NEW YORK CITY: World leaders will descend on the United Nation\u2019s New York HQ from Sunday for the organization\u2019s annual signature gathering against an explosive backdrop of raging wars, growing populism and diplomatic deadlock.
\nThe war in Gaza, soaring Middle East tensions, famine conditions in Sudan\u2019s civil war and the grinding conflict in Ukraine are among the rancorous issues on the agenda of the presidents and prime ministers attending the General Assembly\u2019s high-level week \u2014 the UN\u2019s showpiece event.
\nBut UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres insisted this week that the world would be able to \u201cavoid moving to World War Three.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat we are witnessing is a multiplication of conflicts and the sense of impunity,\u201d Guterres said at a briefing.
\nThe gathering \u201ccould not come in a more critical and more challenging moment,\u201d said Washington\u2019s UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
\n\u201cThe list of crises and conflicts that demand attention and action only seem to grow and grow… it\u2019s easy to fall into cynicism.
\n\u201cBut we can\u2019t afford to do that.\u201d
\nIt is unclear what if anything the grand gathering, the World Cup of diplomacy, can achieve for the millions mired in conflict and poverty globally.
\nWith Israel\u2019s leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Iran\u2019s new President Masoud Pezeshkian, due to attend, \u201cGaza will obviously be the most prominent of these conflicts in terms of what leaders are saying,\u201d said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.
\nHe suggested the set piece diplomatic speeches and posturing would \u201cnot actually make a great deal of difference to events on the ground.\u201d
\nThe war in Gaza began after Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel on October 7, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
\nMore than 41,272 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza since the war began, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
\nFears are high that the conflict could boil over into Lebanon, where a series of deadly explosions apparently targeted Hezbollah\u2019s communications this week. Israel has yet to comment.
\nThe action in New York begins Sunday with a \u201cSummit of the Future,\u201d Guterres\u2019 flagship attempt to get ahead of challenges that will face the world in coming years.<\/p>\n
World leaders, expected to include India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend to adopt a pact on how to confront the most pressing issues going forward.
\nDespite intense negotiations and Guterres calling on leaders to show \u201ccourage,\u201d the draft text has been panned by observers as badly lacking in ambition.
\n\u201cOne of the risks, and it\u2019s more than a risk, (is) that the Summit of the Future may look like the summit of the past, and in the best-case scenario, the summit of the present,\u201d said another diplomat.\u201d
\nGuterres insists the summit has value, saying that \u201cinternational challenges are moving faster than our ability to solve them.\u201d
\n\u201cWe see out of control, geopolitical divisions and runaway conflicts, not least in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and beyond, runaway climate change, runaway inequalities… and our institutions simply can\u2019t keep up,\u201d he said.
\nThe ICRC\u2019s UN representative Laetitia Courtois said it was vital that conflict was tackled \u201cright now,\u201d not as \u201can objective for the next generation.\u201d
\nThe summit will be followed by the high-level week at which the UN\u2019s 193 members will address each other, kicking off with Brazil.
\nThat will be followed by the United States, with President Joe Biden due to speak \u2014 likely on ceasefire talks in Gaza, among other issues.
\nThe leaders of China and Russia will be absent as in past years, but Britain\u2019s Keir Starmer, Ukraine\u2019s Volodymyr Zelensky, and Brazil\u2019s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be present.
\nZelensky was the star attraction in 2023, but one diplomat said he would struggle to stay in the spotlight this year as he presents his \u201cplan for victory.\u201d
\nAhead of the gala events, a security ring of steel was being erected around the UN\u2019s riverfront HQ and local people and businesses braced for traffic paralysis caused by the endless VIP motorcades and street closures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK CITY: World leaders will descend on the United Nation\u2019s New York HQ from Sunday for the organization\u2019s annual signature gathering against an explosive backdrop of raging wars, growing populism and diplomatic deadlock. The war in Gaza, soaring Middle East tensions, famine conditions in Sudan\u2019s civil war and the grinding conflict in Ukraine are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-432297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n