Statement of Sudan Prime Minister Dr Abdalla Hamdok at the 74th. Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Statement of the Sudan

at the

74th. Session of the United Nations

General Assembly

Delivered by

H.E Dr. Abdalla Adam Hamdok Adam

Prime Minister

Head of Delegation of the Republic of the Sudan

New York  27th  September 2019

. President,

Your Majesties, Highnesses, and Excellencies, Heads of States and Governments,

Excellencies the Ministers and Heads of participating delegations,
 
On behalf of the people and government of Sudan, I am pleased to express our sincere wish for a successful outcome of the deliberations of this session. I am also pleased to warmly congratulate your Excellency, Professor Mr.Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, as the President-Elect of the GA 74th session. I would also like to congratulate all the members of the General Committee and wish you every success. We also express our sincere appreciation of the competence and skill of Her Excellency María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, ambassador of Ecuador in her capacity as President of the General Assembly at its 73rd session.

The revolution of the great Sudanese people has triumphed and prevailed, so that the values of human co-existence and Sudanese social cohesion are restored. It’s also a heroic victory that puts an end to three abhorrent decades of oppression, discrimination and continued fighting between its own people. With its victory, the Sudan writes a new glorious chapter in human history, inscribed with human souls, courage and great sacrifices.

For more than three months, extending from December 2018, Sudanese youth, men and women alike, continued to face with untold courage and peace, one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in human history. They were quite peaceful and armed with nothing other than their unity of purpose,  peaceful protests and unbreakable will to take their country to the future it deserves. The flame of the revolution continued to flourish as a safeguard towards the accomplishments of its objectives.

 If "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" were the national motto of the great French revolution and continue to serve as the humanity’s liberation force since the 18tht century, the Sudanese people’s revolution also followed in the same path in the 21st century. It likewise identified “Freedom, Peace, Justice” as its national motto, as if thereby reinvigorating the very principles of that great revolution. At its national level, our revolution is aimed at liberating the Sudanese people from the shackles of indignity and repression, while enabling us to rebuild our country and contributing with other nations to making the whole world a brighter and more embracing place for all. A world more suited to the humanity and more speaking to its human conscience.

We are certain that the victory of our revolution was made possible, thanks to the direct support we’ve received from the UN Security Council, the GA, the African Union, IGAD, the Arab League, the OIC, the European Union, the Troika ( the USA, the UK, and Norway) as well as from other brotherly nations in Ethiopia, Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. we Thank them all, and we thank all friends and partners who continued to support and assist us.
 
Mr. President,

I stand here today to represent the will of my dignified people, of which I’m proud of as it moves on with confidence towards a better future. It does so with a sense of fraternity and equal partnership with all peace-loving nations. From now onward, my country opens a new chapter that’s completely different from the outdated approach to its foreign relations over the past 30 years. In this new approach the Sudan will reach out to its regional neighbors and all other countries worldwide, with a true spirit of friendship, guided by its genuine belief in human values and the heritage of Sudanese wisdom. The Sudan is equally determined to uphold its commitment to the principles of international law, international human rights, as well as to the efforts aimed  to eradicating all forms of discrimination,

injustice and inequality. Furthermore, Sudan reaffirms its commitment to actively participating in consolidating and developing these international laws and instruments.

Consistent with this, is the reaffirmation of our strong commitment to all relevant laws and diplomatic principles of good neighborliness, respect for the guiding norms of friendship and cooperation between nations: respect for independence, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of states. We are also committed in principle  to actively participating in the maintenance of international peace and security.

We, in the transitional government of Sudan, are of the strongest belief that relations between states should be built on the pillars of common interests of nations and their meaningful cooperation for achieving those interests, that our world, with its abundant resources and wealth, can afford and accommodate for all of us to live together as nations in prosperity and peace.

Mr. president,

With this glorious revolution, Sudan aims at putting an end to a gloomy era of its international and regional isolation, due to which the Sudanese state has inherited a long list of international sanctions, the starkest of which is inscribing Sudan on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Let me be clear and strong in stating this: The Sudanese people have never sponsored, nor were supportive of terrorism. On the contrary, those were the acts of the former regime which has been continuously resisted by the Sudanese people until its final ouster.

These sanctions have played havoc on our people, causing them untold misery of all types and forms.

We, in the transitional government, call on the United States of America to take the Sudan off  its List of State Sponsors of Terrorism and not to continue punishing the Sudanese people for the acts committed by that vicious regime, especially that our people have been victims of and courageously resistant to.

We call for a swift response to this fair demand along with supporting its expeditious implementation. Only with that delisting, can we move forward and expeditiously in our rebuilding and development efforts. Only then can we remove all the damaging traces and impacts of the misguided policies of the former regime. 

Mr. president,

We fully understand the daunting challenges that our country faces, the most salient of which is ending civil wars and building sustainable peace all over the country. Similarly, we’re cognizant that these two goals of the highest priority are only achievable through securing justice in its most holistic sense by addressing the root causes that led to their outbreak in the first place. We identify these causes mainly as economic marginalization, along with ethnic, cultural and religious discrimination.

Therefore, it’s of paramount importance that social cohesion is restored, supported with a culture based on the tents of peaceful coexistence and tolerance among all Sudanese people.

We stand firm and determined to move our country forward along this path which necessitates the establishment of an equitable citizen-based state. We commit ourselves to building a new state of the rule of law and balanced development, with a clear orientation to safeguarding the protection of the rights of all Sudanese people within their sovereign territory and beyond.

That also necessitates addressing the current situation of IDPs and refugees, including their suitable redress for the damages incurred and caused by war.

Rehabilitation of the livelihoods of affected people in these areas and provision thereof will be among the top priorities of achieving the long overdue peace in the Sudan.

Inseparable from this, is the sensible and appropriate management of our ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious diversity. It should be perceived as a symbol of strength and national pride of the Sudanese character and identity rather than a divisive wedge of hate and disintegration. A positive perception of our diversity is the only way forward to deepening and consolidating sustainable peace,

It also remains the only means for creating an environment conducive to cross-cultural dialogue, interaction and flourishment of our Sudanese cultures.


Mr. president,

The Sudanese transitional government will spare no effort to put the country back on track towards achieving the 2030 sustainable development plan.

To that effect, we reiterate our strong support of the thematic agenda of the GA 74th session, namely, eradication of poverty, provision of good education and addressing the threat of climate change. We intend to respond to these issues by means of launching a comprehensive national development plan. The tenets and pillars of such a plan are: strengthening economic governance, fighting against corruption, adherence and commitment to international norms of transparency and integrity, as well as seasoned planning and management of our diverse resources. All of this is ultimately aimed at achieving economic self-sufficiency, allowing for beneficial mutual exchanges while establishing smart and effective partnerships with both regional and international states.

Similarly, these efforts are aimed at addressing the direct need for providing and support for health, educational, clean water supplies as well as other basic services. These services should not be perceived merely as the most basic Sudanese state obligations toward its citizens. More importantly, they should be considered as a national future investment of the state in the human resources and productive future work forces of its children, youth, and women.

In the face of all these daunting challenges, we look forward to the generosity and indispensable support of the international community, especially during the most challenging upcoming short-term period.

In this context, we give a special mention of the accumulated foreign debt inherited from the former regime. This problem has been further exacerbated due to the reckless policies of the regime on managing national resources and fulfilling its international commitments. Its epidemic and institutional financial corruption also poses an urgent challenge that needs to be dealt with in its international context while taking into consideration the soaring problems of the living conditions of most Sudanese people as I speak now.

It is an urgency that requires the continuation of the most urgently needed of the continuation of state support and provision of the basic needs of its citizens: food, health, education, transport and electricity.

Our civilian-led government that emerged from the heroic revolution of the entire Sudanese people, will not allow, in spite of all challenges, for anyone to be left behind the development process launched by the revolution.

 Mr. president,

Please allow me to pay tribute to the Sudanese women and youth. I pay a special tribute to the Sudanese woman who showed an unparalleled audacity and resolve with her active participation in the revolution.

From this podium, I announce the commitment of my government to ending all forms of institutional and social discrimination against women. We commit to doing so during the transitional period in support of women well-deserved leadership role.

It’s also high time to put an irreversible end to the misery and suffering of our youth, both males and females, who had to bear the brunt of the overall collapse of our country throughout the last three horrific decades in its modern history. Our youth, who make for the majority of our population were forced into the battlefields of former civil wars. Many others were forced into the deadly adventures of unregulated immigration in a desperate quest for survival.

In acknowledging their role, I reiterate that our young Sudanese men and women are the makers of this revolution. They’re the ones who will build the very future they aspire to. We, as a government stand firm in their support.

Mr. president,

In conclusion, I reiterate what I said earlier, that we are committed to achieving all the goals of our revolution, translating its legitimate aspirations into a tangible reality, 

and restoring the well-deserved status of the Sudan among the international community. During our three-year transitional rule, we commit to restoring our natural status as a country with a long history and great civilizations.

We address the international community and all United Nations member states with an open mind, eagerness and commitment to active participation in building a new world of prosperity, peace and love among all nations and peoples.

A new world that we inject and reenergize with the trio-motto of our revolution:

Freedom, Peace, and Justice.

Thank you, Mr. president