Mozambican President Armando Guebuza is expected in New York on Tuesday morning, where he is due to take part in the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly.The most explosive issue likely to be discussed is a request from Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, for UN recognition of Palestine as a state. Absurd claims are made that recognition of Palestinian statehood would somehow jeopardize future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, although, for reasons unexplained, recognition of Israeli statehood carries no such risks.Although the US government is, in theory, in favour of a Palestinian state, it is almost certain that the US will use its veto on the Security Council to prevent Palestine from becoming a fully fledged member of the UN.There are 160 points on the General Assembly agenda, and the central theme for the general debate scheduled for 21-30 September is “Mediation in Conflict Resolution through Peaceful Means”. Other matters to be discussed include the perennial issue of reforming the Security Council, nuclear power, and progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals Four high-level meetings are scheduled to discuss prevention and control of non-communicable disease, desertification, land degradation and drought, nuclear security, and the fight against racism and xenophobia.Guebuza was absent from the last two sessions of the General Assembly – in 2009 because of the campaign for the general elections of that year, which saw him win a second term by an overwhelming majority, and in 2010 because of a government decision to cut back on foreign travel in order to reduce government expenditure.
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