STATEMENT BY H. E. DR. ERNEST BAI KOROMA,
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE SUMMIT OF THE MANO RIVER UNION
FREETOWN, 10TH DECEMBER, 2008
Madam Chairperson,
Your Excellency Madame Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia
Your Excellency Laurent Gbagbo, President of La Cote D’Ivoire
Your Excellency Dr Ahmed Tidiane (Tejan) Souare (Swarray), Prime Minister of the Republic of Guinea
Council of Ministers, Mano River Union
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps
U N Family
Secretary General of the Mano River Union
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to welcome you to your sister country Sierra Leone and feel highly honoured to host this very important extraordinary session of the Mano River Union. My Government has always viewed our participation in these meetings as an opportunity to renew, strengthen and improve the ties of friendship which bind our countries together.
These meetings also enable us to discuss matters of mutual interest as well as issues of common concern to all of us. Madame Chairperson, We have all been informed about the considerable progress that has been made with regard to addressing the food crisis. We note with satisfaction the efforts being made by our Ministers of Agriculture to address this problem in accordance with the mandate given to them at our last meeting, In spite of this progress however, it is quite obvious that a lot remains to be done.
The report of the Ministers at their just-concluded Ministerial meeting in Monrovia, indicating the progress they are making towards increasing food production and ensuring food security in our sub-region, is being presented for our endorsement. We are also encouraged to note and adopt the schedule prepared for the meetings of the other sectors - security, trade, infrastructure, communications, transport and aviation.We further welcome the strategic plan, incorporating the Vision of the Union. We are convinced that this will serve as a road map not only to steer us through the current global crisis but to put the Union on a firm footing over the next five years.
My delegation will therefore support this document and my Government will do all it takes to make it operational.Dear colleagues, it is clear from the foregoing, that even though big steps have been taken, more giant strides need to be taken. The task ahead still appears to be challenging. But with our joint resolve and our determination to keep the flame of brotherhood and unity burning, lit for the first time by the visionary Presidents Siaka Stevens and Tubman in 1973, there is no doubt that our Union is poised to reach higher heights. I believe that the holding of the inaugural meeting to revitalize our Joint Security Committee in order to address the security issues that threaten our hard-earned peace is crucial.
We must find common solutions to critical issues like HIV/AIDS, interstate crimes and drug trafficking that cut across our common borders and continue to pose a threat to our peace and stability. We need to redouble our efforts to firmly bring on board friendly partners to the revitalization process. This will no doubt assist us in improving the living standards of our people. Regular, adequate and reliable financing is critical to fully placing our Union on track and accelerating the revitalization process. One thing that has become clear over the years, is that the traditional system of funding these organizations is most unreliable. Keeping the Mano River Union alive during the fifteen years of the raging war in the sub-region, was most challenging and took an immense toll on the meagre resources of the member states.
The system of having member states contributing to Inter-Governmental Organizations even as they struggle to stabilize their economies is not easy. In addition to meeting their contributions, they often also have to cope with various structural adjustment programmes with increasingly limited and condition-packed international aid. It is clear from the foregoing, Ladies and Gentlemen, that we are at a critical juncture when concrete decisions need to be taken regarding the revitalization process and the development of our capacity to address the worst global economic crisis in recent history. Closely related to this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the issue of adequate and reliable financing of these activities.
As mentioned earlier, it has become increasingly clear that the traditional system of funding these organizations through the meagre resources of the member States and through external donor contributions is unreliable and inadequate. Consequently, we have to move away from the conventional system of Member States contributions to the budgets of inter-Governmental organizations.
It is in line with this thinking that we support consideration and a more in-depth review of the report of the Meeting of the Forum for Alternative Financing held on 6th December, 2008 at the Cape Sierra Hotel in Freetown.
We commend the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for this very brilliant initiative and believe that the timing is indeed right as far as the Mano River Union is concerned. I therefore recommend the adoption of the recommendations and their submission to our colleagues during the forthcoming Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Madame Chairperson, it is also suggested that we use this opportunity to submit our present concerns as a sub-region with one voice. While thanking ECOWAS for its support to the infrastructural development of the sub-region under the West African Power Pool Programme, we should also reaffirm our desire for ECOWAS to develop new infrastructural programmes for our infrastructurally-challenged sub-region.
Let me conclude, dear colleagues by emphasizing the point that without peace and stability there can be no meaningful growth and development. Our countries of the Mano River Union, that have together suffered fifteen years of a devastating rebel conflict, that took us back over 30 years in terms of development, know only too well, how accurate this assessment is.
It is with this in mind, Madame Chair, dear Brothers, that I call on all us not to forget that the consolidation of peace and maintenance of security and stability should be the cornerstone of all our grand plans. Let us strive to stay conflict-free and make a conscious effort to discourage the fomenting of discord in all its forms. This will not be easy in the midst of our current predicament of poverty and underdevelopment. Nevertheless Ladies and Gentlemen, I take heart in the resolve and commitment manifested by our leadership to keep the flame of brotherhood and unity burning, in the firm belief, like our forefathers, that the only way to achieve the interlocking goals of consolidating the peace, maintaining stability and security and attaining growth and development, is through the integration of the sub-region.
Finally, let me once again use this opportunity to thank our very own sister nation Guinea, for her heroic role both in executing the war and in securing peace. We shall forever continue to cite the human and material sacrifices made by this sister nation of ours so that our own nations can live in peace.Long live the Mano River Union!Long live Peace and Solidarity!
I thank you for your attention.