18 September 2001

UN General Assembly Debate Postponed

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The General Assembly has decided to postpone its annual two-week general debate in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Participants in the general debate, which was set for September 24 to October 5, traditionally include the heads of state and government, foreign ministers and other top officials of the United Nations' 189 member states. President Bush had been scheduled to address the assembly on September 24.

The General Assembly had already canceled its Special Session on Children set for September 19 to 21 at UN headquarters. More than 80 heads of state were scheduled to speak and many were expected to remain for the General Assembly's opening debate.

"The president of the General Assembly has consulted the chairmen of the regional groups and it was understood that the general debate ... will be rescheduled to future dates," said a spokesman for Assembly President Han Seung-soo, foreign minister of South Korea. "The new dates for the general debate will be announced as soon as possible in close consultations with the host country (United States) and member states."

Although the traditional September opening of the General Assembly was postponed once in the United Nations 56-year history, this is the first time that the general debate has been postponed or rescheduled. (The assembly's 19th session in 1964 did not open until December 1, 1964 because of a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement held outside the United States in October.)

The section of New York in which the UN secretariat building is located was not physically affected by the attack on the World Trade Center, but the building is under tight security. The streets around the building are off limits to vehicles, and building passes and identifications are being closely checked -- the same security precautions taken each year when the dignitaries arrive for the general debate.

The problem for the 56th assembly is that the hundreds of New York City police, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, and U.S. Secret Service personnel who work with the UN to provide protection are involved in the massive search and rescue operation at the World Trade Center where city officials say that 5,422 are still missing.

Secretary General Kofi Annan visited "ground zero" at the World Trade Center site September 18 with New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other city officials.

At a press conference before Annan's visit Giuliani said he hoped the impact of the devastation at the site will help the secretary general "understand the need for every nation to organize with the United States in order to eliminate terrorism, not to harbor terrorists, not to condone terrorists or not to sit on the sidelines and not want to take part in the effort to end terrorism so that this doesn't happen to another city."

"I hope he can convey that impact -- particularly to the nations that appear to want to remain somewhat neutral in this struggle," the mayor said.

Touring the site Annan said that the devastation is much worse that he thought. "I don't think any of the television pictures or the pictures we have seen on the front of newspapers give you an idea of the magnitude and horror which is now here at 'ground zero,'" he said.

To see the situation up close "gives you a completely different dimension," the secretary general said, adding that he hopes some of the world leaders who will be visiting the city in the coming days will see the destruction.

"I think they all know that we need to come together to defeat terrorism and we have to cooperate across the board to be able to do it," he said. "I think seeing this also would give them the message."

The response to the tragedy has been "quite remarkable," Annan said, "the resilience and the exuberance of spirit and the give-and-take, the generosity of the people, the way the city came together."

"The remarkable thing is everybody realized we're all in this together -- Americans, people around the world, governments. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. So it was not just an attack on New York or the United States, it's on the world. ... [T]hat's why we all need to come together to fight [terrorism]," the secretary general said.

Annan said he was happy to have the opportunity to tell the firemen, policemen, and health workers "how much we admire and appreciate the work that they've done" as well as to compliment the mayor and Governor George Pataki for their leadership in pulling everyone together.

"Let's not forget, the UN is also a New York institution and all the ambassadors and the staff are rooting for you just as their governments around the world are," he said.