Meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

• Position: Algeria through Brunei Darussalam: Africa and beginning of Asia, part 1 - The Nations Speak

The United Nations, on the eve of its fiftieth anniversary in 1995, must adapt to developments in the world today, General Assembly President Amara Essy of Cote d'lvoire told the world body on 12 October, at the end of the three-week general debate. Member States "must buckle down" so that "our universal Organization may be able to take up the new challenges of the twenty-first century; and so that we may be able to pursue even more effectively our mission as a unique and irreplaceable instrument in the service of, and for the promotion of, international peace, development and security."

The annual debate, which began on 26 September, keynotes the outset of each Assembly, providing the international community with a panoramic view of the world's pressing questions and a chance to reflect on prospects for the future.

A record number of 179 speakers participated, including 1 monarch, 31 Presidents, 14 heads of Government, 2 Crown Princes, 120 Ministers and 11 Heads of Delegation. The previous high was 175 in 1993.

President Essy noted that the international community was frustrated by "unkept promises about building a post-cold-war world of global, peace and security", notwithstanding that some considerable progress had been achieved in the areas of democratization and human rights.

The proliferation of regional and civil conflicts being waged against a backdrop of ethnic and religious antagonism, as well as the "uncertainty and hesitancy that mark the pace of nuclear disarmament, give us the impression that the world situation today has become more complex because the threats are more diffuse", he said.

The Secretary-General's "An Agenda for Development" had rightly been acknowledged as an essential complement to "An Agenda for Peace", since "political instability and civil strife often have their roots in poverty and socio-economic inequality".

On UN reform, Mr. Essy noted that interest focused on the aspect of the Security Council's enlargement through an increase in the number of both permanent and nonpermanent members. While such a development might seem inevitable, the diversity and complexity of the solutions which had been put forward made any decision on the question difficult at present.

Interest had also been...