President of the Security Council,
Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Tuesday, 2 January 2024; 12:00 P.M. – 12:20 P.M.
UN Security Council Media Stakeout Area
Happy New Year!
Often in the darkest moments, humanity like the sun rises to the occasion to shine a light on and bring hope to those in despair and in need of our solidarity and action. After a year of unacceptable human tragedy, violence, and turbulence, the enduring human spirit of hope must lead us collectively to the coveted shoreline of peace, stability, and prosperity.
Sierra Leone thanks Kazakhstan and its Permanent Mission for initiating this solemn flag installation ceremony and for its continuation.
After 53 years since our first and only previous mandate, Sierra Leone returns to the United Nations Security Council, as an elected member with a unique experience.
An experience demonstrative of a successful partnership between a member State and the United Nations, in particular the Security Council, in the discharge of its important mandate to resolve conflicts, make peace, keep peace, consolidate peace and security by addressing persistent and new threats to international peace and security.
In the next two years, we hope to bring our experience to bear in the work of the Council, recognising the importance of its unity and effectiveness.
This is why we congratulate and commend the outgone 5 elected members of the Council – Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates, for their valuable contributions to the work of the Council and instilling the enviable spirit of the Council’s unity through the leadership of the Elected 10.
We are most profoundly grateful to the membership of the United Nations for the trust in electing Sierra Leone, and we will not take this trust for granted. We will make it count. It is therefore our distinguished honour to be joining the Council together with Algeria, Guyana, Republic of Korea, and Slovenia.
In the collective security scheme agreed to in the United Nations Charter, the collective trust by the membership on the Security Council must also count. It should count in working together to ensure an effective Council. We have to make it count, to validate the legitimacy of the Council, and its accountability. Ultimately, the Council must reflect and meet the demands of our modern contemporary times.
On our part, our return to the Security Council is a concrete manifestation of the leadership of His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio, whose New Direction foreign policy embodies our national ambition to contribute to strengthened multilateralism and enhanced international cooperation to maintain global peace and security, protect and promote fundamental human rights and achieve sustainable development.
With this in mind, Sierra Leone will pursue its priorities based on partnership and a representative approach to sustained global peace and security. We shall work within the formulation of the A3 plus, the E10 and with the P5, to most significantly make the Council take meaningful action, and timeously, in maintaining international peace and security, underlining the utility of regional arrangements and regional ownership.
We do have a story to tell and an experience to share. But our tenure will be underlined by our values of unity, freedom, and justice. The plot is simple. Notwithstanding the challenges, the United Nations work. Its Security Council can deliver on its mandate. With partnership, trust, and sense of purpose it can count.
I thank you.
