UN General Assembly: World leaders meet in the shadow of global divisions

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World leaders will open their annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in the shadow of growing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine And, Sudan and the risk of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.

In his opening address on the “State of the World” to presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and ministers at the “Summit of the Future” on Sunday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “Our world is falling apart – and we need tough decisions to get back on track.”

He referred to conflicts that “rage and multiply from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan, with no end in sight,” and to the global security system, which he said was “threatened by geopolitical divisions, nuclear posturing and the development of new weapons and theaters of war.”

He also pointed to enormous inequalities, the lack of an effective global system to respond to emerging and even existential threats, and the devastating impacts of climate change.

Biden will appear as president for the last time

A remarkable moment at Opening meeting on Tuesday: It is likely to be US President Joe Biden's last major appearance on the world stage, a platform he has occupied for decades.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters last week that the US focus at the gathering would be on ending the “scourge of war,” lamenting that some 2 billion people live in conflict zones. “The world's most vulnerable are counting on us to make progress, to create change and to give them a sense of hope,” she said.

Other speakers on the opening day include Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Iran's new president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran's president on Monday accused Israel of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and of setting “traps” to lead his country into a wider conflict. He referred to the deadly explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies and other electronic devices in Lebanon last week, for which he blamed Israel, as well as the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, hours after Pezeshkian's inauguration.

“We don't want to fight,” the Iranian president said. “It is Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. … They are dragging us to a point that we don't want to reach.” Iran supports both Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the militant Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.

Promoting the principle of “law creates power”

International Rescue Committee President David Miliband recalled that at the 1945 San Francisco Conference that founded the UN, then US President Harry Truman urged delegates to reject the premise of “might makes right” and instead reverse it to “law makes might,” as enshrined in the UN Charter.

“Almost 80 years later, we have seen the terrible consequences of failing to reverse this equation,” Miliband said. “In contexts such as Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, the law of the jungle prevails.”

Faced with rising global humanitarian needs, unchecked conflict, unchecked climate change and rising extreme poverty, Miliband challenged world leaders by asking: “How will you strengthen, not weaken, the principles of the UN Charter over the next 80 years?”

The assembly's annual session, which ends on 30 September, followed the two-day “Summit of the Future”, which adopted a plan aimed at bringing the world's increasingly divided nations together to address 21st century challenges from conflict and climate change to artificial intelligence and women's rights.

The 42-page “Compact for the Future” calls on the heads of state and government of the 193 UN member states to translate their promises into concrete actions that will make a difference in the lives of the world’s more than eight billion people.

“We are here to save multilateralism from the abyss,” Guterres said.

By accepting the pact, the heads of state and government have opened the door, he said. “Now it is our common destiny to go through it. This requires not only consent, but also action.”

Leaders involved in conflict will speak

At last year's UN World Summit, Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were the focus of attention. But now, on October 7, the first anniversary of the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel, the main focus will certainly be on the war in Gaza and the escalation. Violence on the Israeli-Lebanese borderwhich now threatens to spread to the wider Middle East.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak on Thursday morning and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon.

Zelensky will be in the spotlight twice. On Tuesday afternoon, he will speak at a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council convened by the United States, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The foreign ministers of the two countries are also expected to attend. On Wednesday morning, he will also address the General Assembly.

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Edith M. Lederer, chief United Nations correspondent for the Associated Press, has covered global affairs for more than 50 years. For more AP coverage of the UN General Assembly, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations