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Tuesday 19 sepTember 2017
Restrained Trump calls for UN reform French envoy at UN: Discord is

By JONATHAN LEMIRE vision means for the future mendous potential.” at highest level since Cold War
DARLENE SUPERVILLE of the world body. Trump more recently has By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Trump riffed on his cam- praised a pair of unanimous Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — paign slogan when asked U.N. Security Council votes UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Dissension and conflict are
President Donald Trump to preview his central mes- to tighten sanctions on at their highest levels since the Cold War and coop-
used his United Nations sage to the General As- North Korea over its contin- eration among nations has become more difficult in a
debut on Monday to prod sembly, saying: “I think the ued nuclear weapons and world that is more interdependent than ever, France’s
the international organiza- main message is ‘make ballistic missile tests. top diplomat said Monday as global leaders gathered
tion to cut its bloated bu- the United Nations great’ The annual gathering of at the United Nations.
reaucracy and sharpen its — not ‘again.’ ‘Make the world leaders opens amid French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news
ill-defined mission. But he United Nations great.’” serious concerns about conference that heads of state and government were
pledged U.S. support for the “Such tremendous poten- Trump’s priorities. For many coming together for their annual meeting at the Gen-
world body he had excori- tial, and I think we’ll be world leaders, it will be their eral Assembly at “a critical moment” that is witnessing
ated as a candidate, and able to do this,” he added. first chance to take the “a worrying degradation of the international environ-
his criticisms were more re- But even as the president measure of the president ment.”
strained than in years past. chastised the U.N., he in person. The president What is worse, he said, is that some countries are in-
“In recent years, the United pledged that the United on Monday praised U.N. creasingly questioning the role of working together,
Nations has not reached States would be “be part- Secretary-General Anto- “and with a temptation of withdrawal out of fear or
its full potential due to bu- ners in your work” to make nio Guterres, who said he selfishness.” He gave no examples but appeared to
be pointing to growing nationalism in the United States
and some European countries.
The ministerial session starts Tuesday with a state of
the world speech by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres. U.S. President Donald Trump and French Pres-
ident Emmanuel Macron, both making their debuts
at the global gathering, will address the 193-member
world body soon after.
Le Drian cited the increasing number of global crises:
fighting terrorism; resolving conflicts from the Middle
East to Africa; tackling North Korea’s escalating nu-
clear program; and addressing the flight of more than
400,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangla-
desh.
France’s priority is to work on concrete solutions be-
cause these crises affect European security and “jeop-
ardize the international order,” he said.
“In view of this degraded situation, France has a spe-
cific responsibility because it has the means, and be-
cause its voice is heard, and because France is per-
ceived as a balancing power,” he added.
Fighting the Islamic State extremist group and finding
the political conditions to ensure Syria’s stability are es-
President Donald Trump listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at sential, Le Drian said.
the Palace Hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in New What’s been tried since 2011 hasn’t worked, he add-
York. ed, and France has proposed the establishment of
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) a contact group including the five permanent veto-
wielding members of the U.N. Security Council — the
reaucracy and misman- the organization a more shared Trump’s vision for a United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — and
agement,” Trump said. “We effective force for peace less-wasteful U.N. that will key players and affected countries.
are not seeing the results in across the globe. “live up to its full potential.” One stumbling block has been whether Iran should
line with this investment.” He praised the U.N.’s early The U.S. has asked mem- be included. Le Drian wouldn’t answer, saying this is-
The president urged the steps toward reform and ber nations to sign a dec- sue and others would be discussed later Monday at a
U.N. to focus “more on made no threats to with- laration on U.N. reforms, closed ministerial meeting on Syria.
people and less on bu- draw U.S. support. The and more than 120 have He stressed that the fragmentation of Syria, which
reaucracy” and to change president’s more measured done so. True to form, the could spawn “other forms of terrorism,” must be avoid-
“business as usual and not tone stood in sharp contrast president also managed ed, and there must be humanitarian access through-
be beholden to ways of the to the approach he took at to work into his speech a out the country. He added that France remains com-
past which were not work- NATO’s new Brussels head- reference to the Trump- mitted to bringing those behind chemical weapons
ing.” He also suggested quarters in May, when he branded apartment tower attacks to justice.
the U.S. was paying more scolded member nations across First Avenue from On another hotspot, Macron has taken the lead in try-
than its fair share to keep for not paying enough and the U.N. His speech began ing to bring the rival governments in Libya together,
the New York-based world refused to explicitly back its a busy week of diplomacy and Le Drian said the country cannot be left “in such
body operational. mutual defense pact. for Trump, who is scheduled a state of instability,” which affects its neighbors and
The short remarks at a fo- While running for office, to meet separately with all of Europe. “That’s why we’re supporting the Libyan
rum on U.N. reforms were Trump had labeled the U.N. more than a dozen world people to face the challenges they have to face —
a precursor to Tuesday’s as weak and incompetent, leaders along the sidelines eradicate terrorism on its own territory, control migra-
main event, when Trump and not a friend of either of the U.N. In his first bilat- tory flows, thwart all kinds of trafficking and restore the
will address the U.N. Gen- the United States or Israel. eral meeting, with Israeli political unity of the country for security and stability,”
eral Assembly for the first But he has softened his Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- he said. All these issues will be discussed at a meeting
time, a speech nervously message since taking of- tanyahu, Trump declared chaired by Guterres on Wednesday.
awaited by world leaders fice, telling ambassadors at that they “are giving it an On North Korea’s escalating nuclear and ballistic mis-
concerned about what the a White House meeting in absolute go” on Middle sile program, Le Drian strongly opposed military action
president’s “America first” April that the U.N. has “tre- East peace talks.q when asked about Trump’s threats.q