President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders including United States President Donald Trump in condemning North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
The President spoke about the programme in his speech today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“The most pressing threat to international peace and security today is the accelerated nuclear weapons development programme by North Korea. Since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, we have never come so close to the threat of nuclear war as we have now,” Buhari said.
To address the problem, he called on world leaders to bring “all necessary pressure and diplomatic efforts” to bear on North Korea to accept a peaceful resolution to the crisis, warning that failure to do that could be catastrophic.
“As Hiroshima and Nagasaki painfully remind us, if we fail, the catastrophic and devastating human loss and environmental degradation cannot be imagined,” he warned.
As part of the diplomatic efforts, the President proposed a strong UN delegation led by the Security Council and including members from all the regions to urgently engage the North Korean Leader.
He added, “The crisis in the Korean peninsula underscores the urgency for all member states, guided by the spirit of enthroning a safer and more peaceful world, to ratify without delay the Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, which will be open for signature here tomorrow.”
President Buhari, who assured world leaders of Nigeria’s commitment to the foundational principles and goals of the UN, also called for global condemnation of the crisis in Myanmar.
He said, “Additionally, we are now confronted by the desperate human rights and humanitarian situations in Yemen and most tragically in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The Myanmar crisis is very reminiscent of what happened in Bosnia in 1995 and in Rwanda in 1994.
“The international community cannot remain silent and not condemn the horrendous suffering caused by what, from all indications is a state-backed programme of brutal depopulation of the Rohingya inhabited areas in Myanmar on the basis of ethnicity and religion.
“We fully endorse the call by the Secretary-General on the Government of Myanmar to order a halt to the ongoing ethnic cleansing and ensure the safe return of the displaced Rohingya to their homes in safety and dignity.”
Pointing out the plight of women and children in crisis-torn parts of the world, President Buhari said there is the need to address global inequality.
“In all these crises, the primary victims are the people, the most vulnerable being women and children. That is why the theme of this session: Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet” is most apposite,” he said.
“While the international community grapples to resolve these conflicts, we must be mindful and focus on the widening inequalities within societies, and the gap between the rich and the poor nations. These inequalities and gaps are part of the underlining root causes of competition for resources, frustration and anger leading to spiralling instability.”
