Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources
New York, on September 26, 2013:
statement by His Excellency the President of
the Republic of Zimbabwe, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe during the general
debate of the 68th session of the United Nations Generally Assembly,
Your Excellency, the President of
the 68tb Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. John William Ashe,
Your Majesties,
Your Excellences, Heads of State
and Government,
Your Excellency, the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Comrades and Friends
Let me begin by extending warmest
congratulations to you Mr. John William Ashe, on your election as President of
the 68tb Session of the General Assembly. Your election to this esteemed office
is a befitting tribute to the personal and diplomatic qualities that you have
exhibited over the years.
Mr. President,
Throughout the world, peace and
development have remained the dominant themes of our times. People all over the
world have been raising their voices in favour of peace, development and
cooperation and against war, poverty and confrontation. Here at the UN we all
acknowledge that peace, security, development and human rights are the pillars
of the UN system and the cornerstones of our collective well-being.
In this regard, the theme for
this Session - The Post-2015 Agenda : Setting the Stage - is quite pertinent
and timely as it gives fresh impetus to our undertaking that achieving the
internationally agreedDevelopment Goals, including the MDGs and mapping the way
forward beyond 2015, requires our collective efforts. The UN, as the centre for
international cooperation, should lead in promoting the envisaged development.
Mr. President,
Thirteen years ago, our global
efforts were mobilised behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and we
now have less that 1,000 days to meet those targets. Our review and stock
taking exercise reveal that while there have been some significant
achievements, there are still gaps and unevenness in the attainment of these
goals. In the case of Zimbabwe, we have made progress towards achieving
universal access to primary education, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB.
Some of the goals, however, are,
due to lack of capacity, mainly financial, off track and in some areas,
progress has stalled including in those areas relating to the eradication of
poverty and hunger, child mortality, universal access to maternal and
reproductive health, environmental sustainability and access to potable water
and sanitation.
As a country, we are committed to
undertake coordinated efforts to accelerate progress to complete the unfinished
business of the MDGs in the remaining period to 2015. Any unachieved goals by
then, should be integrated into the post-2015 development agenda.
Mr. President,
Zimbabwe fully shares and
supports the emerging consensus that eradicating poverty in all its dimensions
should be the overarching goal of our post 2015 agenda. Eradicating poverty by
2030 may be an ambitious goal, but it is attainable if we mobilise our collective
efforts. Building on the foundation of the MDGs, the post 2015 agenda should go
beyond the social development agenda of the MDGs and achieve structural
transformation in our economies that delivers inclusive and sustainable growth.
We expect a shift that will bring
about industrialisation, decent jobs and qualitative change to the lives of our
citizens. We are determined to modernise our infrastructure and ensure access
to sustainable energy for all, food security and nutrition. However, we recognise
that we cannot do this in isolation from other partners.
In the same vein, we also support
calls to prioritise gender equality, the health related MDGs, education and
environmental sustainability in the post-2015 development agenda among other
issues. These are critical issues in our quest to achieve sustainable
development for all our people.
Mr. President,
The lofty objectives of the UN
Charter in the economic arena will remain unfulfilled unless all Member States
join in efforts genuinely and seriously, to address challenges that developing
countries face in their pursuit of development including meeting the MDGs.
It is therefore imperative that
our discussions address what has so far been the weakest link – the means of
implementation. It must be understood that in addition to national efforts,
substantial international support and an enabling international economic
environment are essential if the MDGs are to be achieved by 2015 especially in
Africa. It is therefore important to fulfil the commitments made to support
Africa in various international fora. The UN should track the fulfilment of
these commitments.
Mr. President,
Zimbabwe supports the reform of
the UN to strengthen its central role in promoting multilateralism and to be
effective in tackling current and future global challenges. We are convinced
that the reform will strengthen the organisation's capacity to fully promote
and implement the principles and objectives of the UN Charter and improve its
democratic decision making.
In this regard, the reforms in
the economic and social actions of the UN remain of fundamental importance to
us. Our firm belief in multilateral cooperation means that we place a premium
in the ability of the United Nations system to deliver efficient development co-operation.
The democratic transformation of
the architecture of the international financial system is quintessential as is
a root-and-branch reform of the international trading system. The terms of
trade have hugely burdened developing countries for too long.
Mr. President,
Zimbabwe supports the ongoing
efforts to revitalize the General Assembly which is the most representative
organ of the United Nations. We believe that the General Assembly should take
the lead in setting the global agenda and restore its primacy that has over the
years been encroached upon by other organs.
We cannot accept situations
whereby the UN Security Council is increasingly encroaching on issues that
traditionally fall within the General Assembly's purview and competence, including
in the area of norm setting.
Indeed, recent events have
revealed that its formal decisions have provided camouflage to neo-imperialist
forces of aggression seeking to militarily intervene in smaller countries in
order to effect regime change and acquire complete control of their wealth.
This was so in Libya where in the name of protecting civilians, NATO forces
were deployed with an undeclared mission to eliminate Muammar Gaddafi and his
family. A similar campaign had been undertaken in Iraq by the Bush and Blair
forces in the false name of eradicating weapons of mass destruction which
Saddam Hussein never possessed.
We appreciate the central role
that UN should play in furthering multilateralism in preference to
unilateralism. In this regard, we applaud the consultations and negotiations on
the eventual destruction of the chemical weapons in Syria. My country expresses
its gratitude and appreciation to Russia and China for their principled stand
on Syria. We hope and trust that the Syrian people will soon sit in dialogue to
discuss peace and desirable political reforms. Those western countries in
pursuit of hegemony as they pretend to be advocates of democracy must be
resisted.
Mr. President,
For Africa, the reform of the
United Nations Security Council is especially long overdue. The anachronistic
and unrepresentative character of the Security Council must be redressed. For
how long should Africa continue to be denied the right to play a pivotal role
in the United Nations Security Council as it decides measures on conflicts
within its own borders?
The Security Council needs to be
more representative, democratic, transparent, accountable and accessible to the
wider membership for its decisions to have more legitimacy. Africa's case for
the correction of the glaring historical injustice of being unrepresented in
the permanent category and under-represented in the non-permanent category has
been made through the clear, fair and well-articulated Ezulwini Consensus.
Zimbabwe remains steadfast in its support of the Ezulwini demand.
Mr. President,
Zimbabwe strongly condemns the
use of unilateral economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect regime
change. Thus, the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United
States and the European Union violate fundamental principles of the United
Nations Charter on state sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic
affairs of a sovereign state.
Moreover, these illegal sanctions
continue to inflict economic deprivation and human suffering on all
Zimbabweans. In the eyes of our people, the sanctions constitute a form of
hostility and violence against them for the simple crime of undertaking the
land reform programme by which land was put in the hands of the then majority
landless Zimbabweans.
Our small and peaceful country is
threatened daily by covetous and bigoted big powers whose hunger for domination
and control of other nations and their resources knows no bounds. Shame, shame,
shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its
allies. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your
illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country. If these sanctions were
intended to effect regime change, well, the results of the recent national
elections have clearly shown you what they can do.
Mr. President,
We are preached to daily by the
west on the virtues of democracy and freedom which they do not totally espouse.
Zimbabwe took up arms precisely to achieve our freedom and democracy. Yet we
have been punished by United States through the odious Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act enacted in 2001 to effect regime change in the country.
Now, this malicious intent to
continue the relentless persecution of our small and peaceful country has
happened again through the USA's rejection of the recent absolutely democratic
and fair election results of our July 31st general elections, even as they were
applauded by the African Union and all our regional organisations.
It appears that when the USA and
its allies speak of democracy and freedom they are doing so only in relative
terms. Zimbabwe however refuses to accept that these western detractors have
the right to define democracy and freedom for us. We paid the ultimate price
for it and we are determined never to relinquish our sovereignty and remain
masters of our destiny. As we have repeatedly asserted, Zimbabwe will never be
a colony again!!
I thank you.
RGM
No comments:
Post a Comment