By Abiola Olawale
A former Cameroonian prime minister, Philemon Yang has formally assumed office as the 79th President of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
Yang succeeds the president of the 78th session, Ambassador Dennis Francis, whose tenure officially came to an end on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.
The New Diplomat reports that Yang was elected in June, while Algeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, was elected Vice-President.
In his inaugural speech, Yang called on the world’s divided nations to come together and act to address global challenges, from climate change to poverty, conflict and armed violence.
Yang, a distinguished diplomat who served as prime minister of Cameroon from 2009 to 2019, told the 193-member world body that there were doubts about the ability of nations to join forces to tackle these and other pressing issues.
He said: “We must demonstrate that international cooperation remains the most effective tool at our disposal to address the deep and borderless problems we face.
“I will therefore urge the Assembly to intensify its determination to prioritize the resolution of conflicts, including the intractable conflicts in the Gaza Strip, Haiti and Ukraine, as well as to find lasting solutions to the situation in the Great Lakes region and elsewhere in Africa.”
The immediate past General Assembly, President Francis, in his address, urged the United Nations, which was created from the ashes of World War II, to live up to its mandate of maintaining international peace and security.
He said: “It is no exaggeration to say that the scale of man-made human suffering that we are witnessing around the world is simply staggering.”
