🇰🇲Azali AssoumaniComoros · UNGA 81 speech

Excellence, Mr. President.

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, the United Nations Secretary-General, Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Your Excellencies, Heads of Delegations, distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen. Peace be upon you. At the outset, I would like to, on behalf of the Comorian delegation, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to the authorities of the United States. We thank them for their hospitality and arrangements extended to us since our arrival in New York for this 81st session of our Assembly. Allow me to also congratulate His Excellency Dr. Khalilur Rahman on his election as President of this session and to wish him every success in his noble mission. I would also like to pay a well-deserved tribute to Her Excellency, Ms. Annalena Baerbock, for her work and her wisdom in guiding the previous session. I would also like to pay tribute to the leadership of His Excellency, Antonio Guterres. Secretary-General of the United Nations, and commend his commitment to peace and development at a time when the international order is under severe strain. As he prepares to hand over the leadership of our organization, and an international context marked by tension and uncertainty, I extend my best wishes to his successor. At a time when confidence in international institutions is declining, and they're often perceived as favoring power politics over law, Our organization must rise above partisan interests. God willing, the next leadership will embody unity and the renewal of a more credible multilateralism, and this will have the full support of the Comoros. He will be essential for that voice to defend the aspirations of developing countries, particularly small island and vulnerable states, and to foster collective responses to the challenges we share. For 81 years, this General Assembly has remained the central pillar of multilateralism. And now that we're meeting in New York, humanity is at a crossroads. Despite our efforts, the sustainable development goals of the 2030 agenda remain, unfortunately, out of reach. Growing inequalities, the climate emergency, the fragility of international peace, all require renewed clarity and determination on our part. Restoring trust, mutual respect, and equality before the law is our collective responsibility during this 81st session. Mr. President, distinguished participants, A year ago, we called in this very hall for peace to be the foundation of development and human rights. Twelve months later, we must acknowledge that the gap between our commitments and reality remains evident. Everywhere around the world, from the Middle East to the Sahel, through the Great Lakes region, in Eastern Europe and Latin America, civilian populations continue to pay the high price of conflict driven by interests that are often hidden. The devastating war in the Middle East, marked by massive civilian losses and destruction of critical infrastructure, has spread to Syria and Lebanon as a result. of Israeli military operations and has had major global economic consequences. In addition to its worldwide impact, the conflict threatens the food and energy security of vulnerable countries, such as the Union of the Comoros, which remain highly dependent on imports. and whose populations face declining purchasing power. And this demands greater international solidarity, given this shared insecurity. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, allowing the conflict in the Middle East to continue directly weakens the United Nations by calling into question its ability to maintain world peace and by undermining its credibility amongst the peoples we represent. The theme of this 81st session acknowledges that something is broken and that is why confidence must be restored through concrete actions that uphold the rule of law and collective security. It is time to move beyond power politics and establish a new human ethic that transcends divisions of race, color, and belief whilst safeguarding our shared ecosystems. Created in 1945 from the ruins of the Second World War, Our organization was founded to guarantee peace, security, and sovereign equality of states in strict respect for international law. Without these principles, it would be little more than an empty forum. Since our last meeting here in September 2025, the genocide in Palestine has continued. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, women, children, and elderly have lost their lives, and entire populations stand on the brink of extermination. The international community will regain its credibility first by taking urgent action to silence the guns, to protect civilian lives, whether Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese, or Syrian, and ultimately implementing United Nations resolutions, including the two-state solution with Israel and Palestine coexisting peacefully. This is a prerequisite for addressing climate change. The risks of artificial intelligence and the imperative of sustainable development. We will make the right to development a pillar of multilateralism by facilitating access to sustainable funding and reducing inequalities globally. Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to quote the great African writer Chinua Achebe. who said the following, "When we gather in the village under the moonlight, it's not because of the moon. Each person can see the moon in his own backyard. We gather because it is good to do so. Let us continue in a spirit of teamwork and draw strength from solidarity. If we smile together, it is not because we have no problems, but because we are stronger than our problems." Ladies and gentlemen, for half a century, the Comorian state, still striving for full sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders, remains under what it considers an illegal French occupation, despite the many relevant resolutions of this Assembly. The Comorian side has always favored a peaceful settlement of this dispute and has always believed that dialogue is the only alternative. And we have engaged in such a dialogue with France for two decades in an effort to reach a peaceful solution of this dispute once described by former French President Francois Mitterrand as unpleasant, and we regret that this dialogue has not succeeded. On the contrary, France's unilateral actions, particularly in Africa, run counter to our expectations. We deeply regret attempts by some neighboring brotherly and friendly countries which have long defended the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Comoros, to establish relations with what we regard as an occupied part of our territory. We appeal to the solidarity that African countries have always demonstrated in defending sovereignty, and in particular, the territorial integrity of the Comoros. We strongly condemn initiatives of cooperation with the local authorities of Mayotte, as well as a recent statement by the French Prime Minister linking development assistance to the pursuit of migrants. Under General Assembly resolution 3385 of 12 November 1975 and 31/4 of 21 November 1976, and Security Council Resolution 376, Comorians are at home in Mayotte. For the Comorian nation, sovereignty of the entire archipelago is not for sale. We therefore urge the French authorities to rethink the political narrative, to reconsider recently announced measures and pursue productive cooperation and mutually beneficial partnership for both France and the Comoros. It is an imperative to build a harmonious future and to overcome the traditional ways of thinking and doing things. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, development remains at the heart of our national ambition. Since 2019, the Comoros has implemented the Emerging Comoros Plan, a roadmap designed to modernize infrastructure, stimulate the private sector, and provide decent jobs for our youth. With financing needs of $5.2 billion over 10 years, The plan is the driving force of our transformation. We have seen tangible progress, the economic growth, for example, which went from 1.9 in 2019 to 3.8 in 2025. Yet, there's still a long road ahead of us. We need to mobilize greater levels of both domestic and external funding so as to attain our goals. Now, given this scarcity and rising cost of financial resources, particularly because of the access criteria for concessional financing, and they often fail to reflect reality. For a small island state such as ours, income indicators alone do not capture our multidimensional vulnerability. And that is why we in the Comoros call for a profound reform of the international financial architecture. Such reform is essential to guarantee our right to development and to ensure that multilateral banks finally take account of our vulnerabilities in their allocation policies. Encouraged by positive macroeconomic results and our determination to reach higher middle income status, We are now entering a decisive phase. For the period 2027 to 2030, we will accelerate implementation of the Emerging Comoros Plan. And we invite our bilateral and multilateral partners as well as the private sector, to join us in transforming this ambition into a lasting reality for the Comorian people. Mr. President, I would like to also express my deep gratitude for the inscription during the most recent session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan of six medinas of the historic Comorian sultanates, on UNESCO's World Heritage List. This historic recognition is the fruit of 20 years of work and it honors our nation. I would like to express our gratitude to all of the partners who helped us technically and financially and ultimately made this possible. Furthermore, our country in one year's time, the Union of the Comoros will host for the first time in its history, the Indian Ocean Islands Games. This major youth sporting event promotes cohesion and personal development in a world far too often marked by division and rejection of diversity. And here I would like to, on behalf of the Comorian people, I would like to thank all of the countries and partners whose support has helped make this national and regional undertaking possible. We intend to

make this event a resounding success. Mr. President, in conclusion, I call for ambitious action to restore confidence amongst our nations and do it through fairness, justice and solidarity. Let us transform the United Nations, our common home, into a more credible organization, and a source of hope for the future. It is only then that we will truly empower ourselves to act in all humanity, for humanity, in all of its differences and diversity. I thank you.