Zimbabwean leader ready to take on UN Assembly

By

Mathew Masinge

Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe is currently in New York for the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to deliver a speech before global leaders gathered to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the world.

The African Union Chair is expected, apart from addressing the General Assembly in his capacity as President of Zimbabwe, to also have several engagements as leader of Africa.

President Mugabe has long been a strong advocate for democratisation of the UN, particularly its powerful Security Council, as well as for reforms of the global financial architecture.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members with veto power and ten rotational seats without veto power. The make-up of veto-wielding states has not changed since the first UN General Assembly in London in 1946 and there are increasing calls for this to change to reflect great shifts in geo-political affairs in the 70 years since.

Among the major issues up for discussion at the 70th General Assembly are global food security, peacekeeping, nuclear proliferation and the plight of thousands of Europe-bound refugees, mainly from North Africa and the Middle East, fleeing Western-instigated wars and instability.

Mathew Masinge

Mathew is journalist, blogger and an actor based in Harare. He writes for the Herald, Zimbabwe’s largest daily newspaper.