UN General Assembly
2012

technology sector with a view to enhancing our productive capacity, while also generating youth employment, since youth unemployment is one of the greatest threats to humankind and to our social and economic advancement. We must therefore form partnerships across the globe to address that dangerous phenomenon, which is a disaster waiting to happen. “Allow me to address some recent conflicts that threaten the peace and stability of Africa and the world at large. Our youth, for example, are being sucked into conflicts and a life of crime, with their productive talents being wasted. Our modest gains are being wiped out through instability, and even our societal cohesion is seriously threatened. If we do not act fast now, we risk creating more upheavals, which will overwhelm our capacity to contain them. The international community will therefore pay a very high price if it does not wake up from its slumber and solve the situations in Mali and Guinea-Bissau that I highlighted earlier. “In West Africa, our ongoing security challenges are being compounded by such