Burkina Faso

Madam President,

Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Ladies and Gentlemen Heads of Delegation,

Distinguished delegates,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have the distinct honor and great privilege of speaking on behalf of Comrade President, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, President of Faso and Head of State, on the occasion of this session, in order to carry here the voice of the dignified and upright people of Burkina Faso.

He has also charged me with extending his fraternal greetings to all citizens of the world who cherish peace and freedom.

Madam President,

On behalf of Burkina Faso, I extend my warm congratulations on your election to the presidency of this 80th session. Your election confirms the international community's confidence in your leadership and your capacity for listening and dialogue. You will find in my country a sincere, constructive, and committed partner. To your predecessor, Mr. Philémon Yang, I express my gratitude for the quality and rigor of the work accomplished during the 79th session.

Madam President, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,

Burkina Faso fully endorses the statement delivered on behalf of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) by the sister Republic of Mali. Together with Niger, we share a common purpose and aspirations in a space of renewal and rupture.

Mr. Secretary-General,

Burkina Faso wishes to acknowledge the contribution of the United Nations system and its partners to our common quest for stability and prosperity.

This session, held eighty years after the adoption of the United Nations Charter, is an ideal occasion to pause and draw an unflinching assessment of our organization. This is the reflection proposed to us by the theme: "Better Together: more than 80 years in the service of peace, development and human rights." While it fits within the perspective of renewing our mutual commitment to a world more focused on equity and justice, and to more effective multilateralism, this theme well captures the ideal approach that should guide every nation, every sub-regional, regional, and international grouping.

This "Oak Anniversary," which should embody a time of solemn celebration, calls instead for deep introspection. The record of eight decades of the United Nations, far from inspiring joy, more closely resembles an "embarrassing fiasco," "a collective disillusionment," and "a structural failure."

Since the duty of truth compels us to do so, we must acknowledge with humility that although the overall picture shows some achievements, it remains negatively marked by eight decades of sorely tested optimism, eight decades of dashed hopes, eight decades of broken dreams — in short, eight decades of crucial missed opportunities.

It is, unfortunately, the dark image of a UN that many of our forebears of 1945, were they still alive, would have had difficulty accepting.

It is therefore difficult to celebrate in the face of such a mixed record.

How can we understand that Africa, cradle of humanity and home to so many conflicts, representing more than a billion human beings, remains excluded from the decision-making bodies of the Security Council?

How can we accept that peacekeeping missions, funded to the tune of billions, leave our countries behind with more frustration and suffering than tangible results?

The causes of this "collective shipwreck" are nevertheless well known to all, including to the member states themselves, who, over these eight decades, within the framework of the General Assembly, have devoted their energies to defending noble causes and proposing realistic reforms without success.

What can be done if the decisions of the General Assembly, which are not binding, render it congenitally inaudible and ineffective?

Could we have hoped for a better record with a Security Council afflicted by the politicization of its decisions, hobbled by its inconsistencies, and made ineffective by its permanent divisions?

Worse still, this Council, whose role today has been debased, presents itself as a major troublemaker due to the tacit, underhanded, and at times active complicity of some of its permanent members, who are themselves major actors and principal financiers of the crises of our time.

This is what our Security Council has become — a "deadly enterprise," it must be said — which, due to the predatory designs of some of its permanent members, can, among other things, decide which country will be placed on the agenda of international terrorism, and to which other it will send peacekeeping operations, as if to better legitimize its role.

It is therefore in a state of powerlessness that we witness the failure of otherwise sound initiatives because of rivalries between states, and unresolved crises, the most emblematic of which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has gone on for far too long. The culpable inaction of the international community in the face of the defiance of state authority by terrorists financed and supported by other states adds to all these troubling paradoxes.

The time for a wake-up call and courageous reforms has come.

Without this, the Security Council will remain an anachronistic institution, incapable of responding to the challenges of our time.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In a world undergoing profound change, marked both by the rise of digitalization and by the persistence of geopolitical tensions, it has become imperative to rethink our economic development strategies.

International trade can no longer be approached through the rigid and unbalanced frameworks that have been imposed upon us, but must instead be reoriented toward strengthening economic autonomy, the local processing of resources, and the promotion of genuine social justice.

It is now recognized that sustainable prosperity requires proactive policies of industrialization, local value-addition of our raw materials, and the creation of decent jobs, particularly for our youth. This is why it is urgent to break with the cycle of dependence on raw commodity exports, a model that increases the vulnerability of our economies and inexorably holds back our emergence.

In Burkina Faso, presidential initiatives reflect this firm determination to build a productive, inclusive, and resilient economy capable of offering new prospects to our fellow citizens.

It is in this spirit that my country reaffirms its commitment to building a fairer and more equitable multilateral trading system, founded on international solidarity and making full use of scientific, technological, and innovation advances — true levers for shared and sustainable development.

Madam President,

My country is going through, like other nations of the Sahel, one of the most difficult trials in its history. For nearly a decade, Burkina Faso has been under attack by terrorists supported by dark forces.

These groups covet our resources, seek to break our sovereignty, and to impose the law of chaos.

But far from resigning ourselves, we have chosen dignity and resistance.

Under the leadership of Comrade President, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, we have decided to take our destiny into our own hands:

• By mobilizing our Defense and Security Forces, supported by the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, true everyday heroes;
• By establishing the Patriotic Support Fund, financed by voluntary contributions from our citizens, our diaspora, and friends of Burkina Faso around the world. Since 2023, this Fund has already collected more than 413 billion CFA francs, striking proof of the unity and patriotic resolve of our people;
• By undertaking historic reforms to achieve food sovereignty, rehabilitate our land, revive our agricultural production, and reduce our dependence on imports.

These efforts made by an entire determined people are bearing fruit: more than 72% of our territory has been reclaimed, thousands of internally displaced persons are returning to their home areas, schools are reopening, and social services are coming back to life. Burkina Faso thus demonstrates that a united and standing people can overcome the harshest trials.

In any case, Burkina Faso reaffirms, with full responsibility, that its priorities are non-negotiable and that its choices are more than ever to be respected.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We root our action in the values of solidarity and unity, with the deep conviction that a people united around a common ideal can accomplish great things.

The combined efforts of our fellow citizens, both at home and in the diaspora, and their enthusiastic support for the momentum under way, reinforce our confidence in the correctness of the choices we have made, under the leadership of the Comrade President of Faso.

The enthusiasm generated by the Patriotic Support Fund (FSP) and the presidential initiative "Faso Mêbo" is the perfect illustration of this. Established in 2023 in support of the Action Plan for Stabilization and Development (PA-SD), the Patriotic Support Fund aims to mobilize, in an endogenous manner, additional national resources in order to strengthen our defense capacities and strategic investments.

This Fund has generated massive support, both within the country and among our diaspora.

Madam President,

The methodical pursuit of our reforms allows us today to note major advances in economic governance: better control of public spending, optimized management of the State's human resources, rationalization of institutional expenditures, and the maintenance of sustainable debt levels.

These efforts are also evident in the more equitable redistribution of national wealth, so that the abundant resources of our territory fully benefit the citizens who work for the country's growth, and not external interests or their internal relays. Despite the difficulties inherent in the security and humanitarian crisis, government actions covering the full range of socio-economic development sectors are recording notable successes.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This is why we are surprised by the condescending posture of certain United Nations agencies, which take it upon themselves to interfere in our national debate through biased narratives disconnected from realities on the ground.

We firmly reject the report entitled "Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso," riddled with untruths and whose very title amounts to semantic manipulation. I would like to take this opportunity to salute the courage of our fighting forces and to pay tribute to the civilian and military martyrs who fell on the field of honor in defense of our sovereignty.

Madam President,

We have always proclaimed it: terrorism has become a convenient pretext for certain states to plunder African resources.

Thus, our countries find themselves confronted by terrorists who are, in reality, nothing more than proxies of predatory foreign armies. Some states, moreover, no longer even hide their public support for these criminals.

This is the case of France, of the Macron regime, whose public media, in addition to daily disinformation, have become relays for the communications of the criminals responsible for cowardly and barbaric attacks perpetrated against peaceful citizens.

On this subject, we renew our call regarding the outcome of the request sent on 20 August 2024 by the member states of the Alliance of Sahel States to the Security Council, which to this day remains unanswered. This persistent silence adds to the discredit of the institution and raises doubts about implicit complicity.

Even more troubling, certain members of the Security Council continue to trample on resolution 1373 (2001), which, though binding, requires the suppression of terrorism financing, the strengthening of border controls, and increased international cooperation.

In the Sahel, we have taken note of this reality and have adapted our security arrangements accordingly, while revising our modalities of cooperation with certain countries.

Madam President,

We remain convinced that the United Nations must remain a central framework for dialogue and cooperation. But we call for a renewed partnership, founded on mutual respect, equality, and genuine solidarity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Faced with common threats and outside interference, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have joined forces to found the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

The AES is not a withdrawal, still less a closing-off. It is an affirmation: the affirmation of our right to self-determination, to define our own priorities, and to build regional cooperation exclusively at the service of our peoples.

• It is a choice of dignity.
• It is the rejection of a system in which our countries too often served as playing fields for outside agendas.
• It is the determination to be the principal actor of our own history and to write, ourselves, the future of our children.

The AES stands in continuity with the struggle of pan-Africanist figures such as Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, and Kwame Nkrumah. Today, a new generation of leaders carries this torch forward, with the firm conviction inspired by the father of the Revolution of August 1983 that "only struggle liberates."

Madam President,

For eight decades, Africa has legitimately claimed its rightful place on the Security Council. It is time to deeply reform our Organization. More concretely, this means:

• implementing a courageous reform of the Security Council, granting Africa permanent representation;
• improving resource management, to make the UN more efficient and closer to the peoples it claims to serve;
• firmly addressing the structural causes of international injustice, whether that be the instrumentalization of terrorism, the blockade against Cuba, sanctions against Venezuela, or the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the particular case of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, we reaffirm our unwavering support for a people who have endured, for decades, campaigns of isolation, illegal sanctions, and relentless provocations. In the face of this flagrant interference in the sovereign affairs of a nation, and this economic aggression with disastrous humanitarian consequences, we express our solidarity with this country, which resists with dignity to preserve its right to choose its own destiny, without ultimatum or foreign diktat. We therefore call for reason and diplomacy so that all hostile action against Venezuela may cease.

Mr. Secretary-General,

I would now like to address you directly. It is truly time for our organization to change paradigm, for the UN today finds itself in the same situation as the defunct League of Nations. It is unable to impose its voice and enforce its own principles, unable to compel the powerful to comply with its decisions and resolutions, unable to secure respect for international law, unable to resolve numerous conflicts, and unable to evolve and rise to the level of today's challenges.

Mr. Secretary-General,

You have a wonderful opportunity to go down in history by taking up your responsibility for a profound transformation of this organization, which at its creation inspired so much hope. You have the firm support of millions of citizens around the world to make this organization a true guarantor of peace and security in the world, rather than an instrument of domination in the hands of whoever happens to be strongest. Despite the various pressures and power games, we know you to be resourceful enough to free the United Nations and raise it to the level of our shared ambitions.

Madam President,

Turning to development issues, Burkina Faso welcomes the holding of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development and expresses the hope that the conclusions of the Seville meeting can contribute to the emergence of a fairer financial architecture, respectful of the sovereignty of states and supportive of the genuine transformation of developing countries.

In the same vein, it remains imperative to address the factors that hinder the full achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are meant to positively transform our world under the auspices of the United Nations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Eighty years after the United Nations Charter, our Organization is far from having met the hopes of 1945. Eighty years on, the world is full of injustice and suffering, and the risks of another widespread conflict are becoming clearer and are a source of concern for the future.

But it is not too late to restore to our common home the momentum it lacks.

Burkina Faso, true to its pan-Africanist heritage, reaffirms its faith in a renewed, just, and equitable multilateralism. We are resolved to defend our sovereignty and our dignity, but we extend our hand to all nations that cherish justice, freedom, and solidarity.

Long live a reformed and credible United Nations Organization!

Long live the Alliance of Sahel States!

Long live Burkina Faso, dignified, sovereign, and standing tall!

Homeland or Death, We Will Overcome!

Thank you.