Poor nations' plight stirs appeals to U.N.

UNITED NATIONS — Global leaders on Thursday warned colleagues that coordinated international action to end the worldwide recession and reverse climate change must not fall victim to routine political divisions and pitfalls.

"Recuperation will be slow and time-consuming," said President Zeljko Komsic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the U.N.'s newer nation-states, born from the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Komsic, speaking at the U.N. General Assembly's 64th annual session, called the global meltdown the "worst economic crisis since the founding of the United Nations, especially for poor and sub-Saharan countries."

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias singled out corporate crime and greed as the culprits, denouncing "market lawlessness."

"Globalization is driven by the pursuit of excessive profits," Christofias said. "As a result the rich are becoming richer and the poor, poorer."

His remarks echoed those of French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, who condemned "the behavior of those who still continue to grow indecently rich after leading the world to the brink of disaster."

For some people, Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma said Thursday, "the impact of the crisis may be on the size of their bonuses; on others it may be on whether they acquire a second car or not. But for the vast number of people, particularly in Africa, the impact of the crisis creates life-threatening situations."

Ghana's President John Evans Atta Mills said, "The benefits of globalization have been negligible in the majority of developing countries."

"Despite almost a decade of impressive growth of about 5 percent, only a few countries have been able to reduce the proportion of their population living on less than $1 per day," Mills said.

The president of Rwanda, another nation bathed in a bloody genocide in the 1990s,said Thursday that the way forward out of economic recession will require expanded participation, beyond the insider club of the wealthy Group of Eight nations or even the broader Group of 20.

"Most of the proposals fall short of the steps essential for the recovery of low-income countries," Rwandan President Paul Kagame said.

Adding support from the developed world, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz noted: "The G-20 lacks legitimacy; basic considerations of due process are absent in the sanctions procedures. The members of the G-20 are not subject to the same scrutiny.Switzerland advocates a level playing field and much better consultation among nonmembers of the G-20."

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama offered a mediating role "to forge systems to rein in the issues of poverty and economic disparity, which are difficult to coordinate by simply leaving them to market mechanisms, as well as excessive moneymaking games." Information for this article was contributed by Amy Teibel of The Associated Press.