Antonio Guterres, the new Secretary General of the United Nations has said he would like to make 2017 a year to “put peace first,” in a message heralding the New Year and marking his first day as the world body’s chief.
The Portuguese former prime minister, 67, took over as UN Secretary–General from South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon, inheriting complex crises in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, North Korea, the unending Palestinian- Israeli conflict, and the global war of terrorism.
“How can we help the millions of people caught up in conflict, suffering massively in wars with no end in sight?” Guterres said. “Today, New Year’s Day, I ask all of us to do the same thing: to make peace our priority,” Guterres said in his first speech.
The world’s topmost diplomat
criticized the wars and conflicts that persist in the world, saying that no one is a winner from them.
“Everybody loses,” he said.
