Speech by Faustin-Archange Touadera, Head of State of the Central African Republic at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. teleSUR
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00:00 of the Central African Republic and to invite him to address the Assembly.
00:05 Mr. President of the General Assembly, ladies and gentlemen,
00:12 the 78th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization
00:20 is one I am attending on behalf of my country, the Central African Republic.
00:27 It provides me with a felicitous opportunity to reaffirm our staunch determination
00:35 to contribute to the quest for common solutions to the challenges faced by humankind.
00:42 Mr. President, before making my address by way of my country's contribution to the general debate,
00:51 I wish from this high rostrum of the United Nations symbol of our excellence of human solidarity,
00:59 I wish to express the solidarity of the CAR people to the brotherly peoples of Morocco and Libya
01:07 who have been devastated by natural disasters which have produced colossal material damage,
01:19 which is incalculable indeed, and have also claimed thousands of lives.
01:24 This occurred just a few days before the opening of our session.
01:27 As I have underscored on other occasions, the tragic consequences of these natural disasters
01:33 must draw the attention of the world's scientific community to the urgent need to pinpoint the regions of the world
01:41 which are particularly vulnerable to extreme climate events and must prompt them to make available to the states concerned
01:51 the necessary information to limit the damage caused by such events.
01:57 Moreover, the entire world followed with great dismay in recent days
02:07 the arrival en masse of thousands of African migrants to the island of Lampedusa in Italy.
02:14 These young people represent the present and the future of our continent of Africa.
02:20 They are seeking desperately to reach the European continent in search of a promised land.
02:29 This escalation of the migrant crisis is one of the terrifying consequences of the looting of the natural resources
02:40 owned by the countries made poor by slavery, colonialism and Western imperialism,
02:46 as well as terrorism and internal armed conflicts.
02:50 These are often waged in furtherance of hegemonizing agendas
02:55 and against a backdrop of geopolitical and geostrategic tensions between major global powers.
03:01 Here I do mourn the existence and decry the existence of this dehumanizing phenomenon.
03:10 Nevertheless, I hail solidarity and unprecedented efforts deployed by host countries and the IOM
03:17 to provide assistance to these young people whose very lives are in peril by smugglers and lawless dream merchants.
03:26 However, my country believes that the UN must go beyond our common commitment to revitalize global solidarity.
03:34 It must get African countries on board in the search for global solutions to migratory crises
03:41 and to the existential challenges which are facing the young people of the African continent.
03:46 Mr. President, our countries continue to face climate chaos,
03:53 to weather geopolitical tensions and face financial challenges,
03:59 as well as unprecedented energy and food crises.
04:03 At the same time, new challenges are appearing day after day on the global horizon.
04:11 Today in Africa, as elsewhere, conflicts, symptoms of geopolitical and geostrategic tensions that divide the major powers are plain to see.
04:21 In Sudan, an internal armed conflict, rare in its cruelty, erupted in April 2023.
04:29 And that was at a time when the country was well on the way to normalization,
04:35 with a promising process of dialogue underway, bringing together the nation's key players.
04:41 The CARC has already hosted 15,000 Chadian and Sudanese refugees in the Wacagah Prefecture.
04:55 And our people are resilient, but hosting those refugees means we are exposing our people
05:02 to a worsening of the humanitarian situation, and we risk seeing our security situation worsen further still.
05:10 I call upon you to take account of the impact of this crisis and the effect it's having on regional geopolitics,
05:18 and please show international solidarity in favor of our refugees.
05:23 Against the backdrop of this session, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict continues to play out on the ground.
05:29 There are no prospects for the peaceful settlement of this consequence,
05:32 and that is in spite of the fact that the consequences of this conflict for the world are painful and deeply unfortunate.
05:39 Mr. President, the persistence and increase in the number of hotbeds of tension throughout the world
05:45 raise questions about the effectiveness of certain mechanisms for the prevention and peaceful settlement of disputes that the UN has at its disposal.
05:57 The UN's primary mission is to guarantee international peace and security.
06:03 These question marks are why we forcefully reaffirm the Common African position regarding Security Council reform.
06:13 That position seeks to increase the number of permanent and non-permanent members on the Council
06:18 and to grant a permanent seat to Africa, which is the only right and just thing to do.
06:23 The CAR believes that there is an urgent need to provide redress for the historical injustices done to Africa
06:30 in view of important agendas on the table and important summits, such as the Summit of the Future in 2024
06:37 and the 80th anniversary of the United Nations in 2025.
06:42 Both of the above could provide opportunities for member states to unite
06:46 and to take tangible measures to ultimately usher in the aforementioned reform.
06:52 Mr. President, the CAR is pondering a question, and that is how can we expedite the fulfillment of Agenda 2030
07:05 to bring about peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all
07:11 at a time when certain states, wielding all of their political, economic and military might,
07:19 continue and consistently avail themselves of coercive diplomacy or instrumentalize IFIs
07:27 in order to impose economic, financial and trade blockades against those countries
07:33 that have been made poor by slavery, colonialism and imperialism.
07:39 Indeed, on 29 July 2023, the people of the CAR learned to their great distress
07:47 of the renewal of the arms embargo that was brought about by trumped-up reports and allegations
08:00 with spurious exemptions provided for the national security forces.
08:05 The CAR criticizes here before the world the cynical decision which betrays the unspoken intention
08:13 of the members of the Council that voted for it to instrumentalize sanction regimes for political purposes
08:19 and to bring political pressure to bear under the aegis of the United Nations.
08:23 Here, I remind you and I rue the fact that arms embargoes and diamond embargoes
08:29 that have been renewed for the last 10 years happen in parallel with the suspension of budgetary and economic support.
08:39 Both of these factors are real obstacles for my country's achievement of the realization of Agenda 2030.
08:46 Here, we repudiate this denial of our right to self-determination and permanent sovereignty
08:51 over our wealth and natural resources, rights guaranteed by the relevant legal instruments of the United Nations.
08:59 Please do away with these trumped-up mechanisms which thinly veil a desire to allow insecurity to reign
09:08 and to continue a strangehold over our natural resources for the benefit of foreign powers.
09:14 These mechanisms ultimately legitimize armed groups and give them the status of being a subject of international law.
09:22 Mr. President, our planet is burning. Our planet is drowning. The world is collapsing. The world is crying.
09:29 Yes, every day the media announce natural disasters linked to climate change,
09:36 which look very much like harbingers of the apocalypse.
09:41 Paradoxically, trust and solidarity between the nations as founding values of the United Nations are growing ever more brittle.
09:52 And that is taking the human community, the community of mankind,
09:58 further and further away from achieving the noble sustainable development goals for the benefit of peace,
10:04 prosperity, progress and sustainability for all as enshrined in Agenda 2030.
10:11 However, in order to rebuild trust and reignite solidarity in the face of devastating climate phenomena,
10:20 commitments have been entered into by developed nations and major polluters.
10:26 We saw that in the Paris Agreement, in Glasgow and in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
10:32 COP 27 in particular was particularly useful in setting four major goals that we all adopted,
10:41 namely mitigation, adaptation, financing and a just transition in order to face up to the common challenges of humankind.
10:54 Unfortunately, many countries have been the innocent victims of the tragic consequences of the over-exploitation of our planet by developed countries.
11:08 And these countries are not seeing the fruits of financial pledges made.
11:11 Mr. President, we are rightly aware of the value of the contributions made by bilateral and multilateral partners
11:22 in their desire to show solidarity towards Africa, our continent, and we thank them for that support.
11:30 However, we call for a more dynamic, diversified and agile partnership which respects the sovereignty of states and the cultural and moral values of all.
11:42 It is only in this way that we will be able to reignite the flame of friendship between peoples to promote peace and security
11:50 and to create conditions propitious to equitable and inclusive development.
11:56 My country continues to advocate for an inclusive multilateralism, for accelerated, expedited growth for all, for a global balanced order.
12:10 And we call for global disputes to be solved with particular emphasis placed on international peace and security and the respect of the sovereignty of each and every state.
12:23 I like to avail myself of this opportunity to decry all the disinformation and smear campaigns waged by certain Western media against the CAR.
12:33 Here, I reaffirm my country's determination to diversify its international cooperation and extend it to all countries who wish to cooperate with us
12:43 with the only desire of furthering the vital interests of our people and of avoiding competition between global powers.
12:52 That's the cooperation I call for.
12:54 Mr. President, on the 30th of July, we adopted the new constitution of the CAR.
13:01 That was adopted by an overwhelming majority of 95.3% of the population.
13:06 There was a turnout of over 57%.
13:09 And with that vote, the people of the CAR reaffirmed its commitment to the purposes and principles set forth in the United Nations Charter.
13:18 They reaffirmed their inalienable right to the respect of their sovereignty, to self-determination, to the stability of institutions, to peace, to security, to national unity, and to development.
13:31 To speed up fulfillment of Agenda 2030 and its sustainable development goals to bring about peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all,
13:43 the government continues to implement the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation.
13:50 And we continue also to implement the Luanda Joint Roadmap.
13:55 We are striving to strengthen the commitment of all stakeholders to these processes.
14:01 As part of the implementation of these agreements for peace and international security, nine armed groups have already been dissolved.
14:10 In parallel, the Special Criminal Court and other ordinary courts independently continue their fight against impunity.
14:18 I wish to recall that beyond the constitution, our national policy of decentralization is the expression of a deeply harbored will of the CAR.
14:31 It is also an essential component of the peace agreement and of the Luanda Joint Roadmap.
14:37 I wish to here point to all of the efforts already undertaken by the National Electoral Authority.
14:45 With the support of international technical assistance, these efforts have allowed us to reassess the timeline for elections.
14:56 Now, local elections are scheduled to take place in October 2024.
15:02 For us, this is a fundamental step in our journey towards ensuring local ownership of democracy, the promotion of participatory governance, and local development.
15:17 It is in the fulfillment of these goals that we wish to have local elections that are inclusive, transparent, peaceful, and credible.
15:26 I urge all of our partners to support the government to ensure that the electoral process that has got off to such a good start successfully concludes.
15:37 I wish us every success in our work and I thank you for your kind attention.
15:41 [Applause]