The parties are still set in their old positions, oblivious of the buffeting winds of change around them. Cyprus must be reunited, to take its rightful place in the new world order. The Middle East also remains frozen in the unremitting immobility of the seemingly irreconcilable positions of its conflicting nations.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“A dangerous precedent has not been allowed to scar the face of humanity - that a small, defenceless independent and sovereign State be obliterated from the face of the earth with impunity by a powerful neighbour. We can argue interminably about the excesses or depredations of Desert Storm, but the reality is that the restoration of Kuwait's existence as a free and independent nation has reassured small, powerless and defenceless States, like my own, of their inalienable right to exist as free and independent nations - provided, of course, that from now on there will be no selective morality in the treatment of aggression by the powerful against the weak. The Cyprus question remains as stubborn as ever.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“It is hoped that the recent decision by the United States and the Soviet Union to terminate the supply of arms to the belligerents will starve both parties of the incentive to prolong the needless blood-letting. But the United States and the Soviet Union are not the only suppliers of arms to the belligerents. Consequently, the United Nations must make it clear that subsidiary suppliers of arms to fuel and sustain the Afghan tragedy are also duty bound to respect United Nations-brokered peace agreements. In the Middle East, the guns of war are silent at least on the Iraq Kuwait front. Thank God, Kuwait's freedom and independence have been restored.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“In Asia, at long last the end of the Cambodian tragedy appears to be at hand. The parties to that long-festering conflict which has wasted millions of Innocent lives have finally agreed on an electoral system to be lined to conduct, multiparty democratic elections. Here again the Instrumentality of the United Nations as an impartial arbiter in the resolution of Intractable problems has proved its undoubted efficacy. Unfortunately, Afghanistan is still bleeding, a continued victim, not of the United Nations failure to devise a successful solution to the civil war there but, rather, a victim of the refusal by the parties to the civil war to implement the letter and spirit of the United Nations Geneva Agreements.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“And it must be emphasized that a durable new world order can result only from our united efforts, not from a lone super-Power's fiat. The agenda of the forty-sixth session is, like its predecessors, long and varied. This is an indication that we still have a long way to go to resolve the many problems that confront our Organization. It is hoped that the new mood at the United Nations will enhance our capacity to search for solutions to these problems. We have seen how successful the United Nations can be if its endeavours in the service of peace enjoy the support of its membership in both the Security Council and the General Assembly. The Security Council, in particular, has demonstrated that, united, it can act decisively as a preserver of international peace and security.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“A world free of the threat of nuclear holocaust and political tyranny and totalitarianism is not necessarily bereft of conflict, but it is the best insurance for peace and tranquillity among nations and peoples. There is the understandable fear and anxiety that we have begun the era of monopolarity, the domination of the world by one super-Power unrestrained by the checks and balances of bipolarity, and that more tyranny and fear is likely to be perpetrated by the lone super-Power in the new world order. Such apprehensions are understandable, even as we fervently cherish the hope that with a strengthened United Nations and the ascendancy of economics as the locus of power the new world order will be one characterized by democratic multipolarity driven by interdependent economic competition.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Be it in Africa, Eastern Europe or elsewhere in the world today, an inexorable process of renewal is in progress. And yet as the struggle for democratic pluralism intensifies new conflicts arise while old and hitherto suppressed antagonisms are set free. The historical excesses of extreme nationalism and ethnocentrism are threatening the peaceful evolution of the new world order we all seek to nurture. Change is not coming peacefully everywhere. It rarely does. Our hearts go out to the people of Yugoslavia and other Eastern European States that are caught in the throes of difficult and painful transitions. This is what the Secretary-General, with his usual candour and precision, calls "a unique juxtaposition of promise and perils" (A/46/1, p. 5). In our view, however, the promise is transcendent.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“The peace that is breaking out everywhere in the world needs nurturing while, at the same time, new conflicts now erupting as a consequence of the precipitate expiration of the old order are threatening the new world order in its infancy. And we expect the United Nations, trammelled by unpaid arrears and late payment of contributions, to rise to the occasion, to police peace and manage conflict with an empty treasury. Mission impossible! Nevertheless, the world is changing for the better. A new cycle of history whose character we must all participate in shaping has begun. Throughout the globe today the common man and woman are insisting on regaining mastery of their destiny. Multi-party democracy has become the common clarion call of mankind, a triumphant affirmation of the phenomenon of peoples' power.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“We salute the Secretary-General under whose leadership the United Nations has been given a new lease on life. As the old world of nuclear terror, political tyranny and ideological confrontation gives way to the new world in which our major preoccupation is whether we have the capacity "to execute the increasingly versatile projects of peace", (A/46/1, page 4) to quote the Secretary-General's report the leading role of the United Nations in the shaping of the new world order has become very crucial indeed. As the Secretary-General's report also states. "The effectiveness of the United Nations can no longer be in doubt". (Ibid.) What continues to be in doubt, in our view, is our readiness, we the Members of the Organization, to give the United Nations the wherewithal to perform its escalating tasks.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)