Says interventions by powerful countries have produced
conflict and intolerance. Citing his country’s experience, he says countries
should democratize at their own pace and with their own traditions.
President Obiang Nguema
Mbasogo
issued a call for democratization of the United Nations today in his address to
the 69th United Nations General Assembly, criticizing specifically
the role of the Security Council and calling for the “democratization” of the
world body.
He noted that
the 2014 session of the General Assembly has the responsibility of solving the
problems of poverty and hunger in the world; violence and armed conflict;
terrorism, piracy and mercenary activities; and the major endemic diseases of
the world. He said, however, that he doubted that the UN could seriously hope
to solve these problems under its current system.
He said
Equatorial Guinea was deeply concerned over the Ebola outbreak in Africa and
the growth of terrorism and sectarian conflicts, but said, “The United Nations
could never provide a definitive solution to these problems as long as the
Security Council is not governed by rules that respect the spirit of democracy
and justice …The United Nations could not give a satisfactory solution to these
problems as long as the current system of the rule of force subsists in
international relations.”
Obiang
said his own country had engaged in a long period of popular consultation that
has produced a steady movement toward greater democracy as well as peace and
development that has raised living standards.
“In
Equatorial Guinea, we say that democracy is not an import and cannot be
designed from offices in other countries,” he said. “Democracy is formed with
the positive values that characterize a society, and only the people are authorized
to define the model for their needs and chart the path of development.”
He said
that Equatorial Guinea in 1982 adopted a program called of Democratic
Experiment in which the citizens themselves, through village councils,
participated in the design of its political development. He said the result has
been “the current environment of peace, stability and economic prosperity,
through successive political reforms.”
Thanks to
the peace and political stability that have reigned in the country over the
last 30 years, the government has been able to develop the country’s natural
resources of the country, allowing it to aspire to become an emergent economy
by the year 2020. He gave specific thanks to countries that have assisted Equatorial
Guinea in its development: The United States, China, Russia, Brazil, Morocco, Cuba
and France.
He
contrasted his country’s experience with the experiences of countries that have
experienced conflict after outside intervention.
“We need
to clearly differentiate what is internal support for a genuine democratic
process and what is interference that is done through pressures that result in
the misunderstanding, intolerance, exclusion, resentment among citizens,” he
said.
“The Republic
of Equatorial Guinea is very concerned about the proliferation of acts of
intervention that do not respect the principle of non-interference in the
internal affairs of states,” Obiang said. “These interventions interrupt the
natural democratic process in the countries concerned and do not take into
account the essential features of the idiosyncrasies of these societies,
fueling divisions and sociopolitical instability.”
