STATEMENT

BY

THE HONOURABLE MOTSOAHAE THOMAS THABANE

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO

Mr. President,

On behalf of the Government and People of Lesotho, I extend our most sincere congratulations to you on your election to the Presidency of the 55th Session of the General Assembly and wish you every success in the discharge of your duties. We have confidence in your personal, diplomatic and leadership qualities to guide us through the session and assure you of our support and cooperation at all times.

Let me also pay a well deserved tribute and express our thanks and gratitude to your predecessor, Minister Theo- Ben Gurirab of Namibia. We thank him in particular for his statesmanship, sterling guidance and effective organization during the difficult times of the 54 th Session. We also remain deeply indebted to Secretary General Kofi Annan for his continued dynamic leadership and commitment to our Organization and for his relentless efforts at achieving the Organization's goals.

The admission of a new member to our Organization is always a moment ofj oy and that of Tuvalu is no exception.

Mr. President,

This, the first General Assembly of the new millennium offers an opportunity for us to reflect on the challenges and threats we face as we enter the new century, a century which has ushered in a revolution which future generations will likely characterize as one that had the greatest impact on human civilization since the advent of the telegraph, radio and television. The world is indeed witnessing a revolution in the information systems and their integration into the lives of men, women and children, leading to the term 'Information Age'. This information age of the 21st century is taking root as it impacts the lives of all sectors of society at both the national and international levels.

There can be no doubt that for some, the information technology and globalization are beginning to turn theoretical possibilities into fact as the use of computers and computer dependent systems have resulted in improvements in basic health conditions and increases in life expectancy, efficiency and productivity, thus offering tremendous economic potential and prosperity. Unfortunately, the majority of others who have been left out of this prosperity, continue to live in conditions of extreme poverty, remain embroiled in unending conflicts and are ravaged by the IUV/AIDS pandernic and other diseases.

The challenge for the UN of the 21st Century is to eliminate these disparities by bringing the poor countries into the digital age, thus making them extract value from globalization instead of watching globalization extract value from them. Education thus remains key for the attainment of these objectives.

Mr. President,

A disturbing phenomenon for the international community and in particular for Africa is that while the rest of the world is experiencing an increased inflow of financial resources, Africa's development prospects continue to be hampered by unsustainable debt servicing obligations. Just as we have placed poverty eradication at the center of economic and social development, it is equally necessary to accord similar importance to the debt problems of developing countries. In our view, this would be a vital contribution to the realization of the goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.

Mr. President,

Lesotho falls under the category of countries which are not eligible for debt relief under the existing framework. In our Millennium Summit Declaration, we made pledges to grant more generous development assistance to poor countries that plan to apply their resources to poverty reduction, and to deal comprehensively with their debt problems. We need to concretize these pledges by adopting measures of accelerating debt relief, such as the cancellation of the official debts of these countries, and the expansion of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative. This would assist us in ensuring that by 2015 the majority of our people have access to safe drinking water, all the children complete a full course of primary education, and in reducing joblessness among our youth. It would also help us curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, and give assistance to the children orphaned by this scourge.

Mr. President,

The Government of Lesotho adopted poverty reduction as its highest development priority during the Sixth and Seventh National Development Plans. We have taken firm measures to reduce poverty. Based on our democratic dispensation and peaceful environment, we have successfully embarked on an aggressive investment promotion campaign for job creation. I am pleased to report that we are experiencing initial success in attracting foreign investment. We are also creating employment for the youth through projects aimed at arresting environmental degradation. Since poverty is a cross-cutting issue, we have adopted a multi-sectoral approach by the formation of a Technical Working Group that includes NGO's and the Government to make an input into the Lesotho Poverty Reduction Strategy, which will elaborate how each of our policy measures will be carried out in a comprehensive and systematic manner.

Mi. President,

We believe South- South Cooperation is an important tool for developing and strengthening the economic independence of developing countries. To this end, we in Southern Africa have made a modest but encouraging progress with respect to South-South cooperation by accelerating the entry into force of the SADC Trade Protocol which encompasses deeper economic cooperation, cross border investment and trade, free movement of factors of production as well as free movement of goods and services.

The Third United Nations Conference on the least developed countries to be held in Brussels next year is both timely and crucial. Since this August body recognized, some 30 years ago, the least developed countries as the poorest of developing countries, there has not been an improvement in the weak economic situation of these countries, whose numbers have, instead, increased from 25 in 1971, to 48 in 1997.

Lesotho, therefore, looks forward to the Conference reviewing the internal constraints to the development of LDCs, and the adequacy of international support measures in the critical areas of ODA, debt relief, market access, and trade. Based on this review, the outcome should have timebound goals with specific priorities, set in a pragmatic action programme with clear commitments from the LDCs themselves, and their development partners.

Mr. President,

The High-level International and Intergovernmental Event on Financing for Development to be held in 2001, will come to naught, unless we are resolved to undertake it armed with the requisite political commitment and global solidarity to achieve our development goals nationally, regionally, and internationally.

Although significant progress has been made in preparing for this event, we eagerly await the outcome of the remaining regional consultations, and we commend the two Co-Vice Chairs for the progress achieved thus far, and wish them continued success.

Mr. President,

The Government of Lesotho remains keenly aware that good environmental management requires concerted efforts from all members of the community. Therefore, we have established partnerships at the international, regional and national levels to address the problems of environmental degradation. We believe that the environment is too important to be left in the hands of one organisation. In this regard, we look forward to the UNCED + 10 process at which we shall share our experiences with and learn from our counterparts in the international community.

Regarding the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the major United Nations conferences and summits my delegation values the review meetings because they offer us the opportunity to evaluate our performance and to consider the way forward. They also rekindleour political commitment to achieving global developmental goals. We therefore feel that the review process should continue in the 21st century, with a stronger emphasis on the evaluation of achievements and constraints.

As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, we must be reminded that the goal of gender equality is far from being achieved. Despite pessimistic forecasts, and despite different evaluations of the achievements of the Special Session on women, the Beijing+5 Conference's adoption of a final document proposing a series of actions and initiatives in the 12 critical areas identified in Beijing is an indication of the international community's renewed commitment to women's rights. Implementation of the norms enshrined in The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women remains critical for the attainment of the goals set in Beijing.

The adoption of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, which Lesotho has signed, is thus a significant milestone in strengthening international mechanisms for the protection and promotion of women's rights. Lesotho remains committed to the attainment of the goals set in Beijing and to this end, has adopted various measures, the most recent being a draft Married Persons Equality Bill 2000 whose objective is to remove all restrictions on the legal capacity of a wife and to abolish all laws that accord exclusive marital power to the husband over the person and property of his wife.

Mr. President,

As technology brings people of the world closer together, thus removing political and other barriers, societies continue to be ravaged by racial discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, exemplified by ethnic cleansing, racial hatred and new forms of slavery. A challenge for the UN is to define global strategies, focusing on urgent and effective measures to eliminate racial discrimination and ethnic conflicts. Lesotho thus welcomes the convening of The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance to be held in South Africa in 2001. This conference offers an opportunity for us to develop action oriented measures to rid the world of these scourges.

Mr. President,

Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction- nuclear, chemical and biologicalremains one of the most important tasks facing humankind in the 21st century. Above all, it remains a major threat to world peace. The pursuit of arms reduction and the challenge of achieving 'sustainable disarmament' thus remains the only bulwark against the use of or threat of use of weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, the United Nations remains the key institution for the success of all international non-proliferation efforts, not only by serving as a forum in which states carry out complex and sensitive negotiations, but also by being a catalyst for action. More importantly, the five permanent members of the Security Council, who are also nuclear weapons states under the NPT, bear the responsibility to commit themselves to non-proliferation and to enforce all non-proliferation commitments.

While we welcome the nuclear weapons states undertaking to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, their failure to agree to a specific timetable for doing so is regrettable. The challenge is to translate these undertakings into concrete actions towards eliminating all nuclear dangers. We thus support the Secretary General's call for a new international conference on eliminating nuclear dangers as a means of advancing our disarmament goals. We also remain convinced of the need and desirability of convening a Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament.

Thanks to the efforts of all actors, both governmental and non governmental, the world is beginning to witness tangible results as the production, trade and use of land- mines slowly drops, thus lowering the number of casualties. This however should not lead to complacency as evidence of use of mines in some conflict areas, particularly in Africa, continues to surface. We look forward to a day when the world will be free of these weapons and encourage all those who continue to use mines as well as those who remain outside the Convention to heed the rapidly growing international and regional momentum for the ban on land- mines.

Lesotho supports the convening of a UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in June/July 2001, as mandated by this Assembly's resolution 54/54. We share the view that the outcome of the Conference should be a global Action Plan with specific timetables for the implementation of commitments on issues such as codes of conduct, legislative and regulatory measures, control, enforcement, transparency and tracing measures and mechanisms.

Mr. President,

The proliferation of armed conflicts in Africa continues to hamper efforts to achieve progress in economic and social development. The lack of political will to find lasting solutions to ongoing conflicts and emergence of new ones continues to effectively cripple the productive activities of these countries as well as further erode the poor social infrastructure that exists in many countries. Illicit trade in arms, diamonds and other natural resources as well as the diversion of resources from development to military activities continue to fuel these conflicts, thus undermining democracy and development.

The challenge for Africa remains the management and resolution of conflicts, avoidance of war and strengthening of democratic institutions. These are enormous challenges which require Affica's commitment to stability and the rule of law, but above all they require strong political will from the Africans themselves and resources from the international community to reinforce democratic government, to deter attempts to overthrow it and even to reinstate it where it has been overthrown by illegal means.

We in Lesotho have bitter experiences of attempts to overthrow legally and democratically elected Government. Thanks to our SADC partners, order has been restored in Lesotho and the Government is vigorously pursuing a programme of reconstruction which includes the creation of a climate of political reconciliation on which the consolidation of democratic gains and democratic culture can rest. The Government of Lesotho remains fully committed to developing a culture of democracy, good governance, observance of human rights and constitutionality. The international community's assistance remains indispensable for the success of these efforts.

Despite positive steps being taken by the Government of Angola to stabilize the situation in that country, peace continues to elude the people of Angola because of the non-fulfilment by Jonas Savimbi of the Lusaka Protocol. We urge the international con imunity to observe all Security Council resolutions against UNITA and to fully cooperate with the UN to ensure the effective implementation of sanctions against UNITA.

We appeal to all parties to the Congolese conflict to honour their obligations under the Lusaka Cease-fire Agreement and to lend their full support to the process of internal dialogue under the facilitation of Sir Ketumile Masire.

We support all measures aimed at ending the illicit trade in diamonds in Sierra Leone and applaud ECOWAS for its efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone. We are gratified to see the ceasation of hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea and call on both parties to this conflict to redouble their efforts for a lasting peace. We also urge all armed groups in Burundi to fully and effectively participate in the negotiations so as to facilitate speedy conclusion of a cease-fire agreement and a comprehensive peace accord.

We reaffirm the right of the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights and urge parties to the Middle East Peace Process to redouble their efforts at finding durable peace in the Middle East.

The real test for the UN this century is how far it is prepared to go in addressing all these challenges and how far it will go in turning promises into reality, and thus enable the large majority of the people of the world to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. While we appreciate the magnitude of the challenges, we continue to have faith in the UN's capacity to solve global problems, its broad universal support and its capabilities to uphold and reaffirm our shared values of peace, equity, social justice, democracy and human rights.