S/PV.4194 Security Council

May I ask representatives to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the United Nations personnel who were killed in Timor, as well as in deep solidarity with all United Nations personnel in the field and all humanitarian personnel in the field everywhere.

Members of the Security Council will recall that the date and agenda for this meeting of the Council were agreed upon by members of the Council in its prior consultations.

I am pleased to acknowledge that at this Summit meeting of the Security Council Argentina, China, France, Mali, Namibia, the Russian Federation, Tunisia, Ukraine and the United States of America are represented by their Presidents; Bangladesh, Canada, Jamaica, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are represented by their Prime Ministers; and Malaysia is represented by its Minister for Foreign Affairs. I should like to acknowledge and welcome the presence of other heads of State or Government, as well as Ministers for Foreign Affairs, together with their respective delegations, in the Council Chamber today. Their presence is an affirmation of the importance of the subject matter to be addressed. The spirit of cooperation demonstrated by all those present here, which has made this very important meeting possible, is greatly appreciated by all of us. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is today holding a Summit meeting on the question of ensuring an effective role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa. Members of the Council have before them document S/2000/845, which contains the text of a draft resolution, and annexed Declaration, prepared in the course of the Council's prior consultations. With the consent of my colleagues, I should like to make a few introductory comments to our meeting today. I believe that it is both a great honour and a great responsibility, for Africa and for Mali, for me to have the privilege of presiding over a meeting of the Security Council at the level of head of State or Government, the second of its type in the history of our Organization. Allow me to welcome all of you and to express to you the gratitude of all of Africa. Your presence here today attests to your commitment and to your faith in the missions and the role of the United Nations. This is a special moment, since, at the dawn of the new millennium, the entire world — with good reason — is wondering when peace and security will prevail on our earth, and in particular in Africa. One could ask if the Council, since our first historic meeting in 1992, has effectively discharged its primary responsibility in the area of the maintenance of international peace and security. Since peace and prosperity, and security and development go hand in hand, has the international community done enough to eradicate poverty and to create the conditions for a better life for all? United Nations Development Programme indicators show how far we are from eliminating poverty and creating the conditions for a better life for all, and behind these cold figures is the misery of millions of men, women and children. Conflicts have not ceased but have now become internal, particularly in the form of civil wars — violent and bloody conflicts that take a heavy toll on civilians in particular and especially on vulnerable individuals, such as women and children, conflicts that are characterized by atrocities that are repugnant to the conscience of humankind. To be sure, our Organization has made progress, but we also must recognize that there have been some failures over the last 10 years which in some ways have affected its credibility. Africa, my continent, unfortunately is all too good an illustration of this. The tragic events that took place in Sierra Leone, the need to better protect communities and individuals, including United Nations and humanitarian personnel, and the need therefore to better meet the new security challenges are not in conflict with our shared determination to fine-tune the actions of the Council to enhance its ability to prevent crises and to respond to them in an appropriate fashion. Africa, which has just adopted a Declaration and Plan of Action following the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa, intends to shoulder its share of responsibility in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. It expects from the international community the necessary support, and, from the United Nations, which bears responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, it expects an increased commitment and specific attention to the promotion of lasting peace and security in Africa. Africa has the means to extricate itself from this situation. It needs to feel that it is not alone. Have confidence in Africa. At a time when the world is scrutinizing the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century, we need more than ever to send strong and clear signals to peoples and States of the determination and ability of the United Nations to carry out effective peacekeeping operations in accordance with its principles. In renewing our commitment to the ideals and objectives of the Charter and our firm commitment to make genuine progress in the area of international peace and security, we need to provide the United Nations the means to achieve peace. There are special moments in history when peoples and individuals can be active or passive. This extraordinary meeting is an opportunity for us to make history. We must take advantage of it to build a world of peace in which future generations will be free from wars and from poverty. We need to lay the foundations for that world, and that means providing the human, financial and material resources necessary for our Organization more effectively to deal with conflict situations and shoulder its incomparable responsibility to ensure and guarantee world peace. That is the point of our meeting today, and I wish every success to the work of the Council. We shall now begin our debate. I call on the Secretary-General.

It is an honour for me to welcome you to the United Nations for this historic meeting of the Security Council. You have come to New York to participate in the Millennium Summit, during which we will endeavour to give fresh impetus to the United Nations Organization for the century that is now beginning. (spoke in English) To say that the eyes of the world are upon us is both too little and too much. Too little, because the fate of future generations could be affected by the decisions of this Security Council Summit. Too much, because many in the present generation are losing confidence in the ability of the United Nations to make the difference between war and peace. This contradiction reflects what I believe to be a crisis of credibility facing the Council and the Organization in discharging its gravest responsibility: the maintenance of international peace and security. Too many vulnerable communities in too many regions of the world now hesitate to look to the United Nations to assist them in their hour of need. No amount of resolutions or statements can change that reality; only action can: prompt, united, effective action pursued with skill and discipline to halt conflict and to restore the peace. Only such determined action can restore the reputation of the United Nations as a credible force for peace and justice. Nowhere, members of the Council, is your commitment more urgently needed than on the continent of Africa, where millions are suffering daily from the ravages of war. I am therefore pleased that Africa will be a focus of your deliberations today. Whenever possible, we must summon the will to act preventively, before a crisis reaches the point of no return. When that fails and the Council resorts to sanctions, it must summon the will and the wisdom to ensure, on the one hand, that those sanctions are effectively enforced and, on the other, that they reach their intended target without inflicting unnecessary hardship on innocent people. When we are asked to deploy a peacekeeping operation, we must ensure that it has a clear, achievable mandate and the strength and authority to defend itself and its mandate. When all else fails and only armed intervention can save large numbers of people from genocide or crimes against humanity, there too the Council must summon the will and the wisdom to confront the agonizing dilemma which such cases pose to the world’s conscience. Yet, in all these cases, summoning the will to act is only the essential first step; having the ability to act, and to act effectively and decisively, is the other imperative. We all recognize that too often in the peacekeeping operations of the past the path to failure was paved with good intentions and inadequate mandates. We all agree that, often, peacekeepers were asked to take on complex missions without the training, equipment, force structure or authority necessary to succeed. We all know that the time has come to truly enable the United Nations to succeed in its missions for peace. Last March, I asked a Panel of distinguished veterans of peacekeeping and peace-building missions to provide frank and realistic recommendations to assist the Council and the larger membership in fulfilling that urgent task. Their report is before the Council in document S/2000/809, and I have already committed myself to implementing those changes for which I am responsible. It is my sincere hope that the Council will do the same. The United Nations and its peacekeepers cannot be the answer to every crisis, and every conflict, and every threat to human life. Nor can United Nations peacekeeping be a substitute for the political will of the parties to achieve a peaceful settlement. But where we are the answer, where only our unique universality and legitimacy can help a wounded and abandoned people return to a life of peace and dignity, we must be given the means to make the difference between life and death. The world looks to you, members of the Council, for an answer. Allow me to close by reiterating to the Council what I told the larger membership yesterday: that the safety of United Nations personnel, in both peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, is a matter of vital concern. Yesterday’s fatal attacks on United Nations staff working in West Timor highlight again the dangers faced by men and women, military and civilian, who venture into the field for the United Nations, that is, on assignments and missions decided upon by the Council. I would like to stress the responsibility of the Council to focus on this matter. Let us together ensure that staff have the safety and security they need to do their jobs.

I wish to welcome the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity and the representatives of a number of African regional organizations. With a view to making the best use of our time, when a speaker has reached the agreed five-minute time-limit, I shall tap my gavel as a courteous reminder. I now give the floor to the President of the United States of America, His Excellency Mr. William Jefferson Clinton. President Clinton: We come together in this historic meeting to discuss the role of the United Nations in maintaining peace and security. I thank President Konaré for the minute of silence for the United Nations workers who died in West Timor yesterday, and I ask the Indonesian authorities to bring those responsible to justice, to disarm and disband the militias and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of those continuing to work towards humanitarian goals there. Today, I would like to focus my peacekeeping remarks on Africa, where prosperity and freedom have advanced, but where conflict still holds back progress. I cannot help noting that this historic meeting in this historic Chamber is led by a President and a Secretary- General who are both outstanding Africans. Africa’s achievements and the strengths of the United Nations are evident. Mozambique and Namibia are just two success stories. But we ask the United Nations to act under increasingly complex conditions. We see it in Sierra Leone, where United Nations action saved lives but could not preserve the peace. Now we are working to strengthen the mission. In the Horn of Africa, United Nations peacekeeping will monitor the separation of forces so recently engaged in brutal combat. In Congo, civil strife still threatens the lives of thousands of people, and warring parties prevent the United Nations from implementing its mandate. We must do more to equip the United Nations to do what we ask it to do. It needs to be able to have peacekeepers who can be rapidly deployed, properly trained and equipped, and able to project credible force. That, of course, is the thrust of the report on peacekeeping reform transmitted to the Council by the Secretary-General. The United States strongly supports that report. It should define the goal of our assistance for West African forces now going into Sierra Leone. Let me also say a word, however, beyond peacekeeping. It seems to me that, both for Africa and for the entire world, we will be forced increasingly to define security more broadly. The United Nations was created to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. War kills massively, crosses borders, destabilizes whole regions. Today, we face other problems that kill massively, cross borders and destabilize whole regions: a quarter of all the deaths on the planet now are caused by infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. Because of AIDS alone, life expectancy in some African nations is plummeting by as much as 30 years. Without aggressive prevention, the epicentre of the epidemic likely will move to Asia by 2010, with very rapid growth rates in the new independent States. The affected nations must do more on prevention, but the rest of us must do more too — not just with AIDS, but also with malaria and tuberculosis. We must invest in the basics: clean water, safe food, good sanitation and health education. We must make sure that the advancements in science work for all people. The United States is investing $2 billion a year in AIDS research, including $210 million for an AIDS vaccine, and I have asked our Congress to give a tax credit of $1 billion to speed the development in the private sector of vaccines against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. We have to give a tax credit because the people who need the medicine cannot afford to pay for it as it is. We have worked to make drugs more affordable and we will do more. We have doubled our global assistance for AIDS prevention and care over the last two years. Unfortunately, the United Nations has estimated that to meet our goals we will collectively need to provide an additional $4 billion a year. We must join together to help close that gap. And we must advance the larger agenda to fight the poverty that breeds conflict and war. I strongly support the goal of universal access to primary education by 2015. We are helping to move towards that goal in part through our effort to provide school lunches to 9 million boys and girls in developing nations. For about $3 billion a year collectively we could provide a nutritious meal to every child in every developing country in a school in the world. That would dramatically change the future for a lot of poor nations today. We have agreed to triple the scale of debt relief for the poorest countries, but we should do more. This idea of relieving debt, if the savings will be invested in the human needs of the people, is an idea whose time came long ago, and I hope we will do much more. Finally, Mr. Secretary-General, you have called on us to support the millennium ecosystem assessment. We have to meet the challenge of climate change. I predict that within a decade, or maybe even a little less, this will become as large an obstacle to the development of poor nations as disease is today. The United States will contribute the first complete set of detailed satellite images of the world’s threatened forests to this project. We will continue to support aggressive efforts to implement the Kyoto Protocol and other objectives that will reduce the environmental threats we face. Now let me just say in closing that some people will listen to this discussion and say, “Well, peacekeeping has something to do with security, but these other issues do not have anything to do with security and do not belong in the Security Council.” This is my last meeting, and I just have to say that I respectfully disagree. These issues will increasingly be considered by the Security Council. Until we confront the iron link between deprivation, disease and war, we will never be able to create the peace that the founders of the United Nations dreamed of. I hope the United States will always be willing to do its part, and I hope that the Security Council increasingly will have a twenty-first century vision of security that we can all embrace and pursue.

I thank the President of the United States of America for his statement and for his kind words addressed to me. The next speaker is the President of the Argentine Republic, His Excellency Mr. Fernando de la Rúa. President De la Rúa (spoke in Spanish): Allow me to express the satisfaction of the Argentine Republic at seeing you, Sir, presiding over our deliberations. Argentina would like also to express its satisfaction at having been able to contribute to peace as part of the Security Council. Preserving international peace and security is a primary responsibility of the Security Council and it must be strengthened. If this responsibility is not fully exercised, none of the remaining activities of the United Nations can be successfully implemented. The end of the cold war has not changed the role of the Council as established by the Charter, but it has confronted the Council with a reality that entails new challenges: international security now also includes human security. Since the beginning of the last decade, most conflicts considered by the Security Council have been essentially of an internal nature — even when they had international repercussions. In these conflicts the target has also been civilian populations, which have repeatedly been victims of serious and systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian international law. One of the greatest contemporary dilemmas is whether the United Nations can remain indifferent to these violations, committed within the borders of a State, when at the same time it advocates the defence of those very rights and freedoms? There is no simple answer to this question, because it is linked to values such as the sovereignty of States and to the principle of non-intervention. We believe that the principle of non-intervention must be respected, but at the same time we believe that a complementary value should be added: the principle of non-indifference. This non-indifference also means that the perpetrators of crimes that offend the common conscience of humankind cannot be left unpunished. Thus the creation of the International Criminal Court and the tribunals for Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone are important deterrents and indispensable components of stable, lasting and fair peace. Peacekeeping operations must also be adapted to the new realities. Sometimes their mandates will go beyond the observance of the ceasefire. As in the case of East Timor, a mandate may even include contributing to organizing the creation of a new State. When necessary the mandate should include rules on the protection of civilians. Srebrenica and Rwanda taught us that a false notion of impartiality cannot prevail in cases of genocide or crimes against humanity. In all cases, the mandate must be clear, realistic and adapted to the mission’s goals. These mandates will only be effectively implemented if they are backed by political will concretely expressed through the contribution of adequate financial and human resources. The financing of peacekeeping operations should be sufficient, and the permanent Members of this Council have a special responsibility in this regard. The need for a gradual approach and the situation of developing countries should also be taken into account when reviewing the financing of these operations. The most recent conflicts have shown us that troops and civilian personnel should be efficiently trained. The experience gained by Argentina through 42 years of participating in these operations was reflected in the creation of the Argentine centre for joint training for peacekeeping operations, which has been operating since 1995 with the participation of personnel from other Member States, and the training centre for security forces on overseas missions. Argentina, which is the major troop-contributing country in the region and currently participates in nine peacekeeping operations, will continue, in accordance with international law, to provide armed troops and security and civilian personnel to the operations mandated by the Security Council. We recognize the valuable contribution made by the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, dated 21 August 2000, and we consider that this report should be promptly considered. The painful conflicts in Africa have diverse causes that require integrated responses which combine the essential elements of peace and security with sustainable development, representative democracy and the rule of law. These conflicts should be examined by the Security Council with special sensitivity, which can only be reached through direct knowledge of the reality and greater coordination with regional organizations and other United Nations organs. Consistent with this perspective, Argentina has been present in Africa. It has supported the maintenance of peace by participating in operations in Angola, Mozambique and Western Sahara. It has provided humanitarian assistance either directly or through the White Helmets. It has contributed electoral observers to South Africa, Eritrea and Algeria, and has promoted cooperation for development through the cooperation funds. In the multilateral area, together with our African partners we have emphasized the importance of the nuclear-weapon-free zones established by the Tlatelolco and Pelindaba treaties. Finally, I wish to underscore that in October 1998 Argentina hosted the last ministerial meeting of the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic. On that occasion, for the first time a plan of action was adopted to enhance cooperation and ties between the African and South American countries of the South Atlantic. I cannot conclude without expressing my gratitude to Africa, without whose substantial contribution and firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter progress in areas such as decolonization, disarmament, human rights and development could not have been achieved. I wish to reaffirm Argentina’s ongoing commitment to support the safety and security of United Nations personnel and of associated and humanitarian personnel. This is all the more relevant in the light of the assassination yesterday of staff members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in West Timor, which we strongly condemn. We extend our condolences to the family of those selfless servers of humanity and to the entire United Nations family.

I thank you, Mr President, for your kind words. I call on His Excellency Mr. Jiang Zemin, President of the People’s Republic of China. President Jiang Zemin (spoke in Chinese): It is my great pleasure to attend today’s Security Council summit meeting and to congratulate you Sir, President Alpha Oumar Konaré of the Republic of Mali, on your assumption of the presidency of this important meeting. Fifty-five years ago the United Nations was founded, an event which has influenced in a most profound manner the direction in which post-war international relations have developed. Over those 55 years, the United Nations has made contributions to international peace and security, to increased exchanges and cooperation among the countries of the world and to world development and progress. We should treasure and build upon this asset to the benefit of mankind. At the turn of the century, the international situation is undergoing profound changes, and the world is not all at peace. Various factors which threaten world peace and security still exist. Regional conflicts, triggered by ethnic, religious or territorial disputes, have increased, instead of having decreased. The common development of all countries is being hindered by complicated problems and conflicts. People all over the world are calling, more strongly than ever, for peace, stability and development. How to enable the United Nations to more effectively maintain international peace and security and create a favourable environment for the development of all countries has become a pressing task. What we are confronted with are unprecedented challenges and complex problems. In order to dissolve contradictions and conflicts effectively and achieve a lasting peace and common security, the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter must be strictly complied with. Disputes, if any, must be settled through dialogue, negotiation and consultation. Wilful use of force and interference in the internal affairs of other countries in the name of humanitarianism not only run counter to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, but will also cause severe negative consequences. Under the United Nations Charter, the Security Council is entrusted with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is at the core of the international collective security mechanism. It is against the will of the vast number of United Nations Member States to act however one likes and bypass the Security Council on major issues pertaining to international peace and security. We must work together to maintain, rather than weaken, the authority of the Security Council, and to strengthen, rather than weaken, its role. Peacekeeping operations are one of the major means by which the United Nations fulfils its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Facts have proved that the success of the United Nations peacekeeping operations depends on the observance of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, particularly the principles of respect for State sovereignty, non-interference in the internal affairs of recipient countries, seeking prior consent of the parties concerned, neutrality and the non-use of force except for self-defence. The United Nations should sum up its past experience and lessons. It is true that the peacekeeping operations have contributed to international peace and security, but they are not a panacea. In order to enable United Nations peacekeeping operations to work better, it is essential to treat symptoms and remove the root causes that lead to conflicts at the same time. To meet the needs of the times, it is imperative for the Security Council to reform itself where necessary so as to strengthen its role, maintain its authority and improve its efficiency. The expansion of the Security Council should be based on the principle of equitable geographical distribution and should first of all address the under-representation of the developing countries in the Council. Any reform of the Security Council should adequately reflect the will of the majority of the United Nations Member States. Only then can the reform stand the test of history. To this end, all Member States must have detailed and patient discussions in order to reach consensus on this issue. It is undoubtedly very important to give priority to the African question at this Summit. Looking around the African continent, we have seen incessant turmoil and raging wars plaguing many countries and regions, which have not only displaced innocent people and plunged them into poverty, but have also hindered the social and economic development of Africa. Africa is an important member of the world community. Without African stability and development, there is no world peace and prosperity to speak of. The current poor and backward situation of Africa is due to the long-term competition and plundering of old colonialism. Africa, whose countries have realized their national independence, should not be reduced to a neglected corner. The United Nations and its Security Council should pay greater attention to Africa and increase their input into that continent. In dealing with problems facing Africa, they should fully respect the sovereignty of African countries, pay close attention to the opinions of African countries and regional organizations, such as the Organization of African Unity, take effective measures to keep African countries away from poverty and warfare and help African peoples onto the road to tranquillity, development and rejuvenation. China is a permanent member of the Security Council and a developing country as well. We are ready to work together with other United Nations Member States to strengthen the role of the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security, support its continued efforts to resolve regional conflicts and encourage the Council to increase its support for Africa. So long as we are firm in determination and persistent in action, the lofty ideal of peace and development that people all over the world have longed for will surely come true.

I thank the President of the People’s Republic of China for his kind words. I call on His Excellency Mr. Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic. President Chirac (spoke in French): Peace is our primary objective and it is here, within the Security Council, that it must be ensured. Now that the cold war is over the conditions are right for our Council to fulfil its role. Yet, despite intense activities over the last 10 years, its results have been mixed. Along with its indisputable successes, the United Nations has been haunted by failures and by the image of peacekeepers taken hostage and humiliated. The Security Council has come under criticism and the assessment of peacekeeping operations has been harsh, but, it must be said, fair. What can we do and what must we do to enable the Security Council to better assume its primary responsibility under the United Nations Charter for maintaining international peace and security? I see four orientations. The first is that we must take on board all the consequences of the changing nature of conflicts, which are increasingly internal in origin. All too often, massive violations of human rights and humanitarian disasters hit entire regions. The Council must be able to respond. How can we prevent conflicts? The world community needs to tackle the causes, and when the causes are underdevelopment and lack of democracy, of the rule of law and of respect for human rights, the Secretary-General should be able to bring them to the Security Council’s attention and use his power of mobilization. We must also tackle everything that finances and fuels conflicts, such as the illegal exploitation of natural resources, as we see in the Great Lakes region; drug trafficking; and small arms accumulations. It has also become necessary to make embargoes more effective. More specifically, we need to set up a permanent body within the Secretariat to control diamond trafficking and probably trafficking in rare precious metals. Finally, we need to be concerned with consolidating peace in the long run. This means that the application of peace agreements will have to be based on strategies to rebuild the State and the economy, to be implemented by multilateral institutions. The second orientation is that we must improve the Security Council’s means of action. In the 1990s the Security Council made unprecedented use of sanctions. But we must face the facts: the results have not been conclusive. The lesson is that we must make better use of these restrictive measures, using them only in exceptional situations, defining our objectives more clearly and setting time-limits, open to renewal. Furthermore, sanctions must be proportionate to their objective and not carry morally unacceptable humanitarian costs, as we sometimes see today. They must be implemented rigorously, without creating inhumane and unacceptable side effects. The Security Council also decided on a large number of peacekeeping operations during the 1990s. Such operations tackled a substantially more diversified range of problems and tasks. Most ran into a great many difficulties. Like Mr. Brahimi, whose report I entirely endorse, I see four lessons to be learned. First of all, budget concerns must not be a paralysing constraint from the outset. The United Nations finances need to be consolidated. All countries must pay what they owe, and expenses should be shared fairly. Then, we need to make sure that objectives are in line with the operating mandate and the resources provided. This means organizing consultations very early on between the Security Council, the Secretariat and the countries that contribute troops. Furthermore, States must provide the United Nations with the right quality and quantity of personnel and equipment. When developing countries help by sending troops, they should be able to get support from the developed countries that have resources for training and equipment. Finally, we increasingly have to deal with warlords or States that refuse to keep the commitments that they have made in peace agreements. Credible and respected peace agreements are the key to the effectiveness of the United Nations action. It is inadmissible for our Organization to be held hostage to conflicts, and it is not right that those who do not keep their word should continue to receive international aid. Here again, I am thinking of the Great Lakes region. The third orientation is strengthening the partnership between the Security Council, the Secretariat and regional organizations and initiatives. Some progress has been made. But, closer consultations at an earlier stage are critical when planning to call on the United Nations to facilitate implementation of an agreement or to take over a regional action. The fourth and last orientation is reforming the Security Council. In order to maintain its full authority, the Council must be more representative of the real world. France supports an enlargement of the Council in both permanent and non-permanent membership, and also greater representation of the countries of the South. By deciding today to reform peacekeeping operations, the Security Council is also paying homage to all those who have given their lives for peace. I am thinking in particular of the three United Nations staff members that were killed in Timor yesterday. I am also thinking of all the soldiers who have fallen under the blue flag, the French soldiers in particular, and those who serve or have served the United Nations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Lebanon and elsewhere. We are committing the United Nations to a necessary and long-term task. France supports this effort. It will assume its full responsibilities for peace. We have frequently spoken of the problem of globalization. I myself referred this morning to this problem and its tragic consequences of excluding a growing number of men, women and children and countries from the prosperity or from the dignity of being able to live in today’s world. This can only be aggravated if we do not all together take the reins of globalization, which must be controlled and humanized. The twentieth century was the century of regained independence, and the twenty-first must be the century of reaffirmed dignity, shared prosperity and secured peace.

I now give the floor to the President of Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Mr. Sam Nujoma. President Nujoma: Mr. President, I wish to congratulate you on convening this important first Summit of the Security Council in the new millennium. Today many of the items on Council’s agenda concern Africa, and I am therefore grateful to participate in this meeting chaired by you, my brother and colleague. I would also like to reiterate here the pride and confidence that Namibia continues to have in our Secretary-General, another son of Africa. I commend him for his tireless efforts in the interest of peace and conflict resolution in the world. That is why the thoughtful report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations is so important and timely. The topic on our agenda today has further significance for my delegation. It was exactly 10 years ago that Namibia attained independence, which was preceded by a long and protracted liberation struggle against apartheid colonialism. Our independence was assisted by a very successful peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG). UNTAG succeeded, by and large, because our people were ready for independence and change for a better future. There were, however, some failures. It is therefore significant that the Council consider constructive ways and means to further strengthen its role in the maintenance of international peace and security. Given the situation today, it is imperative that special attention be given to Africa’s many conflicts and needs. In the view of my delegation, the following are some of the important matters that the Council should pay close attention to. First, the Council should, at all times, uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It should attach equal importance to and undertake swift responses to breaches of international peace and security in all regions of the world, and not treat Africa only as an afterthought. Secondly, recent events have demonstrated the invaluable role that regional and subregional organizations such as the Organization of African Unity, the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community of West African States can play in maintaining or restoring international peace and security. The efforts of these organizations should be supported on the basis of ensuring regular consultations and cooperation. Thirdly, the use of sanctions has had varied success in maintaining or restoring international peace and security. Their appropriateness should be thoroughly reviewed for each situation. Sanctions regimes should not be open-ended. However, they remain a valuable tool to use in various situations where wars and rebel atrocities are fuelled by the illegal trade in diamonds and other natural resources. The situations in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone are cases in point. Sanctions can be used in the same way to curb illicit arms flows to and in Africa, which endanger lives and threaten peace and security as well as seriously hampering development on the continent. Fourthly, when peacekeeping operations are approved, they should be provided with appropriate mandates and adequate resources. Fifthly, due attention should be given to the root causes of conflict, such as poverty and underdevelopment. The Council should join other United Nations bodies in developing comprehensive and integrated strategies to address the root causes. There are many other issues that require attention, but time does not permit us to discuss all of them here. However, the reform and enlargement of the Security Council should be expedited. An early decision on this matter will greatly enhance the effectiveness, transparency and democratic character of the Security Council. In conclusion, the Security Council, together with the other bodies of the United Nations, can undoubtedly achieve many more successes in the future if it is properly reformed in line with the changing times and the new demands for the United Nations.

I thank the President of Namibia for his kind words addressed to me. The next speaker is the President of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin. President Putin (spoke in Russian): All of us are participants in a truly historic and precedent-setting meeting of the Security Council. The previous few months of this millennium remind us of our responsibility and obligations to our peoples and the whole world. The key United Nations body — the Security Council — has done all it can to safeguard the world from a new global military catastrophe, and to safeguard politicians from the temptation to use any advantage to pursue objectives unworthy of mankind. When the Security Council acts in solidarity and unity, the most complicated problems are resolved. This only serves to enhance the authority of the Council. In my opinion, in the new century it might be well to make more frequent use of high-level summit meetings — and not only at United Nations Headquarters in New York, but also at locations closer to the events the Council is dealing with. Before our eyes and with our direct participation, a new epoch is being shaped. It does not matter that we have different ideas about the specifics of this epoch. We are firmly united in our principal beliefs. This epoch must become one of equitable security and just peace. In this connection, I would like to emphasize that the principles laid down in the Charter of the United Nations have passed more than one durability test and proved their effectiveness. The most important of these principles is the supremacy of international law. Secondly, we have a common responsibility to promote global stability and to take a collective approach to settling disputes and conflicts. Recent history vividly teaches that approaches and measures that ignore international law inevitably undermine both regional and global stability. I would like to stress that only the Security Council has the right to sanction such an extreme measure as the use of force in a crisis situation. It does so on behalf and in the interests of the whole world community. When so acting the Security Council has a special responsibility to clearly define the mandate and rules for conducting a peacekeeping operation. In particular, in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter, the self-serving interests of any party should not be allowed to become part of any such operation. In recent years the peacemaking efforts of the Security Council have made it possible to extinguish a few major regional conflagrations — in Cambodia, Mozambique and Central America. The settlement of the conflict in Tajikistan is the latest and one of the most interesting examples of such efforts. United Nations support for the process of national reconciliation has returned Tajikistan to normal life. I am convinced that such an approach could achieve a just solution to the problem of Iraq and secure peace and stability in the Balkans. The relevant resolutions of the Security Council already contain the necessary political and legal conditions for such action. They need only to be implemented conscientiously and fully. One of the most acute problems of the contemporary world is the incessant conflicts in Africa. This issue has already been discussed today. The future of the continent depends to a great degree on the speedy and effective settlement of these conflicts. If in the twentieth century Africa became free from colonialism, the twenty-first century should rid it of poverty and military confrontation. In order to solve this major problem the United Nations and its Security Council must most closely coordinate their activities with the peacekeeping efforts of the African nations themselves. The most important task is to improve the United Nations anti-crisis potential. In this regard, we believe that the Brahimi report is a useful document. We should jointly develop a culture of crisis prevention and devote greater efforts to forestall crises. Of special importance is bringing to light the deep-rooted reasons for conflicts, including economic and social ones. Russia has played and, on the basis of the foregoing, intends to continue to play an active role in peacekeeping operations. Today my country is participating in 10 out of the 15 United Nations peacekeeping operations. We share the sorrow of the United Nations in connection with the deaths of the peacekeepers in West Timor, and we condemn any aggressive actions towards United Nations personnel. Sons of Russia are among those who at various times have given their lives while protecting and defending the lofty ideals of the United Nations. In conclusion, from this lofty rostrum I would like to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his staff for the superb organization of our work and for the preparation of this meeting. I hope that the implementation of its results will be as productive as these discussions.

The next speaker is the President of the Republic of Tunisia, His Excellency Mr. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. President Ben Ali (spoke in Arabic): At the start of my address to this historic summit of the Security Council, I am pleased to extend my sincere wishes for the success of its proceedings, which focus on an issue of critical importance to the future of all mankind: international peace and security, especially on the African continent. Our summit is convening at a time when the need for a qualitative change in international relations has become more pressing than ever. Notwithstanding the scientific and technological achievements that have changed the face of the world in such a short span of time, a large portion of mankind in many parts of the world, and on our African continent in particular, is still suffering from the scourges of war, overpopulation, poverty, famine, disease and marginalization. This state of affairs requires that the international community formulate a joint, objective vision of certain concepts such as solidarity, intervention for humanitarian purposes, the protection of human rights and how to address development issues. This should also lead to ensuring that areas of collective action can be defined so that cooperation among our States and our peoples may become an inexorable bond to which we exhort one another by our deeds and by which we refute the voices of pessimism that allege that the clash of cultures, civilizations and societies is inevitable. The increasing gravity of conflicts and wars, particularly on the African continent, calls for combined efforts on the part of the international community to eliminate the causes of tension and to find appropriate peaceful, just and lasting solutions to them. In this context, I should like to recall the efforts we have made since 1994 within the framework of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to improve the capabilities of our continent in this field through the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution. However, the success of our regional initiatives continues to depend on the complementary efforts of the international community, since the responsibility for maintaining international peace and security remains essentially one of the functions of the Security Council. For this body to shoulder its huge responsibilities in a fair and equitable manner, I renew our call today for the support of the position expressed by the Group of Non-Aligned countries and by the African Group regarding developing the Council’s functions and working methods and expanding its structure. The aim of this proposal is to ensure that the Security Council becomes more representative, that it is able to keep pace with the different developments on the world scene, and that its resolutions assume greater effectiveness and credibility, while avoiding any form of double standards. While noting with deep satisfaction the decline in the use of the right of veto and the effort to seek consensus in most cases, we hope that this trend is adopted permanently for the sake of carrying out consultations before taking decisions. Since its election as member of the Security Council, Tunisia has sought to reconcile points of view; to press for the adoption of resolutions based on broad consensus; to settle disputes through peaceful means; to apply the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter; and to respect international law. International peacekeeping operations are still in need of considerable efforts to ensure that Member States are able to organize, prepare, deploy, finance and participate in them. Tunisia, which since its independence in the 1960s began to contribute to peace and security contingents in many parts of the world, believes that our States are called upon to assume their role in maintaining international peace and security, regardless of their size or ability. Accordingly, Tunisia today reaffirms its determination to continue to shoulder its responsibility in furtherance of peace, solidarity and development in the world.

I thank the President of Tunisia for his important statement. I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Leonid D. Kuchma, President of Ukraine. President Kuchma (spoke in Ukrainian; English text furnished by the delegation): At the outset, let me thank you, Mr. President, for your personal contribution to the successful realization of the initiative to convene this meeting. I consider this meeting to be a confirmation by the Security Council of its willingness to assume the primary responsibility for ensuring the effective functioning of the collective security system in the twenty-first century. The exclusive purview of the Security Council to authorize the use of force in international relations — except in cases where the right to self-defence is being exercised — as well to employ effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace and to suppress acts of aggression should remain the major foundation of this system. It is absolutely essential that this veritable nerve centre of world politics preserve its undeniable authority and enhance its legitimacy and effectiveness in the coming century. That goal should be attained by raising confidence in the Security Council by improving the peacekeeping instruments at its disposal and by achieving its comprehensive reform. In pursuing efforts aimed at resolving conflicts, the Security Council should necessarily address their root causes in order to reveal the real sources of confrontation. Social and economic factors are the leading causes for the outbreak of violence. Significant opportunities could be offered by better developing the under-utilized potential for cooperation that exists between the Security Council and other organs and institutions of the United Nations, starting with the General Assembly. There is a pressing need for appropriate implementation of the provisions of Article 65 of the Charter, which governs cooperation with the Economic and Social Council. In my address to the Millennium Summit of the United Nations today, I spoke in favour of developing a comprehensive conflict prevention strategy. One of the key components of such a strategy could be the establishment of United Nations regional centres for conflict prevention. It is also important to expand further the range of instruments required for the maintenance of peace and security. In this context, conflict prevention operations should gain prominence as a qualitatively new model of peacekeeping activities. I am confident that, together with peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations, this instrument will substantially strengthen the capacity of the Security Council to discharge its responsibilities. The founding fathers of the United Nations could not have imagined how acute the difficulties related to the application of enforcement measures imposed by the Security Council would become. Sanctions were designed as an important tool to ensure the implementation of the Council’s decisions. However, they were eventually turned into ineffective and sometimes even harmful instruments. It is therefore indispensable to develop a clear and coherent methodology for the imposition and lifting of sanctions that takes into consideration the concerns of innocent civilian populations and the interests of third countries. I find it necessary to draw the attention of the Council to the so-called frozen conflicts in the post- Soviet region. It has been almost a decade that tensions in Abkhazia, Georgia and Nagorny Karabakh have been destabilizing the situation in this vast region and posing the threat of wide-scale humanitarian catastrophe. There is also an urgent need to resolve the Transdniester conflict. Postponing a final settlement of such crises might lead to irreversible consequences. The poverty and sufferings of civilians in these conflicts make active peacekeeping efforts absolutely indispensable. Ukraine has already put forward an initiative to hold at Yalta in the near future the next round of negotiations aimed at confidence-building between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides. It is now the turn of the other members of the Security Council. We are also concerned with the fact that the tough knot of problems in the Balkans has yet to be untied. The ability to provide adequate responses to threats to peace and security in every region of the world will always constitute the major prerequisite to relying on the Security Council. Today, this principle should be upheld by giving special attention to the problems of the African continent. The challenges in Africa should be given utmost consideration. Leaving the long-suffering continent to solve all its difficult problems alone is absolutely unacceptable. Ukraine is determined to make a practical contribution to the United Nations peace efforts aimed at resolving conflicts in Africa. This determination is reinforced by our aspiration to expand economic cooperation with African countries. Ukraine looks forward to a century of African renaissance and stands ready to hasten its arrival. We have every reason to consider this historic Summit of the Security Council as an encouraging and promising beginning that will be followed by more successful and productive efforts in the new century. Whether it is a member of the Security Council or not, Ukraine will always actively contribute to the effective accomplishment of its honourable and responsible mission.

I thank the President of Ukraine for his important statement. I now give the floor to Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina (spoke in Bengali; English text furnished by the delegation): Today, as I address this Summit of the Security Council, I remember the day 26 years ago when the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressed the General Assembly immediately after Bangladesh was admitted to membership in the United Nations. In his speech, Bangabandhu pledged our full adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. We have remained faithful to that pledge, and we continue to serve the United Nations by taking a proactive role. As a member of the Security Council, Bangladesh has been contributing to the preservation and maintenance of international peace and security. This is a reflection of Bangabandhu’s commitment to peace, security and harmony among nations. We are here at a time of changing realities and increasing challenges. the maintenance of international peace and security in a globalized world is a major responsibility. The Security Council, as the only body devoted exclusively to the maintenance of international peace and security, can do better in a world of civil conflicts. It is encouraging to note that the Security Council is giving more attention to situations of humanitarian crisis involving the civilian population. For the first time, peace operations are being provided with child protection advisers. These are promising beginnings. Bangladesh appreciates Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s report, prepared by Ambassador Brahimi, on improving United Nations peace operations. The recommendations contained in the report should receive our serious consideration. The Security Council mandates should enable operations to address root causes of conflicts. In this context, this Summit should express strong support for poverty eradication, sustainable development, democracy, good governance, rule of law and human rights as foundations of durable peace. During the Bangladesh’s 1971 war of liberation, we acquired experience of the harmful effects of wars and conflicts wrought on humanity at large. Two hundred thousand women were raped, and hundreds of thousands were victims of mass murders. Our freedom- loving people fought valiantly at the call of our great leader, the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and were victorious. But the vanquished forces killed the Father of the Nation, along with most of the members of my family, on 15 August 1975. This conspiracy has not ended yet. Several attempts were made to kill me. International peace and security must be understood in terms of human security. We should put emphasis on mitigating the effects of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide on the civilian population. The Security Council has to focus on the prevention of armed conflicts by building a culture of peace. Women should not be seen as mere victims of war; they should be allowed to play their rightful role in resolving conflicts. The women of Burundi, the Congo and Somalia have demonstrated great commitment in establishing peace and democracy and in the reconstruction of war-ravaged countries. Similarly, special efforts are needed to address the needs of children affected by armed conflicts. Here I would invite the Council’s attention to Bangladesh’s proposal for child-soldier-free zones in various parts of the world. Striving for general and complete disarmament is our constitutional commitment. Yesterday, we deposited our instrument of ratification for the Convention banning anti-personnel mines and our instrument of accession for the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Necessary action must be taken against those who capture power by illegally overthrowing any constitutionally elected Government. I feel that the United Nations can take action on this subject. This is a prerequisite for peace, democracy, human rights and economic advancement. I therefore propose that this supreme Organization of the peoples take a decision to choose and sustain government of the people, by the people and for the people as a universal system of governance, and never to recognize illegal military takeovers of power achieved by trampling constitutional systems. Bangladesh resolved major outstanding issues with neighbours by means of peaceful negotiations, paving the way for greater cooperation among our peoples. In our national context, we have found that, given the political will and respect for human rights, peace is possible. It is by demonstrating respect for these values and principles that, through peaceful dialogue, we have been able to resolve decades of civil strife in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in south-eastern Bangladesh. Given the enormous challenges ahead, we believe that the Security Council should meet more often at the summit level than it has in the past. The world looks up to its leaders for making history. History demands of us — as a generation taking human civilization into the new millennium — that we live up to our solemn pledge of a world free of wars, a world where the culture of peace has taken deep, deep root.

I now give the floor to the Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien.

I will begin by expressing Canada’ s outrage at the murder of innocent, unarmed humanitarian personnel in West Timor. Those who attack United Nations staff attack this Organization and undermine the purposes and principles we have all come here to reaffirm. It is incumbent on the Indonesian Government to bring the perpetrators to justice. It is fitting that the Security Council is meeting during the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations, an occasion when Member States have come together at the highest level to reaffirm their commitment to our shared principles and purposes. More importantly, it is an opportunity for us to affirm our common resolve to make the United Nations work better, to be partners in its renewal and reform. Nowhere is this more critical than in the Security Council, the body mandated to preserve and protect international peace and security. Canada joined the Council with precisely that goal in mind. (spoke in French) In the brief time given an elected member, we have worked to make the Council more responsive to the security challenges and political imperatives we face at the turn of the century. We have tried to make the Council a more effective instrument for ensuring human security and more open and democratic. We have pressed it to demonstrate leadership in building a world of peace. In order to exercise that leadership, we must restore the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations. The Brahimi report reminds us that peacekeeping mandates must be consistent with realities on the ground and that adequate resources must be provided. In Srebrenica and Rwanda, we failed these tests. It is our duty to do better. In the twenty-first century, peace depends no longer solely on securing borders, but also on securing people. They must be protected from diverse threats: armed conflict, gross human rights violations, breaches of international humanitarian law and terrorism. The security of States is certainly essential, but it is not sufficient to ensure the safety and well-being of people. Indeed, as we have seen to our dismay in recent years, the security of a given State has been invoked in the name of ethnic nationalism as a justification for the worst kind of atrocities. (spoke in English) Canada has worked to broaden the Council’ s definition of security to encompass new human security challenges. We have argued that humanitarian principles and human rights must be given greater weight when the Council decides when to act. We will continue to make this case because, if the Security Council is unable to adapt, that will seriously undermine its credibility as a guarantor of peace — credibility that is essential to maintaining the moral authority of the United Nations as a whole. I have no doubt that we are up to this task. The world is watching. People everywhere are counting on us.

I now give the floor to the Prime Minister of Jamaica, The Right Honourable Percival James Patterson.

The United Nations is today facing its most crucial test, that of fulfilling its essential role in a brand new world. To fulfil its charge to maintain international peace and security, this Council must impact on the lives of people, changing their despair to hope and liberating them from conflict. The global landscape is littered with gloom, instability and devastation occasioned by the increasing number of unresolved conflicts, but the Security Council has made significant strides in maintaining stability in some areas of conflict while defusing hostilities in others. The impact of United Nations missions has been felt on almost every continent of the world. And yet, the flagrant violations of international norms and of the rights of individuals continue unabated in many places. The alarming increase in the number of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the inadequately financed operations of the Organization in response to these threats, demand our serious and immediate attention. Nowhere is this more of an imperative than in Africa. Poverty and social injustice constitute the greatest threat to global peace and international security, and perhaps nowhere more evidently so than in Africa. There is now, consequently, a greater burden on the Security Council to prove itself capable of protecting the most vulnerable. We have to stem the rising tide of refugees and internally displaced persons. In so doing, we will spend less on humanitarian assistance and more on development. Breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws must not go unchallenged. The resource needs of the United Nations must be adequate to demonstrate the necessary political will for taking action as and when required. Rightful concerns over sovereignty cannot allow us to turn a blind eye to the forces of evil, but the speed and yardstick for collective action cannot be determined purely by strategic geopolitical considerations. Measures taken by the Security Council to effect behavioural changes among those who perpetuate conflict situations must be enforced. Such measures must be targeted and achievable. When applied, they must be time-bound, clear and concise. Conflict prevention is of paramount importance in the maintenance of international peace and security. In July, the Security Council, under Jamaica’ s presidency, reaffirmed that the United Nations system must manage a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to address the root causes of conflict. We recognized the capacity given by the Charter to the Secretary-General for a range of action in conflict prevention. I commend him for his efforts in the face of uncertain mandates and limited resources. Long-term sustainable peace within the context of conflict resolution requires that peace-building mandates create mechanisms which foster confidence- building between the parties and create an environment conducive to social, economic and political development. Regional institutions such as the Organization of African Unity, and some regional institutions working in tandem with the Security Council, are essential to this united effort for lasting peace and allow people to develop their full potential for participating in sustainable socio-economic advancement. It may sound like heresy in this hallowed and privileged Chamber, but we cannot conceive of an effectively pursued peace and security mandate in the absence of reform of the Security Council itself. The Council must have the benefit of the credibility and legitimacy derived from its Charter-given authority, the transparency of its decision-making process and a truly representative membership. The existence of a veto power is anachronistic and undemocratic. By failing to take note of changes in the relative standing of States in the past half century and the expansion of United Nations membership, the Security Council has allowed its representative character to be diminished and its democratic legitimacy to suffer. The Council must become more representative of the world as it is today. It is high time to move forward with the reform process. Let us build now on areas of agreement and work with determination towards early adoption of those measures which are essential to the effective performance of the Council’s mandate in this new millennium. By so doing, we can ensure an even more effective role for the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security.

I call on the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, His Excellency Mr. Wim Kok. Mr. Kok: We started our meeting today with the minute of silence to remember the victims of militia violence in Timor. The Council through its President called upon Indonesia to live up to its responsibilities. I appeal to the Indonesian Government to exert its authority in Timor as in the Maluccas, or wherever a need may arise, to prevent a recurrence of such violence. The Millennium Assembly has brought us together here in New York, marking a renewed effort to bring prosperity, social justice and full respect for human rights to all the citizens of the world. It also signals our continuing determination to free this world from the scourges of conflict and destruction. This is what the Members of the United Nations decided over half a century ago to be the main task for the Security Council. What does this mean for our responsibility with regard to the numerous local conflicts of today and the havoc they bring to millions of people and to our development agenda? A major shift has occurred from global big-Power confrontation to internal conflicts, often based on ethnic and religious divisions, particularly in Africa. This requires a change in the way the Security Council deals with international peace and security. The Netherlands welcomes the recommendations in the Brahimi report on how to improve the way the Council handles today’s conflicts. Let the Council draw lessons from past experiences and step up its efforts to do better. Enhancing the effectiveness of United Nations peace operations requires political courage. If and when necessary, the Member States should allow the United Nations to deploy rapidly and under a robust mandate. The Member States should be prepared to make sufficient resources available. They should provide adequate support to peace-building strategies that work and take another look at the application of the principle of impartiality when dealing with local parties to a conflict. Let us fulfil our moral obligation to future generations by eliminating the causes of conflict and sparing them the man-made humanitarian calamities that plague our world today. Improving the quality of peace operations will contribute towards realizing those ambitions. But more is needed, more in the way of conflict prevention to avoid human suffering and to save the enormous cost of military action and of rebuilding societies. I agree with the Secretary-General that prevention is a challenge of political leadership. Member States should enable the Secretary-General to initiate actions in this regard, including the dispatch of fact-finding missions and the establishment of an effective early-warning capacity. Most armed conflicts today are between the poor. Broad-based economic growth helps to reduce poverty as a root cause of conflict and must, therefore, be part of conflict prevention strategies. Effective integration in the world economy is needed. African countries must be enabled to benefit more from the opportunities that globalization provides. Only then will the people of Africa be able to escape from the extreme poverty afflicting it. Likewise, African Governments should be willing and able to confront the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Sahara Africa, which the Council has rightly recognized as a risk to stability and security. So let us work together towards achieving peace and prosperity for the peoples and countries of Africa and elsewhere. We must join hands to improve respect for human rights, protect minorities, establish truly representative and participatory political systems and improve health and education standards. Through strength and solidarity, the Security Council can help us in making our common dream of worldwide peace and prosperity come true.

I now call on the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Right Honourable Tony Blair. Mr. Blair: First of all, Mr. President, our congratulations to you on hosting this meeting. I join in the expressions of outrage at the murder of United Nations staff in West Timor. I pay tribute to all our personnel, both military and civilian, who are under the banner of the United Nations around the world and who are good and brave people. Many of them, I am proud to say, are from my own country. I also support fully the cause for reform of the Security Council itself. In focusing on conflict resolution and prevention, I want to make four brief points. First, peacekeeping today is a lot tougher and more difficult than before. We are putting our people into situations of far greater difficulty than traditionally was the case, situations not often well defined and where the hazards from local militia or other people are far greater than before. Secondly, at the same time, however, the need for peacekeeping has never been greater. Indeed, in certain of the circumstances we can all think of, it is utterly determinative of the difference between anarchy and some form of stability in the countries concerned. Sierra Leone is an obvious example. East Timor, Bosnia — all are areas where these peacekeepers are having to perform a hard task, but it has never been more important. The conclusion from these two points is that the Brahimi reforms are absolutely essential. We need to be better organized, better resourced and better disciplined to carry out the tougher but more important work. The third point is this. I think we all recognize now that we cannot deal with these problems of security and conflict without dealing with the causes of conflict too. Whether it is poverty, debt, aid and development, infectious diseases or Governments and the rule of law, we need a far broader concept of how we deal with these security issues for today’s world. We cannot isolate a conflict from its root causes. Fourthly, of course we all have our own interests as countries around this table. But I think there’s a big difference between the type of debate we will have today and what it might have been 15, 20, or 30 years ago. Let us be clear there were real, competing spheres of influence that people clung to very tenaciously. Today, I think we have a very important common interest, and that is in the maintenance of order and stability — not order so that change does not happen, for change is necessary, but order so that change happens without chaos. I think that many of the things that we will face today in these conflicts are things like fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism — things that 30 or 40 years ago we would not have recognized as requiring quite the priority they do today. It is a changing pattern, therefore, of context in which we look at conflict resolution and prevention. What -does this lead to? It leads surely to this. We have in the Secretary-General a man who has put forward a plan and programme for reform of the way that we work. I think that what we have got to do is to match the vigour of his ambition with our response and carry this through. If we do, we will end up not with just a modernized Security Council but a far better, more effective way of dealing with these problems of conflict in the world today. The final point we all really acknowledge is that in today’s world it is not just technology and the economy that are global. We are interdependent in a way we have never been before, so it means that we must change our own perspective in thinking to face up to that modern reality.

I give the floor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, His Excellency Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

Let me begin by congratulating you, Mr. President, for convening this Summit. I am privileged to participate in this historic Summit of the Security Council on ensuring an effective role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa, coinciding with the Millennium Summit. The consideration of this important subject is most timely in the context of the many challenges confronting the Security Council in the twenty-first century. Clearly, for the Council to be more effective in discharging its responsibilities, there must be the necessary political will on the part of members. Measures undertaken in conflict resolution around the world, particularly in Africa, given the number and intensity of armed conflicts in the region, must be concerted and comprehensive. Such political will should be manifested irrespective of where the conflict occurs. Each conflict situation must be treated in an even-handed manner, lest the Council be accused of being selective in its approach. It is particularly pertinent on the part of the permanent members of the Council to manifest this political will, without which the Council will be rendered ineffective. A paralysis in the Council must be avoided at all costs if it is to fulfil its Charter-mandated responsibilities. For this purpose, members of the Council, especially the permanent members, who can block a consensus, must put aside their narrow political interests and join the consensus, in the larger interests of the international community. There is also a need for strong and sustained support on the part of the members of the international community for the actions of the Council. This is particularly relevant when sanctioning peacekeeping operations, whose success is predicated on the willingness of Member States to contribute troops and other personnel as well as equipment. My country has done its part in this regard and will continue to do so. The Council and the Secretariat should make every effort to engage Member States, particularly potential troop contributors, at the planning stage and at every subsequent phase of the operation. Indeed, peacekeeping operations should be established only when there is assurance of adequate and well-trained and equipped personnel from Member States. Dispatching peacekeeping missions at less than required strength and with inadequate equipment can result in tragic consequences, as was demonstrated in the early phase of the peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone. Undoubtedly, continued and sustained financial and material support by Member States is essential in ensuring the operational success of peacekeeping. What should not happen is for the effectiveness of peacekeeping missions to be jeopardized on account of a lack of necessary funding. At the same time, every effort should be made for the early reimbursement of the costs of peacekeeping operations borne by developing countries. Delayed reimbursement, which has often lasted a number of years, may have a negative impact on Member States’ ability and willingness to participate in future peacekeeping operations. Another challenge that must be addressed is the lack of institutional capacity on the part of the United Nations Secretariat, both in planning and managing peacekeeping missions. It is imperative that the Secretariat, particularly the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which is seriously understaffed, be further strengthened, commensurate with its enormous tasks. Immediate attention should be given to information-gathering and analysis, planning for future operations, and operational support for ongoing peacekeeping. The need for quality staff in order to ensure high standards of professionalism, upon which much of the success of peacekeeping missions depends, should not be understated. Clearly, sound decisions can be made by the Council only on the basis of prompt and quality information and analysis by the Secretariat. The Council should be presented with information and analysis in an objective and clear manner. Briefings on the military aspects of peacekeeping operations should be given whenever possible by the commander of the operation. This would be of tremendous value to Council members and troop- contributing countries in understanding the effect of their commitments. Beyond the deployment of peacekeeping missions, there is a need for the Council and the United Nations as a whole to develop strategies for peacekeeping and peacebuilding, including those for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants. This will go a long way in efforts to implement post-conflict measures to consolidate and sustain peace. There is a need to develop strategies for conflict prevention in close coordination with regional or subregional organizations. In this regard, the Secretary-General’s recommendations on conflict prevention contained in his Millennium report and in his statement to the Council’s debate on conflict prevention in July 2000 are most pertinent and should be given serious consideration. My delegation also commends the bold recommendations of the Brahimi Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, which deserve early consideration. My delegation fully supports the views expressed by a number of Council members on the need to ensure that the sanctions regimes are reviewed, eased or lifted so as not to prolong the agony of the affected peoples. The Council has to face the challenge of translating its pronouncements into concrete action. This unique and historic meeting of the Council would be best served if, following this Summit, focused and prompt follow-up measures were taken. This would result in a positive and tangible contribution by the Council to the objectives of the Millennium Summit.

With the Council’s permission, I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the President of the Republic of Mali. The difficulties encountered in Sierra Leone; the difficulties with deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the threat of conflict on the African continent and in other regions of the world; the increased number of internal crises; and the need to protect communities, United Nations personnel and the personnel of aid organizations against violence are today prompting our Council to adapt and make more effective its response capacity. I should like here to welcome the Secretary- General’s initiative, since the report submitted by Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi is part of the process that will make the United Nations a truly credible force for peace. I would like to congratulate the Secretary-General for the follow-up he has already given to this important report, whose recommendations have our backing because they are designed to allow us to better respond to present and future threats. Within the framework of the principles of our Organization, let us not fear change. Let us finally dare to give the United Nations the means to achieve peace. In this context, there are several important issues on which I wish to dwell. First of all, how can we save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, when children, who are the future, are handed over to senseless conflicts as both victims and executioners? We need to put an end to the sorry sight of child soldiers by unequivocally condemning and by taking energetic measures against all of those who make use of children, who instil in them a culture of violence and thus sow the seeds for the perpetuation of violence and conflicts. Secondly, efforts in the disarmament field, in particular as concerns weapons of mass destruction, must be pursued and stepped up to free our world from this terrible threat and to put an end to the arms race in all its aspects. But for regions such as Africa, it is light weapons that are our weapons of mass destruction. Efforts to date have been largely inadequate. My colleagues know as well as I do that most of the conventional weapons that are produced are circulating in developing countries, and especially in Africa. Those weapons are sometimes provided free of charge; sometimes at cash prices that quash all competition; and sometimes on credit against our raw materials: the share belonging to future generations has been mortgaged and is being badly managed. We must therefore work towards effective and progressive international legal standards to control the circulation of light weapons. If it is to be a success, the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, to be held next year in Geneva, must indeed address all aspects of the issue, including the legal arms trade, and must give priority to transparency. The devastating sight of the many victims of landmines world-wide, including thousands of children, causes us to urge all to ratify and implement the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Thirdly, I think it important for us to devote attention to the questions of impunity and of sanctions. The prevention of bloody conflicts, the implementation of conventions on human rights and on international humanitarian law and the protection of the most vulnerable require the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. We must put an end to impunity in order to protect individuals and communities against violence of all kinds. Sanctions form part of the means by which the Organization can take action. They must be adapted to their specific goals, because there have sometimes been tragic humanitarian consequences. The recent sanctions relating to the illicit exploitation of natural resources demonstrate how much more effective targeted sanctions can be. In our view, the Secretary-General’s comments on this matter in his report on the Millennium Assembly (A/54/2000) are apt and deserve full attention. Fourthly, cooperation with regional and subregional organizations should be strengthened to enable the United Nations, under the supervision of those organizations, to be more effective at prevention and at deploying locally based operations. The international community and the Security Council must therefore employ a consistent, sustained strategy to build the capacity of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and of a future African union, and of regional organizations, as well as to cooperate with them. Finally, how could we fail to endorse all the measures that have been advocated to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping operations through, inter alia, suitable mandates that include protection of the civilian population, an improved planning capability, rapid deployment of peace operations, and good coordination among participants in the field. These must be supplemented with socio-economic measures for peace-building. It is impossible to overstate how right it was for the Council, last January, to have considered the question of the AIDS pandemic in Africa, which poses a genuine threat to security and to fight which all resources must be mobilized and committed. It is clear to all that peace and prosperity go hand in hand, and that we must simultaneously tackle the underlying causes of conflict, fight poverty and combat the absence of democracy. Such a comprehensive, consistent approach would have a broad, lasting impact on the effective role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa, by providing a better life in greater freedom for all. For an Africa that is worthy and responsible, and for a world at peace, we need such a partnership. I now resume my functions as President of the Security Council. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to vote on the draft resolution (S/2000/845) before it. If I hear no objection, I shall now put the draft resolution to the vote. There being no objection, it is so decided. A vote was taken by show of hands. In favour: Argentina, Bangladesh, Canada, China, France, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mali, Namibia, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America

There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 1318 (2000). I have one other brief item of business. I understand that our Permanent Representatives have discussed and agreed on the wording of a presidential statement on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. May I take it that we approve that statement and are content that it should be issued by this Summit? There being no objection, I shall arrange for the statement to be issued as document S/PRST/2000/28. I thank all participants for the part they have played in this meeting; my thanks go to all the heads of State or Government and Ministers for Foreign Affairs, to the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity, to the representatives of regional organizations and to Mr. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who is present in the Security Council Chamber. The Security Council has thus concluded its business for this meeting. The meeting rose at 3.50 p.m.