[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 203 (Monday, December 18, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2377-E2378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             UNITED NATIONS ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT RAKHMONOV

                                 ______


                             HON. TOBY ROTH

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 18, 1995

  Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of serving as one of the 
President's special representatives to the United Nations General 
Assembly during this, the United Nations' 50th anniversary.
  On October 24 some 180 heads of state attended the U.N. session. It 
was the largest convocation of world leaders in history and I shall 
remember it always.
  While we heard speeches from President Clinton, President Yeltsin, 
Prime Minister Major, and other leaders of the major world powers, we 
also heard from leaders of the world's newest independent nations.
  One was President Emomili Rakhmonov of Tajikstan, who particularly 
impressed me. His speech was one of the best statements on global 
affairs and his wise words should be read by all Members of the House.
  Having just received the official text of this speech, today I am 
inserting President Rakhmonov's United Nations speech into the 
Congressional Record.
  In the post-cold-war era, the bright star of freedom, democracy, and 
peace is beckoning to people around the globe. They, and we, are 
fortunate that leaders such as President Rakhmonov are emerging to help 
us reach that noblest of goals: a peaceful world.

       Esteemed Mr. Chairman, Esteemed Mr. Secretary General, 
     Esteemed Delegates, Ladies and gentlemen: It is with a 
     special feeling that we speak from this podium at a time 
     marking 50 years since the inception of the organization, 
     whose emblem is a symbol for peace, equality and cooperation. 
     These highest moral values serve as a guiding light for the 
     whole international community. Step by step, as we ascend 
     toward them, we uncover not only new political horizons, but 
     also new hopes. They are illuminated by the grandeur of the 
     enormously difficult and important path, on which the United 
     Nations has been and is seeking the unity of mankind.
     
[[Page E2378]]

       We can rightfully say that the creation of the UN became a 
     truly global and historic event.
       It is profoundly symbolic that the United Nations' half-
     centennial anniversary coincides with a date marking 50 years 
     since the end of World War II. The right against evil 
     proclaimed by countries, despite differences in their 
     political systems and ideologies, ended with a triumphant 
     victory.
       And I have every reason to be proud of the fact that 
     Tajikstan's contribution, commensurate with its capabilities, 
     was part of the effort by those nations that fought for this 
     victory and formed the United Nations.
       Then, 50 years ago, an unprecedented unity of nations, 
     governments, countries and continents of the planet was being 
     forged. The foundation of the United Nations laid by its 
     creators turned out to be so solid, and its activities so 
     productive that it did not only fulfill its main objective--
     averting the threat of another World War--but also managed to 
     break the shackles of the Cold War.
       Drawing upon the half-century experience of the United 
     Nations, which has become a global institute for solving 
     complex international issues, a recognized center for 
     reconciliation of different states' interests and a vehicle 
     for ensuring their multilateral cooperation, we have every 
     opportunity to a meet the new challenges of our time and to 
     find adequate answers to modern-day questions.
       Today, the world-wide family of nations faces two well-
     known problems of a global nature. To cope with these 
     problems, to identify the course of action necessary to solve 
     them--this is the mission of the United Nations, whose 
     mechanisms have proved their efficiency in the past half 
     century. The world community has every right to count on the 
     fact that now they will be fully utilized to minimize the 
     destructive consequences of conflicts, which, unfortunately, 
     are part of our present-day history.
       As it is well known, the United Nations was formed 
     specifically to help states resolve their disputes 
     peacefully, but today's unique circumstances require a wider 
     use of preventive diplomacy, a direction of all UN efforts 
     toward prevention of aggravation in different regions.
       Today, when new forms of collective security are being 
     introduced, we believe the peace-making potential of the UN 
     can be coupled with its patterns of cooperation with regional 
     organizations, primarily toward deterring, localizing and 
     settling armed conflicts, the fight against terrorism and 
     radical manifestations of various kinds of fundamentalism.
       In Tajikstan, we do not judge this speculatively, but based 
     on specific peace-making activities of the United Nations, 
     which in reality acts as an active and efficient intermediary 
     in settling the problems around Tajikstan. Having survived 
     the civil war, coping with its consequences, our people 
     managed to preserve the integrity and independence of the 
     state and its international recognition based on support and 
     assistance of country-members of the UN and its institutes 
     that are widely represented in Tajikstan.
       We will continue to defend our national interests in 
     cooperation with the UN, in interaction with OSCE and other 
     international organizations.
       Of course, in the first place, these interests require the 
     earliest possible achievement of a positive result in the 
     inter-Tajik dialogue, which is under way with the active 
     participation of several countries and under the auspices of 
     the UN.
       Two years ago, at the 48th session of the UN General 
     Assembly, our delegation stated that political dialogue as 
     the only alternative for untying ``the Tajik knot'' and 
     achieving internal accord in the country was one of the top 
     priorities of the course we chose.
       Constructive trends that permeate this dialogue today, and 
     the fact that now it is on a higher level, became possible 
     thanks to the UN envoys' painstaking work with 
     representatives from both Tajik sides. Of course, it also 
     gained some new thrust after our meeting in Kabul and Tehran. 
     Today, the country's leadership and the opposition are 
     working on a common agreement initiated by the Protocol on 
     main principles of achieving peace and national conciliation 
     in Tajikstan, signed by the parties in August of this year. 
     It was also decided to extend through February 26, 1996 the 
     Agreement on a temporary cease-fire and the cessation of 
     other hostile actions on the Tajik-Afghan border and inside 
     the country. This is a significant development. But the most 
     important thing is that we support the earliest possible 
     start of a standing negotiation round, which we project to 
     determine unequivocally the thrust of achieving the accord, 
     overcoming hostility and strengthening society and 
     consolidation trends.
       I am sure that our efforts to this end would be more 
     efficient if it was not for the tensions in neighboring 
     Afghanistan that still exist and affect our border areas. It 
     looks like the explosive nature of the conflict in 
     Afghanistan that has not yet been settled dropped out of the 
     world community's sight. It is our deep conviction that 
     brewing tendencies toward escalation of the conflict threaten 
     not only our country's security, but the security of the 
     whole region, while also carrying within themselves some 
     destructive impulses of the global crisis.
       We call upon the international community to promote the 
     earliest possible return of peace to the long-suffering land. 
     Overcoming the Afghan crisis requires not only constructive 
     participation of the states in the region, but also some 
     effective actions by the UN.
       Mr. Chairman, the reality is that in the post-Soviet 
     territory, where several independent states were formed, the 
     main burden of settling regional conflicts is mostly carried 
     by the Commonwealth of Independent States, with Russia as the 
     remaining basis. In our opinion, the UN and OSCE are supposed 
     to share this burden, drawing upon the Commonwealth as an 
     important instrument of maintaining stability and 
     strengthening global security. In this connection, it is 
     essential that the UN specialized agencies and international 
     banking and financial organizations develop a comprehensive 
     plan supporting reforms in the CIS countries during the 
     transition period. Otherwise, it would be unthinkable to 
     integrate smoothly the Commonwealth states into the world 
     economy.
       The problem of the UN young member-states' economic 
     development is closely linked to the issues of universal 
     security.
       We believe that the remaining discriminatory restrictions 
     in the world economy, as well as the practices of conditional 
     financial and economic assistance to countries with 
     transitional economies clearly do not serve the purposes of 
     achieving universal security.
       In our opinion, this is the area of activity where the 
     ideas of harmonious international relations and wider 
     multilateral cooperation meet the demands of the new phase in 
     the states' joint effort on both global and regional levels. 
     We think that along these lines the UN could help develop the 
     European idea as it applies to the lands of a new ``greater 
     Europe,'' whose borders are widely believed to extend--in a 
     geopolitical sense--from Vladivostok to Vancouver, from 
     Dublin to Dushanbe, from Murmansk to Malta.
       We live in a world that is drastically different from the 
     one we saw 50 years ago.
       The United Nations has to adapt to today's turbulent 
     evolution process of historic development that, regrettably, 
     is characterized by civil wars, separatist movements, as well 
     as ethnic, tribal or other clashes.
       That is why today the UN has to deal with some new 
     situations. That seems to push it in the direction of re-
     interpreting quite a few of its concepts, objectives and 
     tasks.
       Hopefully, recent year's tendencies toward measures of 
     compulsion within the peace-keeping operations conducted 
     under the auspices of the UN will not get any further 
     momentum.
       While promoting stronger UN positions in ensuring peace and 
     stability, including in our region we believe the 
     requirements of the security standards should be invariable.
       At its 50th anniversary threshold, the United Nations has 
     every opportunity to find effective answers to questions 
     posed by qualitative changes in the world situation. One such 
     answer is the streamlining of the United Nations itself, 
     considering today's realities. It is evident that the time 
     has come to develop a partnership strategy for the 21st 
     century. We see the basis for such a strategy in common 
     underlying interests, which will help build trust and extend 
     the borders of peace and prosperity for years to come. Based 
     on these strategic priorities, the UN streamlining efforts 
     must enjoy unconditional support, while preserving everything 
     productive and valuable in peacemaking operations and 
     development programs.
       Following this path, we will undoubtedly show realism, 
     since revival is in itself a fruitful process. In this 
     regard, proposals on re-organizing management structure in 
     accordance with new tasks, creating accumulation mechanisms 
     and efficient use of resources to implement vital programs 
     are no exception. These are all problems of top priority.
       However, while considering new objectives, we should rely 
     on the half-century of UN experience and its heritage, 
     respecting and appreciating the ideas of its founders.
       Mr. Chairman, five decades are a short moment from the 
     perspective of history. And it is as beautiful as the very 
     idea of peace and cooperation that is part of the UN 
     foundation.
       Nevertheless, the festive atmosphere of this event should 
     not hide the harsh reality of day-to-day life. We must 
     properly pass the half-century experience, the whole UN 
     heritage to the younger generations with a confidence that 
     they will end up in reliable hands.

                          ____________________