UN Security Council summit focuses on peace, security of Africa
26/9/2007 17:36
A high-level meeting of the UN Security Council was convened yesterday at
the UN Headquarters in New York with participants voicing continued assistance
to ensure the peace and security of Africa.
The meeting, initiated and
chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was devoted to international
efforts to settle the continent's festering conflicts. It was attended by
representatives of 15 council members, including 11 heads of State or
Government, and the chairperson of the Commission of the African Union.
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who also participated in the meeting entitled
"Africa and the Challenges to International Peace and Security", said that
"ensuring peace and security for the people of Africa is not only at the very
core of the UN agenda, it is a top priority for me personally."
He stressed
the importance of enhanced capacities to address conflicts in Africa, noting
that African peacemakers alone, cannot tackle the continent's conflicts, and the
international community must respond in a more timely and complementary manner
to the crises in the violence-stricken continent.
Meanwhile, the UN chief
mentioned the additional challenges of climate change to Africa, including in
peace and security, saying it is particularly important for Africa, as the
impact of climate change will fall disproportionately on some of its poorest
countries.
Sarkozy said that Africa aspires to face up to all challenges
including serious crises, poverty and underdevelopment, criminal gangs, illicit
trafficking, and global warming.
"We must help it to do so," he said, adding
that France intends to take action in three areas - a strengthened partnership
with the African Union, the implementation of concrete action to help resolve
the main crises, and to place respect for human rights at the heart of the
collective action.
He called for the international community to work with the
Africans "to build the close and effective partnership that they are proposing
and that is indispensable to their security and ours alike."
US President
George W. Bush urged the Sudanese government and rebels to observe a cease-fire
during peace talks next month, saying "we expect (Sudanese) President Bashir to
observe a cease- fire during next month's peace talks and we expect the rebels
to do the same."
Xinhua
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