UN very active in mediating conflicts, says Guterres

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is very active in mediating conflicts across the world, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday.

At a press conference outlining his priorities for 2026, Guterres said in some cases, some warring parties do not want the United Nations to mediate in their conflicts, and the world body is very active in "several scenarios," such as in Libya, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"No," the UN chief replied when asked by Xinhua whether he was concerned about the future role of the United Nations in maintaining world peace and security.

"There are areas where we are not mediators, because at least one of the parties (to a conflict) does not want us to mediate," the UN chief said.

"Israel never accepted the UN to be mediator, probably because we would mediate based on our values, the values of the (UN) Charter ... those that violate the Charter probably are not interested in the mediation by an entity that is, in itself, the entity that represents the Charter," he said.

Guterres said the United Nations has been "extremely active" in trying to avoid the worst scenario in the situation of South Sudan, in the DRC and Myanmar, and "very active" in negotiations related to Western Sahara.

"And I could go on and on and on with the number of situations in which we are extremely active with efforts of mediation, efforts of conciliation of positions, peace processes," he said.

"There is only one thing we do not have, (which) is the instruments of power to force parties to come to the negotiation," said the secretary-general. ■