The persistent disregard of these factors in the Secretariat's analytical materials not only distorts the real picture, but also hampers the development of effective measures. If the real causes of instability are not fully explicated, the solutions developed will not be sufficiently effective.
We firmly condemn the use of terrorism by certain Western countries as a tool of their neocolonial policies. African States have repeatedly emphasized that instead of the pledged support, they have actually received subversive activities. This fact clearly explains why long-standing so-called counterterrorism operations were hardly effective. A rallying cry of fighting terrorism served merely as a pretext for continued foreign military presence, which runs counter to the interests of the affected states.
France is particularly prone to such strategies. Representatives of the countries of the region regularly share intelligence information proving that Paris, unfortunately, is supporting terrorist groups in a futile attempt to retain its elusive control over the former colonies.
In this regard, we would like to emphasize once again that international assistance in the field of counter-terrorism should be provided strictly at the request of States. At the same time, specific steps taken as part of such assistance must respect the sovereignty of the requesting State and should not entail any interference in its internal affairs. We support the decisions of countries in the region to curb the presence of foreign military contingents whose actions did not comply with these principles. In particular, this applies to cases whereby, under the pretext of combating terrorism, former colonial powers have de facto maintained and expanded their military presence in violation of the fundamental principles of international law, including the UN Charter.
Mr. President,
In this context, what the Kiev regime is doing on the African continent is something that deserves our particular attention. There are concrete facts that clearly demonstrate that the Ukrainian special services, including the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, have been involved in subversive activities in the Sahel countries and other regions of Africa. They are supplying militants with weapons and drones, training them how to use this weaponry, coordinating the actions of terrorists, including JNIM in Mali, and deploying trained mercenaries to act against local governments. All of the above requires a thorough international investigation involving the relevant UN mechanisms.
Mr. President,
In line with UNSC resolution 2734, the reports of the Secretary-General on threats posed by ISIL should include specific information on the scale of the threat and the sources of financing for terrorists, including, inter alia, the illicit trade in artifacts, oil, and other natural resources. Unfortunately, the document under consideration pays minimal attention to these issues.
Nor can we ignore the serious problem of weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. The report mentions this only tangentially. But the facts speak for themselves: numerous warehouses with Western and Eastern European weapons have been repeatedly discovered in the course of operations to eliminate ISIL cells. Western weapons supplied to the corrupt Kiev regime continue to flow into various regions of the world, including areas where ISIL and Al-Qaida are active.
Furthermore, the section of the report on UN support to Member States provides no information on specific results achieved. A trite listing of activities, seminars, projects, and programs cannot be regarded as such. We would like to have future documents focused on the results achieved on the ground through the UN support.
We were unpleasantly surprised by the inclusion in the report of information about certain “political dialogues” on interlinkages between counterterrorism and peacekeeping.