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News Items / Addiction to War! Says U.N. Boss
« on: September 24, 2008, 06:35:58 AM »
UN boss raps 'addiction to war'
Last Updated: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 06:51 GMT
New UN general assembly boss raps some members' 'addiction to war'
The new president of the United Nations General Assembly has accused some of the world body's most powerful members of relying on warfare.
"It is a sad but undeniable fact that serious breaches of the peace and threats to international peace and security are being perpetrated by some members of the Security Council that seem unable to break what appears like an addiction to war," Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said, without naming any countries.
Mr d'Escoto's comments came as he opened the assembly's 63rd annual session.
During his acceptance speech in June, he criticised what he called "acts of aggression" in Iraq and Afghanistan without mentioning the US by name.
Mr D'Escoto, a Nicaraguan Roman Catholic priest allied with his country's left-wing president, also took a swipe at the US for what he said was its "unjust" 46-year long trade embargo against Cuba.
His remarks before a half-filled chamber were his first as president of the 192-nation assembly. He will preside over its year-long session, including two weeks of ministerial meetings that begin next week.
Much of Mr d'Escoto's antipathy was directed at the 15-nation UN Security Council, the United Nations' most powerful body, which is dominated by the US, China, Russia, Britain and France -- the five permanent members with veto power.
That configuration reflects the balance of power at the end of the Second World War, when the UN was created. It was much on Mr d'Escoto's mind as he dedicated his presidency to seeking "the democratisation of the United Nations" and to helping the "dispossessed".
Last Updated: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 09:51 GMT
Last Updated: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 06:51 GMT
New UN general assembly boss raps some members' 'addiction to war'
The new president of the United Nations General Assembly has accused some of the world body's most powerful members of relying on warfare.
"It is a sad but undeniable fact that serious breaches of the peace and threats to international peace and security are being perpetrated by some members of the Security Council that seem unable to break what appears like an addiction to war," Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said, without naming any countries.
Mr d'Escoto's comments came as he opened the assembly's 63rd annual session.
During his acceptance speech in June, he criticised what he called "acts of aggression" in Iraq and Afghanistan without mentioning the US by name.
Mr D'Escoto, a Nicaraguan Roman Catholic priest allied with his country's left-wing president, also took a swipe at the US for what he said was its "unjust" 46-year long trade embargo against Cuba.
His remarks before a half-filled chamber were his first as president of the 192-nation assembly. He will preside over its year-long session, including two weeks of ministerial meetings that begin next week.
Much of Mr d'Escoto's antipathy was directed at the 15-nation UN Security Council, the United Nations' most powerful body, which is dominated by the US, China, Russia, Britain and France -- the five permanent members with veto power.
That configuration reflects the balance of power at the end of the Second World War, when the UN was created. It was much on Mr d'Escoto's mind as he dedicated his presidency to seeking "the democratisation of the United Nations" and to helping the "dispossessed".
Last Updated: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 09:51 GMT