Ahmadinejad speech lost in translation

2010-09-21 17:05

New York – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a chaotic speech at the UN summit on Tuesday – with no one except for the controversial leader and his delegation really sure what he said.

Ahmadinejad broke off one minute into his presentation to complain about the translation to the UN assembly presidency.

The president carried on again but at the end, the UN interpreters said they were only "reading from a translated text" and not following Ahmadinejad's comments.

The assembly hall was half empty, but Western delegations did not boycott the speech as they have done in previous years.

According to the translated text, Ahmadinejad called for fundamental reform of "the undemocratic and unjust" world order.

"Demanding liberal capitalism and transnational corporations have caused the suffering of countless women, men and children in so many countries," he was quoted as saying.

- AFP