“As we draw closer to the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, the international community needs to maximize its efforts towards achieving all the eight goals,” said Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata, adding that his country is making steady progress in some of the goals.

The MDGs – which seek to slash a host of social ills, including extreme hunger and poverty, infant and maternal mortality, and lack of access to education and medical care – were agreed on by world leaders at a summit in 2000. They have a 2015 deadline for their completion.

President Sata said Zambia’s progress is visible in the education sector, with a significant increase in the net enrolment of children in primary schools, as well as in the reduction of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria cases.

However, he pointed that other challenges remain, among them the 60.5 per cent poverty rate in the country, despite efforts to stimulate economic growth. He also noted that unemployment continues to be one of the most pressing problems for Zambia’s youth, and said his Government is looking to increase partnerships with various UN agencies and the international community to harness best practices from across the world to address this issue.

The Zambian leader also reiterated his strong support for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s High level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda. The panel, which held its first meeting yesterday, is tasked with providing recommendations on a global agenda following 2015.

“We must support this high-level panel to help recoup the lost opportunities of the recent past… We are still a long way from attaining the MDGs. Discarding them entirely would be to the detriment of the poorer nations,” President Sata said. “I trust that the Secretary-General’s panel will take this into consideration.”

In his remarks to the General Debate, the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, said his country is on track to achieve the MDGs, particularly in the areas of reducing extreme poverty, achieving gender parity in school enrolment, giving access to drinking water and reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

He also pointed to unemployment among youth – who makes up nearly 65 percent of the population – as one of the biggest challenges for his country, and stressed that Ghana is dealing with this problem “aggressively and as effectively as possible by finding solutions that are long-term and sustainable.”

The Ghanaian President also spoke about his country’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, and assured the international community that the polls will be free, fair and peaceful. He added that current political stability is not just being experienced in his country, but also in other parts of Africa, revealing a new phase for the continent.

“Right now, there is something spectacular happening in Africa. Growth is taking the place of stagnation; tranquility is taking the place of turmoil; democratic governance, founded on the rule of law, is taking the place of dictatorship,” he said.

He added, “This type of sustained growth, in combination with security and democracy can only ensure an Africa that will bear no economic resemblance to the ghost of its former self. This new Africa will stand on the world stage as a mutual partner.”

The two African leaders are among scores of heads of State and government and other high-level officials who are presenting their views and comments on issues of individual national and international relevance at the Assembly’s General Debate, which ends on 1 October.

“After two decades of civil war, a collapsed state and innumerable indignities to the proud Somali people, we are hours away from the election of a new president – the event that will completely end the transitional period and move us towards a phase of political and socio-economic transformation,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, said in an open letter to the country’s parliamentarians.

Mahiga, who also heads the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), called on the parliamentarians to choose the candidate who will be “honest and effective in leading the country with a vision appropriate for the next four years of transformation and peace-building.”

After decades of warfare, Somalia has been undergoing a peace and national reconciliation process, with the country’s transitional governing arrangements coming to an end with the implementation of the so-called Roadmap for the End of Transition.

The 10 September election will mark the culmination of a series of landmark events in recent weeks, including the adoption of Somalia’s provisional constitution, the inaugural meeting of its new parliament – which Mahiga described as the “most qualified and representative” in the country’s history – and the appointment of that body’s speaker.

“It has not been easy getting us to this point,” noted Mahiga. “In addition to the privations you have all endured during these past difficult years, the political process and the security situation has not been easy. There have been moments when all seemed lost and we have sometimes been on the brink of despair.

“Nevertheless, somehow, the courage, tenacity and determination of the Somali people has overcome these formidable obstacles and brought us to where we are now.”

He urged them to listen to the presidential candidates as they publicly present their visions, and to make their choice accordingly, adding that all Somalis, the region and the rest of the international community are watching during these remaining few days.

“My brothers and sisters, it is all up to you,” he added. “You are the highest sovereign authority in the land. You are the custodians of the future which is now in your hands.”

UAE hopes that all efforts are concerted now towards maintaining stability, harmony and cooperation among all within the joint national action framework so as to serve higher interests in realization of aspirations of the Egyptian people for security, stability, decent life and growth.”

Egyptian expatriates in the UAE are thrilled with the victory of Mohammed Mursi, who claimed to have come first in the second round of the presidential elections, which ended on Monday morning.

“Now, we can celebrate the first knock-out for the January 25 revolution against the ousted tyrant regime,” said Abu Ahmed, an Egyptian national residing in Dubai. Abu Yusuf, a 35-year-old Egyptian also residing in Dubai, said he has always been dreaming of this moment. “Despite all the distorting and disgracing media campaigns against Dr. Mursi, all segments of the society voted for him to save the revolution.”

An Egyptian housewife residing in the UAE stated, “I could not help staying up all the night following the results province by province. This is for sure the first step ahead in the right direction for our renaissance.”

Abu Omar, an Egyptian working in the UAE, thanked God Almighty, who granted victory to one of the protesters. “Dr. Mursi has participated in the revolutions on its early days and was detained with more than 37 other Brotherhood activists.”

Tamer Mansoor, the Egyptian Ambassador to the UAE, stated that 21,298 out of 61,427 voters registered in the electoral college in the UAE voted for Dr. Mursi against 10,613 who favored Lt-Gen Shafiq.

Worldwide, Mursi, who was supported by around 107,000 in the first round, came fourth in the UAE with 7,182 votes whereas Shafiq, who was favored in the same round by around 21,000 staying in 166 countries, came sixth in the UAE with around 2,000 votes.

While the first round of the post-Mubarak presidency polls saw the participation of 23,672,236 out of 50,996,746 eligible voters in Egypt (46.42%), none of the 13 candidates was able to receive absolute majority.

Additional Sources: Albayan, Gulf News

voters across France are casting their ballot Sunday in the first round of the 2012 French presidential election choosing between 10 candidates including President Nicolas Sarkozy, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande and extreme right National Front party chief, Marine Le Pen.

According to French law, if no candidate wins 50% of the vote, the top two contenders head for a knock-out round, set to be held on May 6, 2012.

While predictions indicate a high abstention rate leaving the outcome uncertain, opinion polls point towards Francois Hollande, Sarkozy’s main Socialist challenger which could give France its first left-wing president in 17 years just as fears re-emerge over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

The two political leaders are on course to finish in the top two in Sunday’s polling, therefore setting them up to square off in a second round vote on May 6.

The outcome of that vote will decide who is France’s president for the next five years.

Voting has begun in France’s overseas territories but on the mainland citizens must wait until Sunday to cast their ballots.

On Sunday, voting will carry on in 85,000 polling stations across the country’s  mainland. Voting began at 8am local time (06:00 GMT) and continue until 8pm (18:00 GMT).

Over the past  months, campaigning has concentrated on the economy as France confronts an unemployment rate of around 10%,  its highest in 12 years, and a stagnant economy as the eurozone debt crisis continues.