His message was echoed by several of the day's first speakers who applauded the Security Council's relatively swift approval of a force to restore peace to East Timor but decried its inaction in African conflicts, particularly in Angola and Congo.
"Why does human suffering in some part of the world fuel greater indignation than when it takes place elsewhere?" Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia asked in his opening remarks.
"The plights of Angola and East Timor offer two glaring examples of what amounts to a clear pattern of one-sightedness and unequal attention."
With the arrival yesterday of the multinational force in Dili and the continued U.N. peace efforts in Kosovo, the theme of humanitarian intervention was expected to feature prominently in the two weeks of speeches by heads of state, ministers and a crown prince.
President Clinton was to address the session yesterday, delaying his address by a day in deference to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur on yesterday - the holiest day of the year for Jews.
The United States, Israel and the American Jewish Congress had lobbied the United Nations to delay the start of the assembly session, but the 188-member General Assembly refused to change the date.
The body, effectively the U.N. parliament, is dominated by Islamic states and often is at odds with Israel and the United States.
In his opening remarks, Annan reflected on the dilemma facing the United Nations and the Security Council in deciding whether to intervene to stop violations of human rights, particularly in the case of an internal conflict such as Kosovo.
Annan lamented the "tragedy" of Kosovo, where NATO took action against Yugoslavia without explicit authorization from the Security Council because Russia and China threatened to veto any use of force against Yugoslavia.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin acknowledged NATO acted without U.N. approval but justified the intervention as an "exception" that was necessary to stop the Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians.
Annan said the answer was for individual states to consider putting aside their own national agendas for the sake of the global and humanitarian good."A global era requires global engagement," Annan said. "Indeed, in a growing number of challenges facing humanity, the collective interest is the national interest."
But Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika emphasized the right of nations to reject outside interference in their affairs, saying the sovereignty of nations is paramount.
"We do not deny the right of Northern Hemisphere public opinion to denounce the breaches of human rights where they exist," said Bouteflika, who also was speaking as chair of the Organization of African Unity.
"But we remain extremely sensitive to any undermining of our sovereignty, not only because sovereignty is our final defense against the rules of an unequal world, but because we are not taking part in the decision-making process by the Security Council nor in the monitoring of their implementation."
Annan stressed that strong and decisive decisions by the Security Council to protect civilians in war - now more often targeted by warring groups - could serve to deter other groups from starting conflicts.
"If states bent on criminal behavior know that frontiers are not the absolute defense; if they know that the Security Council will take action to halt crimes against humanity, then they will not embark on such course of action in expectation of sovereign impunity," he said.
While the General Assembly is expected to be dominated by such topics as intervention in East Timor, Kosovo and Africa, other issues are expected to include the ongoing battle against poverty in the developing world, the United Nations in the next millennium and U.N. reform.
09-21-99
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |