President of Sierra Leone, Dr Julius Maada Bio, on Tuesday challenged world leaders to rethink global priorities, arguing that sustained investments should match the substantial resources devoted to military operations in peacebuilding, development, and human security.
President Bio, speaking during the General Debate of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, cautioned that ongoing conflict in many parts of the world shows that military action alone cannot bring long-term stability. Military action may have a threat, but it cannot, by itself, build long-term peace,” he told the assembled heads of state and delegates, emphasising that insecurity is most likely to take root where hunger, exclusion and despair are allowed to grow.
President Bio highlighted the scale and direction of global military expenditure, which will reach almost US$2.9 trillion in 2025, the eleventh successive year of growth. While recognising nations’ real security needs, he asked why such huge sums should be justified for war while relatively small sums are spent on conflict prevention and development.
“The nexus between peace and development must therefore translate from our resolutions to our budgets,” President Bio said, urging that policy commitments be supported by financial choices that recognise development as a key part of the security strategy.
He cited the ongoing crises in Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the spread of terrorism across West Africa and the Sahel as examples of the human price of delayed or inadequate action, saying unaddressed socioeconomic grievances are a driver of conflict and violence. Bio believes that addressing the root causes of instability – poverty, exclusion, unemployment and weak institutions – is central to reducing the allure of violence and creating sustainable peace.
His appeal was to a systemic fairness in the global economic architecture. President Bio called for greater inclusion of developing countries in international financial institutions, fairer electoral rights, cheaper finance and better treatment of sovereign debt. “Developing countries require fairer voting rights, affordable financing and better treatment of debt,” he said, adding that an inclusive and equitable international financial system is key for growth and global stability.
On Africa’s role in the global energy transition, President Bio appealed to wealthy countries and multinational corporations to make sure the continent is paid what it deserves for its natural resources. He called for on-continent processing of critical minerals, fair value chains, technology transfer and local industrial development so that the minerals needed for the green transition can create skilled jobs and broad economic opportunities in African countries, rather than being exported in raw form.
“We cannot replicate the extractive terms of the past in the green transition,” he warned, noting that if value is not captured locally, it will perpetuate patterns of marginalisation and dependency that have fueled instability in history.
Bio also connected economic opportunity directly to peace and security, with special focus on young people. Millions of African youths without jobs, skills or a stake in the future are vulnerable to exploitation, criminal networks, smuggling and unsafe migration, he said. He emphasised the need for serious peacebuilding and development policies that include investment in jobs, vocational training and meaningful civic inclusion.
President Bio said that Sierra Leone’s experience showed that peace was meaningful only when it was accompanied by rebuilding communities, institutions and public trust after civil war. That lesson, he said, demonstrates that the formal end of hostilities is just the start of the work needed to ensure long-term stability.
To conclude, the President called on the international community to restore confidence in multilateral cooperation and to turn into reality the declared theme of the United Nations, “For All”. “Let this session give them that reason,” he said. The phrase “FOR ALL” should not be at the end of this year’s theme. “They need to be the standard we operate at.
He urged world leaders to present peace and development as mutually reinforcing investments and to ensure that budgets, policies, and international partnerships align so the promise of security is matched by opportunity and dignity for all.
