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BOUND BY A COMMON DESTINY

We are especially pleased to deliver this statement at this particular conference because of the critical role this movement and its members played in the struggle to defeat the evil system of apartheid and secure the liberation of all the people of our country.

We take this opportunity once more to thank you for that selfless and unwavering commitment to our emancipation and to the restoration of the dignity of all South Africans, both black and white.

We undertake that the new South Africa, which was born as a result of our common struggle, is one that will always remain loyal to the principle on which this movement was founded, true to the agenda which it has set itself over the years, and an active participation in the continuing struggle to address the concerns and aspirations of the millions of people who are citizens of our member states.

And yet, despite the many victories which the movement has scored during the four decades of its existence, as reflected in the important documents we will adopt here in Cartagena, many of the issues which were on our agenda when we first met in Bandung remain still on that agenda.

That clearly should not be cause for despair, but confirmation of the importance of those issues and a continuing indication of the need for us continuously to attend to the matter of strengthening our capacity to help find solutions to these challenges which confront all humanity.

We are certain that there are none among us who would contest the interconnectedness and mutual dependence of the values that this movement has always espoused - of freedom, democracy, human dignity, peace, stability, development and prosperity.

In the end, this message we seek to convey both to ourselves and to those who are not part of this great movement: that there must come into being a new world order for the citizens of all countries of freedom, democracy, human dignity, peace, stability, development and prosperity.

As our world grows ever more interdependent, it also becomes patently clear that no country can achieve these objectives on its own, in conditions of autarky. The objective processes of human evolution dictate that at last we recognise the fact that both the poor and the rich, the weak and the powerful, are all human beings who are bound by a common destiny.

That surely must bring to the fore the question: Who shall write the agenda and the programme of action that will move our universe continuously and steadily towards the new world order which we all visualise?

Individually and collectively, we are engaged in a protracted struggle to ensure that these become precisely the areas of genuine and sustained focus also for those in our common world who dispose of a disproportionate share of economic, political and other power.

We must surely ask ourselves the question whether we are succeeding or not! If the answer is in the negative, we must look for new ways and means whereby we can achieve that success. We cannot merely satisfy ourselves that we have met or largely decry our condition or simply be complacent because we have always met.

The issues we, as a movement, have placed on the world agenda stand at the centre of the great and historic project of a conscious and universal offensive to secure human advancement. These include the elimination of poverty in all its forms, as well as the consequent human conflict and degradation; ending war and violent conflict within and between countries and abolishing weapons of mass destruction; ensuring that both the individual and the nation have the possibility to be heard and their views and interests taken into account, thus militating against the resort to force and confrontation; and genuine respect both for the sovereignty of people and the fact of the growth of a common neighbourhood.

It may be that there are some who see these objectives as being nothing but the pious wish of the disempowered, a mere dream of the disadvantaged, which will for ever be confronted by the hard reality of the real world of the self-serving and cold exercise of power by those who have power. But we make bold to say that apart from these aims, there can be nothing else which can be said to constitute the heart of the great and historic project of a conscious and universal offensive to secure human advancement, to which we have referred. None will, in the end be immune from the negative consequence of the failure to address them.

If we are convinced of the justice of our cause, as we are, and therefore moved to ensure that it advances because it bears directly on our very future as part of the common humanity, then we must closely examine the ways and means, the strategies and tactics by which we will achieve our common purpose.

It may be that there are particular matters on which we should concentrate our collective wisdom and strength in the period ahead of us actually to secure results in the same way that, in our short history, we used our collective wisdom and strength to secure the emancipation of millions of people from the curse of colonial and white minority domination.

I am certain that the distinguished leaders of the people of Africa who are present here would agree that our own continent has, among other things, taken the firm decision to focus on the great challenge to ensure that ours becomes a continent of peace, stability and good governance, free from intra- and interstate conflict and the heart-rending reality and sight of destroyed human settlements and millions of refugees and displaced persons.

Thus do we seek not only to enhance human dignity on our continent, but also to position ourselves so that we can attend to the urgent question of the continuous improvement of the conditions of life of our peoples. We count on the support of the rest of this movement in the difficult struggle to achieve these objectives.

South-south co-operation, among us, correctly an article of faith. We believe that we also need further to enhance our capacity to encourage the expansion of this co-operation in our collective interest and thus concentrate on this important matter in a sustained and concerted way. Among ourselves this surely needs no justification.

In our documents we have correctly raised the issue of weapons of mass destruction with a particular focus on nuclear weapons. As we all know, negotiations are continuing to conclude a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The unacceptable tests that are and have been carried out by some of the nuclear weapons states emphasise the critical importance of our continued and vigorous intervention in this area, once more on a sustained basis, to ensure that the overall purpose agreed at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference, including permanent and universal disarmament, is properly and effectively addressed.

The momentum towards peace in the sister republic of Angola, and the liberation of the people of Palestine and the establishment of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East should not be lost. None in this conference room needs any education about the critical importance of both these issues.

It is also self-evident that none of us needs to be taught anything about the need for our concerted support for and involvement in the struggle to end the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, among other things, to put behind us the shameful history of ethnic cleansing which stands out as a terrible blight on all modern human civilisation.

The last matter we would like to raise is the restructuring and transformation of the United Nations.

We have given due and proper attention to this matter. Its consideration raises again the issue of creating the conditions which will ensure that we, who represent the millions of our globe who are disempowered, are able to play our role in the formation of the new world order that must be predicated on the general and all-encompassing improvement of the global human condition.

Thus must we act in a concerted and sustained manner to ensure that this matter is addressed properly, and thus must we place it, in practical terms, among those issues which occupy a strategic place on our common agenda.

Our success in this area may prove to be the one single factor which, for the foreseeable future, decides the issue whether we go on as before or the world as a whole accepts the implication of the growth of the common human village.

With regard to all the matters we have raised and others that will appear in our agreed documents, we take this opportunity to pledge the commitment of the new South Africa, which is a product of your struggle, to work as a true member of this movement, convinced that it is in the context of our principled solidarity that we can generate the strength to make a difference in the struggle for a better future for all humanity.

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