JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Conflicts are escalating across the Middle East, Europe and Africa as world leaders gather for the annual U.N. General Assembly. There's a lot at stake this week. This will be President Biden's swan song, and Iran's new president will make his debut. And if Israel's prime minister comes as planned, he will face a lot of pressure over the way Israel has waged war against Hamas in Gaza. NPR's Michele Kelemen has a preview.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Today U.N. member states are supposed to be thinking about the future and how to shape global institutions in need of reforms. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres kicked off the high-level week by warning that the world is, quote, "heading off the rails."
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ANTONIO GUTERRES: Conflicts are raging and multiplying - from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan - with no end in sights. Our collective security system is threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing and the development of new weapons and theaters of war.
KELEMEN: It is a particularly fragile moment for the U.N., says Samantha Power, who is attending her 12th U.N. General Assembly, formerly with the Obama administration and now as head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. One of her goals this week is to get more aid to Sudan, which is facing widespread famine caused by more than a yearlong civil war.
SAMANTHA POWER: But above all, what is needed, of course, is an end to this horrific conflict where nobody is winning. The Sudanese Armed Forces are not winning, the RSF - so-called - the militia and others are not winning. All that is happening is that Sudanese people are losing.
KELEMEN: The RSF, or Rapid Support Forces, have roots in the genocide that took place two decades ago in Sudan, when Power was an activist. She's urging countries like the United Arab Emirates to stop supporting the RSF and stop fueling this latest war.
POWER: The U.S. message is consistent, which is that all countries in the world need to rally behind the cause of peace.
KELEMEN: In Gaza, the U.S. has tried for months to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire that would see hostages released and a big influx of aid. But those efforts are faltering as a war heats up on another front between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Power says she needs to get tents to Palestinians in Gaza ahead of this winter, and that will require a pause in fighting, like there was during the recent Polio vaccination campaign.
POWER: A Polio-style campaign to get commodities, at scale, including shelter, to civilians - that is certainly highest on my list. I know that, of course, our diplomats are fanning out, as well, with a real focus on preventing the regional spread of this conflict because things have gotten, of course, much more harrowing in recent days.
KELEMEN: Ukraine is also preparing for another winter of war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired a meeting on that today.
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ANTONY BLINKEN: We have, once again, not just the prospect but the reality of Putin weaponizing winter, weaponizing the weather, to use energy as a weapon in his efforts to subjugate Ukraine.
KELEMEN: Ukraine's president is here this week, asking the world body to back his so-called victory plan, as Western nations pledge more money to protect Ukrainian energy grids from Russian attacks. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the United Nations.
(SOUNDBITE OF DONNIE TRUMPET AND THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT SONG, "PASS THE VIBES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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