- 3 years ago
During the fifth day of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly, Burkina Faso's Minister of State stressed that international organisations "have to be genuine representatives of the peoples" and not of a minority of states. teleSUR
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00:00 The floor to His Excellency Basulma Bazzi, Minister of State, Minister of Civil Service of Burkina Faso.
00:25 I pay a humble tribute to the memory of those great world leaders who embodied the hopes
00:34 and dreams for a just and equitable world through their commitment, determination, and
00:39 sacrifice.
00:40 I am thinking in particular of Fidel Castro of Cuba, Patrice Emery Lumumba of Congo, Mwidi
00:49 Boket of Mali, Ruben Um Nyobe and FĂ©lix Mumie of Cameroon, Silvanius Olympio of Togo, Che
00:57 Globar of Argentina, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X of the USA, Nelson Mandela of South
01:05 Africa, Joma Kenyatta of Kenya, Amilcar Cabral of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde, Marian Nugabi
01:15 of the Republic of Congo, Captain Isidore Tama Sankara of Burkina Faso, and others.
01:22 These leaders were largely executed violently.
01:29 Others were assassinated.
01:31 They died in prisons or from poisoning.
01:35 Their only crime in each case was embodying the dreams, ambitions, and hopes of the peoples
01:44 that had been killed, raped, trampled, and pillaged.
01:49 Mr. President, my presence at this august podium before the UN on behalf of Burkina
01:56 Faso, a country of upstanding men, is not to beat my breast in lamentation.
02:02 And I am not here either to make a flowery speech.
02:07 I was sent here to tell you that the lies of states, diplomatic hypocrisy, the thirst
02:16 for power, the frenetic quest for profit, the diabolical spirit of domination, exploitation
02:23 of man by man, these are the true wounds that poison our coexistence and drive all societies
02:30 toward perdition, including our organization, the UN.
02:35 His Excellency, Mr. AntĂłnio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN.
02:40 His Excellency, Mr. Joe Biden, President of the United States.
02:44 His Excellency, Dennis Francis, I'm representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the UN, elected
02:52 President of the 78th Session of the General Assembly.
02:55 His Excellency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Republic of Brazil.
03:03 Allow me to here cite excerpts from your respective statements delivered at this very podium at
03:12 the opening of this 78th Session.
03:15 First of all, and I quote, "We are living in an upside-down world.
03:20 Bodies litter the beaches where billionaires bask."
03:25 Secondly, and I quote, "We are at a crossroads.
03:31 We have a common cause that is leaving to our children a world with a better social
03:38 environment."
03:39 End quote.
03:40 For the third person, "Despite difficulties, we can emerge from this.
03:47 What we lack is not ability but political will.
03:50 Otherwise, we'd be able to provide progress and peace for all."
03:54 End quote.
03:56 And for the fourth person, as I'm citing, quote, "There's a dissonance between rhetoric
04:01 and practice, the facts.
04:04 The UN Security Council is paralyzed.
04:06 The UN must shoulder its responsibilities in a world of solidarity and justice as laid
04:13 out in the UN Charter.
04:15 And this requires it to have the courage to fight inequality."
04:19 End quote.
04:20 The quintessence of these statements by these four august personages clearly shows that
04:27 inequality throughout the world is deliberate.
04:30 Otherwise, with a modicum of courage and political will, we would be able, if not to eradicate
04:35 them, at least to minimize them.
04:39 Indeed, every year we hear so many speeches as well as promises and commitments.
04:47 But the proof of dissonance between rhetoric and facts on these issues relating to principles
04:52 in the UN Charter, including justice, equality, dignity, integrity, self-determination, the
04:58 sovereignty of states, the inviolability of territory, and respect for international law
05:03 – the proof of this dissonance lies in what's happening in Libya, in the Sahel, especially
05:08 Niger, and the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
05:12 First of all, in Libya, after the catastrophic flooding, thousands of people lost their lives.
05:22 To assuage our consciences, every nation rushed to provide their condolences and solidarity.
05:32 This was, of course, to give the impression that we're living in a society and that
05:36 we defend these values.
05:39 Political honesty requires, and the history of our conscience tells us, that we ought
05:44 to sincerely apologize to the people, the Libyan people, for collectively and individually
05:51 being complicit, whether through passiveness or active complicity, for supporting those
05:59 butchers who caused the first man-made disaster in Libya.
06:03 It was this disaster that brought Libya to its knees by looting it and by killing its
06:09 guide before the flooding plunged it into further sorrow.
06:14 And unfortunately, this human disaster was led by the UN under Resolution 1970, as well
06:21 as the guilty silence and the complicity of ECOWAS and the African Union.
06:27 This macabre intervention with Nicolas Sarkozy's France spearheading the effort killed the
06:33 Libyan guide Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on October 20, 2011.
06:39 If our condolences to the Libyan people had the slightest bit of common sense and were
06:43 not hypocritical, then this murderous diplomacy would never have taken place.
06:49 And now Niger is en route to becoming a second Libya.
06:54 Next, international relations are tainted by great diplomatic diplomacy with no conscience
07:00 or morals, dignity or integrity, justice nor peace.
07:05 And this is proven because there is a clear hunger for devouring prey.
07:16 Today, we unfortunately must see that contrary to the good faith statements made at this
07:23 UN podium, which call for respect for the UN Charter and international law, leaders
07:29 representing the people of Niger, this brotherly people, were essentially forbidden from accessing
07:36 the UN headquarters.
07:37 Burkina Faso strongly condemns this underhanded maneuver, which seems to belong to the practices
07:44 of the past.
07:47 And this can only be explained by a loss of essential values needed for any harmonious
07:53 life in society.
07:55 The UN should never be used as an instrument in the hands of any country.
08:02 Pan-Africanist leaders who fought for African unity are grandparents who fell in dignity
08:08 shot by the colonialists.
08:10 These great sons of Africa sacrificed themselves for the honor of their continent, who fought
08:16 fiercely against the slave trade and neocolonialism.
08:21 All of them have had their eternal rest disturbed when they heard that a handful of African
08:31 exiles are holding Niger hostage.
08:35 Yes, dear African continent, just a handful of your children have decided to humiliate
08:41 you through the shameless lies of a state starting with Niger.
08:46 And therefore, I issue a sincere and solemn appeal to the people of Senegal, Benin, Niger,
08:54 Ghana, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, and all the people of Africa to stand up in
09:02 fraternity and solidarity in Africa in order to prevent the imperialists from setting fire
09:08 to Niger as they did in Libya.
09:11 And Secretary General, distinguished participants, at this podium in the UN and before the entire
09:19 world I insist that ECOWAS, the African Union, and the UN must become true organizations
09:27 of peoples instead of structures used by a minority of heads of state.
09:32 They cannot be used and instrumentalized to destabilize brotherly countries by killing
09:38 their leaders.
09:40 This is the only way the UN Charter and international law could have any meaning.
09:45 And lastly, speaking of the UN Charter and international law, the conflict between Russia
09:49 and Ukraine is underway and is even desired by certain powers.
09:57 And several Western countries, especially the US and the European Union, have provided
10:02 all forms of military support to this conflict.
10:05 The Ukrainian civilian population are used as volunteers, and some of them even are piloting
10:14 tanks.
10:15 They were treated as patriots in this war.
10:18 Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso are dealing with a war that was imposed upon them by imperialism
10:23 under the pretext of terrorists.
10:27 And these are sowing terror and destruction.
10:30 Despite the UN Charter with its principles of equality, justice on one hand, and on the
10:37 other hand, international law, which has been often cited here at the UN, there is a massive
10:43 chasm between – in the treatment of these different issues.
10:46 For example, take Burkina Faso.
10:48 Civilian populations are dealing with lethal incursions, monstrous attacks by terrorists,
10:55 and they have decided to mobilize alongside the defense and security forces.
11:00 These populations have been trained by the FDS, and they are called volunteers for the
11:05 defense of the homeland.
11:07 In Burkina Faso, we have 58,000 such volunteers, of which 42,000 are communal volunteers and
11:13 16,000 are national volunteers, and they are fighting alongside the defense and security
11:18 forces, the FDS, and they were trained and are guided by them.
11:22 They only act under the orders and the oversight of the FDS in accordance with regulations
11:29 to protect their lives and their property.
11:32 These are the patriots that certain heads of state of ECOWAS and the African Union,
11:38 exploited by capitalist imperialist forces, are trying to describe to the international
11:43 community as malicious, and that is the shameless state-sponsored lie.
11:48 Mr. President, if the international community were honest and sincere in its commitment
11:53 to fight terrorism, it would have no problem with civilian populations training themselves
12:02 to defend themselves.
12:05 There is a clear lack of honesty in the international community.
12:08 Here are a few examples.
12:09 First of all, when Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and other countries organized along their
12:16 common borders by pooling their forces to combat terrorism, France came out of nowhere
12:22 to impose its instrument, that is G5 Sahel.
12:25 Today, ECOWAS suddenly has established an intervention force to reestablish democracies.
12:33 It announced a contribution of $2 billion U.S.
12:36 But from the creation of this G5 Sahel until its dissolution, ECOWAS was only able to allocate
12:43 $25 million U.S.
12:47 So can they be really set to take seriously the defense of human lives as laid out in
12:53 the Declaration of Human Rights and Peoples?
12:56 Secondly, Burkina Faso is experiencing cynical sanctions after the coup d'etat of September
13:01 30, 2022.
13:03 This so-called international community, led by France, which uses its lackeys in Africa,
13:12 tried to nominate a prime minister of Burkina Faso, but in vain.
13:17 Second, they tried to impose various ministers and strategic posts within the government
13:21 of my country, again in vain.
13:23 And lastly, they negotiated the continuing relations so that Captain Ibrahim Traoré
13:29 would implement their will.
13:31 This was their prerequisite for his being in power.
13:35 But he refused this in the name of the higher interest of his people, and as a result, an
13:42 avalanche of repressive measures, threats, and attempted coup d'etats was unleashed
13:46 upon him.
13:47 These are immoral maneuvers concocted in criminal laboratories.
13:51 And unfortunately, all of these macabre maneuvers were led by puppet leaders of African countries.
14:00 And that's the case for this famous Accra initiative.
14:06 Even that was not able to last for long.
14:08 Thirdly, in addition to cutting off aid and other problems with our FDS, we are seeing
14:14 a blockade on material equipment for us, again led by France.
14:19 For example, for the important air defense equipment needed to control and defend our
14:26 territory, we had a contract with Brazil, and the weapons license was supposed to come
14:33 from Belgium, and the navigation and firing system, as well as the video cameras, was
14:38 supposed to come from the U.S., and motor was supposed to come -- engine was supposed
14:41 to come from Canada.
14:43 But these -- this equipment was all cynically blocked.
14:46 You talk about defending human rights at the UN, so therefore I ask you to deliver to us
14:53 our weapons that we need to defend and protect our peoples who are being killed.
14:57 In any case, I am solemnly informing you of this.
15:01 And if nothing is done, history will hold you responsible for failing to assist people
15:04 in danger.
15:05 Distinguished Secretary General and President of the General Assembly, members of the international
15:12 community, their international community has failed to assist states attacked by terrorism.
15:17 There's been international hypocrisy, and certain powers dominate the UN.
15:22 They are complicit in pillaging Africa.
15:26 Shouldn't this international community be brought before the International Criminal
15:30 Court for all of this?
15:32 Our security must be assured by us ourselves, first and foremost, not by anyone else.
15:38 When it comes to the Wagner presence in Burkina Faso, which has been covered by a puppet press
15:47 controlled by France, I would respond that we have -- it's our brave FDS that is defending
15:57 our homeland.
15:59 Consequently, from this high tribune of the United Nations that magnifies the sacrifice
16:06 of my country on behalf of national interest, I here applaud the memory of all those who
16:12 fell due to weapons, magnifying the courage and integrity of those who are still alive,
16:18 inexorably sacrificing for victory for our people and safeguarding our country.
16:24 Rather than stopping the human bloodshed, it's fallacious accusations that have occurred
16:29 and lies wrapped in hypocritical diplomacy and veiled threats to indicate to our partners
16:38 that they need -- how we need to behave ourselves.
16:40 And we say no.
16:42 On behalf of the United Nations Charter itself and international law that you raise to defend
16:48 yourselves and here in this tribune, the African peoples and those of the Sahel and specifically
16:53 Burkina Faso are resolutely committed to fully assuming their full emancipation for true
16:59 social progress.
17:00 And thus, Burkina Faso will work with its partners that it wants to work with in a sovereign
17:06 manner and buy from who it wants and defend how it wants.
17:11 The fact that a country called Russia, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Nicaragua, North
17:16 Korea or Burkina Faso can buy and sell their goods freely without any intermediary, without
17:23 any authorization from anyone, no matter what happens.
17:27 Mr. President and Secretary General, let's talk about hypocrisy and let's talk about
17:33 state lies in this issue of fighting terrorism, generally speaking, in the Sahel specifically.
17:39 Perhaps you don't ignore what I'm about to say, but let me lay out my arguments first.
17:43 In the Sahel, we have some 10,000 soldiers, armed soldiers, that are foreign soldiers.
17:50 Most of them are French soldiers, but there are also American soldiers, Germans, Italian,
17:56 et cetera.
17:57 They have weapons.
17:58 They have flying equipment.
18:00 They have surveillance equipment, which is the most sophisticated in the world.
18:03 And yet, they don't see the hundreds of terrorists that are moving around in order to serve death
18:09 and desolation, often with unimaginable weapons at their side.
18:14 In Mali, in Nigeria, in Burkina Faso, there is no factory to manufacture weapons nor munitions.
18:21 So who is recruiting these terrorists?
18:23 Who is training them?
18:25 Who is providing them with weapons?
18:27 Who feeds them and with what means?
18:29 Do you believe in this philanthropy on behalf of whom the Westerners have sent their armies
18:34 to the Sahel to die for our beautiful blue eyes?
18:38 Well, if you believe that, then what justifies the diplomatic irritation and other gesticulation
18:45 of France when we told them to skedaddle with their armies?
18:49 The real reason is really about the resources that are underground in the Sahel.
18:54 Indeed, the National French Assembly voted and enacted Law 057 of 10 January of 1957,
19:02 which then appeared in the official journal of the French Republic of January 1957, which
19:08 led to the creation of the Common Organization of the Sahelian Region, the OCRS, which brought
19:15 together the parties of Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mauritania, Algeria, et cetera.
19:21 This zone is unparalleled in the world in terms of wealth underground.
19:26 For example, the water table, the most significant water table in the world goes from Mauritania
19:32 to Somalia and goes through Mali, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, et cetera.
19:37 The newspaper Le Monde in July 1957 put forth a figure of six to seven million tons of oil
19:45 found below our soil, potentially in the Sahara, in addition to the natural resources that
19:51 we also have, such as uranium, gold, cobalt, zinc, diamonds, lithium, copper, et cetera.
19:58 You the Westerners, you so much love the Sahel people, so much that you bring your military
20:04 and your armies to die in the name of democracy, in the name of freedom and human rights and
20:10 peace.
20:11 Then why is it that an African continent with some 1.3 billion people and the second largest
20:17 continent of the world in terms of people, with a number that the interpreter cannot
20:24 figure out of the number of square kilometers and 54 states, has no permanent seat within
20:29 the Security Council?
20:30 Such a huge continent with so many people and no right of veto.
20:34 How do you justify that?
20:35 Does that not go beyond a state crime?
20:38 Is it not beyond a crime of the UN that that is happening?
20:42 So let's stop with the diplomatic lying, the gross lies, which basically involves imperialist
20:48 powers coming to the Sahel to defend "democracy" and human rights.
20:53 And let's talk about human rights for a minute.
20:55 Let's remind ourselves here of the first charter in the world on the issue of human rights
20:59 was the Kurokan Fuga in Mali in 1236.
21:04 That was the first document that addressed that.
21:06 And let's go to the second issue, which is Africa does not like to compare deaths.
21:11 That would be ill-mannered on our part to do so.
21:14 So I will respectfully bow to the memory of all nationalities of people who lost their
21:20 lives in Africa and in the Sahel specifically.
21:23 But if we look at the hazards that are involved and we look at the unfortunate and condescending
21:28 attitude of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, often who verges on the
21:34 ridiculous while glorifying a hypothetical condescension vis-Ă -vis African people.
21:39 And I have to impose on myself here the duty of giving him a little lesson on history,
21:45 on his own history, because this is why your classrooms are full of children that are learning
21:50 their lessons well and growing up, in other words, turn to this story at the risk of losing
21:59 the real story forever.
22:00 But let me clarify here that no African people is opposed to the French people.
22:05 There's no anti-French sentiment in Africa, nor is there any issue with our legendary
22:10 hospitality and our love of our neighbors.
22:14 Rather the African people refuse the condescendence, the arrogance, the insolence, the sufficiency,
22:19 the paternal attitude, the looting of our resources and organized crime.
22:24 That's our problem.
22:25 Indeed, for your memory, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, first, let me remind you here that through
22:29 the BBC in England on the 14th of June, 1940, an appeal was launched by your own grandfather,
22:37 General de Gaulle, to Africa to come and save France from the grip of the Nazis.
22:42 Let me remind you, 17,000 Malians died during the two world wars.
22:48 This is a blood debt that France has hidden.
22:53 And if we look at the book of Bakary Kamyan, the professor of the University of Sorbonne
22:56 in France, says, and in that same document, in page 345, there's a table that looks at
23:05 the war and the loss of lives in the two wars.
23:10 People from Mali, but Kinafaso and Nigeria, over 82,000 fallen soldiers from those countries
23:19 in those wars, and over 154,000 soldiers.
23:23 And this is from a French source, a book by Henri Leger, Report on the End of the AOF
23:29 Mission, from 1950.
23:30 It was published.
23:33 And this is in the archives of Senegal.
23:36 Please see Annex 5.
23:37 Now, moving on to the next argument.
23:39 On 17 November 1986, François Mitterrand, the French president at the time, in response
23:46 to Captain Sankara, said, and I quote, "Africa was looted.
23:50 And here I'm talking about raw materials.
23:52 I should have talked about people.
23:54 For centuries, we exploited you at a human level.
23:58 We stole your men, your women, your children.
24:01 We used you.
24:03 I understand your refusal.
24:04 I understand your revolt.
24:06 And I approve of your fight.
24:07 You are right to refuse to be a sacrifice continent.
24:12 The time has come for you to develop your own economies based on your own goods and
24:17 people.
24:18 And the duty of these countries who abusively used you and used African labor, their duty
24:25 is to restore to Africa what was taken from them over the last few centuries," end of
24:31 quote.
24:32 So, you're right, Africa was always openly looted and pillaged.
24:37 But still, there is a great deal of wealth in our continent, of people and mineral resources.
24:43 By way of proof, let's talk about mineral resources.
24:46 Africa has 30% of the worldwide mineral reserves, 40% of gold reserves, 33% of diamond reserve,
24:54 80% of coltan reserve used for telephones, 60% of cobalt reserves for batteries, 55%
25:01 of uranium reserves.
25:03 So it's for the defense of this Africa that the young people of Africa stand more than
25:08 ever.
25:09 Mr. Macron, do you still need a little bit of history in order to remember?
25:13 Finally, before the regrettable exit and the unfortunate exit of Emmanuel Macron, the French
25:19 president, he was attacked by so many other politicians and compatriots who live in the
25:24 African bosom.
25:25 But let me remind you here, despite that, Germans have some 83 million inhabitants with
25:31 a land surface of 340,000 square kilometers, compared to Congo with 95 million inhabitants
25:40 and over 2,345,000 square kilometers.
25:44 Belgium has 11 million inhabitants and over 30,000 square kilometers, compared to Gabon
25:51 with 2.5 million inhabitants and 267,000 square kilometers.
25:56 France now has 68 million inhabitants and over 672,000 square kilometers, compared to
26:03 Nibia with 2.5 million inhabitants and 825,000 square kilometers.
26:08 So all of this clearly shows, and I quote, "peace to his soul."
26:13 Africa is the only continent in the world where the people sing and dance and applaud
26:19 those who impoverish them, who starve them, and who torture them.
26:23 The misfortune of Africa is to have met France, end of quote.
26:28 It's true that the West was violent with Africa, raped it, and stole from Africa.
26:34 So what is our share of the responsibility in all of this as African leaders?
26:38 Is it not us, the African leaders, who have abandoned our identity?
26:45 Our names have disappeared in order to make way for other names that do not match our
26:51 realities.
26:52 We need to reconquer our own culture and take ownership.
26:57 And that's why today people try to make us believe that our values and our attitudes
27:03 are not natural and are not part of freedom, and that there will never be a question of
27:09 homosexuality for us.
27:11 Let me repeat that.
27:13 Homosexuality will not take root in our countries.
27:15 Mr. President, now what's just been described are very unfortunate labels used by the UN
27:22 that can be summed up as follows.
27:24 1.2 million people who are in the depths of poverty, $2 billion of the United States money
27:33 invested in weapons, 20 times the budget of the United Nations invested in the nuclear,
27:40 and all of these should be compared to issues of development.
27:43 Africa gets from the IMF and the World Bank $34 billion, vis-a-vis $160 billion invested
27:51 in the West.
27:52 The paralysis of the Security Council, the paralysis of the World Trade Organization,
27:57 increasing tensions due to geostrategic repositioning, the World Health Organization, which is increasingly
28:04 dominated by Western pharmaceutical companies, and trade interests.
28:11 We see this, for example, with the priority attached in terms of trade to vaccines against
28:16 COVID-19.
28:17 The United Nations is more and more in the shadows of its own attempts of being taken
28:22 hostage by a conglomerate of international powers.
28:26 Now, by consequence of all this, the African people, generally speaking, and in the Sahel
28:32 specifically, will fight tooth and nail so that ECOWAS and the African Union and even
28:37 the United Nations become service institutions truly in the service of the peoples of the
28:42 world for the profound emancipation of these peoples and true social progress.
28:47 Because the lack of these organizations, their inefficiency, their lack of sincerity, their
28:52 client-based decisions in variable geometry, their crimes, the promotion of bad governance,
28:59 looting, social disorganization, and corruption all lead, unfailingly, to coup d'etats, which
29:05 are then just consequences of all the aforementioned.
29:08 So let's look at the root causes which will disappear.
29:11 If we continue with this putting our heads in the sand like the ostrich, with this hypocritical
29:17 form of diplomacy, with state-sponsored crimes and organized crime, state-sponsored lies,
29:24 constitutional lies, and the making heads of state for Africa, even the United Nations
29:31 will not be spared this coup d'etat.
29:38 In this regard, and in order to take our destiny in our own hands, Mali, Niger, and Burkina
29:43 Faso signed the Partnership of the States of the Sahel, which is abbreviated as the
29:49 AES.
29:50 The AES is an architecture that was set up to secure our countries by a treaty with revised
29:56 authority for development, including the region of Lipto-Gurma.
30:01 Taking into account the security situation and the lack of a partnership, what's at
30:06 stake here is our own resources and working together in order to eradicate discontinuity
30:13 in operational maneuvering.
30:16 Mr. President, I say here with force and firmly in an intelligible and highly spoken voice
30:26 the following.
30:27 First, we African peoples are profoundly democratic.
30:31 By way of proof, our attachment to human dignity goes beyond democracy.
30:36 It transcends it.
30:37 What we refuse is the lesser democracy, this trap of democracy which has been extended,
30:44 electoral-based democracy, which turned out to be a way of controlling our states through
30:49 playing musical chairs with the leaders who are often imposters and corrupt, who steal
30:54 and rape.
30:56 Second, we Africans are today recognized in our dignity as people in the sense of one
31:03 person is equal to one person.
31:07 The answer is no, above and beyond circumstances that have been set forth to put us to sleep
31:15 but rather to serve us.
31:18 Sad is the African and black continent which is scientifically recognized as the very cradle
31:22 of humanity and civilization that has been placed under control and domination.
31:29 Independent factions who have engaged in fratricidal wars and election-based democracy with biased
31:37 aids, wars for terrorism which are maliciously fabricated and maintained, injected against
31:45 us, especially in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria.
31:50 Dominating us, that's what it's all about.
31:51 Stepping on our necks, as was the case of the unfortunate George Floyd in the United
31:57 States.
31:58 Is that democracy?
32:00 These are partisans of a special kind of liberty that is intellectually justified to justify
32:07 barbarism against our peoples, fighting supposedly for dignity and separate.
32:11 And that's why we have decided to say no, no to all these so-called friends who want
32:17 our so-called good or who threaten us with war, to impose their friendship.
32:22 That's why we don't want the democracy sold to us by wolves in sheep's clothing.
32:31 We need to provide adequate leadership for our people so they can seek their own happiness,
32:36 for the full emancipation and true social progress for our people, be it economic, social,
32:43 social-cultural, or security development.
32:45 Third, the African people, generally speaking, and in the Sahel specifically, have discovered
32:51 the chains of economic, security, social-cultural alienation that have materialized in secret
32:59 agreements with France, where they committed to break their true emancipation.
33:04 This includes, amongst others, the colonial debt.
33:08 We will not turn a blind eye to this and pay it while allowing our people to die of hunger
33:15 or thirst or disease.
33:17 Second, the issue of the currency, the franc CFA.
33:22 This is called the franc of the French African colonies.
33:25 This is not African property.
33:27 Legally speaking, property is the right to be able to dispose of something in the most
33:32 absolute way, according to Article 544 of the French Civil Code.
33:39 A patent is therefore held by France on the currency, the French CFA, and therefore it
33:46 is the property, but it's the property of the African francophone states.
33:52 And what's amusing here is that the bills are produced by France for West Africa, and
33:57 they're different from those of Central Africa, even though it's supposedly the same currency.
34:02 This same document recognizes the French CFA by Decree 45 of the 26th of December 1945,
34:11 and this legislation was signed by Charles de Gaulle, President of the temporary French
34:16 government, René Pleyvin, Minister of Finance, and Jacques Sousnane, the Minister of Colonies
34:22 at the time.
34:23 Next, the priority and interest for French companies in bids for public procurement and
34:34 public offers.
34:35 And finally, the exclusive right to provide equipment, military equipment and other types
34:40 of military officers and colonies.
34:43 If we ignore that these coup d'etats are often the result of bad governance and constitutional
34:52 maneuvers in order to provide additional mandates, that will always happen.
34:57 We need to be lucid about this and root out the real causes and require respect of democratic
35:03 rules and virtuous governance.
35:06 Five, the African people don't have a problem with the French people.
35:10 It's rather the French policies and politics we have a problem with, the condescendence.
35:16 That's what we reject.
35:18 Refusing an ambassador to Nigeria is a violation of international law, especially Article 1
35:24 and 2 of the Vienna Convention, paragraph 9, on diplomatic relations of 1961.
35:31 By deciding to refuse artists from Marquito Faso, Mali and Nigeria in France, that is
35:36 a serious undermining of cultural wealth and refusal of recognition.
35:47 An artist is a psychic doctor, even at long distance.
35:52 By declaring them, we do not want to have people unemployed, migrants and thieves and
35:57 so forth in France.
36:01 We do not want the cynical looting of our resources.
36:06 What we want is a sincere recognition of our peoples throughout the world, which includes
36:12 Marquito Faso, Mali and Nigeria, that we should be accompanied in this difficult time on our
36:17 path towards full emancipation with expression of dignity, honor, liberty, equality, prosperity,
36:24 justice and then, of course, peace.
36:28 Given the situation currently in Marquito Faso, the Marquito Faso government has implemented
36:33 vigorous action to adopt a new development plan, the Action Plan for Stabilization and
36:39 Development, with four main pillars of priorities.
36:42 First, to fight terrorism and restore territorial integrity.
36:46 Second, response to the humanitarian crisis.
36:50 Three, restore the state and improve governance.
36:53 And finally, national reconciliation and social cohesion.
36:59 These efforts are geared to providing the Burkina population with better living conditions
37:04 while commending our partners who have accompanied us.
37:08 We heartily invite them, those who still have a doubt or who might be tempted by the false
37:15 content of reports on what is happening, we invite them to accompany us with the following
37:22 conditions.
37:26 Long live the United Nations.
37:28 Long live this 78th session of the General Assembly.
37:31 Long live the people who fight.
37:34 Long live solidarity.
37:35 Long live free Africa.
37:38 Long live the states of the Sahel.
37:39 Long live until victory.
37:41 (Applause.)
37:42 The minister of state, minister of civil service of Burkina Faso.
37:55 We were listening to the statements of the foreign minister of Eritrea, Ousmane Saleh,
38:00 who referred to the Cold War mentality that certain powers impose against other colonies
38:07 under neocolonial policies and condemn these powers for fueling instability, especially
38:13 in different regions of Africa.
38:15 The minister for foreign affairs of Armenia, who spoke later at ARAD, Mir Soyan, spoke
38:20 on the tense situation that is being lived in Nagorno-Karabakh and denounced the different
38:26 atrocities that are occurring to him as Serbians committing in this area and the consequences
38:30 of the conflict there are Serbians on the dish in this area of Armenia.
38:35 We also call for an international mission to monitor and guarantee human rights and
38:40 the prevention of ethnic cleansing in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
38:44 The minister of state of Burkina Faso, Bassol Mabassie, stated that every year he hears
38:49 speeches of solidarity and pledges of solidarity, but they are all left unfulfilled.
38:56 The official said that inequality today is due to the lack of true will of other nations
39:00 to take action to face the different issues the world is experiencing.
39:06 Mabassie denounced and condemned foreign interventions and their policies in African nations and
39:13 in other parts of the world that have plunged their nations into crisis, putting as an example
39:17 Libya and citing that in nine years the next Libya has foreign powers of an equals in the
39:22 African Union and the UN.
39:24 He said that all these groups have to truly work as an international community that prevents
39:30 something like what happened in Libya from happening again in Niger.
39:34 Those were statements delivered at the 7th and 8th sessions of the UN General Assembly,
39:38 the general debate that is being held until September 26th.
39:42 And in New York, the United Nations headquarters, stay tuned with Tresor English for more updates
39:47 in upcoming news briefs.
39:48 [Silence]
39:50 [XBOX SOUND]
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