Ringing Peace Bell, Annan calls on World to bridge Ethnic and Religious Divide by United Nations News 11:44pm 21st Sep, 2004   21 September 2004    Ringing Peace Bell, Annan calls on World to bridge Ethnic and Religious Divide    United Nations News    Secretary-General Kofi Annan rang the Peace Bell at United Nations Headquarters in New York today, marking the annual International Day of Peace with a call to the world to do a better job to strengthen collective security, tackle grave humanitarian emergencies, promote true global development and foster greater tolerance.    “Today, let the sound of this bell inspire us in our work towards those goals. Let the call of the bell ring loud, clear and true around the world,” Mr. Annan declared, striking the bell three times at the start of a day in which the first of 100 world leaders will begin addressing the 59th session of the General Assembly. “From the height of the Cold War to the rise of intrastate conflicts, from the spread of the AIDS crisis to the escalation of terrorism, the call of the bell has remained constant, clear and true.”    Standing with him as rang the bell, a gift from Japan cast from the pennies donated by children from 60 nations, were three UN Messengers of Peace – former world boxing champion Muhammad Ali, author and journalist Anna Cataldi and wildlife researcher and conservationist Jane Goodall – as well as General Assembly President Jean Ping.    “Today, we listen to the ringing of the bell as solace while we contemplate the tribulations of the past year, and as a source of strength as we prepare to take on the trials ahead,” Mr. Annan said. “We need to keep working to strengthen the system of collective security, and make sure it is up to the task of meeting the threats of the 21st century.”    “We need to build greater international solidarity in tackling grave humanitarian emergencies, such as the one in Darfur,” he added in reference to western Sudan, where militia attacks and fighting between the government and rebels has uprooted nearly 1.5 million people.    “We need to do better in forging a true global partnership for development, to fight hunger, ignorance, poverty and disease and meet the Millennium Development Goals,” he said of the targets set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 to halve extreme poverty and hunger, reduce infant and maternal mortality and achieve other social goals, all by 2015.    “And we need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world,” he added. “Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic or cultural lines. In each nation, and among all nations, we must work to promote unity based on our shared humanity.”
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