‘Worst yet to come’ for countries in conflict, says UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed his call for a global ceasefire, urging all parties to conflict to lay down arms and allow war-torn nations to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

“The worst is yet to come,” Guterres says, referring to countries beset with fighting like Syria, Libya and Yemen.

“The COVID-19 storm is now coming to all these theaters of conflict.”

Guterres said there had been some progress following his March 23 call for peace, but that fighting still rages in a number of countries, hampering the ability to put into place plans to combat the virus.

“The need is urgent,” Guterres says at a UN press conference.

“The virus has shown how swiftly it can move across borders, devastate countries and upend lives.”

He says that parties to conflict in a number of countries, including Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Colombia, Libya, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, have expressed support for his call.

“But there is a huge distance between declarations and deeds — between translating words into peace on the ground and in the lives of people,” Guterres says.

“In many of the most critical situations, we have seen no let-up in fighting — and some conflicts have even intensified.”

— AFP