WORLD BRIEFING: September 18, 2023
The annual UNGA gets underway today in New York. Well over a hundred world leaders are expected to speak at the UN General Assembly. But there are some notable no-shows. No less than four of the Permanent Five - or P5 - of the Security will be absent: PM Sunak of the UK; President Macron of France; President Xi of China and President Putin of China. India PM Modi is also staying home. Whats’s going on? I explain the optics to Helena Humphrey of BBC World Television (video above).
UNGA 78 will take place at a time of unprecedented setbacks on global progress. The Earth is getting hotter, faster. Poverty and food insecurity are worsening, amid war and inflation. Humanitarian needs are escalating in scale and cost. Inequality is deepening. The war in Ukraine and multiple coups on the African continent suggest a less safe and stable world. It also points to the inability of the UN to prevent conflicts from happening in the first place - one of its key mandates This UNGA takes place as the China-Russia axis firms up, creating the sense of a more multi polar world. Also amid a growing sense that dictators are ignoring UN principles when it comes to issues such as sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Once every four years, member states review progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. We are currently at the halfway mark on the race towards 2030 and the report card so far is not good. In many countries progress is stalled or reversed: only 15 percent of the goals are on track. I’m fairness, the global pandemic and the economic crisis - not to mention natural disasters - have held back progress. Many of the laggards are in Africa. In the area of eradication of malnutrition, several countries are in decline - including Congo, DRC, Gabon, Lesotho and Namibia. The share of the population living below the poverty line is actually increasing in Angola, Ivory Coast, Iraq and Kenya. Conflict and natural disasters are another reason for hampering progress.
Five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran have been freed and have landed in Doha, Qatar. They are expected to fly to the United States later on Monday. The individuals, all of whom had been designated as wrongfully detained, were freed as part of a wider deal that includes the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds - CNN
In response to the release, US President Joe Biden said in a statement: “Reuniting wrongfully detained Americans with their loved ones has been a priority for my Administration since day one. We have now brought home dozens of our fellow citizens, including from Afghanistan, Burma, Haiti, Russia, Rwanda, Venezuela, West Africa, and more locations globally. Still, too many remain unjustly held in Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and elsewhere around the world. We remain unflinching in our efforts to keep faith with them and their families—and we will not stop working until we bring home every American held hostage or wrongfully detained.”
China's top diplomat Wang Yi is visiting Russia for security talks, as Moscow seeks continued support for its war on Ukraine. A close ally of Moscow, Beijing is accused of supporting Russia indirectly during the war, which it denies. Russian media said Mr Wang's trip would also lay the ground for Mr Putin to make a landmark visit to Beijing soon - BBC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to speak to United States senators during his visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday, a leadership aide said. The Ukrainian president will give remarks at 10 a.m. ET during an all-Senators meeting. CNN reported last week that Zelensky was not expected to address a joint session of Congress, according to a GOP source familiar. The visit comes as Congress is weighing a White House request for additional aid to Ukraine, but its passage remains in doubt, with the GOP fiercely divided over the issue. Zelensky addressed a joint session last December, but opposition to Ukraine funding has grown particularly inside the House GOP. Zelensky will also meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. He last traveled to the United States in December, his first time leaving Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began. Aside from his trip to Washington, DC, around the United Nations General Assembly meetings, Zelensky plans several meetings with other world leaders in New York, according to people familiar with the plans. Among his objectives will be trying to persuade nations that haven’t taken a firm stance against the war to be more forceful in their condemnation of Russia - CNN
Russia and Ukraine will square off before the International Court of Justice on Monday in a case that centres around claims by Moscow that its invasion of Ukraine was done to prevent genocide. Ukraine brought the case to the United Nations' highest court just days after the Russian invasion on Feb. 24 last year. Kyiv argues Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine. While the ICJ suffers from the same weakness as the International Criminal Court - they can’t enforce their decisions- a win for Ukraine could set the stage for Kyiv to claim reparations. Some 32 states - along with the European Union - will offer support to Ukraine in the form of interventions.
With the liberation of Klishchiivka in Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian forces have created a bridgehead for further counteroffensive operations in the area, Ukrainian military spokesperson Illia Yevlash said on Sept. 17. Meanwhile , explosions were reported in Sevastopol, Russian sources report drone attack. Explosions were reported in the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea on the evening of Sept. 17, local media and Telegram channels reported - Kyiv Independent
Seven high-ranking officials have been dismissed from the Ukrainian defense ministry, cabinet minister Oleh Nemchinov said Monday, the biggest shakeup of personnel at the top of Ukraine's defense establishment since its leader was ousted earlier this month. Six of Ukraine's seven deputy defense ministers were fired, as was the country's state secretary for the ministry, a position that is seen as more administrative. It comes in the wake of a number of corruption scandals involving the ministry -- and a little more than two weeks after Oleksii Reznikov lost his job as defense minister - CNN
A fifth vessel has left Odesa port and is heading along a temporary Black Sea corridor established to evacuate vessels that became trapped when the war began, according to a statement from the Ukrainian government Monday. According to the statement, "The bulk carrier PUMA (Cayman Islands) left the Odesa seaport this morning and is now heading to the Bosporus through the established corridor of ship traffic. The vessel is loaded with 16,000 tonnes of metal and 14,000 tonnes of rapeseed." - CNN