U.N. General Assembly: A viewer’s guide
3 min readBy CNN’s Joe Vaccarello
World leaders converge on the United Nations in New York this week for the 66th annual session of the General Assembly. Of 193 member nations, South Sudan being newly inducted this past July, 121 heads of state and government are expected to attend the six-day event.
September 19th, 2011
07:34 AM ET
Here is a helpful Security Clearance viewer’s guide to key events this week.
MONDAY
The U.N. kicks off events with a two-day first-ever high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases that cumulatively kill three in five people worldwide. It will focus on combating cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is looking to "broker an international commitment that puts noncommunicable diseases high on the development agenda."
TUESDAY
President Barack Obama will participate with other leaders in a Friends of Libya summit designed
to enlist support from the international community to help the country rebuild after the war.
By the way, don’t expect Col. Moammar Gadhafi to make an appearance this year at the U.N. like he
did two years ago, when he delivered a 100-minute speech and ripped and tossed the U.N. charter. Libya’s National Transition Council, newly recognized by the U.N. as the legitimate authority in that country, will be present in New York and will be represented by its chairman, Mustafa Jalil.
WEDNESDAY
General debate speeches begin with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. This will be the first time a female leader will be the first speaker of the debate. She will be followed by Obama, who will make his third appearance at the annual U.N. event. Other speakers for the day will include President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and President Hamid Karzai of
Afghanistan.
THURSDAY
A controversial figure at the event for the past few years, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take the podium on Thursday. He is expected to address regional Mideast upheaval as well as his usual strong pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli messages.
FRIDAY
Friday brings us to the Palestinian quest for membership at the U.N. In the morning, Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to speak. He has said that after he gives that speech, he will deliver a letter for application to the U.N. secretary general.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak a little later in the day. Also, a large pro-Palestinian protest is planned for outside the U.N. that same day.
There will be various ministerial meetings and conferences happening outside the General Assembly hall, focused on topics such as Somalia, counter-terrorism, nuclear safety and Afghanistan.
Finally, next Monday, as the Security Council remains deadlocked on how to respond to the Syrian crackdown on protesters, a representative of the Assad regime (not the Syrian president) will get a chance to address the country’s critics.
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/19/u-n-general-assembly-a-viewers-guide/?hpt=hp_t1
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