UN chief calls for Security Council reform

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 19 September 2023
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UN chief calls for Security Council reform

  • Antonio Guterres: ‘The world has changed. Our institutions have not’
  • Secretary-general highlights crises in Libya, Sudan, Palestine, Syria

NEW YORK: The UN Security Council must be reformed to meet the demands of the modern world amid an “unhinging” of the global system, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

He began his speech by highlighting the tragedy in Libya, where thousands have died as a result of flooding.

Those living in the coastal city of Derna and surrounding areas were “victims many times over,” Guterres said.

They were “victims of years of conflict, victims of climate chaos and victims of leaders near and far.”

Derna is a “sad snapshot of the state of our world — the flood of inequity, of injustice, of inability to confront the challenges in our midst,” Guterres said.

And amid a world that is “becoming unhinged,” where “geopolitical tensions are rising” and “global challenges are mounting,” it is “high time to renew multilateral institutions based on 21st-century political and economic realities.”

He noted the transition of the global system toward multipolarity — where different power centers maintain influence — but warned that the new reality requires “strong and effective multilateral institutions” to operate peacefully and effectively.

Guterres described the UN as reflecting the world of 1945, “when many countries in this Assembly Hall were still under colonial domination.”

He added: “The world has changed. Our institutions have not. We cannot effectively address problems as they are if institutions don’t reflect the world as it is.”

As a result of the outdated system, “divides are deepening,” Guterres warned, highlighting “divides among economic and military powers,” and “divides between north and south, east and west.”

The world is “inching ever closer to a great fracture in economic and financial systems and trade relations, one that threatens a single, open internet, with diverging strategies on technology and artificial intelligence, and potentially clashing security frameworks.”

Guterres called for the UNSC and global financial system to be reformed in line with the demands of the modern world. But reforms are “a question of power,” he said. “I have no illusions.”

Statesmanship should serve as the target instead of gamesmanship and gridlock, he said, adding: “It is time for a global compromise. Politics is compromise. Diplomacy is compromise. Effective leadership is compromise.”

Guterres also noted crises affecting the Arab world and Africa, including in the Sahel, where a “series of coups is further destabilizing the region as terrorism is gaining ground.”

He added: “Sudan is descending into full-scale civil war; millions have fled and the country risks splitting apart.”

And the “escalating violence and bloodshed” in Palestine is “taking a terrible toll on civilians,” he said, adding that the two-state solution is “the only pathway to lasting peace and security.”

Syria, meanwhile, “remains in ruins while peace remains remote,” said Guterres, who concluded by calling for climate action, noting that COP28, hosted by the UAE, is “around the corner.”

He added: “To all those working, marching and championing real climate action, I want you to know you are on the right side of history. I’m with you. I won’t give up this fight of our lives.”


‘People at risk of drowning must be rescued’: Pope Francis

Updated 57 min 31 sec ago
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‘People at risk of drowning must be rescued’: Pope Francis

  • The Pope said “it is a duty of humanity, it is a duty of civilization” to save people in difficulty

MARSEILLE, France: Pope Francis on Friday urged that “people who are at risk of drowning when abandoned on the waves must be rescued,” speaking against a background of heightened tensions in Europe over large numbers of arrivals by sea from the Middle East and North Africa.
In remarks dedicated to migrants lost at sea during a visit to the French Mediterranean city of Marseille, he said “it is a duty of humanity, it is a duty of civilization” to save people in difficulty, warning governments against the “fanaticism of indifference” and “paralysis of fear.”


EU to start paying Tunisia under migration pact

Updated 22 September 2023
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EU to start paying Tunisia under migration pact

  • Tunisia will get 105 million euros to curb irregular migration, 150 million euros in budgetary support and 900 million euros in long-term aid
  • EU lawmakers, the bloc’s ombudsman and migrant assistance charities have questioned whether the deal with Tunisia meets European rights standards

Brussels: The EU is to start releasing money to Tunisia under a pact aimed at stemming irregular migration from the country, the European Commission said Friday.
A first payment of $135 million will be disbursed “in the coming days,” a commission spokeswoman, Ana Pisonero, said.
EU lawmakers, the bloc’s ombudsman and migrant assistance charities have questioned whether the deal with Tunisia meets European rights standards.
Under the agreement, a memorandum of understanding signed by commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in July, Tunisia will get 105 million euros to curb irregular migration, 150 million euros in budgetary support and 900 million euros in long-term aid.
Tunisia is one of the main launching points for boats carrying migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean for Europe, with most heading for Italy, in particular its island of Lampedusa.
The EU deal, strongly supported by Italy’s far-right government, aims to bolster Tunis’s coast guard to prevent boats leaving its shore. Some of the money also goes to UN agencies assisting migrants.
Pisonero said that, of the 127 million euros to be “swiftly” disbursed, 42 million euros came under the migration aspect of the July deal.
The rest was for previously agreed programs, with 60 million euros to help Tunisia with its budget.
The North African country is struggling with high debt and poor liquidity, and has suffered bread and power shortages.
Its hopes of accessing a $1.9-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund are hobbled by a refusal to undertake IMF-mandated reforms.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has been criticized in Brussels for increasingly authoritarian rule.
The EU ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, last week demanded the commission explain how the pact with Tunisia will not breach human rights standards.
MEPs have also raised that question, pointing out that hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia had allegedly in recent months been taken to the desert near the Libyan border and left to fend for themselves.
Tunisia has bristled at the criticism, and last week barred entry to a European Parliament fact-finding delegation.


Karabakh rebels say negotiating their troops’ withdrawal

Updated 22 September 2023
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Karabakh rebels say negotiating their troops’ withdrawal

  • Separatists and Azerbaijani officials conducted an initial round of Russian-mediated “reintegration” talks on Thursday
  • The separatists have pledged to lay down their arms as part of a cease-fire deal

YEREVAN: Nagorno-Karabakh separatists said Friday they were negotiating their troops’ withdrawal from the disputed enclave after Azerbaijan reclaimed control in a lightning offensive.
“Negotiations are underway with the Azerbaijani side under the auspices of Russian peacekeepers to organize the withdrawal process of troops and to ensure the return to their homes of the citizens displaced by military aggression,” the separatists said in a statement.
Separatists and Azerbaijani officials conducted an initial round of Russian-mediated “reintegration” talks on Thursday that ended with an agreement to meet again soon.
The separatists have pledged to lay down their arms as part of a cease-fire deal aimed at ending Azerbaijan’s one-day offensive into the ethnically-Armenian region.
Civilians in the area — estimated at up to 120,000 people — report suffering from a shortage of electricity and basic utilities.
International pressure has mounted on Azerbaijan to re-open the region’s only road leading to Armenia so that supplies and people can move in and out.
The separatist statement said the sides were also discussing “the procedure for citizens’ entry to and exit from” Nagorno-Karabakh.


Ukraine missile strike hits Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, kills 1 serviceman

Updated 22 September 2023
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Ukraine missile strike hits Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, kills 1 serviceman

  • Photos and video showed large plumes of smoke over the building in Sevastopol in annexed Crimea
  • The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said no one was injured outside the burning headquarters

KYIV: Ukraine carried out a fiery missile strike Friday on the main headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, killing one serviceman, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Photos and video showed large plumes of smoke over the building in Sevastopol in annexed Crimea.
The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said no one was injured outside the burning headquarters, and he didn’t provide information on other casualties. Firefighters battled the blaze, and more emergency forces were being brought in, an indication the fire could be massive.
Sevastopol residents said they heard explosions in the skies and saw smoke, Russian news outlets reported. Images circulated in Ukrainian Telegram channels showed clouds of smoke over the seafront. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the videos.
A stream of ambulances arrived at the fleet’s headquarters, and shrapnel was scattered hundreds of meters (yards) around, the Tass news agency reported.
The Defense Ministry said five missiles were shot down by Russian air defense systems responding to the attack on Sevastopol. It was not immediately clear if the headquarters was hit in a direct strike or by debris from an intercepted missile.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an official with the Crimean administration, said one cruise missile downed near Bakhchysarai, about 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) inland, sparked a grass fire.
Razvozhayev said civilian infrastructure wasn’t damaged but did not mention the impact on the fleet headquarters.
He initially warned Sevastopol residents that another attack was possible and urged them not to leave buildings or go to the city center. He later said there was no longer any threat of an air strike but reiterated calls not to go to the central part of the city, saying roads were closed and unspecified “special efforts” were underway.
Police asked residents to leave the central part of the city, Tass said.
Ukrainian officials, who have claimed responsibility for a series of other recent attacks on Crimea, didn’t immediately announce Kyiv launched the strike.
The attack comes a day after Russian missiles and artillery pounded cities across Ukraine, killing at least five people as President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Joe Biden and congressional leaders in Washington with an additional $24 billion aid package being considered.
The port city of Sevastopol serves as the main base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. A Ukrainian drone hit the fleet’s headquarters in July 2022, injuring six people and causing minor damage to the building.
Last week, the Russian-installed authorities in the city accused Ukraine of attacking a strategic shipyard in the city, damaging two ships undergoing repairs and causing a fire at the facility.
The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in an act that most of the world considered illegal, has been a frequent target since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 18 months ago. The attack on the shipyard was the biggest in weeks.
In other developments, ongoing shelling in the southern Kherson region killed one man and injured another, said regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin.
“Kherson has been restless since the morning,” he said on Telegram.
Russian shelling sparked fires in a residential building and a garage.
In Kharkiv, regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov said over 14 settlements came under attack. A house was damaged and a fire broke out in Vovchansk, in Chuguyiv district. There were no casualties, the governor said.


Indonesia sends over 200 cabin crew to support Saudi Vision 2030 aviation goals

Updated 22 September 2023
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Indonesia sends over 200 cabin crew to support Saudi Vision 2030 aviation goals

  • Indonesian pilots and flight attendants have jobs with Saudia, flyadeal and Flynas
  • Jakarta’s manpower minister says deployment expected to strengthen Saudi-Indonesian ties

JAKARTA: Indonesian pilots and flight attendants are going to support Saudi Arabia’s aviation goals under Vision 2030, the manpower minister has said, as she sent off more than 220 cabin crew to join the Kingdom’s airlines.

Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in the aviation sector and in March announced the creation of a new national airline, Riyadh Air, as it moves to compete with regional transport and travel hubs.

Indonesia’s Manpower Minister Ida Fauziya met 224 cabin crew who had secured jobs with Saudia, flyadeal and Flynas during a send-off ceremony in Jakarta on Thursday evening, and said that their deployment is in line with the Kingdom’s efforts to boost the tourism sector.

“You all have an important role in supporting Saudi Arabia’s vision,” she told the participants, as quoted in a statement released by the ministry.

“This will bring a positive contribution in strengthening relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.”

Data from the Indonesian embassy’s labor attache in Riyadh shows that 300 cabin crew from the country are already working in Saudi Arabia.

The manpower minister said that demand for Indonesian workers is high as they have an “excellent reputation in the world of international aviation.”

Earlier this month — for the fifth consecutive year — the Southeast Asian nation’s flag carrier Garuda Indonesia received the World’s Best Cabin Crew award from British-based consultancy Skytrax, which runs annual airline and airport rankings.