Global Policy Forum

The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on Libya's compliance with the provisions of relevant Council resolutions, presented three months after the suspension of sanctions, had led to only one conclusion -- that Libya had fulfilled all its obligations under the Council resolutions, the Permanent Representative of Libya told the General Assembly this afternoon as it continued it general debate.

Yet, after consideration of the report, the Council had been unable to lift the sanctions against his country because of the intransigence of the United States, a country which was party to the dispute, he went on to say. That country has threatened to use the veto and that could only be considered as reneging on previous commitments. He demanded that the Council adopt a resolution immediately that would completely lift the sanctions imposed on Libya.

While several speakers emphasized the need to stop the suffering of the Iraqi people by lifting economic sanctions against that country, Nizar Obaid Madani, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, said that the Iraqi Government had not responded to Arab and international proposals in a way which would help to move matters in the right direction. The Council itself was unable to take action on the matter due to the lack of common vision among the permanent members. Iraq should fully implement all international resolutions and cooperate seriously with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the release of all prisoners and detainees and restoration of Kuwaiti properties. It should also refrain from all provocative and aggressive acts against Kuwait and other neighbouring countries.

Also addressing the issue of sanctions, George W. Odlum, Foreign Minister of Saint Lucia, noted that the emergence of Cuba as a vital and creative force in the integration and development of the Caribbean was frustrated by the inability of the United Nations to muster the political will to remove the inhuman sanctions imposed by the United States on the Cuban people. "The totally callous disregard for the cumulative will of this Assembly is the touchstone which characterizes the relationship between the super-Power leviathan and the 187 Lilliputian nations that talk and vote in this forum", he said.

Also speaking this afternoon were the President of Mozambique; the Prime Ministers of Solomon Islands, Niger and Nepal; the Deputy Foreign Minister of Yemen, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Sudan. Statements in right of reply were made by the representatives of the United Kingdom, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Israel and Syria.

Assembly Work Programme
The General Assembly met this afternoon to continue its general debate. It was expected to hear addresses by the President of Mozambique, the Prime Ministers of the Solomon Islands, Niger and Nepal, the Deputy Prime Minister of Yemen, and the Foreign Ministers of Libya, Saint Lucia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Sierra Leone.

Statements
ABUZED OMAR DORDA (Libya) questioned the "boycott" of his country -- since a sanction was a form of punishment for a strictly proven action that had been committed. The Council had not been presented with any proof or evidence that could prove that either Libya or even the two Libyan suspects had actually committed any action which led to the Pan Am 103 crash over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The sanctions resolutions had been passed merely on the suspicious grounds of two Libyan citizens. That was a form of collective punishment against an entire people for a mere suspicion, uninvestigated, without a trial.

He said the summary of the scenario on the suspicion had been refuted at that time. Malta had conducted an official investigation whose findings demonstrated that no unaccompanied suitcase had been loaded in the flight from Malta to Frankfurt. The Frankfurt authorities had also investigated the matter and reached the conclusion that no unaccompanied suitcase had reached its airport from Malta, nor left it for London. From the very first moment that the accusation had been transmitted by the media, and before the matter was presented to the Council, Libya had asked the other party to provide the judiciary authorities in Libya with the findings they had, so that investigations could be commenced accordingly; or, alternatively, to send an investigator to Libya to participate in the investigation; or, further, to send Libyan judges to review the case file. The other offered option was allowing a neutral party or parties, or the United Nations, to conduct an investigation. All of those requests had been refused, he said. His country had also requested the application of article 14 of the Montreal Convention of 1971 or resort to the International Court of Justice. In addition, the Non-Aligned Movement had recommended lifting of the sanctions if the other party to the dispute did not agree to the suspension of the sanctions during review by the Council in July 1999.

Also, he said that in June 1998 the OAU had decided that its member States would no longer comply with the sanctions if the other party continued to reject any of the options proposed by the international organizations to resolve the conflict. Faced with two rulings of the International Court of Justice and the steadfast positions of regional and international organizations, the other party had only two options left: either accept trial in a third country or allow the international community to lift the sanctions without reverting to the Council. Such a situation would pose real threats that might undermine that body, and subsequently undermine the grip of that party over it. The other party had therefore had no option but to accept unwillingly and had declared its acceptance of a trial in a third country. On 5 April, the two suspects in the Lockerbie incident had arrived of their own free will in the Netherlands.

Had the other party fulfilled its obligations and shown respect for the resolutions made in the name of the Council? he asked. No. In fact, the other party had prevented the adoption of a resolution by the Council to suspend the sanctions, and had instead unwillingly agreed to a statement by the Security Council President to the Press. He said that three months after the sanctions had been suspended, the Secretary-General had presented a report to the Council (document S/1999/726) on Libya's compliance with the provisions of Council resolutions 748 (1992) and 883 (1993). After consideration of the report, the Council had been unable to lift the sanctions against his country because of the intransigence of the United States, a country which was party to the dispute. That could only be considered as reneging on previous commitments. Moreover, it was ignoring the Secretary-General's report, whose contents led to only one conclusion -- that Libya had fulfilled all its obligations under Council resolutions. What justification then, if any, did the United States have for using the veto to prevent the Council from adopting a resolution to lift sanctions on Libya. First, that country reiterated the accusations it had made since the fabrication of the Lockerbie case, namely that Libya supported terrorism.

The Secretary-General's report had categorically refuted that claim, he continued. Paragraphs 29 to 34 and other pages ascertained the baseless nature of that accusation. Reports made by the American State Department and statements made by present and ex-officials of United States administrations also all pointed to the fact that such claims could no longer be sustained. On the contrary, Libya was a victim of American terrorism. It was the United States which sheltered, financed, trained and armed terrorists and transported them to his country in 1984 and later on to commit acts of terrorism. Those who give shelter to terrorists wanted by several other countries were not in a position to refer to others with a description which only applied to them. Second, the United States said that Libya had to cooperate with the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. That was meaningless because his country had undertaken to cooperate with the Court, as the Secretary- General's report had shown. Council resolution 1192 (1998) called on all parties to cooperate with the Court. How then could that be used as an excuse to prevent the Council from acting in accordance with its obligations by lifting the sanctions on Libya.

The third reason, he continued, was the demand that Libya pay compensation to the families of the victims. Demanding compensation from his country presupposed that the suspects were guilty, and made a mockery of the principle of international law that the accused was presumed innocent until proven guilty. Such a demand ruled out any possibility for the Scottish Court to find the suspects not guilty, and deprived Libya of the right to $70 million of compensation for the damages and losses which the Libyan people had experienced for over seven years. His country demanded that the Council adopt a resolution immediately that would completely lift the sanctions imposed on it. It also demanded that politicization of the case should not be allowed after it had taken its legal course. The case should be left totally to the Scottish Court without interference from any political entity, including the Council. If the Council continued to be prevented from adopting such a decision, Libya would take all the steps which it deemed necessary to guarantee fairness, including raising a constitutional dilemma between the highest and most judiciary organ -- the International Court of Justice, and the Council and the Assembly.

ABDULKADER BAJAMMAL, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Yemen, calling for continued efforts towards achieving security and stability in the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean, said his country had accepted unconditionally the arbitral tribunal's decision regarding Yemen's dispute with Eritrea concerning sovereignty over the Red Sea island of Hanish al-Kubra. It was Yemen's hope that a similar dispute between the United Arab Emirates and Iran would be settled peacefully in accordance with the internationally recognized principles and rules.

He said there was an urgent need to review the use of embargoes and sanctions. Experience had demonstrated their ineffectiveness in achieving the purposes for which they were adopted and the tremendous harm they had caused peoples, especially the middle and lower segments of the population and such vulnerable social classes as children, women and the elderly. The situation in Iraq attested to that. The definitive lifting of sanctions against Libya had also become self-evident after the Libyan leadership's compliance with Security Council resolutions concerning the Lockerbie affair. Yemen also called for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the Sudan.

Societies hosting refugees bore heavy burdens and their peoples faced serious environmental and health hazards, he said. Those societies also faced considerable economic and financial hardships, and it was regrettable that the humanitarian work done for refugees by some countries should turn into disaster and real tragedy for those countries. That was the situation of Yemen today as a result of the steadily increasing daily influx of refugees from the Horn of Africa. He added that the time had come for renewed solidarity by the United Nations, the international community and all concerned parties to find practical solutions that would help restore the unity and territorial integrity of Somalia and bring security and stability to the region. He said that a comprehensive, just and lasting Middle East peace must be based on the restoration to the Palestinian people of all their legitimate rights, primarily their right to establish an independent state on their national territory with Jerusalem/Al Quds as its capital. The Israeli-occupied territories of the Syrian and Lebanese peoples must also be restored. At a time when the Middle East peace process was viewed with renewed optimism, Israel must realize that a just, comprehensive and lasting peace was a genuine goal of the region's peoples as well as an international and humanitarian goal.

GEORGE W.ODLUM, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Saint Lucia, noting the underdevelopment that plagued the African continent, said that disunity among the countries of Africa had much to do with that condition. The OAU had to go further than just making declarations for unity. "Pan-Africanism must not continue to remain stunted at the threshold of the sixties", he said. He also called for more unity of action and purpose among the developing countries. The developing world could not depend only on the goodwill of the countries of the developed world.

He noted that the emergence of Cuba as a vital and creative force in the integration and development of the Caribbean was frustrated by the inability of the United Nations to muster the political will to remove the inhuman sanctions imposed by the United States on the Cuban people. "The totally callous disregard for the cumulative will of this Assembly is the touchstone which characterizes the relationship between the Super-Power Leviathan and the 187 Lilliputian nations that talk and vote in this forum", Mr.Odlum said.

Saint Lucia was concerned about the exclusion of transnational corporations from the rules of engagement the World Trade Organization set for trade. The dispute over the arrangements for the marketing of bananas had been distasteful. People in member countries of the European Union were punished through sanctions by the United States for the support of their governments for the banana marketing regime. A continuation of the tariff rate quota was essential for ensuring that the market continued to generate adequate prices, he stressed.

The developing world could not be swayed by the rhetoric of partnership when the relentless logic of globalization was geared to decimate, to marginalize and to eliminate. If the dogmatism and inflexibility of powerful States threatened the survival of developing countries, then they must band together in a trade union of the poor to seek justice and humanity. "No poison is a necessary drink, and we cannot be expected to drink globalization's cup of hemlock for the greater glory of the shapers of the new millennium", he said.

MUSTAFA OSMAN ISMAIL, Minister for External Relations of the Sudan, called the United States bombing of Al-shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum last year unjustified. He said that the United States had made baseless accusations against the Sudan of involvement in international terrorism. Furthermore, the American Administration had imposed unilateral economic sanctions on the Sudan despite the international community's clear and declared position on such economic coercive measures. He expressed his concern about the inability of the Security Council to take a decision on the Sudan's request to send a mission to investigate the American allegations concerning the factory. Therefore, he called upon the United Nations to ask the United States not to object to the sending of such mission, since it was confident of the information and the causes that led it to bomb the factory.

Recently, he went on, the American Administration had appointed a special envoy for the Sudan with specific objectives. The Sudan had not been a party to the choice of that envoy nor to the determination of his mandate and the terms of reference of his mission, he said. The way in which the United States administration had chosen that envoy was an act of a cultural arrogance, inconsistent with the spirit of the United Nations. He called upon the United Nations and the international community to urge the United States administration to take a positive attitude towards the normalization of relations with the Sudan, and to desist from interference in its internal affairs.

He said that, for humanitarian reasons and to facilitate peace talks, his Government wished to announce its full commitment to the general and comprehensive ceasefire in the Sudan. He hoped that the other party would respond positively so that the Sudan might initiate the practical steps for a disengagement of forces and monitoring of the ceasefire. The Government would allocate part of the revenues from oil for humanitarian and development needs in the South. It would also allocate part of this year's grain harvest to be distributed by the United Nations agencies to the needy population in the South. He said the conflicts in Africa had brought untold sufferings and difficulties for the peoples of the continent. Foremost among those was the problem of refugees, whose numbers exceeded 8 million living in extremely difficult circumstances. He called upon the international community and relevant organizations to continue to provide support for the States affected by the problems of refugees and displaced persons in order to make possible the prompt and effective implementation of the Khartoum Declaration of last December.

NIZAR OBAID MADANI, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, said that the Organization's ability to resolve global problems and fulfil its regular responsibilities relied on the political will of Member States to implement the principles of its Charter. The Security Council remained at the centre of reform efforts. Any restructuring of the Council must endeavour to improve its capability to effectively perform its role in accordance with the Charter; to make it more active in implementing its own resolutions in dealing with international crises; and to meet the will of the General Assembly to achieve the required harmony and desired objectives.

Turning to the situation in the Middle East, he said that the Treaty of Sharm El-Sheikh could be a good step if followed by similar steps to move the process towards the implementation of principles established at the Madrid Conference, principally the land for peace formula. On the Palestinian track, withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and the restoration of all legitimate national rights of the Palestinians were required, including the right to establish an independent State with Al-Quds as its capital. Israel should refrain from undertaking any unilateral measures to prejudice the status of that sacred city. It was imperative to address the issue of the return of Palestenian refugees and release of prisoners, as well as the issues of settlements and water resources.

Regarding Syria, negotiations should resume from the point at which they had been frozen by the decision of the previous Israeli Government, he continued. The Lebanese track was subject to Security Council resolution 425 (1978), which called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Western Bekaa and southern Lebanon. In spite of all Arab and international initiatives and proposals aimed at lifting economic sanctions against Iraq, the Government of that country had not responded in a manner that would help to move matters in the right direction. The Iraqi Government was encouraged by the fact that the Security Council itself was unable to take actions due to the inability of the permanent members to agree on a common vision. Iraq should be required to fully implement all international resolutions and to cooperate seriously with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the release of all prisoners and detainees and restoration of Kuwaiti properties. It should also refrain from all provocative and aggressive acts against Kuwait and other neighbouring countries.

Encouraging signs had been witnessed in relations between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council member States, he said, but some outstanding issues still needed to be resolved, particularly regarding the three United Arab Emirates islands -- Greater Tumb, Lesser Tumb and Abu Musa. The Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers had decided to refer the matter to a tripartite committee entrusted with creating a climate conducive to direct negotiations between the parties.

The current situation in Afghanistan had been exploited by some to turn that country into a terrorist haven and training base, he said. Saudi Arabia supported efforts of the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to restore peace and security in that country. He also supported the initiative aimed at turning the Arabian Gulf region into a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction, whether nuclear, chemical or biological. Israel's continued refusal to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was a source of concern. Violence and terrorism were universal phenomena, rather than the characteristic of a certain people, race or religion. Precisely because of the universality of terrorism, the only way to combat it was to undertake international action within the framework of the United Nations.