Ukraine: Harsh Words for China and Brazil
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded his case to world leaders to support his country’s continuing defense against Russian aggression until “a just peace” — or the total restoration of Ukrainian territory — during his speech in the General Assembly on Wednesday.
“We need to withdraw the Russian occupiers, which will bring an end to the hostilities in Ukraine,” Zelensky, 46, said, referring to the 18 percent of Ukrainian territory currently seized by Russia, including Donbas and Crimea. His speech echoed the rhetoric of his remarks delivered at a special UN Security Council session on Tuesday on Ukraine, where he argued that “this war can’t be calmed by talks” and “Russia can only be forced into peace.”
As the war heads into a third year after Russia’s full invasion in February 2022, Zelensky is seeking long-range missiles from his NATO allies, hoping that striking close to Moscow will force Russian President Vladimir Putin to capitulate. Over the past few months, Ukraine has been slowly and steadily losing territory in Donbas, while Ukrainian armed forces captured parts of Russia’s Kursk region in a surprise attack in August.
Zelensky uttered harsh words for China and Brazil in his General Assembly speech. Both countries have pushed for a ceasefire that would force Ukraine to de facto cede territory.
“When the Chinese, Brazilian duo tries to grow into a choir of voices, with someone in Europe, with someone in Africa, saying something alternative to a full and just peace, the question arises, what is the true interest? Everyone must understand, you will not boost your power at Ukraine’s expense,” Zelensky said.
Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi argued in the Security Council session on Ukraine that “all parties must abandon the cold war mentality and achieve a ceasefire” and that “dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way to settle the Ukraine crisis.”
Zelensky also drew attention to Russia recently procuring weapons from North Korea and Iran, which are both under heavy American sanctions.
“Russia, a country more than 20 times larger than Ukraine, in territory, still wants even more land, more land — which is insane — and is seizing it day by day while wanting to destroy its neighbor,” Zelensky said. “And Russia found very special bodies for that, North Korea and Iran. Telling choice of friends.” — JOE PENNEY
France: Aiming to Seize the Lead on Lebanon
French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire in Gaza and a de-escalation of violence in Lebanon in his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
“This war needs to stop, and a ceasefire needs to happen as soon as possible,” Macron, 44, said. “The war Israel is waging in Gaza has gone on too long. The tens of thousands of civilian victims in Palestine cannot be justified. There is no explanation possible for this.”
In the evening, the UN Security Council convened, at the call of France, a permanent member, to focus on the escalating violence in Lebanon. The Israeli bombing campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon killed 569 people on Monday and Tuesday — including 50 children and 94 women. More than 1,800 people were injured and more than 90,000 people have been displaced since Sept. 23, the UN says. Two staffers of the UN Refugee Agency were killed on Sept. 24.
“Since the beginning of the week, Israeli strikes have already caused hundreds of civilian deaths. This is not acceptable and in the name of France I extend my full solidarity with the Lebanese people,” France’s new minister for foreign affairs and Europe, Jean-Noël Barrot, said during the Security Council meeting, which began at 6 P.M.
“The tensions between Hezbollah and Israel threaten to throw the region into a full-blown war,” he added. “The consequences would be incalculable. Already considerably weakened, Lebanon would not recover from such a war.” He said that he was working with American partners on a 21-day ceasefire proposal and that he would travel to Beirut at the end of the week.
Barrot’s remarks reaffirmed Macron’s words arlier in the General Assembly: “There cannot be a war in Lebanon,” Macron said. “This is why we urge Israel to cease this escalation in Lebanon and Hezbollah to cease firing missiles into Israel. We urge all of those who provide them with the means to do so to stop doing so.”
France, the former colonial power of Lebanon, is seeking a leadership role in the country’s growing crisis. Macron addressed the Lebanese people directly in his General Assembly address, saying: “I send my brotherly thoughts to Lebanon and to the Lebanese people. For too long, Hezbollah has been running an untenable risk of dragging Lebanon into a wall. Israel cannot, without consequence, just expand its operations to Lebanon. France demands that all everyone respect their obligations along the Blue Line.”
Despite France’s diplomacy, Israel is signaling it is about to expand the conflict. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevi said the Israeli military is preparing a ground offensive, while The Times of Israel reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers in a security consultation that “any negotiations will only be held under fire; we are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force.”
(Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told reporters on Sept. 25 that Netanyahu was arriving in New York City on Thursday morning and is speaking at the General Assembly on Friday morning.)
Israeli officials are saying that their goal in attacking southern Lebanon is to return the 100,000 displaced Israeli residents to northern Israel, bordering Lebanon. The residents have fled Hezbollah rocket fire, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’s massacre in Israel.
Like many other world leaders are saying in their speeches in the General Assembly this week, Macron argued that while a ceasefire in Gaza is necessary, peace will happen only when Palestine becomes a full state. Yet, that reality may be far off, given that Netanyahu says no such thing will happen.
“France will . . . ensure everything can be done so that Palestinian people can finally have a state side by side with Israel, the conditions for just and lasting peace are well known,” Macron said. — DULCIE LEIMBACH
Senegal: A Brand-New President’s First UN Speech
The president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, joined other African leaders calling for Security Council reform during his first address in the UN General Assembly. Faye emphasized that the Council must reflect current global geopolitical realities.
“The African continent, in particular, must have a more meaningful place in these decision-making bodies,” he said in French.
African leaders have long called for increased representation for Africa in the Security Council. The United States announced in early September that it supports two permanent seats for African nations in the Council but no veto right. The African Union has demanded two permanent seats and three additional nonpermanent seats for the continent besides the current three. While this overall position is gaining momentum, it remains unclear how soon such reforms might be carried out.
Faye, 44, is a former tax inspector who was jailed for nearly a year on charges of defamation and contempt of court related to a social media post. He was released 10 days before his election on March 24 and he assumed office on April 2.
In the General Assembly, he criticized the increasing violations of international humanitarian law and the undermining of Council resolutions by powerful countries. Referring to the war in Gaza, he noted how the 15-member Council has struggled to enforce its binding resolutions that have repeatedly called for a ceasefire as well as expedited humanitarian relief for the besieged enclave of approximately two million people, who have been bombarded by Israel since the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7. Faye warned that the principles of the UN are being tested across many conflicts, urging world leaders to ensure that “human dignity” is preserved.
“This duty is the very essence of the United Nations,” Faye declared.
He specifically expressed Senegal’s “deep concern” over the Gaza bloodbath.
“We reiterate our support for the two-state solution and urge solutions in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions,” Faye said. “This war spares no woman, no child and no vital infrastructure; humanitarian law must be upheld in all conflicts. The UN must fulfill its role as the mediator of peace.”
He also called on the Security Council to fulfill its role as a “guarantor” of peace and stability in the Sahel, a region that includes Senegal. The rise of violent extremist groups in the area has worsened the region’s humanitarian crisis. Over the past decade, at least 60,000 people have been displaced in Senegal alone because of a simmering conflict between the Senegalese government and separatist rebels in the country called the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance.
Sahelian states are consistently ranked among the most fragile on the Fragile States Index, an assessment of state vulnerability to collapse. The region has also experienced a wave of military coups, beginning with Mali in 2020 and spreading to Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger.
“We cannot stand idly by and watch the Sahel region become a theater for foreign rivalries or regional destabilization,” Faye said, adding that “the peace and security of Africa are intertwined with global peace.” — DAMILOLA BANJO
Venezuela: America’s ‘Continued Coup’ Attempts
The United States government is supporting a “policy of continued coup d’état against the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela, which began more than 25 years ago,” said Yván Gil Pinto, 52, foreign affairs minister of Venezuela, on Wednesday in the General Assembly.
“From their territory, specifically from the State of Florida, terrorist attacks against public officials and public facilities are planned,” Gil Pinto said. “They also use social networks with impunity and full support from the White House to promote mercenary incursions.”
Early in September, the government of Nicolás Maduro announced the arrest of six foreigners — including three Americans — who allegedly had plotted to assassinate him and other top officials. The White House denied any involvement in the plot.
The defiant Venezuelan position comes as Maduro is holding on to power even though the opposition leader, Edmundo González, is widely believed to have won the presidential elections in July. Maduro is losing support even among the leftist governments in Latin America as well as Spain, where Gonzáles was granted political asylum.
On Wednesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro met in New York City with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to discuss mediation efforts to solve the Venezuelan crisis, while Chilean President Gabriel Boric called Maduro’s government “a dictatorship” during his General Assembly speech.
The Biden administration has also imposed new sanctions against Venezuelan officials. In his speech to the Assembly Hall, Gil Pinto said that all the sanctions have cost Venezuela more than $642 billion in the last seven years.
So far, more than 2,400 people have been arrested amid protests since Election Day, July 28, including some 120 minors. Many of them are charge with terrorism. At least nine journalists have also been detained. — MAURIZIO GUERRERO
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Joe Penney is a writer, filmmaker and photographer who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Lagos. He directed a documentary, “Sun of the Soil: The Story of Mansa Musa,” about the reign of Mali’s 14th-century king. Penney’s articles and essays have been published by The Intercept, The New York Times, Quartz, Reuters and Paris journals. He was West African photo bureau chief for Reuters, and his pictures have appeared in Geo, Jeune Afrique, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Time, among others. He has photographed presidential elections in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone as well as the 2012 coup in Mali and the French military intervention in 2013, Mauritanian refugee camps, mining sites in Niger, migrants in the Sahel, counterterrorism campaigns in Cameroon, the 2013-2014 conflict in Central African Republic and the people’s coup in Burkina Faso in 2014. Penney co-founded Sahelien.com, a news company covering the Sahel region, in 2013. In Africa, he has lived in Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal and speaks English, French and Spanish.
