Kuwait- Guterres condemns N. Korea tests, urges end of Rohingya repression


(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NEW YORK, Sept 19 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Tuesday condemned North Korea's nuclear tests, called for an immediate end to military operations against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and also asserted that two-state solution was the only way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Guterres, addressing the UN General Assembly's (UNGA) 72 session in New York, said the world thinking of nuclear weapon was at its highest following the North Korean nuclear missile test, referring to confrontational statements from Pyongyang and Washington.

"I condemn those tests unequivocally and I call on North Korean to fully comply with the UN Security Council resolutions," he said and cited last week's fresh UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

He appealed to the UNSC to maintain unity, which would lead to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "The solution (to the North Korea issue) must be political. We must not sleep walk into war," he said.

Guterres described military operations against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar as "a vicious circle of suppression and violations," which forced hundreds of thousands of the Rohingyas to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

The authorities in Myanmar, he added, must end military operations, recognize right of the Rohingya refugees to return in safety and dignity.

Guterres also called for the intensification of international counter-terrorism cooperation.

"We must do more to address roots of radicalization," he said, as well as tackling unemployment among the young people. He called on the civil society to stand firmly against terrorism, which has been claiming lives of innocent people.

Guterres spoke about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and said that the world community must not stagnation in the peace process to avert peace.

The two-state solution "is the only war forward and must be pursued urgently," he said.

Guterres, meanwhile, called for addressing the alarming climate change while touching upon the problem of refugees.

He said every country has the right to control its border but it should also control the movement of people.

He commended the countries who showed hospitability to millions of refugees, who were fleeing conflicts in their own countries.

"We need to do more to face challenges of migration," he said.

The UN chief said the refugees or the internally displaced people (IDPs) were not the problem, but rather the conflicts and persecution.

He said the UN was forging close partnerships with the African Union, the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to save the lives of people around the world.

He affirmed that conflicts that forced people to flee to safe havens should only be solved politically.

Guterres, on the other hand, said he was committed to reforming the UN, build a system to support people lives, support peace and gender equality, as well as pushing ahead with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"We are here to serve, relief suffering of people," he said.

The representative of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, his Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is attending the session. (end) bs.asf

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