UNITED NATIONS (AP) 鈥 The head of the United Nations warned gathered leaders Tuesday that impunity, inequality and uncertainty are driving modern civilization toward 鈥渁 powder keg that risks engulfing the world" 鈥 the latest clarion call from Antonio Guterres that the global situation is becoming intolerable and unsustainable.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 go on like this,鈥 the secretary-general said in an alarming state-of-the-world address as he opened the annual high-level gathering of the U.N.鈥檚 193 member nations.
He said the world is in 鈥渁n era of epic transformation鈥 and facing challenges never seen before, with geopolitical divisions deepening, the planet heating and wars raging in , , and elsewhere with no clue how they will end.
鈥淲e are edging towards the unimaginable 鈥 a powder keg that risks engulfing the world,鈥 Guterres told presidents, prime ministers and ministers in the vast General Assembly hall.
But he stopped short of saying hope was gone. 鈥淭he challenges we face,鈥 he said, 鈥渁re solvable.鈥
It's not an easy time in the world
Guterres wasn't the only one worried about the state of the world.
鈥淚 cannot recall a time of greater peril than this,鈥 said King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Guterres called the situation in Gaza 鈥渁 nonstop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it.鈥 He said escalating air attacks across the Israel-Lebanon border have put Lebanon 鈥渁t the brink.鈥 In Ukraine, he said, there is no sign of an end to the war that followed Russia鈥檚 February 2022 invasion. In Sudan, he said, 鈥渁 brutal power struggle has unleashed horrific violence," including widespread rape, and a 鈥渉umanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as famine spreads.鈥
The U.N. chief also pointed to 鈥渁ppalling levels of violence and human suffering鈥 from Myanmar and Congo to Haiti, Yemen and beyond, and the expanding terrorist threat in Africa鈥檚 Sahel region. He said the that preceded Tuesday's start of the assembly's nearly weeklong 鈥淕eneral Debate,鈥 was a first step. "But we have a long way to go.鈥
At the two-day summit, the world鈥檚 nations adopted a 鈥淧act for the Future." It's a blueprint for starting to address challenges from tackling climate change and poverty to putting guardrails on artificial intelligence. It also speaks to reforming the United Nations, and other global institutions established after World War II, to suit the needs and threats in the 21st-century world.
The UN leader blames 鈥榠mpunity鈥
Guterres said meeting the challenges of a world 鈥渋n a whirlwind鈥 requires confronting the three drivers of 鈥渦nsustainability鈥 鈥 the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underlies injustices and grievances and the impunity that undermines international law and the U.N.鈥榮 founding principles.
鈥淎 growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a 'get out of jail free鈥 card,鈥 he said 鈥 a reference to the classic board game Monopoly.
In his final speech before fellow leaders, President Joe Biden said he recognized the challenges of Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other global hotspots, but he remains hopeful.
鈥淭here will always be forces that pull our countries apart ... a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone,鈥 he said. 鈥淥ur task is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than the forces pulling us apart.鈥
, whose country speaks first in a tradition dating to the early years of the U.N., criticized Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.
鈥淭he right to self-defense became a right for vengeance, which prevents a deal for the release of hostages and delays a cease-fire," he said.
Lula decried the growth in global military spending for a ninth consecutive year to more than $2.4 trillion. 鈥淭hose resources could have been used to fight hunger and deal with climate changes,鈥 he said.
鈥 who had accused Israel on Monday of in the Middle East 鈥 laid into Israel in his Tuesday. He said its attacks in Lebanon in recent days 鈥渃annot go unanswered."
Leaders embroiled in conflicts will speak
At last year鈥檚 U.N. global gathering, Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took center stage. But as the first anniversary of Hamas鈥 deadly attack in southern Israel approaches on Oct. 7, the spotlight is certain to be on the ensuing war in Gaza and escalating , which is now threatening to spread to the wider Middle East.
Zelenskky was in the spotlight Tuesday afternoon at a Security Council meeting on Ukraine on the sidelines of the gathering, and he will be center stage again when he addresses world leaders in the assembly hall on Wednesday morning.
At the high-level council meeting, the Ukrainian leader dismissed the notion of peace talks with Moscow, calling instead for unspecified global 鈥渁ction鈥 to force Russia into peace for invading his country and to comply with the U.N. Charter鈥檚 requirement that every country respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all other nations. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Slovenia, which holds the council's rotating presidency this month, of giving Zelenskyy a platform 鈥渢o malign the Russian Federation.鈥
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to speak Thursday morning and Israel鈥檚 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.
On another hot spot, the Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting late Wednesday on the escalating violence in Lebanon at the request of France.
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Edith M. Lederer, chief U.N. correspondent for The Associated Press, has been covering global affairs for more than 50 years. See more of AP鈥檚 coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at
