The UN summit marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations opened today with an appeal for collective action to prevent conflict and genocide and to protect human rights.

The UN General Assembly adopted a watered-down document on poverty, human rights and UN reform for world leaders to approve at a summit this week, after shedding many of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s most ambitious goals during weeks of bitter debate.

UN officials defended peacekeepers who killed up to 60 militiamen in a gunbattle in Congo, saying the international troops were acting in self-defence and protecting civilians who had been terrorised for years.