Mr. Secretary-General, Colleagues,
Our image of Africa today is a
multi-faceted one. In this forum, we deal with crises and threats to peace and security.
Sadly, a heavy agenda has been offered by events unfolding on the African continent.
But this is not the whole picture. We
should not forget the positive development in Africa during the last decades: health and
education have greatly improved, a majority of states have had democratic elections, in
many countries the downward economic trend has been broken and real growth is taking
place.
Africa is opening up — to the
challenges of globalization, to free political debate, to the search for new models, grown
from within rather than imported from abroad. There is great vitality, but also turmoil.
From the outside, we tend to register the
pain rather than the possibilities. We forget that fundamental change rarely occurs
without convulsion, just as birth takes place amid labour and pain. Our task is to
facilitate peaceful transition.
The point of departure of today's meeting
is our common responsibility for international peace and security as it applies to Africa.
We need to consider openly and self-critically how the Council has met this
responsibility. We need to look ahead at what the Security Council and we as Member States
can do differently and better.
First and foremost, the Security
Council must summon the necessary political will. It must be ready to take action, in
Africa as elsewhere, from early warning, prevention and political persuasion to
peacekeeping and, if need be, Chapter VII action as well as post-conflict peace-building.
The Council should continue to develop a
new generation of peacekeeping operations, with better balance and co-ordination between
military, political, civilian police and other civilian components. When new or expanded
peacekeeping operations are needed, all Council members must be ready to reach decisions
without undue delay, and to take financial responsibility for them.
Second, the Council must support
African action for regional security, not as a way to minimize its own involvement, but in
order to ensure sustainable regional support for peaceful solutions. There is also a need
for an active Council role in following up operations which it has mandated.
Third, the Security Council and
the UN system as a whole must close the gap between political and humanitarian action. The
African continent bears a heavy burden for refugees and internally displaced people.
Land-mines and the proliferation of small arms cripple people and nations. Child soldiers
are permanently brutalized. These are serious threats to human security.
Every state must exercise its
responsibility for the well-being of its people. The Security Council also has an
important role to support through humanitarian action. It should do its utmost to ensure
that the measures it takes in doing so can also serve as stepping-stones to longer-term
political solutions.
Fourth, we should see to it that
the United Nations system as a whole, together with African organizations, give full
priority to conflict prevention. This is a moral imperative — and in fact a
political, humanitarian and economic necessity.
In the end, conflict prevention is a
question of political will. Solidarity and sovereignty can never mean that potentially
disastrous domestic behaviour should be immune to international attention — until the
disasters occurs. The international community must be ready to respond quickly and
generously to requests for assistance.
The report of the Secretary-General on
the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in
Africa is an impressive document. It is candid in its analysis, and clear in its message.
Africa and Africans should rise to the challenge, but must not be left standing alone.
The Security Council is engaged in a
wide-ranging process to consider recommendations from the Secretary-General and from
Member States. It is an opportunity for the Security Council to move beyond its everyday
agenda of crisis management and apply a broader and more long-term perspective.
This work has already produced a number
of concrete results in key areas such as the relationship between the United Nations and
regional organizations in Africa, peacekeeping and sanctions. The work will continue on
important questions such as refugee security, reducing arms flows and post-conflict
peace-building. It will gradually involve all parts of the United Nations system.
Peace and security in Africa can only be
attained through common action — by Africa and the international community, by civic
organizations, by ordinary men and women committed to a better future for themselves and
for their children
Permanent
Mission of Sweden to the United Nations