خطاب السيسي أمام الأمم المتحدة

[Music] In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Mr. President, it is my pleasure at the outset to extend to you and your brotherly country congratulations on assuming the presidency of the General Assembly for this session, expressing our confidence in your wise leadership of its work and our support for you in performing your duties. I seize this opportunity to extend greetings to my predecessor for his distinguished efforts as president of the previous session. I also renew our full support for the Secretary-General in his endeavors to achieve the purposes of the United Nations Charter. Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you today as one of the sons of Egypt, the cradle of human civilization. From this platform, I begin my speech by extending greetings to the great people of Egypt. Allow me to extend greetings also to the thousands of Egyptians who have come from Egypt and from all over the United States of America, who are here now to say that a new Egypt is coming. Extending greetings to the great people of Egypt who have made history twice in the past few years, once when they revolted against corruption and individual rule, demanding their right to freedom, dignity, and social justice, and another time when they clung to their identity and fortified themselves with patriotism, revolting against exclusion, rejecting the tyranny of a faction in the name of religion and prioritizing its narrow interests over the interests of the people. These, in brief, are the landmarks of pivotal moments that Egypt has lived through in the past period, but they are merely a stage in a long and wide-ranging journey of the hopes and aspirations of Egyptians for a better day and a more prosperous tomorrow. The world has begun to realize the truth of what happened in Egypt and the nature of the circumstances that led the Egyptian people, with their awareness and civilization, to rise up against the forces of extremism and darkness, which, as soon as they came to power, undermined the foundations of the democratic process and the state of institutions, and sought to impose a state of polarization to divide the unity of the people. The extremism and violence currently witnessed in the region in the name of religion represent evidence of the true objectives of this current, which we have warned against many times. The values of justice, love, and mercy that came in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been transformed by these groups into hateful sectarianism and destructive civil and regional wars, whose victims are innocent people of different religions. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Egyptian people realize, and I realize from the responsibility I bear since my election as president, that achieving our goals began with building a civil, democratic state under the principles we have sought through commitment to the roadmap, which was agreed upon by national forces and which will be completed by holding parliamentary elections after the Egyptian people have had their say and expressed their free will in the presidential elections and, before that, the constitution, to build a new Egypt, a state that respects rights and freedoms and fulfills duties, ensures coexistence for its citizens without exclusion or discrimination, a state that respects and enforces the rule of law, before which all are equal, guarantees freedom of opinion for all, and ensures freedom of belief and worship for its people, a state that strives resolutely to achieve growth and prosperity and to move towards a promising future that meets the aspirations of its people. Within the framework of working to implement this, Egypt has begun to implement an ambitious comprehensive program to drive the development process until 2030, aiming to reach a free market economy capable of attracting investments in a stable security environment. The new Suez Canal project may be a gift from the Egyptian people to the world, confirming the seriousness of this direction and the new Egypt's keenness to build a better tomorrow for our children and youth. Therefore, I invite you to participate in the economic conference that will be held in Egypt next February to achieve development and build the future, not only for Egypt but for the entire region. These steps briefly express the content of the social contract agreed upon by Egyptians in their new constitution to build a bright present and future for our youth, to affirm their independence, and to activate the principle of separation of powers without retreating in the face of terrorism that thinks it can hijack the nation and subjugation it. That terrorism from which Egypt has suffered its woes since the 1920s, when the harbingers of this hateful ideology began to spread their poison, hidden under the guise of religion, to seize power and establish a caliphate state, relying on armed violence and terrorism as a means to achieve its goals. Here, I want to emphasize that these people should not be allowed to abuse the noble religion of Islam and the one and a half billion Muslims who adhere to its sublime values, for religion is higher and more sacred. It has failed to spread among a secure society and another advanced one. It is incumbent upon us all to intensify cooperation and coordination to dry up the sources of support that enable extremist organizations to achieve their goals. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, the problems our region is suffering from, resulting from the allowance of local and regional extremist forces and the polarization that has reached the point of division and infighting, have become a grave danger threatening the survival of states and dissipating their identity, creating a fertile environment for terrorism and its organizations to expand and exert influence. From this perspective, the crises facing the region are based on two main pillars to support the building of the nation-state. The first includes applying the principle of citizenship and the rule of law, based on a social contract and national consensus, while providing all rights, especially the right to comprehensive development, to improve societies against exploitation and being led astray by extremist thought. The second pillar is the decisive confrontation of extremist and terrorist forces and those who exclude and excommunicate others. Egypt, in agreement with its neighbors in Libya, has already put forward an initiative that outlines specific steps and a clear horizon to end the ordeal of this brotherly country, which can be built upon to reach a political solution that supports the elected Libyan institutions and allows for a comprehensive political solution that ensures a cessation of fighting and preserves the unity of Libyan territory. For this to be implemented, arms smuggling into Libya must be effectively stopped, and there should be no leniency with extremist currents that take up arms, resort to violence, and do not recognize the democratic process. In brotherly Syria, despite our follow-up to the sad humanitarian situation and the destruction and innocent victims left by the Syrian crisis, I am confident in the possibility of establishing a political framework that guarantees the achievement of its people's aspirations, without compromise with terrorism or the replication of situations that Syrians have suffered from. Here, I would like to emphasize Egypt's support for the aspirations of the Syrian people for a secure life that ensures Syria's stability and preserves its territorial integrity and the unity of its people, its land, and its territory. The formation of a new government in brotherly Iraq and its gaining the confidence of parliament is an important development that restores hope for moving towards improving the situation in Iraq and the success of internal and external efforts aimed at achieving stability and restoring the areas that fell under the control of the terrorist organization ISIS, with the aim of preserving the territorial integrity of Iraq and stopping the bloodshed. Despite the multiplicity of crises threatening our region, some of which I have spoken about, the Palestinian issue remains at the forefront of the Egyptian state's concerns. Palestinians still aspire to establish their independent state on the occupied territories of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, embodying the same principles on which the peace process was built with an Egyptian initiative since the 1970s. These are principles that are not subject to compromise, otherwise the foundations of comprehensive peace in the region will be eroded, and the values of justice and humanity will be lost. Certainly, the continued deprivation of the Palestinian people of their rights provides an entry point for exploiting their cause to exacerbate other crises, achieve hidden agendas for some, create axes that undermine it, and impose guardianship over Palestinians under the pretext of achieving their aspirations. I cannot fail to mention the attention Egypt pays to the issues of its African continent. The solidarity, brotherhood, and fraternity that unite its peoples, as well as the common challenges they face, compel us all to work with seriousness and clarity of vision to achieve the aspirations of our peoples for democracy, development, and the preservation of individual dignity. Attention must be paid to our youth and their aspirations for a brighter future. Our success in this is a guarantee for the future of our nations. From this platform, I call upon the international community, based on our common humanity, to confront the Ebola epidemic that is affecting several countries in West Africa. Combating this disease is a collective responsibility to alleviate the suffering of the less fortunate, as well as to provide protection for our world, whose distances are shrinking thanks to the nature of the age and the density of communication it has reached. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, the foregoing places a special responsibility on Egypt and its strong state, which has previously confronted terrorism and extremism in the 1990s, and in whose success in eradicating the roots of extremism, thanks to its national identity, I have confidence. Egypt is always capable of being a civilizational beacon that supports the restoration of the regional order. Egyptians will not hesitate to play this role towards their surroundings, at the heart of which is Arab national security, which Egypt considers an integral part of its national security, based on common belonging and a shared destiny, and out of concern for the stability of this important and vital region of the world. Egypt's vision for international relations is based on respecting the principles of law, treaties, and international covenants based on mutual respect and consideration of common interests and mutual benefit. As you know, Egypt is one of the founding countries of the United Nations and has strongly contributed and continues to contribute to efforts to achieve its goals, especially in the fields of peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and development. Hence, Egypt's aspiration for non-permanent membership in the Security Council for the years 2016 and 2017 stems from its keenness to utilize its membership to achieve the organization's objectives and the interests of developing countries, especially in Africa, and to seriously move towards reforming the United Nations system within a vision based on partnership and equality. Therefore, I call upon member states to support Egypt's candidacy for membership in the UN Security Council. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have conveyed to you with all humility the message of the Egyptians, their women before their men, and their youth before their elders, a message that expresses hope, will, determination to work, and openness to cooperation with everyone to overcome all obstacles and difficulties, emphasizing that the people of Egypt, after its revolutions, have become the sole source of the policies we adopt internally and externally in our pursuit of stability and development. This is the Egypt that has regained its self-confidence, the Egypt that upholds the values of law and freedom, the Egypt with its Arab identity and African roots, the cradle of Mediterranean civilization and the beacon of moderate Islam, the Egypt that strives towards resolving conflicts in its region, the Egypt that aspires to achieve the values of justice and humanity in its world. I am certain of the ability of Egyptians to give, for it is the legacy left by our ancestors and it is our inexhaustible source, God willing. Long live Egypt, long live Egypt, long live Egypt, and long live the peace-loving peoples of the Earth. [Applause] Long live the peoples, long live the peace-loving peoples of the Earth, and long live the principles of humanity, tolerance, coexistence, and peace. And peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you. [Applause]