Leaders back global truce to fight virus
International leaders are throwing their weight behind a proposal for a global ceasefire as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide passes the two million mark.
President Emmanuel Macron of France said that President Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson had all confirmed to him that they backed the plea for a truce made by Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the UN.
Macron said he was hopeful of securing the support of President Vladimir Putin, leader of the fifth permanent member country of the UN security council.
‘‘I spoke to him at the start of this initiative. I haven’t spoken to him since I got the firm confirmations of the other leaders. I will do in the next few hours,’’ the French leader told Radio France Internationale.
‘‘I think that for sure President Putin will agree and the day he says he does, we’ll be able to hold a joint video conference and relay this call in a solemn, forceful and efficient way,’’ he added.
The Kremlin confirmed that it was examining the proposal. ‘‘Obviously, work is under way,’’ Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters. ‘‘The diplomats are working. As soon as the work is completed and agreed with the partners, corresponding statements will be announced.’’
The initiative picked up speed as the global number of coronavirus cases continues to rise.
In his plea on March 23, Guterres said that ‘‘the fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war’’ and ‘‘that is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world: it is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus on the true fight of our lives.’’
He said that ‘‘our world faces a common enemy: Covid-19’’.
‘‘The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction, or faith,’’ he added. ‘‘It attacks all relentlessly. Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world.’’
The US joined the call for a worldwide halt to the fighting the next day. ‘‘The United States hopes that all parties in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere will heed the call of Antonio Guterres,’’ the US National Security Council tweeted.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, promised Britain’s backing for the ceasefire earlier this month. Coronavirus was ‘‘the fight of our lives and we must unite against it’’, he said.
On Saturday, five UN envoys in the Middle East urged warring parties in the region to ‘‘work towards an immediate end to hostilities’’.
A European diplomatic source said a previous attempt to get a security council resolution had foundered.
‘‘This [new] attempt, drafted by the French, has gotten a lot closer to being adopted and is expected to be, possibly this week,’’ the source said. ‘‘Essentially, the Americans and the Russians were uncomfortable with being bound by a global ceasefire, which might mean that they couldn’t take actions in Yemen, Libya, Syria or for the US in Afghanistan, for instance.’’
The draft had a better chance of passing because it welcomed efforts from the secretary-general and his appeal for an immediate global ceasefire, and it supported the work towards that ceasefire, but did not explicitly demand one, the diplomatic source added.
– The Times