UN General Assembly
1996

could better fulfil the purposes and principles of the Charter. The fiftieth anniversary came and went and, despite the extravaganza, very little has been achieved. The Organization itself remains far removed from the aspirations of the peoples of the United Nations, which it is supposed to promote and protect. Hopefully, the tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina will, with international help, be on the mend, but Palestine’s hopes and aspirations have been undermined by the new Israeli Government, which is backed, unfortunately, by some Western Powers, and is backtracking on painfully negotiated agreements. At this moment, a rash decision by Israel not only imperils further the peace process, with lives being lost, but can inflame and outrage Muslim States and Muslim society if the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is defiled. In Africa, Somalia, Rwanda and Liberia remain on the razor’s edge of survival, and Burundi awaits United Nations and regional initiatives to avoid a catastrophe. And there are countries such as Afghanistan, victims of the cold war, abandoned by the major Powers, needing help to reconstruct and overcome