At this year's U.N. General Assembly meeting, many leaders have dwelled on the topic of Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, some leaders like Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari have prodded the world not to forget everything else. He said, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is making more difficult in tackling the perennial issues that feature each year in the deliberations of the General Assembly. He reminded issues like inequality, nuclear disarmament, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the more than one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who have been living in limbo for years in Bangladesh.<br />'' <br />'' A former UN official Jan Egeland said that during his engagments as a humanitarian worker or a diplomat, he is unable to recall any time when the focus was so strongly on one conflict only while the world was falling apart elsewhere.<br />'' <br />'' President Andrzej Duda of Poland while condemning attack on Ukraine said, we should also give equal weight to fighting mercenaries who seek to destabilize the Sahel and threaten many other states in Africa.<br />'' <br />'' South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor at the General Assembly, said that from her country's vantage point, &nbsp;the greatest global challenges are poverty, inequality, joblessness and a feeling of being entirely ignored and excluded.<br />'' <br />'' However, some leaders also raised other important issues too. Colombian President Gustavo Petro devoted his time to lambasting capitalism, consumerism and the US-led war on drugs, particularly its focus on coca plant eradication. Krygyz President Sadyr Zhaparov mentioned his homeland's border dispute with Tajikistan. Jordan's King Abdullah II briefly mentioned the war's effects on food supplies, then moved on to sustainable economic growth, Syrian refugees and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<br />'' <br />''UN humanitarian office figures show that governments and private organizations have put up about 3.7 billion dollar to aid Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees this year. About two billion dollar has been raised for war-torn Yemen, where the U.N. says over 17 million people are struggling with acute hunger. Just 428 million dollar has been raised for Myanmar and for the Rohingya in Bangladesh.
News On AIR | September 24, 2022 7:56 PM
Many leaders dwell on topic of Russia-Ukraine conflict at UN General Assembly meeting