YouSaid · the spoken record

Mbanefo

lines on the record: 181
first: 1999-10-22
most recent: 2003-06-12
sittings or episodes: 18
sources: un-security-council

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

“While the Security Council may be responsible for issuing mandates, and the Secretariat may be responsible for logistics and administration through the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, it is troop-contributing countries that actually translate Security Council mandates into action. It is their soldiers that are deployed in the field to face the dangers of war and, sometimes, to make the ultimate sacrifice in the process. It is therefore important that these three bodies continue to consult among themselves for the eventual success of any operation at hand. War and conflict constitute a phenomenon that has been associated with the existence of homo sapiens. While time has changed the means and tools of war, the basic instinct of man's desire to overpower the other has remained unchanged.”
2001-01-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4257 (2001) · source
“Both the Security Council and the General Assembly endorsed various recommendations of the Security Council working group and of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations on the Panel's report. It is therefore commendable that the Council decided to debate under your presidency, Sir, the issues raised. As a major troop contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations, Nigeria has always felt the need for better coordination and consultation between troop- contributing countries, the Security Council and the Secretariat. This, in our view, is the best way to forge trust and understanding among the various stakeholders and to ensure the success of the various United Nations peacekeeping operations.”
2001-01-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4257 (2001) · source
“Permit me to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your recent election to the Security Council and on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. My delegation has great confidence in your ability to effectively guide the Council during your presidency, and we want to assure you of our unwavering support. The debate on strengthening cooperation with troop-contributing countries is as timely as it is appropriate. This is because during the Millennium Summit and the Millennium Assembly a lot of energy was devoted to the issue of peacekeeping operations and how to make them more effective. The Brahimi Panel's report on peacekeeping operations generated significant interest among Member States and thereby renewed the momentum to push for strengthening the capacity of the United Nations peacekeeping operations.”
2001-01-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4257 (2001) · source
“Their involvement in wars is much more worrisome than their involvement in productive labour. The Security Council should therefore work out procedures and mechanisms for bringing the perpetrators, who must be seen as criminals, to justice. If we fail to do this in a decisive manner, we will be surrendering the future of the world's children to the whims and caprices of warlords. The Security Council must act now.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176Resumption1 (2000) · source
“African leaders are deploying their best efforts not only to resolve the raging conflicts on our continent but also to prevent them. A major effort in this regard is being nurtured within the framework of the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDA). Its major thrust is to build African capacity for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts. Since we all acknowledge that the traumatic experiences of children which I characterized earlier are unacceptable, it therefore behoves the Security Council and the international community to devise ways and means of preventing the recurrence of this phenomenon. There must be rules to protect our children in conflict or war zones from becoming instruments of war.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176Resumption1 (2000) · source
“Another regrettable aspect of this situation is the fact that a dependency syndrome has been unwittingly created in these societies. Because these societies are ravaged by war, they are not in a position to fashion any meaningful and well-funded programme of rehabilitation. In this regard my delegation wishes to pay special tribute to non-governmental organizations, which have been very active in assisting these helpless children. It is also necessary to commend Mr. Olara Otunu, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, for all he has been able to do to focus world attention on this unacceptable phenomenon. Obviously, a permanent solution to this problem is the prevention of conflict.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176Resumption1 (2000) · source
“Instead of playing with toys and other children in their communities, they are armed with AK-47 rifles. Rather than go to school, their classroom is the battlefield where they are taught to kill. Besides the phenomenon of the child soldier, these societies are further traumatized by the horrendous injuries inflicted on these innocent children. Sierra Leone typifies an unacceptable phase of brutality in a conflict situation. How do families cope with a situation where all the children have no arms or limbs? How do communities cope with a population of armless citizens? These are very pertinent questions the Security Council and indeed the international community need to address in fashioning measures to deal with those who perpetrate these atrocities.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176Resumption1 (2000) · source
“In the past years, the world has watched with horror the carnage of wars in the continent of Africa in which civilian populations have endured unimaginable suffering and hardship. Particularly gruesome is the image of the brutal activities of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone who blatantly offended the decency of humanity by indiscriminately cutting off the limbs of hundreds of men, women and children in the face of a helpless Government. It is sad to note that some of those who participated in committing these heinous crimes were children recruited by the various belligerent groups. Those children, between 7 and 14 years of age, are robbed of their innocence and exposed to hard drugs. They are manipulated to become the perfect killing machines.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176Resumption1 (2000) · source
“The Nigerian delegation wishes to express its appreciation to you, Madam President, for convening this very important meeting on children and armed conflict. Its is essential and indeed right for the Security Council to focus on the plight of children in armed conflict in view of the recent escalation of intra-State conflicts in the different regions of the world, particularly in Africa. This meeting is also a testimony of the commitment of the Security Council, under your presidency, to intensify efforts to bring to an end the exploitation of innocent children by warlords to achieve their goals through armed conflict. It will also, one hopes, mobilize international public opinion against all those who have wrought horrendous havoc on innocent children of the world.”
2000-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4176Resumption1 (2000) · source
“Nigeria therefore hopes that the results of this discussion today will mark the beginning of the establishment of concrete action plans to address this very urgent world problem. Encouraged by the goodwill of the global partnership against AIDS, we believe that the issues of AIDS and armed conflicts, with all their impact on the African situation, will be accorded the status of an international security agenda item, which they deserve and which, we also believe, fall within the competence of the Security Council.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“Just as the impact of AIDS is multidimensional, so should the solution to it take into account not only the aspect of medical cure but also the concomitant hindrances that militate against Africa's efforts to rid itself of disease and develop its people and its economies. Africa has been ravaged by intractable armed conflicts, disease, poverty and so on. As if the devastating effects of those things were not enough, HIV/AIDS has been added to its woes. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which threatens mankind with extinction - and especially today in Africa - together with armed conflicts, deserves no less attention from the Security Council than the use or threat of nuclear weaponry in any part of the world, which is rightly regarded as a threat to international peace and security.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“It is of the view that HIV/AIDS-diagnosed persons must not be stigmatized and treated as outcasts of society. They need understanding and therefore must be encouraged to be open about their affliction, as this is the only way to ensure that the problem is adequately tackled at all levels. Education and information therefore must play vital roles for the containment and the subsequent eradication of this global problem. Such national efforts as these stand to achieve little, given the enormity of the pandemic and the socio-economic and scientific hindrances prevalent in the African continent.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“Policies are being reviewed to ensure a more favourable environment for HIV/AIDS control. More stakeholders are being mobilized in the response against HIV/AIDS through the Expanded National Response to AIDS (ENRA). More funds are being allocated to our national AIDS programmes. The media awareness campaign is being intensified at all levels of government, with an active response from both local and international non- governmental organizations. HIV surveillance has been intensified to define the determinants and driving force of the epidemic. The Nigerian Government hopes that access to information and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, combined with access to curative drugs, will have a positive impact at the grass-roots level of society to stem the spread of the disease.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“It thus poses a serious and real threat to humanity and universal security. Global statistics have not shown any nation, developed or developing, to be free from HIV/AIDS. But its prevalence in Africa, a continent of 53 developing countries and toddling economies clamped down by huge external debt overhang and lack of technically skilled human resources, deserves urgent national and international joint action to find solutions and work towards the eradication of this global scourge. What must be done? As one of its new national priorities, Nigeria has renewed its commitment to the crusade against HIV/AIDS at various levels. President Obasanjo has assumed personal leadership of the campaign against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Indeed, the cabinet committee on HIV/AIDS was inaugurated this morning in Nigeria.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“That it threatens the security of any nation cannot be in doubt. Demographically, the population is incrementally decimated or, at best, debilitated. Economically, the labour force suffers attrition, thereby paralysing national productivity, economic growth and sustainable development. It destroys communities by generating social disharmony. The physical defence of the nation is not spared either, as the manpower needed to secure nations' territorial integrity is most adversely affected. Even the residual population is systematically whittled down through death from this pandemic. Women and children are not spared. The worst impact of all is the looming extinction of entire populations of nations. It is now scientifically well established that this killer disease does not respect national boundaries.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“Kofi Annan, deserves special commendation for his statement, which not only painted a true and pathetic picture of the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa but also called for urgent international action to save mankind from the looming catastrophe. As my President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, recently reminded the General Assembly, Africa is bearing the brunt of this terrible disease, which now kills about 2 million people annually on the continent. Indeed, it has overtaken malaria as Africa's major primary health-care problem. In fact, the World Health Organization report released last November showed that of the 5.6 million people in the world diagnosed with HIV last year, 70 per cent were in Africa, and nowhere is the rate of HIV infection growing faster than in Africa. The impact of HIV/AIDS is multidimensional.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“As much as I am tempted to speak without my prepared speech, I find that in order to save time it would be wise to confine myself to my prepared text. On behalf of the Government and the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I thank you most sincerely, Mr. President, for convening this dialogue in the Security Council on the situation in Africa and the impact of AIDS and security. The fact that no less a person than the Vice- President of the United States presided over the proceedings today underscores the importance your country attaches to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. In this regard, the financial commitments announced by the Vice-President are welcome. The Secretary-General, Mr.”
2000-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4087Resumption1 (2000) · source
“My President, President Olusegun Obasanjo, put it aptly in a statement he made some years ago, when he said that democracy cannot be sustained on an empty stomach. The international community, therefore, needs to initiate far-reaching measures to assist these fledgling democracies to sustain good governance and democratic institutions. These measures should include, first, the cancellation of the debts of African countries. If African States were free from their debt burden, they would be able to use the resources that would have been expended in servicing debts to execute important programmes and projects that would benefit their people. Secondly, concerted international efforts should be made urgently to move African peoples from the misery and poverty that have come to characterize their societies as a result of conflict.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“A sure way of ensuring that they do not slump into crisis and conflict is for the international community to be actively involved in the rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation efforts. Another area on which the Security Council needs to focus attention is the type of support it can put in place to prevent fledgling democracies on our continent from sliding into conflict. This decade has witnessed the transition of many African States from single-party and military regimes into multi-party democracies. Significant as this development is, it has not brought about improvements in the living standards of our people. The economic situation of many African States is such that African leaders are not in a position to initiate programmes and projects that will bring "democratic dividends" in terms of tangible benefits to their people.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“While they face mammoth problems in all sectors, they lack the resources and the capacity to address these problems in a very profound manner. The question being asked is why the United Nations and the international community are not showing the same enthusiasm to support the African States concerned so that they, too, can replicate the success of countries in Europe. The international community should, therefore, demonstrate the same type of commitment to Africa, which is so manifest in the efforts to rebuild European countries, particularly in the Balkans. The current situation in which African States are left virtually on their own to tackle these problems is unsatisfactory.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“Making this partnership work for the promotion of peace and security in this region will entail, first, regular consultation between the United Nations Secretary-General and ECOWAS leaders, and, secondly, commitment of resources by donor countries to support peace-making, peacekeeping and peace-building in the subregion. The second area is conflict prevention. Let us now focus on how to prevent conflicts on the continent. The important issue that needs to be addressed is what far- reaching measures the United Nations and the international community can take to prevent the States that have just emerged from conflict situations from relapsing into conflict. It is widely recognized that States in transition from war to peace are always in a fragile situation.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“ECOMOG has thus become a veritable instrument for peacekeeping in the West Africa subregion. It has succeeded in preventing the chaos and horrendous human tragedies that characterized the early stages of the Liberian crisis. The recent United Nations decision to authorize the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was the type of response that ECOWAS leaders requested in Liberia but was denied. UNAMSIL, therefore, is a welcome initiative. It formalizes the type of partnership that should be struck between the United Nations and a sub-regional organization such as ECOWAS.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“I only hope that it will not end there, as informal consultations to tackle the issues that have been drawn up here today should continue. Given the format of this meeting, I want to focus on two broad areas. The first is cooperation between the United Nations and regional arrangements in conflict resolution and management. In this regard, I shall be talking from my point of experience, which is my own subregion. The Council will recall that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) emerged as a result of initial lack of interest by members of the international community in the Liberian conflict. ECOWAS leaders rose to the challenge and successfully brokered peace in Liberia, and they are now active in ensuring that peace and stability return to Sierra Leone.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“First, I wish to say that what I have prepared are talking points, more or less, because of the impression we had when we were invited to this meeting. I wish to convey the appreciation of the Nigerian delegation to you, Mr. President, for convening this first interactive session of the Security Council on Africa. Somehow it has become the tradition to treat Africa as a disabled child deserving special attention and treatment on all issues. It is in this context that I welcome the first step of the Security Council to learn firsthand of Africa, hopefully from Africans themselves. I also acknowledge with enthusiasm, and indeed look forward to, the possibility of a continuation of this initiative during the presidency of the United States next month.”
1999-12-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4081Resumption1 (1999) · source
“In conclusion, it is our hope that the successful implementation of the draft resolution will lead to a post-conflict peace-building that ensures lasting peace, stability and socio-economic development, not only for Sierra Leone but for the entire subregion.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source
“We support and commend this development, and hope that the United Nations Organization will continue to employ a similar approach with other regional and subregional organizations in the pursuit of international peace and security. My delegation would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of donor countries in meeting the material and logistic requirements of ECOMOG and the Government of Sierra Leone. We urge the United Nations and the entire international community to commit themselves to the faithful implementation of the draft resolution in order that the people of Sierra Leone may derive the maximum benefit from this gesture of international goodwill.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source
“In our subregion, we have deployed enormous human and material resources in the search for enduring solutions to conflicts. Our efforts in Liberia and, later, in Sierra Leone bear testimony to our devotion to the cherished principles of good- neighbourliness and international responsibility, in the conviction that no meaningful development can take place in the absence of peace and stability. In this vein, Nigeria stands ready to play its part in UNAMSIL to facilitate the implementation of the Lome Agreement. UNAMSIL represents a rare but desirable form of cooperation between the United Nations and a subregional organization, in fulfilment of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source
“In spite of limited resources and inadequate logistical support and amid considerable international apathy, ECOMOG was still able to contain the crisis. Its actions culminated in the Peace Agreement signed in Lome on 7 July 1999. It is largely those initiatives that laid the foundation establishing UNAMSIL. We therefore pay tribute to the leadership of ECOWAS for its vision and perseverance, even in the face of daunting difficulties. Particular commendation also goes to the troop-contributing countries of ECOMOG. Ghana and Guinea deserve particular mention as principal players in ECOMOG, contributing troops and material resources as well as providing crucial logistic support. We would appreciate their continued participation in the process. The commitment of Nigeria to international peace and security is not in doubt.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source
“There is no doubt that the children, women and men of Sierra Leone are the biggest beneficiaries of the decision to be taken by the Council today. After many years of destruction and deprivation on a monumental scale, bringing untold hardship to, and wreaking havoc on, the population, the people of Sierra Leone can now aspire to a normal life of peace and stability, which is necessary for the socio-economic development of not only the country but also of the entire ECOWAS subregion. The process leading to today's decision has been long and tortuous. Following its success in Liberia, the ECOWAS Monitoring Group took on the Sierra Leone assignment at a time when the initiative was attracting very little international attention.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source
“For the United Nations, the draft resolution is an opportunity to fulfil its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. It also represents a concrete attempt to assist the West African subregion in resolving a local conflict. ECOWAS and its military Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) can today breathe a sigh of relief in the knowledge that the United Nations has finally taken concrete steps to assume its responsibility to maintain peace and security in the subregion. For Nigeria, the creation of UNAMSIL not only vindicates our conviction that the Sierra Leone crisis is a threat to international peace and security, but also relieves us of a disproportionate burden in human and material resources.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source
“I wish first of all to congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council. I have no doubt that the deliberations and decisions of the Council under your able leadership will serve the purposes and principles of the United Nations. This is a particularly important occasion for me, as it is my very first address to this body. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the members of the Council in our collective effort to promote international peace and security. The adoption of the draft resolution establishing the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) will be a landmark development in the search for durable peace in Sierra Leone that will have an impact on the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigeria and, of course, Sierra Leone.”
1999-10-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4054 (1999) · source