United Nations: Appealing to the international community to unite to stop terror, United States President George W Bush on September 23 said that no government should ignore the threat of terrorists.

All nations, he told the UN General Assembly, should fight terror as if the lives of their own people are at risk. "To look the other way," he said, "gives terrorists a chance to regroup and recruit and prepare" for more terror.

In his 20-minute address, Bush dwelt upon issues of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, trafficking in persons and AIDS.

With the Security Council divided on the deployment of multinational forces in Iraq, he urged the nations of the world to stand with the people of Iraq as also Afghanistan as they build free and stable countries.

Bush recalled that on 9/11, New York became a battlefield and a graveyard and a symbol of an unfinished war. Since that day, terrorists have struck in Bali, Mombassa and several other parts of the world and at the UN itself when they blew up its headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people.

The United Nations, Annan said, cannot choose between different types of threat and must confront all.

It must also be fully engaged in struggle for development and poverty eradication, starting with achievement of the Millennium Development goals, in struggle to protect our common environment and in struggle for human rights, democracy and good governance.

PTI