Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished colleagues,

1. It is my honour, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, to introduce to the General Assembly the draft resolution on "Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa," contained in document A/62/L.47.

2. Mr. President, under the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) African countries continue to express their determination and commitment to take control of their own sustainable economic and social development. Further, in 2005 world leaders joined with their African counterparts in reaffirming their commitment to address the special needs of Africa in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. They also jointly recognized that development, peace, security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.

3. Mr. President, African countries have made significant progress in addressing the causes of conflict and promoting sustainable peace on the continent, including through NEPAD, the African Union and other regional and sub-regional organizations. The international community now needs to give increased support to these positive trends and advances.

4. In this regard Mr. President, I am pleased to present this draft resolution to the General Assembly on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. It is a very important resolution that speaks to the importance of conflict prevention and consolidation of peace on the African continent, and underscores the need to develop African human and institutional capacities.

5. Among other things, the resolution notes that conflict prevention and the consolidation of peace would benefit from the coordinated, sustained and integrated efforts of the United Nations system and Member States, and regional and subregional organizations, as well as international and regional financial institutions, and reaffirms the need to strengthen the synergy between Africa's economic and social development programmes and its peace and security agenda.

6. The resolution also calls upon the United Nations system to continue to mainstream the special needs of Africa in all its normative and operational activities.

7. Mr. President, my delegation is pleased to recommend this draft resolution to the General Assembly for adoption on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. I take this opportunity to thank all Member States for their support of this resolution as well as those Member States that have joined the Group in co-sponsoring the draft, and invite other delegations to do so.

Thank you Mr. President.