Zimbabwe - Pres. Mugabe
Mr President, at the 58th Session, I spoke about the need
to reform the United Nations and its related bodies so as
to make them more democratic. I stressed the perils
inherent in the status quo, particularly, with regard to the
dominance of global politics by one superpower and its
closest allies. While we welcome the current debate on
enhancing the authority and role of the United Nations,
we wish to stress the need to address the core issue of
democratisation of international governance. Debate on
the reform of the Security Council has been too longdrawn
because of attempts calculated to protect those
whose interests are best served by the status quo.
Ironically, it is some of the same forces that, since last
year, have been raining bombs and hell-fire on innocent
Iraqis purportedly in the name of democracy. Iraq today
has become a vast inferno created by blatant and
completely illegal and defiant acts of aggression by the
United States, Britain and their allies, in the full trail of
which the world has witnessed mass destruction of both
human lives and property, and with them our human
rights, values, morality and the norms of international
law as enshrined in our Charter. We are now being
coerced to accept and believe that a new
political-cum-religious doctrine has arisen, namely that "There is but
one political god, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair is his
prophet". Mr President, the U.N. Charter remains the
only most sacred document and proponent of the
relations of our Nations. Anything else is political
heresy!
...
Regrettably, we continue to see the unfortunate and futile tendency
to use assistance in this area as reward for political compliance and
malleability, making it unavailable to countries whose
governments are deemed "inconvenient". Let it be realized that
the pandemic does not respect boundaries, and these self-serving,
selective approaches will have little or no meaningful results.
Zimbabwe has also had to withstand unprovoked, declared and
undeclared sanctions, imposed by Britain and its allies who are
bent on bringing down our legitimately elected Government. Mr
Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, has arrogantly and
unashamedly announced in his Parliament that his government was
working with Zimbabwe's Opposition Party to bring about regime
change. Once again, the lawless nature of this man who along his
Washington master, believes he is God-ordained to rule our world,
has shown itself. Regime Change is an inalienable right of our
Zimbabwean people who, through their sovereign vote, can make
and unmake our governments. In any case, we reject completely
the pretended assertions of democracy by our former colonial
masters, whose undemocratic regimes we taught the lesson of one
man or one woman one vote through our liberation struggles. Here
in the United States we remain aware of the plight of the Black
American of both yesterday and to-day and of the semi-slave and
half-citizen status that has been his burden. Have the Blacks in the
U.S.A. got equal politics, social and economic rights and status as
their white counterparts?
I wish to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of my
Government and that of the people of Zimbabwe for the
humanitarian assistance we received from the international
community during our period of need. Without such support, we
would not have been able to avert a major catastrophe.
I am pleased to inform you Mr President that we have, in
spite of the sanctions and evil wishes of Britain and its
allies, now emerged from that difficult phase. We had a
relatively good agricultural season this year and our Land
Reform Programme has begun to make a significant
contribution towards the turn-around of our economy.
Despite the partial drought at the beginning of the
season, we have managed this year to realise a good
harvest, certainly, one good enough to ensure that we
meet our food requirements until the next season. We
plead with the IMF to stop its strange political
mouthings, lies and fabrications about our situation. Our
own regional organisations know the truth about
Zimbabwe.
Mr President, my Government is determined to eliminate
corruption and its corrosive effects on national
development efforts. After signing the International
Convention against Corruption in November last year,
we have put in place legal and administrative measures
that have already arrested a growing and deliberate
tendency to circumvent normal business practices,
particularly, in the financial services sector. Our efforts
have, however, experienced some set-backs as some
countries, particularly in the developed West, provide
safe havens for fugitive economic saboteurs from our
country.
...
Mr President, the fight against international terrorism has
exposed the duplicity and insincerity of erstwhile leading
democracies and human rights monitors with regard to
the question of the observance of human rights. We have
seen established international conventions being thrown
to the dogs, and resolutions of the General Assembly and
other UN bodies on this issue come to naught.
We are seriously concerned that the United Nations, the
pre-eminent instrument for the maintenance of
international peace and security, watched helplessly
while Iraq was plundered by the US and UK-led socalled
coalition of the willing. Such belligerent gunslinging
diplomacy and illegitimate territorial occupation
of the state of Iraq are blemishes on the fair play image
of the UN.
While the sadistic scenes from Abu Ghraib remain vivid
in our minds, other places in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay
have provided useful samples of the Western concept of
respect for human rights. Let me say once again that
the West should spare us their lessons on human rights.
They do not have the moral authority to speak about, let
alone, parade themselves, as torch-bearers of human
rights.
Mr President,
Zimbabwe remains deeply concerned
about the situation in the Middle East. We continue to
be revulsed by a situation where the collective decisions
and authority of the United Nations are disregarded with
impunity on account of big brother support. We demand
an immediate lifting of all restrictions illegally imposed
on the Palestinian people, which have seen President
Yasser Arafat remain a virtual prisoner of foreign
occupation. We welcome the recent opinion given by the
International Court of Justice that found the construction
of the Israeli wall to be in contravention of international
law, and the subsequent General Assembly Resolution
that demanded the immediate halt to that monstrosity.
Mr President, as you are aware, the African Union earlier
this year established its own Peace and Security Council
to seek and promote African solutions to African
problems. Already, the Council is seized with the matter
of the crisis in Western Sudan. These efforts need the
support of the international community.
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