Africa-Press – Botswana. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday at the opening of the General Assembly debate that the war in Ukraine is a “threat to the future of humanity”, but avoided any direct condemnation of Russia.
In a speech on the major problems affecting the world order, Guterres was expected to focus on the situation in Ukraine and the UN Secretary General preferred to point out possible understandings to resolve the conflict by pointing to the agreement, involving the United Nations and the Turkey, to dispose of grain accumulated in Ukrainian ports since the beginning of the war.
“As we come together in a world full of turmoil, an image of promise and hope comes to my mind: the ship ‘Brave Commander’. It sailed in the Black Sea with the UN flag hoisted proudly. On the one hand, what you see is a vessel like any other sailing the seas. But take a closer look. At its core, this ship is a symbol of what the world can achieve when we act together,” Guterres said at the opening of his speech.
“It’s loaded with Ukrainian grain for the people of the Horn of Africa. It sailed through a war zone — guided by the warring parties themselves — as part of an unprecedented sweeping initiative to get more food and fertilizer… Ukraine and the Russian Federation — with the support of Turkey — converged to make this happen, despite enormous complexities, opponents and even the hell of war. Some might call it a miracle at sea. In fact, it’s diplomacy multilateral in action”, he observed.
Stressing that the war had unleashed widespread destruction, with massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, Guterres called the reports on cemeteries in Izium, a city in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, “extremely worrying”.
For More News And Analysis About Botswana Follow Africa-Press
