President John Dramani Mahama has warned the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that the world is sliding into dangerous times, marked by nationalism, economic instability, and the erosion of multilateral cooperation.
Speaking at the 80th UNGA, Mahama described the UN as “the proverbial town square of our modern global village,” stressing the need to protect it as the one global platform that brings nations together.
He cautioned that while the internet, social media platforms, and artificial intelligence promise connectivity, they often deepen isolation. According to him, algorithms feed users repetitive content, manipulated images, and alternative facts, creating fertile ground for disinformation and division.
“Our world is experiencing conditions all too similar to those that led to the League of Nations’ failure,” Mahama said, pointing to acts of aggression against sovereign states and efforts by nations to sidestep safeguards designed to prevent global conflict.
Turning to the Middle East crisis, Mahama criticized the recent denial of visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation, describing it as a dangerous precedent. He reminded the Assembly that Ghana recognized the state of Palestine in 1988 and continues to support a two-state solution.
He dismissed claims that such a solution would be a reward for Hamas, insisting instead that it would offer relief to the hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians enduring “collective punishment and forced starvation for no reason other than the fact that they are Palestinian.”
“For nearly two years, this Assembly has been playing hide-and-seek with language to excuse what we all know is taking place there,” Mahama said. “But here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter what you call it: if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck. The crimes in Gaza must stop.”
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