YouSaid · the spoken record

Destin-Arsène Tsaty-Boungou

lines on the record: 41
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 1997-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“These acts are committed with such ease, irresponsibility and impunity that there is no neutral international force in Brazzaville that can determine who is responsible. We believe that the presence of the troops of the multinational force envisaged by the Secretary-General, which was never established, would have enabled us to move more quickly and more surely towards lasting peace. May our appeal for help be heard, or may it result in greater understanding for future calls of distress. And may my comments from this rostrum resonate within each of us, like an echo in this General Assembly, to spare other African peoples from ever suffering the torments of war or the dictatorship of a handful of lawless and faithless politicians, with wheelers and dealers on all sides who are themselves lawless and faithless.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The wounded and the dead in our own country have helped us better understand and better regret such suffering in the rest of the world. We wish here to express our feeling of solidarity with all other peoples that are suffering, the Algerian people in particular. There again, our hope is that reason will prevail over any other consideration so that Algeria can pursue its economic development. I wish to conclude by affirming that the political determination to restore peace to Brazzaville exists. However, the return to peace is made difficult in the field by the fact that any deliberate or uncontrolled shooting might, at any moment, lead to a further escalation of violence and might endanger numerous human lives.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We are convinced that the peoples of the two Congos, who have already shed too much blood and too many tears in their history and in their return to a state of law, wish to live in peace together. That is why this situation has shown us how urgent it is for all peace-loving and democracy-loving forces to come to the aid of the Congolese as quickly as possible in order to find a solution to return peace to Brazzaville and to spare the entire subregion the further spread of destabilizing acts and war. We greatly appreciate the commitment of some Governments that, in view of the Congolese tragedy, have made known their readiness to provide troops that could constitute a multinational interposition force, given the procrastination of the United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Our struggle — that of all the Congolese who believe in the values of democracy, in the development of the human being in a democracy, in the unleashing of greater intelligence and energy in our country thanks to democracy and its regime of freedom will be in vain if the international community — primarily the United Nations — does not show us any sign of the solidarity that could, once and for all, in spirit and in fact, do away with the temptation to resort to weapons to gain power. The Government of the Republic of Congo wishes to express once again its regret and its great compassion to the Government and to the brotherly people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the damage and loss of life resulting from the Brazzaville war.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The road leading to democracy in my country, 27 which has for a long time been under the yoke of a single- party regime that flouted freedoms under a quickly abandoned ideology, has been seen as a crossroads by our people. The opposite would have been preferred but surprising, because the single-party regime and totalitarianism cannot disappear without jolts or resistance.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The events in my country, unfortunately, give greater meaning to this question. We are called upon to understand better our contemporary political history and the need to share power in order to ensure a lasting peace and to better ensure the success of the democratic regime. In the economic and historical context of some African countries, this approach towards democracy, with the development of respect for its basic needs, can be a factor for peace and development, instead of being a factor for destabilization and a vehicle for heightened ethnic hatreds during elections, as in the case today in my country. This is a fundamental question, and undoubtedly my country, today at war, will be able to answer it by finding the road of reason, peace and pursuit of the democratic process.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“When those who make secret contributions to fratricidal massacres and destabilization in some democratic States, guided by their own interests, invoke the principle of non-interference as a pretext to give them greater freedom to manoeuvre, should we not fear that here non-interference may well become, given the complaisance and the silence of the United Nations, the worst form of interference against these massacred peoples and these destabilized States? Just about a year ago, speaking before this same Assembly, I questioned the relevance of applying the rule of rotation of power in the context of democratization in our countries, which are economically weak and whose political classes have for a long time gained their fortunes and their social ascendancy exclusively from political actions.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“That is why it continues to hope that the efforts of the International Mediation Committee will offer the Congo a chance for lasting peace, and for a transition managed jointly by the various political forces of the country so that our people can freely elect its President. With the goal of finding this negotiated solution, President Pascal Lissouba and Prime Minister Bernard Kolélas recently signed the ceasefire plan proposed by the International Mediation Committee. To date, only Mr. Sassou-Nguesso has not signed.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Such a demand, in view of the political history of our country, marked as it is by numerous coups d’état that to this day still have supporters, could not be accepted by the Government nor by the other parties of the most representative opposition. Following that refusal by former President Sassou- Nguesso, a new Government was formed. Mr. Bernard Kolélas, Mayor of the city of Brazzaville and leader of the opposition, was appointed head of that new Government. Several ministerial posts were reserved for the former single party, the Congolese Labour Party of former President Sassou-Nguesso. To date, this effort to join the Government has also been rejected by the armed opposition. What is to be done? The Government continues to believe in the virtue of dialogue and not in the force of weapons.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“President Pascal Lissouba agreed with President Omar Bongo, President of the international mediation committee, on a plan for the country to be run by a presidential college composed of the incumbent President of the Republic and three Vice-Presidents. But many Congolese saw in this proposal an effort at power-sharing among those individuals vying for power in the Congo and, hence, an end to the war. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed as a nightmare scenario unfolded. In response to this proposal from the international mediation committee, the United Democratic Forces of former President Sassou-Nguesso demanded that the First Vice-President be one of their own and that he exercise also the functions of Prime Minister of Minister of Defence.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Some Members of this Organization are tempted to say that the Congolese must solve their problems themselves, and we must take this appeal to our sense of responsibility into consideration. Yet while today it is the Congolese people who are hostages, perhaps tomorrow it will be another people’s turn to be taken hostage by a political class that is driven by selfish ambitions, unprepared to accept the rules of democracy and uninterested in seeking and maintaining peace. Every day and at an increasing human cost, the excessive demands of some and the lack of tolerance of others defer to a later date the establishment of conditions for a negotiated peace. That is what happened at Libreville during the second week of September 1997.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We refuse to believe that, in the framework of our Organization, whose solid, founding values include the principle of justice and equality among peoples, this right to humanitarian intervention, which on a global scale involves an obligation to solidarity and to safeguard life, applies only to certain colours or geographic locations, depending on the colour or the geographic location of the 26 victims. If that belief were to be a certainty, or even to exist, then it would — at least for some of the Members of our Organization — undermine needlessly and in a lasting way the legitimate trust that so many peoples, the innocent victims of atrocities and injustice, have placed in the United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“But that right to judge, which we readily recognize for other peace-loving and democracy-loving peoples, does it not in turn imply a duty on the part of those who, in time of war, stand by silently, failing to provide humanitarian assistance to a people threatened with death and extinction? The people of the Congo, who have, since 5 June 1997, been dying slowly under fire from rockets and cannons — bought by the Congolese, yes, but sold to them by Western “philanthropists” — do they not deserve to benefit from that much-vaunted right to humanitarian intervention?”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“But there are lessons to be learned from this indifference. It has caused us to look at ourselves as if in a mirror, in order better to understand the place that Africans really hold in the community of nations. It has also taught us that while patriotism could be a value commonly shared by Africans, the cruel reality of Africa, at least a part of it, is that it counts only for its wealth. So in times of political setback, Africa can expect from the international community only indifference at the outset and condescending judgements later on. Often, and belatedly, the only consideration it receives is to be reminded of the human rights violations perpetrated in wartime by conflicting parties.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“From that point on, for the opposition each lost election became grounds for contention and conflict. This has further distanced it from political power and endangered the future of its own leaders. The war that has brought bloodshed to Brazzaville, our capital, is the culmination of the rejection by one party of our political class to accept the rules of democracy. The seeds of this war can be found in the economic problems and difficulties of the country. Faced with this war, we understand — though of course we do not share — the indifference of the international community to the fate of several thousand Africans, lost in one corner of the globe. The concern of the great economic Powers lies in preserving the richness of the soil and the subsoil of that area, and the lives of its inhabitants mean little to them.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The holding of transparent, free and fair elections — and in particular the presidential election, which put President Pascal Lissouba at the helm of the State with more than 61 per cent of the vote — was the harbinger of an outstanding future for the process of democratization in the Congo. Moreover, President Lissouba has since his election focused on establishing mechanisms to consolidate our young democracy. In his quest to establish national dialogue and social peace, President Lissouba, immediately following his inauguration, launched an appeal to the opposition to participate in the government of the Republic. That offer, whose purpose was to correct or at least minimize certain constitutional restrictions, was rejected by the opposition.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“And yet in my country, which today is in the grip of civil war, almost everything has been done since the sovereign national conference to spare our young democracy from the tragic upheavals inherent in any sudden social change, which in this case consisted of the move from a single-party political regime banning any organized opposition to a veritable explosion of freedoms — individual, political and religious. The Constitution, the charter of national unity and the entire institutional and legislative framework set up since the transition period, which lasted for more than a year, fall within this framework.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“But what a dilemma confronts me at this rostrum! As a Minister, I might be tempted to paint a picture of propaganda, of oversimplification, of extremism and exclusively of governmental platitudes. The intellectual and the patriot I would wish to be must go beyond diplomatic convention and express what I feel in my heart — my deepest convictions — which are undoubtedly shared by other Congolese of my generation. They feel, as I do, great sorrow for all the victims who continue to fall in the camp of President Lissouba and in that of former President Sassou-Nguesso. And they feel strongly, as I do, that the international community has left them to their own devices to face this tragedy.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Udovenko’s predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia, for his outstanding, imaginative and effective work, in particular regarding his numerous initiatives — especially the initiative that gave a decisive impetus to the reform of the Security Council. 25 The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has, in a very short space of time, done considerable work, in particular in the area of reform. The results of this work will bring a new perspective to the work and objectives of our Organization. I must tell this Assembly that my sorrow is great because so many Congolese children, men and women have fallen every day since 5 June 1997, under the crossfire of shells in the civil war that has cast a pall over my country. Therefore, with the indulgence of the General Assembly, I wish to devote my comments to this tragic situation.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“I wish to congratulate the President on his brilliant election to the presidency of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly. This election is both a sign of the respect his country enjoys in the international community and a tribute by the Members of our Organization to his qualities as a diplomat and his outstanding experience in the United Nations system. All of this is, undoubtedly, assurance that efficiency will mark his presidency and a guarantee that the work of the session will be successful. My delegation would also like to express its full gratitude and congratulations to Mr.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Congo, freed from the burdens that have delayed its development for so long and mortgaged its future, will finally be able to offer its people the peace and progress for which they have been waiting so long.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The recently appointed Government is endeavouring to organize these elections in transparency, peace and respect for deadlines. In order to meet its commitments the Government of Congo will be able to count on the United Nations, friendly countries and all those who promote the consolidation of democracy in Africa. The signing on 20 June of a strengthened structural adjustment mechanism with the International Monetary Fund ensures that our people will support an economic and social recovery programme despite the many sacrifices it will entail. These efforts will be pursued with the same commitment in the hope that our country will receive the support of the international community at the round table of donor countries to be held at Geneva in November.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Before concluding, I would like to mention some recent developments in the economic and political situation in my country. Since the National Forum for the Culture of Peace organized with the support of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Brazzaville in December 1995 and the signing of a peace pact among the various political parties, we are more than ever determined to address the most crucial issues before our country, namely, consolidating peace and combating poverty. At the initiative of His Excellency President Pascal Lissouba, all the Congolese political forces have signed a framework agreement on census-taking with a view to prepare the second presidential election of our democratic era.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We want to express our sincere thanks to the countries, particularly Japan, that have contributed to the special trust fund to implement the Committee’s programme. That fund made it possible to hold in Yaoundé, under the auspices of the United Nations, a seminar for training specialized units of peace operations. I would also like to express the Committee’s thanks to President Julius Nyerere for his role in finding a peaceful solution to the Burundi crisis. The Government of the Congo calls upon all parties to the conflict in Burundi, a fraternal country and a member of the Advisory Committee, to regain control of the situation and to create through dialogue conditions for a return to peace and national reconciliation.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We must express our deep concern over the situations in Africa in which peace is threatened daily, both within national borders and between States. By establishing the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, the General Assembly has established a cooperative framework that will enable 11 States from Central Africa to engage in dialogue in order to build confidence among themselves and establish their own machinery to facilitate the prevention, management and settlement of conflicts in the subregion. The first summit of the Heads of State and Government, held on 8 July 1996 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, led to the signing of a non-aggression pact.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The recent, spiralling acts of violence in the Middle East and the number of civilian casualties have weighed heavily on the peace process. The Republic of the Congo emphasizes the importance of an early resumption of dialogue, with a view to continuing the peace process in the Middle East. The Republic of the Congo welcomes progress in nuclear disarmament, particularly the opening for signature last 24 September of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). This historic act strengthens the extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and will promote international relations based upon peaceful coexistence and trust between States. This is the course of action chosen by African countries in the Pelindaba Treaty, which makes Africa a nuclear-free zone.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“My country, the Congo, which since March 1995 has presided over the Standing Advisory Committee of the United Nations on Security Questions in Central Africa, would like to say how pleased it is to note that in Angola, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the parties are endeavouring to implement the peace agreements and are thus enjoying the support of the international community. We must welcome the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to settle the Liberian conflict, and we are pleased to note the signing of the new peace Agreement, which, in the light of current political developments in that country, gives us reasons for hope. However, we are deeply concerned by the situation in some other parts of the world.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“This assistance, important in principle, should be enhanced with action, in accordance with commitments that were entered into, in order to meet the needs of the poorest populations and to make Governments better able to meet their obligations. Unfortunately, the decrease in such aid runs counter to this view. My country is pleased to note the Secretary- General’s Special Initiative to help Africa, which reinforces the United Nations New Agenda for the 14 Development of Africa in the 1990s. The mid-term review falls far short of our expectations, however. The Congo supports the recommendations emerging from that assessment and hopes that the international community will do its utmost to respect its commitments towards Africa. Earlier I mentioned the tragedies of the African peoples caused by civil war.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Increased competition means poor countries, particularly those in the sub- Saharan region, will risk losing more market shares and will be increasingly marginalized. If it is first and foremost up to the African countries to demonstrate that their marginalization is determined only by fate and that their current situation is merely one of those tragic aftermaths with which history has frequently sprinkled the course of human events, then it is also up to the international community as a whole, in active solidarity, to make a special commitment to supporting the efforts of the African countries to deal with the challenges before them. This is why I must emphasize the role of international cooperation and, particularly, the importance of official development assistance for our countries.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Therefore, assistance to promote economic development in African countries that are committed to the democratization of their institutions will result in the emergence of new political classes that are protected from need and that will be more likely to regard politics as a means of governing a community of men and women who are bound by a territory and a common destiny than as the only means to get ahead in an economically poor environment. As the Assembly can imagine, the economic development of Africa is a decisive factor for stability, development, pacification and democratization. The current world economic situation is clear evidence that globalization is inevitable. However, globalization could also have serious drawbacks if measures are not adopted to rectify fundamental imbalances.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In this vision, the present weakness of our political systems can be regarded as a phase in the democratic transition to a modern developed Africa only if the international community fully realizes that democracy cannot prosper in poor countries, where politics were for so long the road to social success, without exposing our citizens to the political games of those for whom the advent of democracy and its attendant competitive elections mean the end of the eminent position they enjoy in society thanks to the exercise of political power. The various civil wars that repeatedly cast a shadow over our continent are sad testimony to this reality.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We think that African democracy, freed from the dangers of political individualism, the temptations of power for oneself and the torments of tribalism, even with the legacy of political systems of the past, can become a factor for pacification, a fairer distribution of the fruits of collective efforts and social and economic progress.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“This period is one of adapting the various political actors to the needs of the democratic regime, particularly to the principle of political change-over with the preservation of our values based upon sharing, solidarity and respect for authority. We are convinced that an approach based on the concept of participatory democracy will make it possible to reduce the sources of conflict between those who have been elected by the people and those who have lost in democratic elections without affecting in the least the rules of the democratic regime, particularly the principles of equality, liberty and the right of the people to choose their main leaders.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Our continent can no longer take democracy to mean the mechanical imposition of some model of democratic institutions while forgetting our historical baggage or giving in to the temptation to undo with the stroke of a pen the bases of our social and cultural values. It was by seeking a true balance between peace and democratic institutions that the President of the Republic of the Congo was able to restore peace in our country after two years of civil war, following the democratic elections that brought him to power. By this same philosophy, having integrated members of the major opposing political party into the Government of the Republic, Mr. Pascal Lissouba supports the idea of a necessary period of democratic transition.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Caught between seeking its future and reconciling the present with its past, Africa must, with universal support, find modern institutional means of curbing the political tension that frequently results from tribalistic or 13 clannish view of power, which in turn results in the civil wars that so hamper the continent in its march towards peace. Seen in this way, democratic pluralism should be a measure of our march towards progress and, at this stage, make peace the stabilizing and constant factor of democratic institutions. It should also, and above all, ensure that peace is a decisive factor in human development in Africa.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In this connection, the process of the democratization and economic integration of Africa should be further encouraged and supported by the international community. This is the basis for liberating all the creative African forces that used to be held in check by dictatorial regimes that were not well disposed to fostering intellectual development. The end of dictatorial regimes in certain African countries and the spread of the democratization process in Africa does not automatically mean the establishment of truly democratic institutions, as the democrats in countries with democratic systems may have wished.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“I beg the Assembly’s indulgence to repeat the same prayer, the same cry of distress, already voiced here, now and in the past, by our eminent predecessors. They have said many times, more eloquently than I can, that Africa, 51 years later, is an ailing continent at whose bedside the commonly held notion of international solidarity should be translated into resolutions and quickly followed by actions. The wealthiest countries will then have helped thousands of human beings to join the modern era through scientific and technological progress. This is a major challenge that calls for foresight, humanism and the mobilization of the richest countries if our world is to be in a better position to deal peacefully with the stakes of the future in the North and the South.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“It also remains a place of legal equality between nations and a crucible of the ideals of humanism in which the interests and the destinies of all continents and all peoples should be fused but not confused. This being said, the vision of the founding fathers of the United Nations is yet to become a reality. This is possible only if Member States are truly committed to striving for such ideals. Is it Utopian for the increasingly fragile nations to do this when they are trying to find their own equilibrium? Unfortunately, it is very tempting to say yes, as our world is increasingly divided between those who have knowledge and wealth and those who are sinking in ignorance, disease, war and poverty. In saying this to this Assembly, I, who come from a continent on the brink of oblivion, am not telling anyone anything new.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The idea of humankind prospering leads me to wonder whether such a phenomenon can become universal at a time when, despite the efforts of the United Nations there are so many differences between nations around the world, so many contradictions and conflicting interests between rich and poor countries and, in Africa in particular, between those who wield political power and those who seek it, frequently using armed force. However, it must be emphasized that far from being the by-product of a sombre period in the history of humankind, the United Nations remains after more than half a century, the best instrument for achieving and consolidating peace, for the progress of humankind and for preserving diversity around the globe.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Finally, from this rostrum, my delegation wishes to welcome the tremendous efforts of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali over the past five years. All his work has contributed greatly to the specific efforts of Member States to ensure that our universal institution is better able to meet the many challenges of our times and more likely to avail itself of the many opportunities of the coming century to ensure that humanity will prosper.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The delegation of the Republic of the Congo wishes to express to the President its warmest congratulations on his election to lead the fifty-first session of the General Assembly. My country is particularly pleased by this choice, as it attests to the international community’s recognition of the constant and active commitment of his country to ensuring the triumph of the ideals of peace sought by the United Nations. I have no doubt that under his guidance this session will help humankind take new strides towards peace and progress. To his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, I would like to express our great appreciation for all he did in spite of the trying international conditions, which were continually complicated by human actions.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)