UN CHIEF SAYS WORLD IN ‘AGE OF CHAOS’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on February 7 that the world is entering “an age of chaos” with a deeply divided United Nations Security Council unable to address critical issues such as the Israel-Hamas war.

With the war in Gaza entering its fifth month on February 7, Mr Guterres warned that if the Israeli armed forces press on into the southern city of Rafah, it will “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences.”

Israeli forces, in their campaign to destroy Hamas after its unprecedented attack on October

7, have relentlessly bombed the Gaza Strip and carried out a ground invasion, displacing over a million people southward. “It is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages,” Mr Guterres said, during a speech to the General Assembly presenting his 2024 priorities.

In the speech, he called for changes to the Security Council and international financial system, among other reforms, touting his “Summit of the Future” in September as a critical venue to address dysfunction “deeper and more dangerous” than ever. “The UN Security Council – the primary platform for questions of global peace – is deadlocked by geopolitical fissures,” said Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister said.

“This is not the first time the Council has been divided – but it is the worst. Today’s dysfunction is deeper and more dangerous.” He said that unlike during the Cold War, when “well-established mechanisms helped manage superpower relations,” those mechanisms are missing “in today’s multipolar world.”

“Our world is entering in an age of chaos.., a dangerous and unpredictable free-for-all with total impunity,” he warned.

Our world is entering in an age of chaos.., a dangerous and unpredictable free-for-all with total impunity.

Antonio Guterres

UN Secretary-General