President Bio Challenges World Leaders to Rethink Global Priorities at UN General Assembly
President Julius Maada Bio has challenged world leaders to rethink global priorities, calling for greater investment in peace, development and human security alongside the vast resources committed to military spending.
Addressing the General Debate of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Bio said the persistence of conflicts around the world shows that military action alone cannot deliver lasting peace.
“Military action may contain a threat, but it cannot, by itself, build lasting peace,” President Bio told the gathering, arguing that insecurity often takes root where hunger, exclusion and despair persist.
The President 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 said.
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 to conflicts in Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as terrorism in West Africa and 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’s 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, technology transfer and the development of local industries. According to the President, such measures could create skilled jobs, strengthen African economies and expand opportunities for the continent’s growing youth population.
“The green transition must not reproduce the extractive terms of the past,” President Bio said.
He linked economic opportunity 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 migration.
President Bio said jobs, 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 commitment to “For All” translates into 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 measure of our work.”
His 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.