PM Bhutto tells story of world's urban horrors

By T. Sima Gunawan

ISTANBUL, Turkey (JP): Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto revealed yesterday an appalling picture "full of untold horror" of the world's cities.

In her striking speech before the second UN Conference of Human Settlements here, Bhutto poetically described the urban problems by quoting famous phrases by British writer T.S. Eliot and American anthropologist Margaret Mead.

"... from Chicago to Karachi, overpacked cities seethe with dirt, slums, pollution, noise, high divorce rates, drugs, violence and criminal activity even in youngsters," Bhutto told the meeting.

Yesterday was the beginning of the three-day, high-level segment of Habitat II, as the conference is referred to colloquially.

After the opening statements from the conference president, Turkey's President Suleyman Demirel and UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, delegates from 40 countries gave their addresses.

Besides Bhutto, there were 13 other heads of government and representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Rumania, Afghanistan, Poland, Israel, Albania, Armenia, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Sudan, Burundi and China.

During the high-level segment, delegates were expected to adopt the Habitat Agenda, an action plan meant to serve as a guide for sustainable development in urban areas into the first two decades of the next century.

Bhutto said urbanization is a major problem being faced by many nations. More and more people from rural areas are flocking to big cities, where they remain poor despite the urban opportunities.

"Psychological studies show that if we put too many chicks in a cage they will peck each other to death. If we put too many rats in a cage, they will begin to nibble each other to death," she said.

Quoting Margaret Mead, she said: "The city must have a soul, it must be a place where women and men are developing the highest things they know."

According to Bhutto, cities are seen by some as the emerging centers of civilization, the centers of intellectual and cultural ferment, the great laboratories of social and economic experimentation and adaptation.

"But...between the idea and the reality falls the shadow," she said, reciting Eliot's poem.

"The world's cities... live in Eliot's shadow, a shadow which threatens to choke creativity and humanity," she said.

Quoting U.S. statesman Hubert Humphrey's words, Bhutto said that "we are in danger of making our cities places where business go on but where life, in its real sense, is lost." She called on participants at the conference to share the task of bringing lost life back into the city.

She said that she was committed to coping with urban problems in her country. "As a modern leader leading a modern government, a Muslim Social Democracy, this is my aim and my mission," she stated.

Indonesia, which is represented by Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tanjung, called for the support of UN member states to help the UN Conference on Human Settlements follow up the agenda.

Akbar said that international community should fulfill its commitment, particularly in the area of financial and technical cooperation.

Indonesia, along with other developing countries represented at the conference, reiterated the need for UN agencies to have greater participation in solving the problems.