Syria wants withdrawal of US, Turkish troops

Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Sept 27 called for the withdrawal of US and Turkish troops from his war-ravaged nation. “We will not succumb, no matter the pressure and lies and accusations against us,” he told the UN General Assembly.

He said Syrian armed forces would continue fighting “terrorists” — the Syrian government’s catch-all word for its opponents — until every part of Syria is once again under government control.

The country will also try its best to help refugees, he said.

“We have made it clear that Syria’s doors are wide open for the safe and voluntary return of all refugees to their country,” Mekdad said, adding that the government was putting the necessary procedures in place to facilitate the return of people and meet their basic needs.

While the Syrian government and its allies are making honest efforts on this humanitarian issue, “some continue to take advantage of the suffering of Syrians to serve an agenda that has nothing to do with humanitarian objectives or the interests of Syrians,” he said.

South Sudan vows to ‘never go back to war’

“I want to assure our friends and partners that we are determined to never go back to war,” South Sudan’s vice-president Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior said in her speech in the UN General Assembly on Sept 24.

South Sudan is “ready to turn a new page” towards greater peace, development and prosperity, she said, according to a report posted on the UN website.

“We must replace the destruction of war with the productive use of our vast natural resources and national assets for the good of our people.”

End political bickering, move ahead, world urged

Ralph E. Gonsalves, prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is among those calling for human progress without political bickering.

“Many ancient and longstanding political quarrels ought to come to an end in these new, perilous times which humanity faces,” Gonsalves told the UN assembly on Sept 25.

“We are at historic crossroads of a special kind. We must rise, collectively, to address sensibly, the requisite fresh imperatives in these, our most challenging, times”, he said.