NEW YORK: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif urged nations to unite to confront the most challenging issues facing the world at an address at the UN on Wednesday.
He said: “ We are at a pivotal stage; we either join together in a collective effort to address the difficult challenges and disasters we are confronted with in the world or fail and in doing so history will 'not be on our side, we will lose an important opportunity to put an end to the cycles of conflict, and threaten the future of the coming generations. The type and scale of the challenges we confront require us to work hard toward the reform of the United Nations system, increase the effectiveness of the Security Council, and revitalize the role of the General Assembly and all the relevant bodies of the United Nations. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ready with the rest of the Member States to give new impetus to the reform process so that the United Nations is able to cope with the aspirations of the 21 century.”
On the Syrian crisis the Crown Prince said: “the international community is still unable to take concert decisions to save the Syrian people from the crimes that take place there, murders, destruction and displacement all of which is made by President Bashar Al-Assad. These action has resulted in the killing of more than half a million people, displaced more than twelve million Syrians which resulted in giving the world the biggest humanitarian disaster in the contemporary history.”
In the years of this bitter crisis, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has put all the efforts to contribute positively in the political solution process, which aims to carry out the political transition in Syria, in accordance with the Geneva statement 1; to support the Syrian opposition moderate, according to the Vienna Statement, in implementation of the decision of the Security Council Resolution 2455” he added.
Prince Mohammed said: “Here we call again upon the International Syria Support Group (ISSO), to abide by what has been agreed upon, and move forward to end the humanitarian crisis and guarantee the protection of the political transition process.”
On the issue of Yemen, Prince Mohammed said: “ My country has spared no effort to support Yemen in all feasible ways. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has contributed with more than three billion dollars to boost the Yemeni economy; however, the coup started by Houthis and their allies dashed the hopes of the Yemenis and threatened Yemen security and stability. 'Despite the repeated violations made by Houthi militia and supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, my country has worked relentlessly to rebuild confidence to return to the political negotiations through providing full support to the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen.”
On Iranian interference in Arab affair the crown prince said: “By Iran's support to the terrorist militias' groups in Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, an~ other areas; the region is facing a serious danger of destabilizing its security. Along with these actions, Iran is escalating the dissemination of sectarian speech which is a grave concern in our Arab and Islamic world; as the outcomes of these speeches are deepening the conflicts and provoking sectarian extremism.”
