Antonio Guterres - The African Mirror

Apr

13

2023

Somalis suffering from climate crisis they did nothing to create, U.N. chief says

SOMALIA is suffering from the impact of a climate crisis it has done almost nothing to create, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, as a full-blown famine threatens to follow a drought that killed 43,000 people last year. Some 8.3 million Somalis, almost half the population, require urgent humanitarian assistance, Guterres said, adding that only 15% of the country's $2.6 billion aid requirement for this year has been met. "When famine looms, this is totally unacceptable," Guterres told reporters in Mogadishu. He was speaking after visiting a camp in Baidoa, southwest Somalia, for people displaced by the drought…

Feb

20

2023

By The African Mirror

‘Debt-laden African countries charged ‘extortionate’ rates’

NEWS

DAWIT ENDESHAW AFRICAN countries are getting a raw deal from the international financial system which charges them "extortionate" interest rates, the U.N. chief said, as he announced $250 million in crisis funding, including for famine risk on the continent. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants far-reaching reforms to the structure of international finance to serve the needs of developing countries more efficiently, he told the opening ceremony of the annual African Union summit in Ethiopia. "The global financial system routinely denies (developing countries) debt relief and concessional financing while charging extortionate interest rates," he said. The U.N. will spend $250 million…

Feb

20

2023

By The African Mirror

Debt-laden African countries charged ‘extortionate’ rates, U.N. chief says

NEWS

DAWIT ENDESHAW AFRICAN countries are getting a raw deal from the international financial system which charges them "extortionate" interest rates, the U.N. chief said, as he announced $250 million in crisis funding, including for famine risk on the continent. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants far-reaching reforms to the structure of international finance to serve the needs of developing countries more efficiently, he told the opening ceremony of the annual African Union summit in Ethiopia. "The global financial system routinely denies (developing countries) debt relief and concessional financing while charging extortionate interest rates," he said. The U.N. will spend $250 million…

Nov

08

2022

By The African Mirror

COP27: We’re on a highway to climate hell, U.N. boss says

WORLD

VALERIE VOLCOVICI and SIMON JESSOP UNITED Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told countries gathered at the start of the COP27 summit in Egypt they face a stark choice: work together now to cut emissions or condemn future generations to climate catastrophe. The speech set an urgent tone as governments sit down for two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst of climate change, even as they are distracted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, rampant consumer inflation and energy shortages. "Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,” Guterres told delegates gathered in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. He called for a pact between…

Jul

12

2022

By The African Mirror

U.N. adds Ukraine, Ethiopia, Mozambique to children killing inquiry

HUMAN RIGHTS

U.N. officials will investigate the killing and wounding of children in Ukraine, Ethiopia and Mozambique, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said in a report that found 2,515 children were killed and 5,555 maimed in global conflicts in 2021. The annual "Children and Armed Conflict" report also verified the recruitment and use of 6,310 children in conflicts globally in 2021. Other violations it covers are abduction, sexual violence, school and hospital attacks and denial of aid. It found the highest number of verified violations against children in 2021 were in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Israel and…

Mar

05

2022

By The African Mirror

UN’s multi-million buys from blacklisted Russia

NEWS

THALIF DEEN THE world’s financial institutions, primarily in the US and Europe, have cut off links and economically ostracized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and violation of the UN charter. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lambasted the Russians declaring the military invasion “a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine– and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” The White House announced last week that the United States and allies will kick certain Russian banks out of a major international banking system, a significant step in a bid to cripple the Russian economy. Meanwhile,…

Sep

23

2021

By The African Mirror

China, U.S. climate pledges give COP26 boost but ‘extra mile’ sought

WORLD

BEN LIH YI CHINA and the United States have this week boosted momentum ahead of November's COP26 key climate summit with new energy and funding pledges to tackle planetary warming, but analysts said they lacked detail and far more was needed to meet global goals. Leaders of the world's two largest economies announced separate measures at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) Tuesday, with China pledging to end overseas coal financing and the U.S. saying it would double climate funding for developing countries. The announcements were hailed as important ahead of the COP26 U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, but green groups…

Sep

22

2021

By The African Mirror

U.N. chief grades world on vaccine rollout: ‘F in Ethics’

COVID-19

MICHELLE NICHOLS UNITED Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reprimanded the world on Tuesday for the inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, describing it as an "obscenity" and giving the globe an "F in Ethics." Addressing the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders in New York, Guterres said images from some parts of the world of expired and unused vaccines in the garbage told "the tale of our times" - with the majority of the wealthier world immunised while more than 90% of Africa has not even received one dose. "This is a moral indictment of the state of our world. It is…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Sex for water scandal hits Libyan migrants camp

HUMAN RIGHTS

ROBIN EMMOTT AMNESTY International has revealed that migrants held in Libyan detention camps are subject to horrific sexual violence at the hands of guards, including being forced to barter sex for clean water, food and access to sanitation. The report, which focused on migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean and who disembarked in Libya in 2020 and 2021, suggests worsening conditions in the camps despite being recently placed under the control of the Libyan interior ministry. Pope Francis and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have called for their closure. Camp guards say, "maybe you want fresh water and beds ... let…

May

14

2021

By The African Mirror

The UN’s Guterres, an incumbent with strong backing by Europe, is bound to win another term

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BARBARA CROSSETTE IT was all over in one crucial week. Barring an unforeseen hitch, António Guterres is the clear winner of a second, five-year term as secretary-general of the United Nations, beginning on Jan.1, 2022. This was not a surprise: he had no major competition and the process moved faster than expected. A three-hour question-and-answer session with UN diplomats from around the world in the General Assembly on May 7 appeared to support a growing sense internationally that the Security Council may decide by late June or July, three months before the normal deadline for a candidacy to go to the General Assembly for…