His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has challenged world leaders to rethink global priorities, calling for greater involvement in peace, development, and human security alongside the vast resources committed to military spending. Sahid Bangura reports.
Addressing the general debate of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York 9n Tuesday 22nd September 2026, averred that the persistence of conflicts around the world shows that military action alone can not deliver lasting peace.
According to the President, “Military action may contain a threat, but it can not by itself build lasting peace,” positing that insecurity often takes root where hunger, exclusion, and despair persist.
President Bio cited global military expenditure of nearly US$2.9 trillion in 2025, describing it as the eleventh consecutive annual increase.
While acknowledging that countries have legitimate security concerns, he questioned the imbalance between resources allocated to military operations and those directed towards conflict prevention and sustainable development.
“The connection between peace and development must therefore move from our resolutions into our budgets,” he averred.
President Bio said lasting peace requires governments and international institutions to address the underlying conditions that contribute to instability, including poverty, unemployment, social exclusion, and weak institutions.
He pointed out conflicts in Sudan and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as terrorism in West Africa in the Sahel as examples of the human cost of delayed action.
The Sierra Leonean leader also called for reforms to the global financial system, urging greater representation for developing countries, fairer voting power, affordable financing, and improved debt treatment within international financial institutions.
On Africa\u2019s natural resources, President Bio said the continent’s critical minerals should generate greater economic value for African countries, particularly as demand for minerals increases as part of the global energy transition.
He called for more processing of minerals within Africa, fairer value chains, technological transfer, and the development of local industries.
Acc9rding to the President, such measures could create skilled jobs, strengthen African economies, and expand opportunities for the continent’s growing youth population.
He linked econom8c opportunities to peace and security, particularly for young people, warning that limited access to jobs, skills, and economic opportunities can leave young people vulnerable to exploitation, smuggling, and dangerous m8gration.
President Bio said j9bs, skills, and dignity should therefore be regarded as essential elements of peacebuilding and development policy.
Drawing on Sierra Leone’s experience of civil war and recovery, the President said the country’s peace became meaningful not only with the formal end of the conflict but also through efforts to rebuild communities, institutions and public confidence.
He urged the international community to strengthen confidence in multilateral cooperation and ensure that the United Nations’s commitment to “For All” translates to decisions that improve people’s lives.
“Let this session give them that reason,” President Bio said. “The words ‘For All’ should not remain at the end of this year’s theme. They must become the measures for our work.”
The Sierra Leonean leader’s address placed peace, economic development, youth opportunity, and reform of international institutions at the centre of his call for a more balanced approach to global security and development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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