Wednesday, September 21, saw the start of the UN General Assembly, which has as its subject “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interconnected challenges.” Different topics were raised by African leaders.
The climate catastrophe was a concern for both Nigeria’s Buhari and Kenya’s William Samoei Ruto.
Ruto explained the dilemma his country is in when Buhari brought up the fact that countries with the highest levels of pollution suffer the least from climate change.
According to him, a drought of this severity has not been witnessed or experienced in our country’s northern desert and semi-arid rangelands in 40 years.
“Three point one million residents of these ASALS (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) are now severely food insecure on account of scarce rainfall over three consecutive seasons, leading to poor crop and pasture.”
It was the first time that Ruto also explored solutions to financially support nations faced with a conjunction of crises: “I join other leaders in calling upon the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders to extend pandemic related debt relief to the worst hit countries”, he said.
- The president of ECOWAS is attacked by the Guinean junta.
- We have tamed schoolchildren in Ghana, and because they are unable to raise challenging questions, we are unable to advance – Adutwum @UN
Mentionning particularly countries “affected by the devastating combination of conflict, climate change and COVID-19.”
On the second day of the General Debate in New York, President Hichilema focused on those bearing the brunt of the impact of the war in Ukraine.
“Zambia joins other governments in expressing particular concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine”, the 60-year-old insisted.
“As we stand with all those affected, both inside Ukraine and in the neighboring countries, we also take this opportunity to stress the far-reaching negative consequences of this war, particularly on the prices of food across the world, fuel, fertilizer and other key commodities”, Hichilema concluded.
Growing call for reform of international agencies
Delivering his final speech as head of state ahead of stepping down, Nigerian leader Buhari said challenges raised by the war in Ukraine and other recent crisis justify calls by for the reform of the United Nations system to make the Security Council and agencies more representative and capable of meeting current demands.
Kenya’s president doubled down on that: “It is time for multilateralism to reflect the voice of the farmers, represent the hopes of villagers, champion the aspirations of pastoralists, defend the rights of fisherfolk, express the dreams of traders, respect the wishes of workers and indeed, protect the welfare of all peoples of the Global South.”
The 77th UN general assembly will end on 26 September.
