NY mayor urges anti-terror pact

The UN hopes the attacks will galvanise global action

The devastating suicide attacks in the United States were a direct assault on the world order, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has told the UN General Assembly.

There's no room for neutrality - it's action alone which counts

NY Mayor Giuliani

Mr Giuliani urged UN members to unite in the interests of international peace and security, at the start of a debate in New York aimed at securing a global accord against terrorism.

He has been widely praised for the way he has led the city following the 11 September suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which cost more than 6,000 lives.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke briefly before him, saying adversity had brought the UN and the city of New York closer together.

Mayor Guiliani has led from the front

He wants members to sign and ratify 12 existing UN conventions on terrorism, and to adopt a new convention which would close many of the loopholes in existing international law.

In other developments:

• First UN food trucks to be sent to Afghanistan since attacks on US arrive in Kabul
• Sources quoted as saying President Bush has approved covert help for the Afghan opposition
• The UK is to freeze almost $90m of Taleban assets
• Saudi Arabia's defence minister rules out the use of bases on Saudi territory for US-led strikes against Afghanistan
• A delegation from the US Congress meets the former king of Afghanistan to discuss his possible role in a government to replace the Taleban
• The UK Foreign Office expresses concern for the welfare of a British journalist being held by the Taleban
• Russia welcomes a UN Security Council resolution aimed at closing down funding for terrorist groups
• Anti-war activists protest in Washington, calling on the US administration to pursue peace

Taleban will 'pay price'

The week-long meeting comes as Americans are being warned by their government that "further terrorist activity" is likely in response to prospective military action against Afghanistan.

The ruling Taleban in Afghanistan have been told to hand over the main suspect in the attacks, Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden, or face the consequences.

To counter the threat, US Attorney General John Ashcroft urged Congress to enact new anti-terrorism laws before the end of the week, and called for what he called a "national neighbourhood watch" to prevent further acts of terror.

It will take a year to clear the rubble in New York

More than 6,000 people lost their lives when four US civilian airliners were hijacked simultaneously on 11 September and flown into buildings housing thousands of workers.

On Sunday, the Taleban said that Bin Laden was still in Afghanistan at an unknown location.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was "self-evident" the Taleban would pay the price if they did not hand him over.

The United States has massed troops, warplanes and aircraft carriers within striking distance of Afghanistan in preparation for possible military action.

Some reports say US and UK special forces are already operating within Afghanistan.

Defining terrorism

Almost no country in the world has escaped untouched from terrorist acts, and delegates from UN member states at this week's meeting will be relating their experiences and their suggestions about how to deal with the problem.

The 12 existing UN conventions on terrorism were largely ignored before last month's atrocities.

Their ratification and the adoption of a new global convention proposed by India have so far been delayed by arguments over the definition of terrorism.

This centres on the old dispute that one person's terrorist may be another person's freedom fighter.

The BBC's UN correspondent Greg Barrow says there is hope that the gathering will give added momentum to the Indian initiative.

Indian diplomats say this problem can be resolved by defining what constitutes an act of terrorism as anything that goes beyond the Geneva Conventions on war.