The  62nd UN General Assembly Debate opened here yesterday with world leaders pledging concerted action to mitigate the effects of climate change in line with the theme of this year's general debate.

President of the 62nd Session Mr Srgjan Kerim urged world leaders to renew faith in each other, and the UN's cherished goals.

He said it was regrettable that those who are least responsible for global warming, the developing nations, bear the brunt of the ravages of climate change. His sentiments were echoed by the president of Brazil, Mr Luiz Inacio Da Silva who said the preservation of life must prevail over senseless greed. "It is unacceptable that the cost of the irresponsibility of a privileged few be shouldered by the dispossessed of the earth," said Mr Da Silva. UN Secretary general, Mr Ban ki-Moon also urged world leaders to commit themselves to fighting the negative effects of climate change. However, in his address, US president George W. Bush deviated from the session theme to launch a blistering attack on countries and leaders who refuse to kow-tow to American foreign policy. In his caustic address, Bush singled out Zimbabwe, Burma, Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and Syria, countries he has lumped together either as "outposts of tyranny" or "axes of evil" but that have one thing in common, anti-imperialist governments determined to chart their own way in the world. Bush claimed Zimbabweans were suffering under a "tyrannical regime", and that millions of Zimbabweans had fled their homes.

Mr Bush, who had the distinction of having the only speech, among all the world leaders, that was released with pronouncement guidelines for names, like Mugabe, Sarkozy, Kyrgystan, among others, spoke authoritatively about countries he could barely pronounce.

He shocked many when he used a UN platform to announce that his country would be unilaterally imposing sanctions on Burma to bring about, what he called "peaceful change" to the country. In 2001, Bush signed into law a sanctions law called the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, that he said was aimed at achieving "peaceful democratic change in Zimbabwe" but which cut Zimbabwe's lines of credit from all multilateral lending institutions with dealings with the US government. The US president, who is on record saying Zimbabwe poses "a continuing and unusual threat to the foreign policy of the United States" in April admitted that he is sponsoring the opposition in Zimbabwe and events to discredit the Government.

Fireworks are expected here when President Mugabe takes to the podium to address the General Assembly tomorrow.