Bush to address U.N., host energy meeting

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- President George Bush is set to focus on U.S. efforts to combat social and political ills in Africa when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Bush also is expected to focus on how to accelerate and expand the U.N. peacekeeping effort in Darfur during a U.N. Security Council session as well, Michael Kozak of the National Security Council said during a news briefing Friday.

"In his remarks to the General Assembly the president will focus on what the United States is doing to lead efforts of the international community to combat disease, illiteracy, tyranny and poverty more broadly throughout Africa," Kozak said.

Climate change also will be addressed, he said, with two U.N. sponsored functions on the issue scheduled for Monday, the eve of the General Assembly's convening.

On Thursday and Friday, the United States is set to host a meeting of the 17 countries plus the United Nations to address climate change and energy security, said Dan Price, also of the NSC.

"The president's central proposition is really this: Tackling global climate change requires all major economies ... to work together," Price said, "and it requires each to make a contribution consistent with its national circumstances."