Algeria

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace and blessings upon His truthful and trustworthy Prophet.

Mr. President,

1. Our United Nations is extinguishing the candle marking the eighth decade of its life amid an international reality that is deeply turbulent, deeply dangerous, and deeply precarious:

• An international reality in which crises and conflicts have piled up, while solutions and settlements have been absent;
• An international reality in which technological revolutions of every kind have accelerated, while the development gap between North and South has deepened and widened;
• An international reality in which charters, pledges and commitments have multiplied, while compliance with both their letter and their spirit has grown scarce.

2. Faced with this crisis-ridden scene, our United Nations stands with its action shackled, its voice silenced, and its role marginalized. Its enshrined principles are violated, and its adopted resolutions find no path to implementation. The multilateralism it established is being circumvented through unilateral practices and inward-looking, isolationist tendencies.

3. Responsibility — full responsibility — rests upon us, the Member States, to restore due regard for international law, to lend the necessary effectiveness to multilateral international action, and likewise to enable the United Nations to reclaim its standing as the beating heart of an international order founded on the primacy of right and law.

4. Speaking of the anniversary of the founding of our Organization must inevitably lead us to the most enduring issue on its agenda: the question of Palestine. The age of this question rivals the age of our Organization itself, and its legal essence is rooted in the principles of the UN Charter. The history of this question is preserved in more than a thousand (1,000) resolutions that have affirmed its foundations and confirmed its legitimacy and lawfulness — among them more than 900 resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and nearly 100 resolutions adopted by the Security Council.

5. Today this question faces the gravest danger in its history: the danger of its erasure from existence, through the annexation of land, the displacement of its people, the tightening of the noose around the legitimate institutions that embody it, and the destruction of the agreed two-State solution. Indeed, the danger no longer stops at the threshold of Palestine, now that the Israeli occupation openly proclaims its intent to revive and activate what it calls the "Greater Israel project."

6. This situation places on the international community as a whole ever greater responsibilities that admit no evasion, no shirking, and no abdication:

• It is the responsibility to act, so that the close of the eighth decade of our Organization's existence may mark the end of the pains, tragedies, and calamities inflicted upon the Palestinian people;
• It is the responsibility to work to spare Palestine's neighbouring States — Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan in particular — the horrors of the threats and dangers with which the expansionist Israeli project menaces them;
• And it is the responsibility to strive to preserve the foundations and pillars of the two-State solution, through the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as a just, lasting and final solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

7. As we commend the momentum of diplomatic recognitions of the State of Palestine, we renew the call launched by the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to enable this State to attain full membership in our United Nations. The whole world must recognize that the establishment of the Palestinian State is not an option but an assured inevitability; not a favour but an inherent and deeply rooted right; not a hope but an essential precondition, indispensable and unavoidable, for restoring security and stability to the entire Middle East region.

8. From this perspective, Algeria follows with great interest the negotiations currently under way under the auspices of the United States of America, aimed at ending the tragedies afflicting Gaza. Algeria encourages these efforts and earnestly hopes that they will lead to putting an end to the catastrophe in Gaza, on the path toward genuinely addressing all the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

9. The passage of the years, however long and extended, can never diminish either the will of peoples, the essence of their causes, or the legitimacy of their demands.

10. Sixty-two (62) years have passed since the General Assembly placed Western Sahara on the list of Territories whose peoples call for decolonization. Fifty (50) years have passed since the Security Council adopted its first resolution on Western Sahara (Resolution 377). And thirty-four (34) years have passed since the deployment of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.

11. Time may delay the realization of a right, but it does not annul it. Nor is time a justification for legitimizing falsehood or invalidating what is right.

12. The question of Western Sahara remains a decolonization issue, and the Sahrawi people remain entitled to exercise their inalienable and imprescriptible right to self-determination. The fait accompli imposed on Sahrawi territory remains an occupation in the eyes of international law and the settled doctrine of the United Nations.

13. In our view, the genuine solution sought for this conflict must be governed by five key parameters:

• First, that this solution be achieved under the full and continuing auspices of the United Nations;
• Second, that this solution be based on direct negotiations between the two parties to the dispute, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Frente Polisario;
• Third, that this solution be forged and shaped by the two parties to the dispute themselves, not dictated or imposed by either of them or by any other party;
• Fourth, that this solution be consistent in substance with the requirements of the UN doctrine on decolonization and on doing justice to peoples labouring under its yoke;
• Fifth and finally, that this solution result in enabling the Sahrawi people to actually exercise their right to self-determination, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions.

14. In that same immediate neighbourhood of my country, the Libyan crisis continues to deepen and grow more complex by the day, amid waning international interest and the absence of any real prospect for the peaceful settlement sought for it.

15. Fourteen years after this crisis erupted, this brotherly country remains a captive of the divisions that fuel and feed it, in which foreign interference invests according to schemes that bear no relation whatsoever to Libya's good, nor to its security and stability.

16. Had the matter been left in the hands of Libyans, and Libyans alone, they would have put an end to their differences and paved the way toward ending this crisis long ago. The time has come to put a final stop to foreign interference in Libyan affairs, so that this proud people may bind its wounds, reunite its ranks, and restore unity among its sons and daughters. Then, and only then, shall we have opened a wide path toward a consensual settlement based on holding presidential and parliamentary elections, through which Libyans choose representatives who believe in and are committed to an inclusive Libyan national project.

17. As for the Sahel region, Algeria reaffirms its full commitment to, and complete concern for, the security and stability of its neighbourhood, and its determination to build the best, strongest and most beneficial relations with all its brothers and neighbours.

18. Here I note that, for the second year running, a putschist among Mali's putschists has dared, from this very rostrum, to attack Algeria. The depths of vulgarity, baseness and depravity scaled by this failed poet and genuine coup-plotter are nothing but the ravings of a boorish soldier. His gutter prattle deserves nothing but contempt, and stirs nothing but disgust. Allow me to repeat this last sentence to you in French:

"Les sommets de la bassesse, de la vulgarité et de la grossièreté atteints par ce faux poète, mais vrai putschiste, ne sont rien d'autre que logorrhée de soudard. Son bavardage de caniveau ne mérite que mépris et n'inspire que dégoût."

(English: "The heights of baseness, vulgarity and coarseness reached by this false poet, but true putschist, are nothing but a soldier's drivel. His gutter talk deserves nothing but contempt and inspires nothing but disgust.")

19. Instead of excelling in the art of hanging the coat-rack of failure on others, and the art of diverting attention from all his own failings, we had wished — and still wish — that this boorish soldier and his like had excelled instead in other, nobler and more honourable arts, more useful to Mali:

• the art of striving to restore security and stability in their own country,
• the art of working to improve the living standards of their people,
• and last but not least, the art of endowing Mali with governance worthy of it and of its venerable history — governance distinguished by competence, elevated by integrity, and marked by honesty and fidelity.

20. The Republic of Mali deserves far better and far nobler than all these conspiring putschists. Algeria fully recognizes that this brotherly country cannot be reduced to a clique that sees no horizon for its country's future except through the lens of clinging to power and dominating its own people.

21. Algeria's hand remains extended, its efforts remain ongoing, and its reserve of patience will never run dry in upholding the bonds that unite it with its Malian brothers — bonds that will not be shaken by such incidental factors, for all their unpleasantness and the baseness of those behind them.

22. On the broader continental scale, Algeria renews its commitment to contributing, as an active party, to joint African action, especially as Africa today stands at a pivotal juncture in its history — a juncture torn between, on one hand, the challenges weighing on its shoulders, and, on the other, the opportunities laying the ground for its sustainable renaissance.

• The African reality first urges the necessity of addressing the crises, disputes and conflicts from which not a single one of our continent's five regions has been spared, and which have become increasingly exposed to the scourge of terrorism.
• The African reality secondly urges the necessity of seizing the opportunities for cooperation and integration afforded by the African Continental Free Trade Area, and of full engagement in the technological revolutions our world is witnessing today in all their dimensions.
• The African reality thirdly and finally urges the imperative of ending decades of unjust marginalization afflicting our continent across the various centres of international decision-making, beginning with the UN Security Council, continuing through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and extending to the World Trade Organization.

23. Against this backdrop, it is a source of profound concern that peacekeeping operations in Africa are being targeted by a series of restrictions that curb their capacities and empty them of their substance, in the name of the need for cost rationalization.

24. These peacekeeping operations represent the most prominent and genuine expression of the international community's commitment to supporting security and stability on our continent. Undermining them means eroding this commitment and threatening the very foundations and pillars of the collective security on which our Organization rests.

25. In the Euro-Mediterranean space, Algeria continues to shoulder the responsibilities incumbent upon it as a constructive partner, a trusted partner, and a partner fully engaged in all the efforts and endeavours aimed at achieving security and prosperity in this shared space.

26. The foremost challenge in this space, embodied in the triad of security, development and migration, requires the States of both shores to move beyond piecemeal approaches and to adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach, which we hope will form the core of the "New Pact for the Mediterranean" initiative.

• An approach that restores to Euro-Mediterranean relations the balance sought, both in their approach and their substance,
• an approach that makes economic development on the southern shore a shared priority of strategic and urgent character,
• and an approach that redefines roles, so that the northern shore fulfils its role as a locomotive of growth and development, within the framework of a balanced partnership founded on investment, technology transfer, and the opening of genuine prospects for shared prosperity.

27. Two years ago, Algeria had the honour of receiving the trust of this General Assembly through its election as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Today we stand on the threshold of concluding this term, hopeful that we have succeeded, even in modest measure, in fulfilling the trust you placed in us.

28. President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune wanted Algeria's term on the Security Council to be a term of fidelity: fidelity to the values and principles enshrined in the UN Charter; fidelity to Algeria's Arab, Islamic and African affiliations; and fidelity to Algeria's identity and its history of struggle for freedom and liberation.

29. Accordingly, we strove, with all honesty and sincerity and to the utmost of our ability, to translate this commitment into practice — in coordination with our African brothers within the A3 group, in cooperation with our partners within the broader group of elected members (E10), and likewise in consultation with all concerned parties among brotherly and friendly States outside the Council.

30. We tried and gave our utmost effort; we succeeded at some junctures and fell short of our goals at others, but we never surrendered, nor ever resigned ourselves to the fait accompli.

31. Our consolation in this is that the Security Council's inability to respond to many fateful matters — foremost among them the tragedy of Gaza — has not silenced the voice of international conscience, which has been, and continues to be, manifest in the positions of the overwhelming majority of Member States, both in the Security Council and in this General Assembly.

32. And because international conscience remains alive and vigilant through this overwhelming majority, Algeria is firmly convinced that hope remains alive and attainable for a better tomorrow:

A better tomorrow for our United Nations, a better tomorrow for the international community, and a better tomorrow for all of humanity.

33. Thank you for your kind attention, and peace be upon you.