Poor nations 'must unite to reform UN'<\/p>\n
Reuters
\nDurban, South Africa<\/p>\n
Developing countries must band together to force the powerful
\nWest to help tackle their problems from poverty to reform of the
\nUnited Nations, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
Mbeki told foreign ministers from the 115-member Non-Aligned
\nMovement, including Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda,
\nthat poor countries had shown they could make the West stand and
\ntake note by their united actions on the global trade arena and
\nit was time to consolidate those gains.<\/p>\n
He was referring to the collapse of global trade talks in
\nCancun, Mexico, when poor nations refused to agree to compromises
\nthey said hurt their people and interests.<\/p>\n
Mbeki said the biggest challenges faced by developing nations
\nwere poverty and underdevelopment, peace, security and terrorism,
\nand the restructuring of global power centers which he said was
\nkey to growing developing countries.<\/p>\n
\"The manner in which global power is exercised impacts on the
\nthings that we seek to do,\" Mbeki told the ministers.<\/p>\n
\"The transformation of the United Nations has taken far too
\nlong. The other multilateral institutions like the Bretton Woods
\ninstitutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) and the
\nWorld Trade Organization also need to be transformed to meet the
\nneeds of our people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"It is fundamentally in our interest that there must be a
\nrestructuring of these institutions.\"<\/p>\n
The Non-Aligned Movement was formed in 1961 as a third way
\nbetween the Cold War rivalry of the Western and Communist blocs.
\nIt is staking new diplomatic territory for itself by pressing for
\ncauses from debt relief to fighting HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
Mbeki and foreign ministers meeting in the South African port
\ncity of Durban reiterated support for the UN as the forum for
\nagreeing global policy on the U.S.-led \"war on terror\".<\/p>\n
Mbeki said it was not acceptable that a \"few countries\"
\ndecided the future of the Middle East and other countries without
\nconsulting those affected by the decisions.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot surrender the fate of the Palestinian people to a
\nselected few as if the rest of us had nothing to contribute to
\nthe resolution of that problem,\" Mbeki said.<\/p>\n
\"The question of Iraq, and the question of Haiti are of the
\nsame kind. The question is how do we bring the weight of the
\nMovement to weigh on resolving those problems,\" he said. --
\nReuters<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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