Without a strong United Nations, globalisation will result in developed countries dominating poorer ones, President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday.
In a speech prepared for delivery at the 58th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Mbeki said without a popularly accepted UN, the powerful would set the agenda for all residents of the global village.
”They will do this to advance their own interests,” he said.
For this reason, some poor countries had become ”partisan activists” for a strong UN.
”We take these positions because there is no way in which we could advance the interests of our people, the majority of whom are poor, outside the context of a strong, effective and popularly accepted United Nations.
”An autonomous process of globalisation, driven by its own internal regularities, can only result in the determination of our future within the parameters set by those who enjoy the superiority of power.
”The powerful will do this in their interest, which might not coincide with ours,” Mbeki said. – Sapa