Antonio Guterres - The African Mirror

May

06

2021

U.N. chief pushes voluntary sharing of COVID-19 vaccine licenses

MICHELLE NICHOLS U.N. chief Antonio Guterres believes vaccine makers should allow other companies to produce versions of their COVID-19 shots, a U.N. spokesman said yesterday, as the World Trade Organisation discussed waiving patent rights to boost supply to developing countries. "The Secretary-General has often called for technology transfers and sharing of know-how and voluntary licensing or sharing of licensing," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. WTO members are assessing signs of progress after seven months of talks on a proposal by South Africa and India to waive patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines. WTO decisions are based on consensus, so all 164 members…

Apr

18

2021

By The African Mirror

UN backs Libya ceasefire plan

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS THE United Nations Security Council gave the green light on Friday for the deployment of 60 U.N. ceasefire monitors to Libya and called on the country's new unity government to prepare for free, fair and inclusive elections on December 24. A ceasefire in Libya has held since the autumn, but the main road across the front lines from Sirte to Misrata remains closed. The Security Council unanimously approved Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' proposal for the deployment of the monitors. "The monitors would be deployed to Sirte once all the requirements for a permanent United Nations presence have been met,…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Leave the Libyans alone’

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS THE U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries to immediately leave Libya, with Guterres demanding that they "leave the Libyans alone." Libya has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital Tripoli, in the country's west, and Khalifa Haftar's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA). The rival administrations agreed a ceasefire in October, but have not pulled back. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey. "The ceasefire is holding," Guterres told…

Dec

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Declare states of ‘climate emergency,’ U.N. chief tells world leaders

WORLD

MATTHEW GREEN and KATE ABNETT WORLD leaders should declare states of "climate emergency" in their countries to spur action to avoid catastrophic global warming, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in opening remarks to a climate summit. More than 70 world leaders were due to address the one-day virtual gathering aimed at building momentum for much steeper cuts in planet-warming emissions on the fifth anniversary of the 2015 Paris climate accord. "Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency?" Guterres said via video. "That is why today, I call on all leaders worldwide to declare a State of…

Dec

10

2020

By The African Mirror

Anti-tank missile in Libya looks like Iran-produced weapon -U.N.

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS A United Nations analysis of photos of four anti-tank guided missiles in Libya found that one "had characteristics consistent with the Iranian-produced Dehlavieh" missile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reported to the Security Council. However, he said in his biannual report - submitted to the council late Monday and seen by Reuters on Tuesday - that the U.N. secretariat was "unable to ascertain if this anti-tank guided missile had been transferred to Libya" in violation of Security Council sanctions on Iran. The 15-member council banned weapons exports by Iran in 2007. Under a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and…

Nov

11

2020

By The African Mirror

U.N. urges Mozambique to investigate reported massacres, beheadings

NEWS

THE United Nations has called on Mozambique to investigate reports that militants had massacred villagers and beheaded women and children in a restive northern region. As many as 50 people have died in recent days in attacks by fighters linked to Islamic State, local media including Mediafax and The Pinnacle News have reported. Violence had surged this year in Cabo Delgado - a province that borders Tanzania and is the site of a multi-billion dollar natural gas project - alarming governments across southern Africa. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for an investigation in a statement late on Tuesday. UN Secretary-General…

Nov

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian PM fires army chief as country teeters on brink of civil war

NEWS

GIULIA PARAVICINI and DAWIT ENDESHAW ETHIOPIA’S Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed replaced his army chief, the head of intelligence and the foreign minister as the military continued a five-day-old offensive in the restive Tigray region with a new round of airstrikes. Abiy's office did not give reasons for the personnel changes, which come as he is pursuing a military campaign against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a powerful ethnic faction that led the ruling coalition for decades until Abiy took office in 2018. Abiy's office said in a statement that Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen had been appointed foreign minister…

Nov

06

2020

By The African Mirror

U.N. chief ‘deeply alarmed’ by armed clashes in Ethiopia’s Tigray

NEWS

GIULIA PARAVICINI and DAWIT ENDESHAW THE head of the United Nations is deeply alarmed by fighting in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, where federal troops have been exchanging fire with the powerful ethnic faction that led the ruling coalition for decades. Prime Minister's Abiy Ahmed's government is mobilising troops from around the country and sending them to Tigray, after two days of clashes between government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). "The stability of Ethiopia is important for the entire Horn of Africa region. I call for an immediate de-escalation of tensions and a peaceful resolution to the dispute,"…

Oct

24

2020

By The African Mirror

Warring Libya rivals sign truce but tough political talks ahead

NEWS

LIBYA’S warring factions have signed a permanent ceasefire agreement, but any lasting end to years of chaos and bloodshed will require wider agreement among myriad armed groups and the outside powers that support them. Acting United Nations envoy Stephanie Williams said the ceasefire would start immediately and all foreign fighters must quit Libya within three months. Forces would withdraw from front lines and a new joint police force would secure those areas. As a first commercial passenger flight in more than a year crossed front lines from Tripoli to the eastern city of Benghazi on Friday, Williams noted Libya's "fraught"…

Oct

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Divided world is failing COVID-19 test, says frustrated

COVID-19

SERGIO GONCALVES A divided world has failed to rise to the challenge of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said and warned concerted action was needed to prevent millions of people being pushed into poverty and hunger. The former Portuguese prime minister said far more could have been done if countries had worked together to combat the disease, which has killed more than one million people. "The COVID-19 pandemic is a major global challenge for the entire international community, for multilateralism and for me, as secretary-general of the United Nations," Guterres told Portuguese news agency Lusa. "Unfortunately…