Path to peace ‘forged by dialogue and cooperation’ Guterres tells Security Council 

Recommit to “dialogue, diplomacy and mutual trust”, Secretary-General António Guterres urged ambassadors in the UN Security Council on Monday, describing them as “the eternal tools of peace”. 

“The path to peace is forged by dialogue and cooperation,” and shaped by “a common understanding of the threats and challenges,” he said. 

On the ground in Ukraine 

Having just returned from Ukraine, Türkiye and Moldova, the UN chief recounted how he witnessed first-hand, the success so far of the Black Sea Initiative organized to ship grain and other vital food supplies for the rest of the world from Ukrainian ports, and noted another agreement for the unimpeded access of food and fertilizers from Russia, to global markets.  

“This comprehensive plan is crucial for the world’s most vulnerable people and countries, who are desperately counting on these food supplies,” he said, adding that “it is a concrete example of how dialogue and cooperation can deliver hope, even in the midst of conflict”. 

The top UN official called for “the same commitment to dialogue and results” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, currently under Russian military control, reaffirming the UN’s logistics and security capacities to support a mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Kyiv to Europe’s largest nuclear power facility. 

Divides, conflicts, instability 

From military coups to inter-State conflicts, invasions, and “wars that stretch on” for years, today’s collective security system is being “tested like never before,” Mr. Guterres spelled out. 

He drew attention to lingering differences between the world’s great powers, including at the Council, which continue to limit a collective response; humanitarian assistance that is stretched to the breaking point; human rights under assault; and a lack of trust. 

“Many of the systems established decades ago are now facing challenges that were unimaginable to our predecessors – cyberwarfare, terrorism, and lethal autonomous weapons,” observed the UN chief. “And the nuclear risk has…