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democratic and fair framework in this organisation,” Mr Ahmadinejad said. Speaking ahead of an address by her boss to the same plenary here yesterday, South Africa’s foreign minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane said her country’s position was that for the UN to legitimately drive a rule of law agenda globally, it needed critical reforms to make it more democratic and representative. “When you talk about the rule of law, you also talk of democracy. We should be talking about the democratisation of these institutions under the UN,” Maite Nkoana Mashabane told the SABC. More than 120 Heads of State and Government, sheiks and monarchs convened here for the grand debate and other sideline events under the theme: “peaceful resolution of conflicts”.
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Addressing the high-level meeting, Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready for dialogue. “The nuclear issue is not a problem. But the approach of the United States on Iran is important. We are ready for dialogue, for a fundamental resolution of the problems, but under conditions that are based on fairness and mutual respect,” he said On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will once again submit a bid for non-member state recognition, despite opposition from the US and Israel.
Unlike last year’s abortive bid for full UN membership, which required Security Council approval, this year’s bid is bound to succeed as it only requires a simple majority vote in the 163-member General Assembly. Observers say Mr Abbas is expected to come to the General Assembly on Thursday with a more modest proposal — to upgrade Palestine’s current status as a UN observer to a non-member observer state — but likely putting off the date for submission of a resolution to the assembly, where there are no vetoes, until after the US presidential election in November.
The Palestinians expect overwhelming support from the assembly for the enhanced UN status, which they hope will give broad international legitimacy to the pre-1967 lines as Palestine’s border and grant them access to UN agencies and possibly the International Criminal Court to table their grievances over the excesses of the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv.
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