Congo

Mr. President of the General Assembly; Excellencies, Heads of State and Government; Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ladies and Gentlemen!

Like most of the speakers who have preceded me, I too would like to express my fraternal compassion and solidarity with the peoples of Morocco and Libya, so heavily bereaved these days by natural disasters with untold consequences.

Only a few weeks ago, I received the report of a mission I had sent to Libya as part of the African Union peace and reconciliation mission that I have been leading for nearly six years. That mission's report bore lengthy witness to the courage and resilience of the Libyan people, weary of living in division.

A people fighting to ward off the demons of the partition of their country, to find their way back to truth, reconciliation and peace.

A people determined to embark on the path of recovery and to regain prosperity. It is to this brave and courageous people, who have given so much to Africa, that I extend my sincere condolences.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

The theme of our General Debate very clearly sums up our common will to bring about a qualitative change in the world. That was already the generous philosophy and purpose of the 17 Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, aimed at ensuring peace, security and prosperity for all the peoples of the earth.

Whether it be eliminating poverty and hunger in the world through a fairer and more equitable global economy, through more efficient and sustainable agriculture, or ensuring good health for the greatest number and quality education for the most disadvantaged, these are all absolute priorities. As are, among others:

• the provision of water and electricity to the broadest social strata;
• the construction of road, rail, port, airport and energy infrastructure to link together portions of territory, countries, regions and sub-regions;
• the preservation of biodiversity ecosystems, in particular through the responsible management of tropical forests, which are among the most precious heritage bestowed upon us by Providence;
• the fight to change mindsets around the world, in respect for the diversity of cultural expressions and in mutual tolerance;
• the anchoring in our societies of the idea of gender equality and Male-Female parity;
• the empowerment of women and girls;

On this last point, I would like to emphasize the predominant share of responsibility that women in my country have taken on over the past 15 years. Today, they contribute remarkably to the promotion of their rights and freedoms, to the fight to eliminate poverty, and to the intensification of inclusive education, through training and learning of every kind.

In short, all the priorities I have just listed call on each of us for a heightened sense of duty and responsibility, an open-mindedness to the virtues of dialogue, a strong drive of solidarity, patience and resilience. The balance of nations in the world seems to me largely dependent on this evolution and this choice.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Climate is today the most pressing of all emergencies. This emergency touches the very heart of life, in all its diversity. It calls into question our existence in all its complexity. The continual rise in sea levels endangering island nations, the relentless desertification that nothing seems able to stop, the suffocating heat waves that repeatedly claim the lives of many elderly people, the recurrent flooding and sudden mudslides causing the damage we see—these are phenomena as dangerous as they are devastating, which now challenge even the most skeptical among us.

That is why, assuming my share of responsibility as Chairman of the Congo Basin Climate Commission, I launched, at COP27 in Egypt, the "Global Decade of Afforestation" Initiative for greater biodiversity and denser vegetation cover, in the service of humanity.

In the same spirit, my country, the Republic of the Congo, has committed to hosting, next October, a summit of the three basins of biodiversity ecosystems and tropical forests—Amazon, Borneo-Mekong, Congo—as a collective and concerted response by these three green lungs of the planet to the climate insecurity that has become so threatening.

Since time immemorial, as we all know, the forest sustains millions upon millions of people. With one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world—just 0.06%—my country is playing its full part in preserving the environment, in the name of humanity's survival.

Today, we can only rejoice at the happy conclusion of the process to inscribe the Odzala-Kokoua National Park on the World Heritage List, an inscription made during the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held recently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is undeniably an act of recognition. An act that duly rewards my country's efforts to preserve this natural jewel of nearly 1.2 million hectares, rich in animal and plant biodiversity, at the heart of the Congo Basin.

The sacrifices made by local populations, who have voluntarily given up certain activities liable to harm the environment, and the renunciation by States of development projects in order to preserve biodiversity ecosystems, should also call for financial compensation from the international community—compensation that would not be charity at all.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

In Africa, in the area of agricultural development, we know that we must protect arable land from the harmful effects of climate change. Without this precaution, production forecasts would become entirely uncertain and nothing could be controlled any longer.

The responsibility of leaders such as ourselves is overwhelming in this regard. Indeed, with a population that could approach 2 billion people, Africa must now make a qualitative leap forward in order to have, tomorrow, sufficient and quality food, and to banish forever the specter of famine and the exodus of its populations.

Africa urgently needs modern agriculture, supported in particular by efficient irrigation and mechanization systems—an agriculture that must enable it to significantly reduce its food imports, which remain far too high today. That is why I call for effective technical and financial partnerships to achieve substantial progress in this sector.

Africa has no need whatsoever for partnerships underpinned by "official development assistance" that is politically motivated and synonymous with organized charity. Subsidies doled out drop by drop, dispensed according to the donors' own interests, will certainly not allow for the real and effective rise of our continent... which, moreover, has no need of it!

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

This session of the General Assembly is taking place while wars and other armed conflicts rage across the world. This is the place to reiterate, once again, that no significant progress will be possible on any continent or in any country without peace.

The hope of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations will remain a mere illusion if we ourselves do not create the very first of all the conditions necessary for their realization, namely peace.

For its part, and whenever circumstances have allowed, the Republic of the Congo has always worked for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Africa and around the world. Thus, my country decided to take an active part in the African Initiative for a peace mediation between Russia and Ukraine.

Given the risk of a generalized war that these events pose to the world, not only the two protagonists in this conflict, but also the foreign powers capable of influencing the course of events toward peace, should all temper their ardor, stop fanning the flames, and engage without delay in peace negotiations—negotiations that are just, sincere and fair.

The world urgently needs these negotiations, in order to prevent the ongoing confrontations, already so devastating, from escalating further and plunging humanity into what could be an irreversible catastrophe—that is, a total war beyond the control even of the great powers themselves. I remain convinced that the wise recommendations put forward by Africa to restore peace between Ukraine and Russia will eventually be taken into account.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

As Chairman of the African Union High-Level Committee on Libya, I cannot fail to mention, before this august assembly, the dramatic situation that country has been experiencing since 2011—a situation to which I am devoting myself tirelessly, on behalf of the African Union.

The peace efforts undertaken as part of this thorny matter continued recently, in July 2023, within the framework of a reconciliation meeting held in Brazzaville, in my country, which brought together several actors representing the essential range of Libyan political and social sensitivities around the same table. Everything was done to bring the protagonists to rise above their differences and bring their understanding of the challenges of Libya's future closer together.

The Inter-Libyan Reconciliation Conference, which the mediation I chair is aiming for, will only make sense if it is inclusive, constructive and consensual. It must enable our Libyan brothers and sisters to rediscover the virtue of dialogue, to stop eyeing each other with suspicion, to learn to forgive one another, and to give precedence to justice—the foundation of the rule of law whose history they are called upon to write.

I call once again for the support of the international community, beginning with the countries of the sub-region and the organizations that bring them together, not forgetting the countries known as the Quartet, so as to provide concrete backing for our efforts and to open up a solid and credible prospect for the definitive resolution of this crisis, which has already lasted far too long.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Faced with the unilateralism that is dangerously eroding the foundations of the fine edifice that so many generations have worked to build since 1945, the Republic of the Congo, through my voice, reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism, the guarantee of justice in international relations, of balance, equity, peace and cooperation for shared development.

Multilateralism, as we all know, can only thrive within a fair and equitable global system—a system that reflects not the illusions of the past, but the developments and realities of our time. Hence the pressing need to reform its key instrument, the United Nations Security Council, in order to ensure fairer representation of all continents and all peoples of the world.

On this matter, Africa has a common position—a conciliatory and consensual position, sealed at Ezulwini, which my country has never ceased to defend for more than a decade now. I reiterate here and now Africa's demand, legitimate in every respect, to see two of its States sit on the United Nations Security Council as permanent members, with the right of veto.

This would be nothing less than justice before History!

Thank you.