United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, shakes hands with President of the 71st session of the General Assembly Peter Thomson, during the opening of a summit to address large movements of refugees and migrants, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at U.N. headquarters.
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In another development, President Koroma alongside other leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met on the sidelines of the United Nations summit to discuss the political situation in Guinea Bissau.
The spotlight at the annual meeting will not only be on the global crises but the possibility of solutions, topped by the Syrian conflict, escalating attacks around the world by Islamic extremists, and millions of people fleeing fighting and poverty.
British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) speaks with United States President Barack Obama during the annual world leader lunch hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in NY, the United States, Sept. 20, 2016.
But Ban blamed the Syrian government for the most deaths.
Ban blamed all sides for killing innocent people, but “none more so than the government of Syria, which continues to barrel bomb neighborhoods and systematically torture thousands of detainees”.
“The United Nations has failed in its role of finding solutions to global problems and has not succeeded in resolving any conflict”, the ministry said.
Tensions continued on Monday when a strike, which witnesses say came from the air, hit an aid convoy at Urum al-Kubra, destroying 18 of 31 United Nations lorries and killing about 20 civilians. “Those who bombed them were cowards”.
More than four dozen United States businesses also pledged $650 million in support to help refugees, the White House announced Tuesday. Obama leaves the White House on January 20 after eight years.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Given the difficulty in forging true democracy in the face of these pressures, it’s no surprise that some argue the future favors the strong man, a top-down model, rather than strong democratic institutions.
“We are working to mobilize in each and every nation the understanding that this is a common problem, and if you don’t come to attacking the root causes of the problem, they will come to you as a destabilization of the global community”, Lykketoft said of the migration crisis.
Obama told the General Assembly that democracy was a better path toward prosperity than the “crude populism” that is mushrooming in the U.S. and around the world. “Or we can retreat into a world sharply divided, and ultimately in conflict, along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion”.
As they await action from world leaders in NY, a group of volunteers in London laid out a “life jacket graveyard” Monday to draw attention to the plight of thousands of migrants who’ve lost their lives attempting hazardous boat crossings in the Mediterranean. But he added that false perceptions of Islam in the West were breeding further intolerance.
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.
“In a world that left the age of empire behind, we see Russian Federation attempting to recover lost glory through force”, Obama said.
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The Prime Minister has spent much of the day in bilateral meetings with world leaders including the Prime Ministers of Iraq and Belgium, the Saudi Arabian interior minister and the President of the European Council.
