YouSaid · the spoken record

Anastase Gasana

lines on the record
64
first
1997-09-24
most recent
2001-09-24
sittings or episodes
3
sources
un-general-debate

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  1. “When the traumas of genocide are complemented by millennial anxieties, what is to become of such a people if it is not helped by increased international solidarity? I have seen no or almost no sign of such solidarity in all my travels, no hint of such a project. Apparently, no one is concerned. And yet, we are only 26 months from 1 January 2000. Why such indifference from countries and from the United Nations? Should not our concerns be those of the peoples on whose behalf we govern? We should be one step ahead and thereby allay them. Before closing, I wish to appeal to the General Assembly that the United Nations adopt a mini-Marshall Plan for the moral and physical rehabilitation and reconstruction of the first African country to have fallen victim to the catastrophe of genocide: Rwanda.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  2. “If we do nothing, how will we explain it to them on the eve of 1 January 2000 or on 27 the first day of the year 2000? Will we use the language of cynicism, pain, realism, politics, diplomacy or ritual — in just enough to get them off our backs and hustle them along into the year 2000 as into a lifeboat? What strategies do the United Nations and its agencies, present throughout Africa and other countries of the third world, have to help the Governments and peoples that must confront the anxieties of passing from one century to another, one millennium to another? In my country, Rwanda, I see no sign of any such strategy, while the country is gripped by the many traumas born from the tearing, or rather the shredding, of the social fabric by the genocide of 1994.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  3. “Will those with uneasy consciences continue forever to play dumb with regard to the Rwandan genocide, the very first in the history of our continent? Will religious fundamentalism thrive at the cost of human lives? Extreme selfishness, despair, suicide, racism, crime, terrorism, drugs, paedophilia, battered women, rape: Are we going to bring all this luggage with us into the third millennium? What are we doing now? What are our strategies to eradicate all these evils? Resignation? Fatalism? Will the third millennium hold anything to shock us? We all claim to govern on behalf of our respective peoples. What actions are we undertaking today to ensure that they advance calmly, smoothly, without panic or anxiety into the year 2000?”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  4. “In Somalia, the Government of the Rwandese Republic urges all the parties to the conflict to promote dialogue under the aegis of the OAU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Two years from the advent of the new millennium, we all have the ultimate duty of leading our peoples to the year 2000 without setback or fear of the unknown, unlike the people of the year 997 as they approached the eve of the second millennium. The twentieth century, leading into the awaited third millennium, has deeded to us the two most horrendous genocides in the history of humanity: the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War and the genocide of the Rwandans in 1994. Will we cross the threshold of the third millennium with the same racist graffiti covering the walls of our cities and airport corridors?”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  5. “In our humble opinion, the United Nations should also send a clear and unambiguous message to the Comorians of the island of Anjouan that the Comoros is a State Member of the United Nations and that its unity and integrity are not negotiable. We ask the parties concerned to work with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to find an appropriate solution to their problem. Western Sahara strikes a strong note of hope in the area of decolonization. We welcome and encourage the due implementation of the agreements that have just been signed between the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco to promote the process of self-determination and independence for the Saharan people.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  6. “Let us not make them taboo — let us talk about them within this prestigious building; let us talk about them in the Security Council. That, perhaps, would mark the beginning of improved conflict prevention and resolution in Africa. We cannot close this chapter on African conflicts without referring specifically to some that worry us more than others. I am referring in particular to the Central African Republic, where we feel the United Nations should be on its toes and assist a country in which the keepers of the old order and their opportunistic acolytes are using violence against an elected Government. I am also referring to Congo (Brazzaville), where precisely the same scenario as in the Central African Republic is being played out on a scale far larger than in the latter country.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  7. “What are our strategies for fighting coups d’état in Africa today? What are the strategies of the United Nations for eradicating this scourge, whose effects are realized by its creators only when they themselves fall victim to it? All of the coups d’état in Africa since 1965, whose rotten fruits we are harvesting today, were fomented by certain Western capitals in their own interests and to the detriment of the African people. Today, unfortunately, foreign manipulation is continuing in Africa, creating a new cycle of coups d’état in Africa. We urge the United Nations resolutely to attack the five scourges I have just named, which still infect Africa and are the source of all the conflicts on our continent. These problems exist and we are familiar with them.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  8. “The planning and carrying out of the genocide was the ignoble act of a bad political leadership that viewed the ignorance and poverty of the peoples of Rwanda — and, consequently, of the peoples of Africa and the third world — as a political asset to consolidate and perpetuate its dictatorship in power or to usurp power. We hope that the United Nations will support the new political order in Africa and its new leadership, and that it will oppose any manoeuvre aimed at using United Nations structures to nip in the bud the new political order that is emerging on our continent. The conflicts of which we are all aware in Africa today are the bitter fruit of the famous so-called Africa of the Generals that emerged in the mid-1960s. Those coups d’état sapped Africa with all their attendant tragedies, of which all here are only too keenly aware.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  9. “Ignorance, it is said, is the root of all evils. Poverty is the cause of all misfortune. What United Nations programme will combat ignorance and poverty in Africa and the countries of the third world, and when will these two terrible ills that ravage our continent be cured? Bad political leadership in Africa has led many countries to ruin and even led to the first genocide on the African continent, which occurred in Rwanda from April to July 1994. The United Nations was present with a military force of 2,500 men, who packed up and left, abandoning the Rwandan people to the mercy of the 26 Interahamwe militiamen of the erstwhile single party and armed forces of the day.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  10. “Again, we extend our warmest thanks to the Security Council for having taken the positive initiative of convening a ministerial-level meeting on Africa on 25 September. Our contribution, beyond general considerations and some specific cases, will focus primarily on identifying the underlying causes of conflicts in Africa, conflicts which in turn create the economic and political recessions of which we in our continent — and elsewhere in certain third world countries as well — are aware on almost a daily basis. Africa and the third world in general are suffering from various ills, principal among which are ignorance, poverty, bad political leadership, coups d’état and foreign intervention. Those are the ills that have eaten away at Africa, continue to eat away at it and are the sources of every conflict on our continent.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  11. “We had the opportunity and pleasure, at the special meeting of the Security Council on Africa held on 25 September under the presidency of the Secretary of State of the United States, of hearing comments in support of the new African leadership. We stand firmly together. The others, those who do not trust in Africa and the Africans, who attempt to hinder our continent’s efforts to free itself from neocolonialism and dictatorships, who are today trying to discredit and undermine our leaders at any cost, they are the ones we will obviously be forced to deal with when we come to them. I should like now to speak of the problems of conflict prevention and conflict resolution in Africa and other third world countries.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  12. “These primarily relate to the difficulties encountered in the process of bringing to life a new Africa and problems related to the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in Africa. We shall also offer some thoughts on how our peoples may enjoy a relatively smooth passage into the next millennium. We will conclude with an appeal for international solidarity for Rwanda and the Rwandan people. The hope of the peoples of Africa and the third world is first of all for an understanding of their real problems, and today that understanding must be a priority. Much of the international community supports the new political order in Africa and the new African leadership and leaders who wish to create new realities for a new Africa.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  13. “We welcome the proposals made by the Secretary-General, and we assure him of our support and cooperation. We also made proposals on Security Council reform. We will continue to make our contribution and lend our support to the collective efforts aimed at ensuring greater democracy in the Council. The Government of Rwanda also wishes to take this opportunity to express its great satisfaction at the appointment of Mrs. Mary Robinson as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. We assure both her and the Secretary-General of our assistance and cooperation. At this session the Government of Rwanda wishes to make its modest contribution to our consideration of some matters of concern both to Africa and to the entire international community.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)

  14. “Before delivering the message of the Government of Rwanda to the General Assembly, allow me to follow the Heads of State and fellow Ministers who have spoken from this rostrum and express to the President our very sincere congratulations on his outstanding election. We also pay a well-deserved tribute to his eminent predecessor, who displayed devotion, skill and readiness to serve during the last session. Our warmest and fraternal congratulations also go to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for whom this session of the General Assembly is his first in that office. At the fiftieth anniversary session of the United Nations we took the opportunity to express loudly and clearly our views with regard to the essential reforms to be carried out within the United Nations.”

    1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)