Live updates: U.N. General Assembly

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly:

CAMEROON

Cameroonian Foreign Affairs Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella says it’s more urgent than ever to finalize the rules for implementing the Paris climate agreement.

And in particular he hopes that progress will be made on financial resources for developing countries combating the effects of climate change.

COP27, slated to take place at the end of the year in Egypt, “will be of crucial importance in this regard.”

“It must provide urgent and decisive answers for the survival of the planet,” Mbella told the U.N. General Assembly.

“International commitments are no longer being respected or are being delivered on in dribs and drabs due to selfishness, insufficient political will and even the crisis that is currently being observed to multilateralism,” Mbella said.

“In such a context, it is no exaggeration to state that the fate of man and the destiny of humanity are at stake,” he added.

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NORTH KOREA

North Korea denounced the “high-handedness” of its rival the United States and said Monday it would not yield on ending its nuclear program even though U.N. resolutions have exhorted it to do so.

“To put it clearly, we have never recognized such resolutions of the United Nations that impose pressure because we do not abide by the rule of the United States made unilaterally,” Kim Song, the North’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the U.N. General Assembly. “We will not recognize them in the future, either.”

He said relations were potentially “heading into a much more dangerous phase” — possibly, he said, the worst since World War II, thanks to the “high-handed activities of some countries.” He also accused the United Nations of enabling the United States in its bullying of the North.

Kim’s remarks were in line with the North’s usual tone about the United States and did not reflect any new policy or provocations. As its leaders often do, he demanded the U.S. stop trying to “impose Western values” on other nations.

Kim also said North Korea has handled the COVID-19 pandemic adeptly and “exterminated the malignant virus” quickly thanks to its “superior socialist system.”

Kim said that while the coronavirus “still poses a threat to the existence of humankind,” North Korea has succeeded in protecting its people from the pandemic. No figures or supporting evidence from international organizations were immediately available to support his assertions.

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MAURITANIA

Mauritania’s foreign affairs minister has urged debt cancellation for African nations as a moment that the the continent is facing mounting food insecurity.

Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug said Monday that richer nations must assist developing countries “as quickly as possible to address the challenges threatening their food security.”

“We reiterate our call to eliminate foreign debt for the countries of the African continent,” he told the U.N. General Assembly.

A number of countries this week have voiced concerns about their ability to repay international loans denominated in U.S. dollars amid global inflation.

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REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Republic of Congo’s foreign affairs minister has called on the United Nations to make its Security Council more diverse.

Jean-Claude Gakosso told the U.N. General Assembly on Monday that “Africa must indeed take its place in the community of nations.”

“To think otherwise is simply to exhibit selfishness and to row against the currents of history,” he said.

Gakosso and a number of African leaders have pressed for U.N. Security Council reform throughout this year’s General Assembly.

Republic of Congo’s minister also expressed concern about the war in Ukraine and “the considerable risk of a nuclear disaster.” He called on not only Russia and Ukraine, but other influential nations to “turn their backs on this type of vanity of the powerful, which has so far closed the door to dialogue.”

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