UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United Nations annual debate opened in sombre mood with a clash between George W. Bush`s vision of global security and Kofi Annan`s warnings about the collapse of international law.
The US president and UN chief, long at odds over the Iraq war, unavoidably set the tone for the two-week meeting of world leaders as the United Nations looks to redefine its role for the new challenges of the 21st century.
Bush issued an unapologetic defence of US military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pressed sceptical nations to back his drive for democracy to fight the forces of terrorism and violence.
"We all have a stake in the success of the world`s newest democracies," Bush said, with Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and Afghan President Hamid Karzai among the nearly 100 heads of state or government in the audience.
"The security of our world is found in the advancing rights of mankind," he said. "These rights are advancing across the world, and across the world the enemies of human rights are responding with violence."
But Annan cast grave doubts about fundamental laws of humankind that he said were being "shameless disregarded" -- noting the case of Iraqi prisoners "disgracefully abused" by US troops.
"Today the rule of law is at risk around the world," Annan said. In addition to the chaos in Iraq, he cited the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the catastrophe in Sudan and the recent Russian hostage tragedy.
Annan repeated his warning that the United Nations was at a "fork in the road" after the Iraq war, and urged world leaders to focus on his calls for a sweeping UN overhaul, including at the UN Security Council.
The deep divisions on the council over the war were seen by supporters and critics alike as a sign of international impotence in the face of crisis, and Annan is hoping the world body can reassert its relevance.
"If you, the political leaders of the world`s nations, cannot reach agreement on the way forward, history will take the decisions for you," Annan said.
Brazil, Germany, India and Japan on Tuesday launched a joint bid for permanent seats on a reformed Security Council, saying that the council must "reflect the realities of the international community in the 21st century."
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, which pays more into the United Nations than any country except the United States, said it was time that his country`s contributions were recognised.
"Countries with the will and resources to play a major role in international peace and security must always take part in the council`s decision-making process," he said.
But in China -- one of the council`s five permanent members since the UN`s founding in 1945 -- a foreign ministry spokesman said the body was not a "board of directors" with membership decided on the basis of financial contribution.
That remark underlined the obstacles facing Annan`s ambitious plan for top-to-bottom reform at an organisation where squabbles great and small are often as common as genuine efforts at international cooperation.
Bush said the United Nations was at a moment of "tremendous opportunity" and should "promote hope and progress as the alternatives" to bloodshed and violence.
"Our great purpose is to build a better world beyond the war on terror," Bush said.
But Annan has repeatedly argued that while the United States and other developed nations may be focused on terror, many more people around the globe were concerned with problems like poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who organised a high-profile summit on poverty here on Monday, said peace could only be achieved through "a new political and economic order" -- and not the one Bush had in mind.
"Peace will never rise from poverty and hunger," Lula said. "The hatred and senselessness that spread throughout the world feed on despair, on the absolute lack of hope for many peoples."