YouSaid · the spoken record

Jean PING

lines on the record

115

first

1999-09-24

most recent

2007-09-24

sittings or episodes

7

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

1. “Given the extent of the situation, for which my country was not prepared, the President of the Republic of Gabon organized on 11 August last a mini-summit in Libreville with the participation of a number of his peers from the subregion. That summit considered the possibility of Africans' taking greater control of the question of refugees and displaced persons, with the support of the international community. On that occasion, President Bongo proposed the creation of an African agency for emergency humanitarian intervention. I would urgently appeal to the international community to provide greater assistance to African refugees. We strongly hope that an emergency programme can be set up that would relieve their suffering and facilitate their return to their country of origin.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

2. “As Security Council resolution 1208 (1998) clearly indicates, asylum countries pay a heavy price for their solidarity with people driven out of their homes as a result of combat. The consequences of refugee flows on the security, environment and economies of host countries are sometimes incalculable, especially when the presence of combatants among the refugees is used as an excuse for troops to carry out raids in the host country. Even though we live in peace and have never experienced a domestic or inter-State war, Gabon nevertheless shoulders its share of the burdens of war. We are facing massive migratory flows that are leading to serious internal upheavals, and we recently welcomed some 50,000 refugees.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

3. “Indeed, the illegal circulation of massive quantities of light and small-calibre weapons in the world hampers development and represents a real threat to international peace and security. The nature of these weapons unfortunately helps fuel the sad and widely condemned phenomenon of the use of children as combatants in the many conflicts that break out around the world. The same applies to large-scale banditry. In any case, we cannot envision a world at peace if the international community does not actively mobilize to help developing countries emerge from the vicious circle of underdevelopment-violence-underdevelopment. If luck has heretofore spared us from the horrors of war, Gabon is not immune to the backlash of the armed conflicts that plague some of our neighbours.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

4. “It is also worth mentioning the joint military exercises to be held by the member States of the Committee in Gabon during the first half of the year 2000 23 to simulate peacekeeping operations. Furthermore, in preparation for the military exercises that will be held in Gabon within the framework of strengthening African peacekeeping capabilities, a military-diplomatic seminar took place in Libreville in June 1999, with the participation of 51 countries and international organizations. In the last few weeks, the Security Council has held public debates on such vital topics as children and civilians in armed conflicts. And five days ago, I had the honour of participating in another public debate of the Security Council on small weapons. This matter is part of the United Nations efforts to work towards complete disarmament.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

5. “Guaranteeing lasting peace and security is today a collective matter. Although the primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace falls to the Security Council, it is appropriate for the United Nations to encourage the development of regional peacekeeping and security mechanisms, in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter. Significant progress has been made in Central Africa in preventing and managing conflicts within the framework of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa. The implementation of the early-warning mechanism and the creation of the high council for peace and security in Central Africa are perfect examples of this.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

6. “The recent Lomé Agreement on Sierra Leone is also a positive sign of a return of lasting peace to that country. My country is pleased with the resumption of the peace process in the Middle East and urges the complete application of the Wye Plantation agreements, as well as full compliance with the agreements signed in the past. Despite all of this progress, we cannot overlook the fact that important efforts still have to made in Angola as a result of UNITA's refusal to implement the Lusaka agreements. Likewise, despite the prospects that are beginning to appear, the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea still remains a burning issue. According to the most recent report of the Secretary- General, Somalia is, unfortunately, still without State institutions. The time has come to reintegrate that country into the concert of nations.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

7. “The recent signing of the peace Agreement by all the parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including all the rebel movements, now opens up the way for a lasting settlement of the conflict. We urge all the parties to translate into action the will they expressed in signing the Lusaka Agreement on 10 July 1999. It is now urgent for the international community, and for the Security Council in particular, to take the necessary steps for the full implementation of the Agreement without delay. In the neighbouring Republic of the Congo, the authorities have again recently expressed their willingness to engage in dialogue with the opposition. In return, the opposition has also made clear its intention to take part in an inter-Congolese dialogue in order to achieve lasting peace.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

8. “The sine qua non condition for sparing future generations from the scourge of war is to move from a culture of war towards a culture of peace. There are genuine reasons to be concerned about peace and stability in the world. Maintaining international peace and security, a task assigned to our Organization, has been severely put to the test by the outbreak and persistence of a number of crises. In this regard, Africa has become the main theatre of these devastating crises, which result in countless victims, refugees and displaced persons. In spite of this regrettable situation, we have seen some encouraging signs concerning the restoration of peace in certain African subregions.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

9. “My country feels that the time has come for the international community to seriously tackle the unavoidable problem of the eradication of poverty, at least in its most extreme form. We share the firm conviction that our Organization must promote, in the words of the Charter, “higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development”. This would be the first step towards eliminating the imbalances that are among the underlying causes of many conflicts around the world, for a world in which some make progress while others fall behind carries within it the seeds of its own instability. Can we therefore move towards a new concept of the idea of security that no longer focuses on the security of nations alone, but that focuses above all on the well-being of peoples?”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

10. “Therefore, the burning question of global proportions that we must all face is how to take advantage, both individually and collectively, of the current prodigious global prosperity and the enormous accumulation of wealth created by globalization in order to substantially reduce the poverty of nations and of their people. As the Minister Fischer of Germany said recently, “Africa must not be a loser in globalization. The rich countries of the North have not only a duty, but also an interest, in assisting their poorest neighbours in the southern hemisphere to seize the opportunities that globalization offers them and to allow them to participate more equitably in the global economy”.”

    1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

11. “The budgetary resources allocated to service external debt overwhelm all efforts to meet the most basic needs of our people. It is therefore crucial that the recurring problem of debt should be considered not only in terms of socio-economic indicators but also taking into account a State's efforts to combat poverty. While welcoming the recent initiative undertaken at Cologne by the Group of Seven and Russia with a view to cancelling the debt of the most heavily indebted countries, the Government of Gabon is nevertheless disappointed by the fact that the eligibility criteria for those countries are so restrictive; for it must be recalled that debt, like poverty, is a constant threat to the stability 22 of States.”

    1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

12. “I am thinking here specifically about the African countries which, unlike the rest of the world, have not yet taken advantage of the profound changes in the world, and whose access to the so often trumpeted shared prosperity is denied. I am thinking also about one and a half billion men and women around the world who live on less than a dollar a day, and the billion adults who can neither read nor write. I am thinking too about the 300 million Africans who eke out their lives in a state of abject poverty on the outer margins of the global village. Add to this bleak picture the heavy burden of debt, which is strangling our economies, compromising any attempt at development and reducing us to the level of modern-day slaves at the tender mercy of our creditors.”

    1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

13. “During this century that is now coming to its end, the world has undergone a rapid acceleration in the pace of history and a thorough transformation as a result of combined effects of the explosion in the numbers of new technologies, the expansion of trade and the breathtaking increase in the role played by markets. The scale of this transformation, which affects all aspects of people's lives, is today so great that no nation can escape its influence. Unfortunately, nations are not all in the same boat: some steadily accumulate progress and prosperity while others seem destined to a bottomless pit of destitution.”

    1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

14. “I congratulate the Secretary-General for his initiatives and actions towards peace and security worldwide. To the three new Member States, the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga, which have just joined the great United Nations family, I convey my warmest congratulations. I am convinced that this session will enable us to share our thoughts on the increasingly complex challenges that our Organization must face if it is to create the necessary conditions for the maintenance of international peace and security and for economic and social development. We are entering a major period of transition marked by the end of one century and the beginning of another, so it is beyond necessary for the international community to see to it that the new millennium is spared the scourges that sap humankind's strength.”

    1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

15. “I am pleased to convey to the President on behalf of the delegation of Gabon, our warmest congratulations on his well-deserved election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. In addition to the tribute his election pays to Namibia, it is eloquent testimony to both his personal and professional qualities. We hardly need to point out that he was one of the principal architects of Namibia's independence. Today, the President has the honour of presiding over the last Assembly session of the century and of leading the United Nations towards the new millennium. Allow me through you to assure him of my delegation's complete and wholehearted cooperation. To his predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, I extend my deepest gratitude for the work accomplished during his term of office.”

    1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)