Mr President,
One of the strongest and most frightening
memories I have from any journey which I have made, is from a small church about an hour's
drive from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
I arrived there an early evening last
year, and was brought into a small room which only had one large table. On that table, put
together in a large pile, were the naked craniums of thousands of men, women and children.
You could see on the sculls how these people had been killed - not by an explosion or by
bullets - but by knives and machetes, in the hands of their own neighbours.
I will never forget the sight of those
remains from the genocide four years ago in Rwanda. And the more we learn about what
happened during that brief period, when up to one million people were massacred, the more
one wonders what the rest of us, outside Rwanda, were doing to prevent it or to stop it.
That must never be allowed to happen again.
Mr President,
As the Secretary-General has underlined,
the responsibility for the future of Africa rests primarily with the African people and
their leaders.
But the international community must also
maintain and strengthen its commitment to Africa. As the example of Rwanda shows, that
commitment has not always been evident. Unfortunately there are even more recent examples
- like Eastern Zaire and Congo- Brazzaville. I think that deep inside us we all know what
is needed. There is no lack of knowledge or information. Every aspect of prevention,
peace-keeping and conflict-resolution has been penetrated - in theory. But unless we can
give an adequate response through action when confronted with a concrete crisis, manifest
the political will, and release the required financial resources, that knowledge means
virtually nothing.
Today, in Africa, there is a trend
towards democracy, regional cooperation, peaceful settlement of disputes and sustainable
development. And that trend is gaining momentum, as patterns of the past are broken. Our
commitment should be to support this African quest for peace and prosperity. What happens
in Africa will affect us all, in one way or the other.
Mr President,
True security begins with the individual.
This is precisely the approach taken by the Secretary-General in his report. While
recognizing the full scope of measures needed to address the root causes of conflicts and
not merely the symptoms, the report never loses sight of what the Secretary-General refers
to as human security. We wish to congratulate him for his systematic and most challenging
analysis. His recommendations should be followed up by the entire international system. We
are committed to working actively in all relevant fora to implement them.
Mr President,
Creating stable societies is probably the
most compelling, and most difficult, task in the prevention of conflicts. Poverty,
oppression, poor economic policies and human rights abuses must be fought as a matter of
priority. They should be specifically targeted in a renewed policy of partnership with
Africa. That, and a focus on each country's responsibility for its own development, are
corner-stones of Swedish policy towards Africa. Trying to do its share, Sweden is
increasing substantially its development co-operation budget to Africa with the view to
assist in addressing the root causes of conflict.
Stopping the proliferation of arms would
be another considerable contribution to the prevention of conflicts. We welcome the
efforts to introduce a moratorium on the production and transfer of small arms in West
Africa, as initiated by the President of Mali. The international community should give its
full support to this and similar regional initiatives. Furthermore, all African states
should be encouraged to participate in the UN register of Conventional Arms. We also
believe that the elaboration of confidence building measures should be stimulated and
supported. Some important experience, that could be drawn upon, has been gained within the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The fact that people are fleeing strife
or armed conflicts represents an immense tragedy for the individuals concerned. Very often
it also constitutes a serious threat to stability. We support the proposal of the
Secretary-General to establish an international mechanism to assist host governments in
maintaining security and neutrality of refugee camps and settlements.
The early warning signals of conflict
must be transformed into early action. Diplomatic efforts are at the core of these
actions, but eventually swift build-up of other means may be necessary. The UN cannot be
seen to drag its feet when the threat of conflict appears. The conflict prevention
mechanism of the OAU is worth all support. At the same time the UN Security Council cannot
renounce its primary responsibility for peace and security.
The capacity to establish rapidly an
international presence is crucial in order to prevent and contain conflicts. Promising
developments are underway. We should all look into ways and means of making the UN Standby
Arrangement System an efficient instrument for deployment at short notice.
The Security Council, and the UN as a
whole, has the potential to respond quickly to the demands of mediation, good offices,
observer missions and other preventive measures including peace-keeping missions.
Actually, we may never have had better possibilities to build a truly common security. But
this has often been inhibited by budgetary restrictions. We find it deplorable that there
is a lack of political will to provide the necessary resources for the UN, to be able to
fully perform such tasks, when they are best needed.
Mr President,
Conflicts continue to erupt and others
are still unresolved. We welcome the growing African involvement in conflict resolution.
The political reaction of Africa to the overthrow of the legitimate government in Sierra
Leone was hopefully a sign that military take-overs and abuses of human rights will not be
condoned. This trend should be encouraged.
Sweden stands ready to support further
African peace-keeping capacity.
An appalling practice of targeting
civilians in armed conflicts have been spreading across the world. This is a moral and
ethical tragedy. A consolidated effort must be brought about to re-establish respect for
universal humanitarian norms in armed conflicts. This requires dissemination of
international humanitarian law and related principles, monitoring of their application,
investigation of abuses and actions against impunity. The idea raised in the report of the
Secretary- General, to hold combatants financially liable to their victims in these cases,
is worth exploring.
Protection of children in armed conflict
is of particular concern. It is absolutely intolerable to see ten-year old boys and girls,
with guns almost too heavy to carry, thrown into combat or terrorizing their neighbours,
knowing that they and many of their generation are deprived of normal child-hood. The use
of children as soldiers simply has to end.
Mr President,
In several African conflict-situations an
essential task ahead is to focus on the transition from peace-keeping to peace-building.
Far too often the international community has pulled out of engagements before enduring
solutions or lasting support for long-term stability have been set up.
We support the recommendation of the
Secretary-General that post-conflict peace-building structures be established and that
recommendations for the phase following the immediate conflict should be included in the
mandate for peacekeeping-missions. Particular attention should be given to issues
regarding democratic institutions, respect for human rights as well as reconciliatory
measures.
In the aftermath of conflict, efforts for
reconciliation are paramount. That requires justice and the establishment of facts, but
also a vision of tolerance and future co-operation among former enemies.
Deploring the executions that took place
in Rwanda this morning, we believe that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
should play an essential role in national reconciliation. In order for the Tribunal to
render expeditious justice, it needs to be strengthened by the addition of a third Trial
Chamber. It is our hope that the Security Council will soon take a decision to that
effect.
Mr President,
The Secretary-General wants his report to
mark a new beginning in the relation between the United Nations and Africa. He has
challenged us to make that beginning. And he has showed us the way. All of us, Africans
and non-Africans alike, the Security Council as well as the UN system as a whole, must now
seize the momentum and accept this challenge.
Permanent
Mission of Sweden to the United Nations