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UNGA 76: France Focuses on Responsibility and Solidarity in the Face of Global Challenges

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France has described upheld multilateralism as the key to overcoming global challenges, including conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, said this in his address to the UN General Assembly on Monday.

“We have a collective responsibility in maintaining international peace and security.

“We have a shared responsibility in tackling today’s major challenges and we have a responsibility to individually each uphold the values that unite us.

“For France, this is what this historic period of turbulence that we’re experiencing calls for. We must all rise to the challenge,” he said in a pre-recorded message.

Despite recent attacks, the foundations of the multilateral system have stood sound, he said, though warning against rising risks such as “more intense” power games and the reemergence of “bloc mentalities”.

France is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, alongside China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Drian said his country is calling for a “P5 summit” to establish a joint action programme “to enable the Security Council to fully exercise its mandate and to embark upon a dialogue on the key issues of arms control and our collective security.”

Turning to some of the world’s hotspots, he underlined the duty to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

“And it is in our common interest to have clear political and security requirements with regard to the regime in Kabul: all ties with terrorist organizations must be severed,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Furthermore, the fight against the terrorism threat in Western Asia and the Sahel region in Africa must also continue, while the international community “must be absolutely unequivocal” on Iran’s nuclear programme.

“Iran cannot be allowed to think any longer that time is on its side because the more dangerous its nuclear program becomes, the greater the risk of a major crisis,” said Drian said.

“France will do everything it possibly can to encourage dialogue, but the only possible way forward remains an agreement, making it possible to establish that Iran is once again upholding its obligations. It is therefore essential that negotiations resume very quickly.”

On the pandemic, Drian stressed that the “vaccine divide” cannot be allowed to widen further.

He added that France would continue to work with partners, especially those in Africa, noting that “our commitment to provide 60 million doses will be achieved by the end of the year.”

He also highlighted the need for international solidarity, including on the issue of economic recovery.

While G20 nations have established a debt service suspension initiative, they must go further, he said.

This includes ensuring swift allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a type of foreign reserve asset developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to countries that need them most.

He said France was ready to transfer 20 per cent of its SDR allocation to African countries.

The Foreign Minister also called for urgent action on climate change and the environment, with the upcoming COP26 climate change conference serving as “a moment of truth”.

He encouraged countries to “rally around the goal of climate neutrality by 2050”, noting that human lives, as well as international civility and future generations, are at stake.

“Here again, France will show its solidarity by providing €6 billion a year and devoting more than a third of its financing to climate adaptation,” he added. (NAN)

Foreign News

50 killed in Afghanistan Road Accidents During Eid Holiday

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No fewer than 50 people died and 185 others injured in road accidents during the four-day Eid el Fitr holiday
across Afghanistan.

The country’s General Directorate of Traffic Police on Monday said a total of 102 road accidents occurred across Afghanistan in the period, killing 50 commuters, including eight women and 13 children, and injuring 185 others.

Herat, Ghazni, and Paktika were among 34 provinces of the country where most of the road accidents took place, the department said.

Overspeeding, reckless driving, non-compliance to traffic rules, and lack of traffic signals on highways were the main causes of the deadly accidents, the government agency said.

(Xinhua/NAN)

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U.S. not Expecting to be Drawn into War but Predicts Attack by Iran Against Israel

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The United States expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, a U.S. official said late on Thursday.

The White House said earlier that Washington did not want conflict to spread in the Middle East and the U.S. had told Iran it was not involved in an air strike against a top Iranian military commander in Damascus.

The White House added it warned Iran to not use that attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region.

Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus on Monday in a strike for which Iran has vowed revenge and in which a top Iranian general and six other Iranian military officers were killed, ratcheting up tension in a region already strained by the Gaza war.

Iranian sources told Reuters that Tehran has signalled to Washington that it will respond to Israel’s attack on its Syrian embassy in a way that aims to avoid major escalation and it will not act hastily, as Tehran presses demands including a Gaza truce.

The United States has been on high alert about possible retaliatory strikes from Iran and U.S. envoys have been working to lower tensions.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has since killed more than 33,000 people according to the local health ministry, displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, caused a humanitarian crisis, and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

Iran-backed groups have declared support for Palestinians, waging attacks from Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq.

Tehran has avoided direct confrontation with Israel or the United States, while declaring support for its allies. (Reuters/NAN)

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Russia Sends Air Defence System, Soldiers to Niger

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 Russia has sent an air defence system and 100 military trainers to Niger Republic in West Africa.

Military personnel from the Russian Ministry of Defence are to install the system and train Niger’s soldiers in its use, the Nigerien state broadcaster RTN reported late on Thursday.

This was preceded by a telephone conversation between the head of the military junta, Abdourahamane Tchiani, and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of March.

Until the military coup last July, Niger was the last democratic ally of the U.

S., France and other European countries in the fight against Islamist militias in the Sahel region, where jihadists are continuing to gain influence.

In March, the junta ended its military cooperation with the U.S. in the fight against terrorism.

The German Armed Forces operate an air base in Niamey, the future of which is still unclear.

State television showed images of a Russian Ilyushin-76 aircraft that had landed at Niamey airport on Wednesday.

“We are here to train the Niger army using the military equipment that has arrived here,” a masked, fair-skinned man in military uniform said in heavily accented French in the broadcast.

Since the military seized power on July 26, Niger has embarked on a new path leading to the diversification of its partners in order to assert its sovereignty vis-à-vis the world, the report continued.

Putin and Tchiani had discussed “strengthening cross-sectoral and comprehensive strategic cooperation between Niger and Russia to deal with current threats, especially in the security field.”

Like its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso before it, Niger is turning away from its Western partners, in particular ex-colonial power France, and towards Russia.

All three countries have been ruled by the military following coups.  (dpa/NAN)

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