President of UNCA, ladies and gentlemen of the media. Thank you for coming.
I came to the United Nations with mixed feelings. On the one hand, as I said in my address, I came with a heavy heart. This is because the people of Sierra Leone have been and held hostage for almost five months by a ruthless regime. On the other hand, I am delighted and grateful to have had the opportunity to present the case of the people (not my case) to the United Nations. You may recall that a few weeks ago I had attended the ECOWAS in Abuja. There I also had the opportunity to underline the gravity of the situation in my country; the urgent need to give back to the people the democratic government which they had elected only eighteen months ago; and to help free them from the distress which the RUF/military junta has brought upon them.
Ladies and gentlemen, my message to the Assembly was two-fold. First, that the Security Council which had endorsed the objective of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), namely, the early restoration of the democratically elected Government of President Kabbah, should provide concrete support of the effort of our sub-regional Organisation, ECOWAS.
Secondly, because there has been so much talk about negotiations, I wanted to make it clear that while I am skeptical about the regime's sincerity, based on its behaviour during the dialogue with the ECOWAS Foreign Ministers Committee of Four last July, the dialogue could be resumed. Of course on the understanding that there would be absolutely no deviation from the three-point objective or agenda of the Committee; and the dialogue should not be allowed to go indefinitely while the people of Sierra Leone are suffering.
These are, in short the essence of my address to the General Assembly. I am now open to your questions.