YouSaid · the spoken record

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI

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117

first

1990-09-24

most recent

2017-09-24

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10

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un-general-debate

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1. “Ugandans and other Africans in our region who have been chronically underconsuming in the past are now helping our economy to stay afloat in spite of the global recession, because they now have greater capacity to purchase what we produce. Their consumption is going up, thus supporting our regionally oriented industries. We think that we have at last graduated from wandering in the desert of underdevelopment and are now marching towards socio-economic transformation. We are finally doing that which we ought to have done and the truth, this time, is in us. The phase of what the French scholar René Dumont called “a false start” in Africa, or, in this case, Uganda, is over. We are entering the phase of growth and transformation. Thus, we believe, our economy will soon take off.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

2. “Therefore, our development and transformation manifesto and action plan in Uganda entails the following: peace; democracy; education for all; health for all; macroeconomic stability and economic liberalization; electricity generation and distribution to banish the very low levels of kilowatt-hours per capita; modernization of roads; rebuilding and modernization of railways; commercialization and modernization of agriculture away from traditional subsistence farming; adding value to our agricultural and mineral products instead of just exporting raw materials, including petroleum and gas; regional integration to widen markets as well as accessing international markets; environmental protection; and scientific research — we are already supporting a quantity of innovative research by Ugandan scientists.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

3. “There are two other bottlenecks that we often talk about: the export of raw materials, and the failure to transform subsistence and traditional farming into modernized agriculture. The haemorrhage that is the export of raw materials, for which we get only 10 per 29 09-52179 cent of the final processed product, has been recognized by many of us as modern slavery. In Uganda we are transforming traditional subsistence agriculture into modern agriculture. This involves using improved seeds, fertilizers, tractors, irrigation, breeding stock and agricultural practices. However, we know that we cannot do all of this sustainably if we continue to neglect the environment.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

4. “It is amazing and, indeed, shameful to see the low levels of electrification in Africa. In the United States, kilowatt- hours per capita are 14,124. In Africa, on the other hand, the figure is only 547 kilowatt-hours per capita. Some African countries have as low as 9 kilowatt- hours per capita. How could we expect growth and transformation in such a situation? The whole of Africa needs to wake up on this issue and cooperate to find a solution. The same goes for our high transport costs due to poor roads and poor or non-existent railways. In China, it costs $12 to transport a ton of cargo between Beijing and Shanghai by rail. In East Africa, on the other hand, transporting the same cargo over a comparable distance would require $65. We are aware of these bottlenecks, and we are dealing with them one by one.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

5. “While we have achieved peace, macroeconomic stability, education for all, some aspects of health for all, economic integration in the region, international market access, democratization and scientific research, we have been slow on these three: electricity, roads and railways. This slowness was the result of dependence on foreign funding, which tends to be frivolous and erratic. We depended on foreign funding because our tax collections were initially very low, but they have now grown in tandem with the growth of the economy. Uganda is, therefore, now able to fund road, rail and electricity projects on its own, although of course we welcome foreign investment. We can no longer, however, be held to ransom by foreign funding for those vital foundational elements of infrastructure.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

6. “That is not to mention the People’s Republic of China. Fortunately, in the past 15 to 20 years, Africans have also grasped the development compass. We have started to do what we had left undone for a long time, and the truth is now beginning to be in us. Uganda’s economy has grown at a rate of 6.5 per cent per annum for the past 23 years. During the last financial year, Uganda’s rate of growth was 7 per cent, in spite of the global recession, which affected us all. In the current financial year of 2009-2010, our rate of growth will be in excess of 7 per cent. In the financial year 2007- 2008, our rate of growth was 9.8 per cent, before adjusting for inflation. We achieved these reasonable rates of growth despite the fact that we have not yet dealt decisively with three strategic infrastructure elements: electricity, roads and railways.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

7. “In Deuteronomy, chapter VIII, verse 2, it also says: “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not”. Similarly, Africa, especially black Africa, has been wandering in the desert of underdevelopment for much of the 40 years following independence. As it says in the Book of Common Prayer, one cannot help but wonder whether it was because we had “left undone those things which we ought to have done”, and we had “done those things which we ought not to have done”, and there was “no truth in us”. On the other hand, the Asian countries — South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, India, et cetera — did not similarly wander in the desert of underdevelopment.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

8. “Before I deliver the statement I have prepared I should like to support one aspect of the long speech made by the Chairman of the African Union, brother Muammar Al-Qadhafi, which touched on so many issues, and that is reform of the United Nations system and fairer representation for the African Union in the Security Council. That is an African position and I support it. It is said in the Holy Bible, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter I, verses 2 and 3, that it was an 11-day journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea on the border of Canaan, yet it took the Israelites, coming out of slavery in Egypt, some 40 years to complete it. It was a journey of only 11 days, but it took them 40 years.”

   2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)

9. “Moreover, that would create jobs for Africans and therefore contribute structurally to poverty eradication. How are we supposed to eradicate poverty without creating jobs, other than by using witchcraft? We have repeatedly pointed out these issues in several forums, to no avail. It is Africans themselves who can and should resolve them.”

   2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

10. “With the exception of combating HIV/AIDS — which is behaviour-related — I am sure that all the others are achievable if we in Uganda do enough political-led sensitization and investment. I do not associate myself with those who are pessimistic about Africa or with those who put the cart before the horse. Why, for instance, were industrialization and value addition not made one of the MDGs? The export of raw materials is one of the cardinal sins that cause Africa to contribute only a 2 per cent share of world trade. If value were added to those raw materials, Africa’s share of world trade would rise, even today. Africa is exporting many things, but they are in the form of raw materials; that is why their value is 2 per cent. If value were added to those raw materials, their value would rise.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

11. “That means that emphasis must be placed on market access. It means that we should not only gain access to the major markets of the world, but also rationalize our own African markets through regional and continental integration. It also means that, in order to lower the costs of doing business in Africa, we should deal with energy; transport, especially by rail; and primary and higher-level education. Achievement of the MDGs would be a consequence of these developments, rather than a precursor or a phenomenon extraneous to them. 08-51606 22 Mr. Yáñez-Barnuevo (Spain), Vice-President, took the Chair. The second position that I would like to point out regarding the MDGs is that Uganda is on course to meet all of them except those related to maternal health and child mortality. I see no reason why those Goals should not be achieved.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

12. “We have repeatedly pointed that out. I have often used the example of pregnancy: one cannot talk endlessly about “sustainable pregnancy”. Yes, pregnancy should be sustainable until it transitions into a baby. Therefore, as Europe did, and as other societies in Asia have recently done, Africa must metamorphose socially, economically and technologically from a pre-industrial, sometimes feudal, society into a middle- class and skilled-working-class society, period. Achievement of all the MDGs would be the consequence of such a metamorphosis. One cannot maintain a pre-industrial society and somehow achieve the MDGs. An industrial society is what Uganda has been working towards over the past 20 years. Africa must industrialize, develop a modern services sector and commercialize agriculture.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

13. “Fortunately, however, all such families in Uganda have a dual capacity: in addition to being salary earners, they or their relatives own land in rural areas. They can therefore subsidize themselves by growing food using that land. Africa and other regions with agriculture-based economies should rise up, utilize their full potential and take advantage of high food prices. Regarding the statement that I have heard repeated so many times since the opening of the present session of the General Assembly — that no African country can achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 — I would like to make two positions clear. First, the statement confirms what I said yesterday at the high-level meeting on Africa’s development needs. Discussing sustainable development without discussing socio-economic transformation is not correct.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

14. “High fuel prices are a real problem for countries that do not have petroleum. Maximizing the use of other forms of energy — including hydropower; geothermal power, which is used effectively in countries such as Iceland; solar power; wind power; and biofuels — is part of the answer for such countries. All that, however, depends on the development of human resources through education. An educated population has more capacity to look for answers than an uneducated population. As far as Uganda is concerned, in addition to lazy individuals, the only groups that are adversely affected by high food prices are salary earners in towns. Unlike farmers, they cannot benefit from higher food prices; yet they must buy food.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

15. “Recently, an Indian- owned company installed a high-tech integrated milk- processing plant and began to process powdered milk, producing a whole range of finished milk products: pasteurized milk, ultra-heat-treated (long-life) milk, yoghurt, butter, ghee, et cetera. Those milk products are now being exported to all parts of the world. Another example has been bananas. Uganda produces 10 million metric tons of bananas per annum. These are high-quality bananas — called enyam wonyo in one of our local dialects — which contain rare ingredients. They are quite different from the bananas known in other parts of the world. Forty per cent of those bananas have been rotting in gardens and marketplaces. Our scientists, funded by our Government, are now converting them into processed foods such as flour, bread, snacks, et cetera.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

16. “It is good that the United States of America, the European Union, India, Japan and China have opened their markets to African products, tariff-free, quota- free. However, there is still the issue of subsidies. They should be removed. In Uganda, we farm without subsidies. Why should not the farmers in those countries with better infrastructure, lower interest rates, abundant electricity, et cetera, do the same? Why do they need protection? Protectionism interferes with those countries that can produce food easily, such as Uganda. That is not correct. We have been producing too much milk without having the capacity to process it.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

17. “That means they need better food, better houses that require cement and steel bars, and better means of locomotion such as cars. That is why food and commodity prices have gone up. It is for the same reason that petroleum prices have gone up: if only 200 people were driving cars previously, the number has now risen to 400. That means more demand for petroleum. Following the continuously 21 08-51606 rising petroleum prices, some Western countries have started talking of biofuels — using plants to produce diesel. Uganda, however, welcomes all of this. It is an opportunity, as far as we are concerned. It is not a bottleneck. In fact, farmers in Uganda are already reaping high. That is why our economy grew by 9 per cent last year. Once we solve the problem of energy, our economy will grow in double digits.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

18. “That was an account of two problems: first, protectionism in the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, et cetera; and secondly, the lack of factories to process that food so that it could reach distant markets. Apart from these two, there are other factors in some African countries, including poor traffic infrastructure, lack of electricity, lack of seeds, et cetera. These, however, do not apply to Uganda. In the case of Uganda, the problem has been the lack of markets and low processing capacity, in other words, low value addition. The rest we have, or we can have easily. The high food and commodity prices have arisen on account of the hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians that have entered the opulent middle class in the last 20 years.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

19. “Today the world is facing a multitude of problems, many of which the United Nations was meant to address. It is encouraging that the theme chosen for this session is the impact of the global food crisis on poverty and hunger in the world as well as the need to democratize the United Nations. The view of some of us in Uganda is that the so-called food crisis is actually good for equatorial Africa. It is certainly good for Uganda’s farmers. Over the years, we have been growing a lot of food: maize, bananas, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, rice and wheat; and producing animal products such as milk and beef. The problem has always been the market for this food.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

20. “Allow me at the outset, Sir, to congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly. Uganda is convinced that, with your experience and well-known diplomatic skills, we shall have a successful session. I wish today to pay tribute to your predecessor, His Excellency Srgjan Kerim, for the excellent manner in which he presided over the sixty-second session. I would also like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General for his leadership and efforts to reform our Organization. The founding fathers of the United Nations had a dream of creating an organization whose purpose, among others, was “to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character”.”

    2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)

21. “Those who strive to dominate or exploit others have illegitimate ambitions. We now have a chance to build a new, just world. The free will of all peoples should be ensured. In addition, the most important instrument of emancipation, free trade, should give African goods quota- and tariff-free access to the markets of the countries of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) and vice versa. Africa is beginning to tame its conflicts. The conflict in Lesotho was resolved by an African mechanism. Recently, the Arusha Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation ended the conflict in Burundi. It is possible to resolve our age-old problems and finally become part of the new world order rather than mere spectators of the process.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

22. “Elements that claim to be acting in the name of Islam have been the ones taking the wrong position in this conflict, seeking hegemony over God’s people. I, therefore, support the position of the United States on this occasion, as we did in the Gulf War, in fighting and defeating these reactionaries, who profane the name of freedom fighters. If necessary, all countries of the world opposed to terrorism should contribute troops and finish the job quickly. The coalition against terrorism should be regarded in the same way as the coalition against fascism in the 1930s and 1940s. Nevertheless, the just aspirations of the Palestinian people and of other oppressed peoples, like the people of southern Sudan, must be supported so that we can get peaceful resolutions to these conflicts. I welcome freedom and equality for all peoples of the world.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

23. “Therefore, the terrorists, who claim to be fighting for the Palestinian cause, are objectively hurting the interests of Africans, who have always been the allies of the Palestinians. This is counter- productive. The terrorists have also tried to polarize the world, pitting Moslems against Christians. This is erroneous and unacceptable. Exploitation knows no boundaries and cuts across all races and religions. Exploiters are found in all religions and races. The Arabs had to oppose Turkish imperialism. Yet both the Arabs and the Turks were Muslims. Why, then, did they have to oppose each other? One of the monsters of the last century, Idi Amin, of my country, was a Muslim. We had to get rid of him to liberate everybody, including the Muslims, in Uganda. War has been going 11 on in the Sudan for decades.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

24. “There was a criminal called Idi Amin whom we had to fight. However, we never used terrorism. This is on the record. We always fought combatant to combatant. Quite a number of times our comrades used mass action: strikes, demonstrations, petitions, diplomatic struggle and so on. Not a single plane was hijacked by African freedom fighters, although there were anti-colonial wars in all these countries. Terrorist actions are misguided and criminal and must be opposed by all as a matter of principle. Africa was beginning to benefit from AGOA, the measure taken by the Americans to open their markets to our goods. Business has, however, now somewhat slumped in America.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

25. “Even if someone is a soldier, if he is off duty, he should not be attacked, if one claims to be a freedom fighter. He should not be attacked. It is against the laws of war. The terrorist fights a war without declaring one. That is why terrorists hijack planes, plant bombs in populated centres and so forth. We normally get technical advice from other parts of the world. The Europeans always come to give us technical advice. I would like to give you technical advice about freedom-fighting. We have done very well in that. In Africa, since 1961, we have fought wars of liberation in Mozambique against the Portuguese; in Angola against the Portuguese; in Guinea-Bissau against the Portuguese; in Zimbabwe against minority whites; in South Africa against minority whites; in Namibia against minority whites; and in Uganda against Idi Amin.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

26. “The difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter lies in the fact that while a freedom fighter sometimes may be forced to use violence, he cannot use indiscriminate violence. The person who uses indiscriminate violence is a terrorist. A freedom fighter may sometimes be forced to use violence. I was forced to use violence against Idi Amin. But I never hijacked a plane. It was never heard that Museveni hijacked a plane or planted a bomb in a bar. People in bars are not politicians. Some of them just go there to make merry. What kind of revolutionary is someone who kills such people? The person who uses indiscriminate violence is a terrorist. A terrorist does not differentiate between combatants and non- combatants, between civilians and servicemen and between armed servicemen and unarmed servicemen.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

27. “The oppressors, the colonialists and those who sought to control the destiny of others used barbaric methods: genocide, forced labour, ethnocide and so on. It is amazing, therefore, that some of those who claim to be fighting for the liberation of oppressed peoples also use barbaric means such as terrorism. In the ongoing debate on terrorism I have not heard anybody bothering to define the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist. What is the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? Mzee Nelson Mandela — “Mzee” means someone who is dignified and elderly — was a freedom fighter until recently. Was he a terrorist? Not at all. Did anyone hear that Mr. Mandela had hijacked a plane or planted a bomb in a restaurant? But Mr. Mandela was a freedom fighter. He was not a terrorist.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

28. “Whenever I travel abroad, I pack my own Ugandan foods — milk, millet flour, fruits, legumes, chicken, honey and plantain bananas, called matooke in our language. The other day, on my way here, my pineapple stocks ran out and my staff bought pineapples from a supermarket in the United Kingdom. I took just one slice and terminated the whole exercise at once. First of all, the pineapple was hard. I had never seen a hard pineapple until I saw that one in London. It was less sweet and had an ammonia-like pungent taste. I had had the same experience in Washington once. They brought something they called a pineapple. I could not believe it. Why must citizens of the world endure these deprivations on account of policies designed to serve narrow interests? Why must this be? I will not eat pineapple again until I go back to Uganda.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

29. “We are handling this in a variety of ways, including through economic blocs like the Southern Africa Development Community in southern Africa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa in East and Central Africa and the Economic Community of West African States in western Africa. The world needs to encourage these positive trends in Africa by opening up their markets on a quota-free, tariff-free basis. This will, ipso facto, force multinational investors to rush to Africa and invest there. They are already doing so just by the limited AGOA measures by the Americans. With more civilized aims and methods, balanced world 10 development is possible and desirable for everybody, including OECD citizens who are forced to eat inferior foods and are taxed to protect those poor-quality foods against better foods from Africa.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

30. “The preachers of free trade are practising incredibly expensive protectionism. What an unfortunate paradox. These double standards must end. Africa has removed some of the old impediments, some of the old endogenous factors, to private investment. The sanctity of private property is now almost a universal concept in Africa. Nationalization of private enterprises is no more. Some of the African countries have a consistently stable macroeconomic framework. Inflation in Uganda is now negative 0.3 per cent. The African currencies are now convertible; a large part of Africa is very peaceful; infrastructure is reasonable; and democracy is widely practised in Africa today. We are even addressing the issue of the excessive political Balkanization of the continent, which has 53 States, compared to 3 States in the whole North American continent.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

31. “The Europeans must catch up with the Americans in shedding this uncomplimentary label. Although they have talked about “everything but guns” going into Europe from Africa, they are still giving subsidies to artificial farmers in Europe. As a consequence of the $1.2 trillion value of global trade in agricultural products, Africa gets only about $20 billion — if the recent results of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are included; that is about 2 per cent of the total. So of the total value of agricultural trade, Africa only gets 2 per cent. At the same time, the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are spending $361 billion on artificial subsidies for farmers of those countries. Yet these are the countries that evangelize in the name of free trade.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

32. “Subsidies to the farmers of Europe must end, if we are talking of a global village of symbiosis, and not parasitism. I commend the American Government and President George Bush for the recent African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) initiative. Although Uganda has not yet benefited from AGOA on account of our endogenous weaknesses, which have been accentuated by the blurred views of our partners in the multilateral institutions, other African countries have started benefit, such as Kenya, Madagascar, Lesotho, Nigeria and South Africa. This is good. The African Growth and Opportunity Act enunciated by the American Government is the first good news I have heard in a long time. The Americans are at last beginning to change their image of being parasitic global villagers.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

33. “As I have said, the unredeemed are so categorized partly on account of their own internal mistakes — such as sectarianism, xenophobia, unprincipled conflicts, the strangulation of free enterprise, the political balkanization of their regions, the strangulation of political freedoms and so on — and partly on account of still very unfavourable exogenous factors. The most unfavourable such factor is the lack of access by these countries to markets in North America, the European Union, Japan, China, India and Russia. The song about aid is meaningless without access to markets. Aid without access to markets is meaningless. All protectionism must end, especially in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation in Europe (OECD).”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

34. “For a variety of reasons, some formerly colonized peoples — such as the Indians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, South-East Asians and Native Americans — and formerly semi-colonized peoples, such as the Chinese, have made significant upward movements that are helping, slowly but surely, to even out the balance of power in the world. Some other peoples, however, on account of a number of endogenous and exogenous factors, are still living as the wretched of the Earth. Many Africans and some Arabs fall into this category of the still-unredeemed of the Earth.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

35. “9 Even today, however, the authorship of the inequality among peoples is still a joint responsibility of the victims — who in this case are Africans, Arabs and other marginalized peoples — of the parasitic globalization movement that is now 500 years old, on the one hand, and the beneficiaries of this hitherto unequal and, in the past, evil movement, on the other hand. Both the victims and the beneficiaries of the parasitic globalization movement are responsible for this situation. The beneficiaries of the hitherto parasitic globalization movement have been the North Americans, the Europeans and the Japanese.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

36. “Until very recently the Europeans did not possess the technological means to subdue the African continent as far as means of transport — that is to say, railways — weapons or medicine were concerned. Without the fratricidal, brother-against-brother wars fomented by African chiefs, neither the slave trade nor colonialism would have been possible. We would have defeated the colonialists and forced them, right from the beginning, to cooperate with us to everybody’s mutual benefit. Weakness on the side of the potential victim always tempts the aggressor. The aggressor is always encouraged by the weakness of the potential victim.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

37. “It was a parasitic globalization movement; it was not a symbiotic globalization movement. Therefore the only new question we can legitimately and usefully ask is: Will the new phase of globalization be less parasitic and more symbiotic, or not? That is the question. Will the new globalization be to everybody’s mutual benefit, or will it be the old story of parasitism on a global scale? The parasitism in the world is not the sole responsibility of those who benefit from inequality. Even the victims have always contributed to their marginalization by their own wrong aims and methods — before colonization, during colonization and, even, after colonization. Myopic African chiefs were the main facilitators of the slave trade.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

38. “That was long before communism took over in Russia. Therefore the cold war could not have been responsible for these mistakes and for the complications they created, many of which we are still grappling with today, especially in Africa. Therefore, the euphoria that followed the end of the cold war was not wholly justified. The song about globalization, as I have pointed out repeatedly, is not a new tune at all. Africans were globalized as slaves all over all over the world in the 1440s. My Christian name is Joel, actually a Jewish name, so I am already globalized. Many of my countrymen have got Arab names like Azizi and Musa because they are Muslims. We were globalized long ago in Africa. Unfortunately, though, that globalization movement was parasitic.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

39. “There is a lot of talk floating around regarding some catchwords: the “new international order”, “globalization”, the “global village” and so forth. All of these ebullient, self- gratifying positions are, apparently, due to the end of the cold war between the Western countries and the former Soviet Union. Of course, the end of the dangerous and misguided rivalry between communism and capitalism is welcome and has, indeed, opened some new opportunities, if fully utilized by all concerned. However, it must be pointed out unequivocally that many of the problems in the world today predate the cold war; they predate the onset of communism in Russia in 1917. The slave trade started in the 1440s along the West African coast. A shift from bleeding Africa through slavery to resident colonialism was ordained in Berlin in 1884.”

    2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)

40. “We reaffirm the right of all countries to determine, in all sovereignty, their system of democracy on the basis of their socio-cultural values, taking into account the realities of our countries, the necessity to ensure development and to satisfy the basic needs of our peoples. We therefore assert that democracy and development should go together and should be mutually reinforcing.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

41. “The view of the black majority is that they want the sanctions. If we are truly interested in assisting them we should respect their views on this important matter. Those who doubt the efficacy of sanctions must now reassess their positions in the light of the current position elsewhere in the world. If sanctions can work in Iraq they can work in South Africa. Finally, I should like to call on the United Nations system to implement the United Nations resolutions on the Middle East and the Gulf. We cannot talk about freedom in the rest of the world and forget the people of Kuwait and the people of Palestine.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

42. “Our continent cannot prosper if these struggles continue. We appeal to the international community to support peace and to eschew destabilisation in Africa, a peaceful Africa will ultimately serve and enhance the cause of global peace. In this regard I must emphasize the obligation of all member countries to intensify pressure upon the apartheid regime in South Africa to hasten the end of that affront to humanity. The sanctions against South Africa are being felt by the racist regime. They should therefore be tightened in order to force South Africa to abandon apartheid at once. The Africans in South Africa itself have expressed support for sanctions as a means of forcing the racists to abandon apartheid. It is therefore incorrect to maintain the view that sanctions are wrong because presumably they hurt the black majority.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

43. “The time is long overdue for reversing the decline in the terms of trade of the developing countries. Fourthly, I urge the multilateral institutions to adopt more flexible macro-economic policies which recognise the limits of current economic knowledge and which emphasise long-term development and not merely short-term stabilization. Fifthly, I reiterate that the Organisation of African Unity fully accepts the objectives of popular democracy. Our Organization will continue to encourage its members to create an environment for freedom and democracy in every African country. We recognize that there are too many - and in some cases protracted - internecine struggles in Africa today. Liberia is a recent and very tragic example. These conflicts are also, more often than not, funded by outside interests.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

44. “It is my sincere hope that the Assembly will concur in the proposals that have been put to it by Africa. In conclusion, first I request that, a special effort be mounted by the world community, through this Organization, to increase resources for investment in education in Africa. That is one of the surest ways to lay the foundation for the scientific and technical revolution which Africa must now accomplish in order to bring about self-sustaining development. Secondly, I call upon Africa's creditors, including the multilateral institutions, to adopt realistic attitudes that are effectively compatible with Africa's long-term development and growth. Thirdly, I must make a special appeal to all Members of this Organisation to re-examine the conduct of international trade, so that it is free and fair to all participating countries.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

45. “The Conference of Ministers of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has recommended that mechanisms for the final review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme should be similar to those of the mid-term review of the Programme, and that for this purpose an ad hoc committee of the whole of the General Assembly should be established to appraise the Programme and to propose measures for sustained development in Africa beyond 1991. The Organisation of African Unity endorses this recommendation and hopes that the necessary resources will be made available to the ECA to carry out the review exercise. The current session of the General Assembly has been entrusted with the task of establishing the mechanism for the final review of the Programme.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

46. “Searching questions must be asked and an in-depth assessment must be conducted at that session on the fate of the 1986 consensus, the impact it has had on bringing about economic recovery and development, and the extent to which all parties to this historic alliance have honoured the commitments contained in the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990. Based on that final review and evaluation the General Assembly will also need to pronounce itself on the measures that need to be undertaken to support a process of sustained growth and transformation in Africa in the post-Programme period. It is therefore imperative that the final review of the implementation of the United Nations Programme and support for African development and transformation endeavours in the 1990s should be conducted.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

47. “That historic session witnessed the forging of a unique compact and coalition between Africa aid the international community to accelerate socio-economic recovery and development in Africa. Unfortunately, that global coalition has not been sustained as the crisis in Africa, rather than abating, has become worse. A final review of the implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990 will be conducted at the forty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

48. “That challenge is the conquest of economic underdevelopment and the emancipation of all African peoples from political servitude. In my remarks to the Assembly today, I have touched on some of the major obstacles to the attainment of these objectives. We believe that this Organization has a role to play in their realization. Let me therefore take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for the United Nations, and our confidence in the capacity and willingness of the world community to assist Africa's quest for economic and political freedom. In this connection, I would recall the special session of the General Assembly on 1 June 1986; at which the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990 was unanimously adopted.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

49. “The acceptance of cultural variety is, in our view, not inconsistent with the yearning for universal human freedom, nor is it an escape mechanism by which tyrants can impose dictatorships on their peoples. It is simply a recognition of the fundamental forces at work in different parts of the world at different times. Nevertheless, the principles that form the essence of democracy are not negotiable. These are: accountability to the population; regular elections; a free press; universal suffrage; and unrestricted entry into the political process by those seeking election to leadership roles. These form the essence of democracy; the forms, however, may differ, and this is legitimate. Africa is faced with a special challenge in the remainder of this century.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)

50. “We find considerable danger and paradox in the attempt to prescribe, in a virtually dictatorial, intolerant fashion, a brand of democracy which is ready-made and presumed to be the only correct one. I wish to urge the people of the world to agree that the cause of democracy would be better served by accepting pluralism, not only within the borders of a given State but also throughout the world. In this way, international democracy will emerge as an acceptance of multiple approaches to political freedom by the various peoples of the world. If the fundamental basis of democracy is the tolerance of alternative views within a given economy, then the logical extension of this concept to the international level is the tolerance of alternative perceptions of democratic freedom by different cultures.”

    1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)