If I Were World Leaders at UN General Assembly 2006

There is no better moment or platform for world leaders to show leadership than this year's United Nations General Assembly (GA). Their job is cut out for them: World Peace and Ending Poverty. The absence of these is tearing the world apart. It is their lot to sort things out, today.

To achieve these goals, we must stop all crises, conflicts and wars - wherever they may be - and put more resources into welfare, new jobs, better technologies and shared prosperity.

The world is one Global Village now, and world leaders must stop deluding themselves about both this reality and its imperative for mutuality in all its ramifications. That old song about national security, exclusivity-in-sovereignty, zero-game trade and the impunity of power can no longer sell. Multilateralism is it.

And that is what the UN is about, isn't it?

So, why would world leaders not seize the moment...and give us real stuff? Why should we be left wondering why they bother to come to the GA ritualistically, if all we hear are same of the same - with nothing new, nothing profound, nothing uplifting? We must say, "no more!".

If I were these world leaders, I will pursue things and thoughts that will truly develop the world and edify our common humanity. I will be fresh, ambitious, inspiring and ....concrete.

If I were a member of this powerful, but so far unaccountable club, I will openly and proudly challenge my colleagues to ACT in the world's interest NOW. I will stand to be counted on the side of justice, truth, and...honour.

GA 2006 will be my podium, and my pact, with the peoples of the world. Yes, of our common heritage; and, yes, our only Global Village!

If I Were The UN Security Council....On Darfur, Sudan

Even before the latest bomb-shell from Khartoun, asking the AU peace-keeping mission to leave by end-September when their current mandate expires, it was always going to be quite tricky tackling the long-running Darfur problem. The world waited for too long before its half-hearted response, and very weak intervention.

Despite the Abuja Accord, and the recent Security Council approval for a robust international force to go secure the peace, new impetus was already imperative - for a lasting solution.

As things stand now, confidence must be rebuilt. If I were the UN Security Council, I will set up a Special Commission headed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, with the following eminent members: former UN secretary general Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali, former British prime minister John Major, former US secretary of state Colin Powell, Nigeria's former foreign affairs minister Olu Adeniji, and Nobel peace laureates Wangari Maathai (Kenyan) and Shirin Ebadi (Iranian).

Abuja should continue to provide the secretariat, with backstopping by Beijing and New York.

The Jiang Commission should help tidy up the crisis, and oversea the implementation of all UN resolutions in this regard. It will then draw on the critical strengths of the UN, AU, the US, UK and the Arab League, as well the special leverage of China, Nigeria and Egypt. The women will help balance the critical gender and peace elements, bringing the considerable moral weight of the NOBEL mystique as well as the voice of motherhood to the bargain.

If I were the UN Security Council, I will act in this manner within a WEEK. The African Union's mission expires on September 30, remember?

Peace.