UN chief warns of war escalation

UN chief Antonio Guterres says he fears the likelihood of an escalation in the RussiaUkraine conflict means the world is heading towards a “wider war”.

The secretary-general laid out his priorities for the year in a gloomy speech to the UN General Assembly that focused on Russia’s invasion, the climate crisis and extreme poverty around the world.

“We have started 2023 staring down the barrel of a confluence of challenges unlike any in our lifetimes,” he told diplomats in New York.

Mr Guterres (pictured) noted that top scientists and security experts moved the “Doomsday Clock” to just 90 seconds to midnight last month, the closest it has ever been to signalling the annihilation of humanity.

He said he was taking it as a warning sign. “We need to wake up and get to work,” he implored, as he detailed his list of urgent issues.

Top of the list is Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is approaching its one-year anniversary on February 24.

“The prospects for peace keep diminishing. The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing,” he said. “I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open.”

Mr Guterres referenced other threats to peace, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Sahel in Africa and Haiti.

“If every country fulfilled its obligations under the (UN) charter, the right to peace would be guaranteed,” he said.

He said it was “time to transform our approach to peace by recommitting to the Charter; putting human rights and dignity first, with prevention at the heart”.