UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly (all times local):8:15 p.m.
The subjects have been varied, but what's been the main theme at the U.N. General Assembly this year? It's multilateralism - whether to work closely together or go it alone as nations. In speech after speech pretty much everyone has been talking about it.
Behind that, though, is an important question: What should cooperation look like in a 21st-century world?
Speaker after speaker has talked about how they must work together to fight global warming, improve the lot of refugees, eliminate gender bias, stimulate the economy.
But a smaller contingent led by the United States and President Donald Trump says that too much multilateralism gets in the way of sovereignty and should be avoided.
Foreign Minister for Eritrea, Osman Mohammed Saleh, addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, at the United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The notion of where a nation's sovereignty ends and its allegiance to a global group of nations that doesn't govern, but that makes a lot of rules, begins is the basic question delegates are asking. For the most part, particularly with smaller nations, the attitude is that cooperation and following international rules make things better for everyone.
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7:55 p.m.
Eritrea's foreign minister is touting his country's historic peace agreement with
Ethiopia and calling for U.N. sanctions to be lifted immediately, calling them "unwarranted" and "a miscarriage of justice."
Osman Saleh Mohammed told the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting on Saturday that "with positive winds of peace flowing in our region" some Security Council members are calling for sanctions to be lifted while others are looking for pretexts "to move the goalpost" and maintain the illegal sanctions.
The Security Council
imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea and sanctions on its political and military leaders in December 2009 after U.N. experts said the Horn of Africa nation was supporting al-Shabab extremists in Somalia and had failed to withdraw its forces following clashes with Djibouti in June 2008.
Mohammed said the previous U.S. administrations were mainly responsible for the "fabricated charges" which created serious economic damage and hurt the country's reputation and prospects for investment.
As a result, Mohammed said Eritrea is not only calling for the immediate rescinding of sanctions but "amends for the damages incurred and opportunities forfeited."
Eritrea recently restored diplomatic relations with Somalia and Djibouti.___
7:40 p.m.
Somalia's foreign minister is telling the U.N. General Assembly that his young government has made significant strides in fighting violent al-Shabab militants, and called on the world body to lift its long-standing arms embargo.
Ahmed Awad Isse says young people are no longer joining al-Shabab as they used to because "that ideology is no longer popular."
In his address on Saturday, Isse said the Somali government has been engaging with religious leaders, young people, the elderly and women to "turn the tide against the twisted ideology of hate and religious intolerance."
Isse also notes that many, including some of the militant group's senior commanders, have taken the government's amnesty offer and surrendered peacefully.
He said lifting the arms embargo would level the field in Somalia's battle with extremist groups. He noted that "stronger fighting capacity would enable us to have the upper hand."
Al-Shabab is trying to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, and is the deadliest Islamic extremist group in sub-Saharan Africa.
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7 p.m.
A year after Dominica's prime minister made an impassioned plea at the U.N. for help for his and other island nations battered by hurricanes, Foreign Minister Francine Baron says the experience and response made her country "stronger and more motivated."
Baron spoke Saturday at the General Assembly, where Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit urged world leaders last year to "let these extraordinary events elicit extraordinary efforts to rebuild nations sustainably." His country had been ravaged weeks earlier by powerful Hurricane Maria.
In the year since, Dominica has been rebuilding while also forming a billion-dollar "climate resilience" plan.
Baron noted that the cost of such improvements is beyond what small countries like Dominica can handle without help.
She thanked the international community and individual people for their assistance so far.___
6 p.m.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has postponed her U.N. General Assembly speech as trade talks between the U.S. and Canada intensify.
Freeland had been scheduled to speak Saturday but exchanged the
situs slot gacor with another country. Freeland may or may not give the speech on Monday.
Canada is the United States' No. 2 trading partner. It was left out when the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement last month to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The U.S. and Canada are under pressure to reach a deal by Sunday, when the U.S. must make public the full text of the agreement with Mexico.
The trade talks have been deadlocked over issues such as Canada's high dairy tariffs.- By Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto.___
4:40 p.m.
The deadly Indonesian tsunami is on the minds of several other countries' envoys as they address the U.N. General Assembly.
Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Belize's foreign minister, Wilfred Elrington, and Sao Tome's foreign minister, Urbino Botelho, were among those expressing sympathy and condolences to Indonesians Saturday at the assembly. Swaraj promised that "India will cooperate in helping during this tragic time."
A powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami Friday evening that unleashed waves as high as 6 meters (20 feet), killing hundreds on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. At least 384 people were killed in the city of Palu, and the number was expected to rise as rescuers reached surrounding coastal areas.
Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla spoke at the General Assembly on Thursday.___
3:00 p.m.
Pakistan's top diplomat is blaming India for a recent breakdown in their relations as he addresses a U.N. gathering of world leaders. He says Pakistan "prefers politics over peace."
Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's comments came a few hours after India accused his country of harboring terrorists.
Qureshi and his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, were supposed to meet at the U.N. this week. But the day after the meeting was announced, India called it off after an Indian border guard was killed in the disputed region of Kashmir.
Qureshi said India's current administration has called off dialogue between the two countries three times already, "each time on flimsy grounds." India earlier rejected the notion it was sabotaging peace talks,
The two South Asian nations and nuclear powers are uneasy neighbors. They have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the disputed region of Kashmir.
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2:50 p.m.
Austria's foreign minister raised a range of world issues in her U.N. General Assembly speech - in four of the world's languages.
Karin Kneissl started her remarks Saturday in Arabic, saying that humanity has a voice in the General Assembly hall and needs to use it "to express the voice of those outside this hall" who dwell amid wars and conflict.
Kneissl later switched to French, Spanish and English, thanking interpreters for their "patience and indulgence.