AGENCIES

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that cuts to aid budgets were “wreaking havoc” as he opened the organisation’s annual meeting of world leaders, painting a dark picture of the world order.

“But development aid cuts are wreaking havoc. They are a death sentence for many. A stolen future for many more,” he said without mentioning the United States, responsible for many of the cuts, whose president will speak shortly after Guterres.

“This is the paradox of our time: we know what we need -- yet we are pulling away the very lifeline that makes it possible.”

In a doom-laden speech, Guterres pointed to worsening crises in a growing number of countries and warned of the risk of nuclear proliferation.

“Far too many crises continue unchecked. Impunity prevails. Lawlessness is a contagion. It invites mayhem, accelerates terror, and risks a nuclear free-for-all,” he said.

He did hold out a glimmer of hope, pointing to the ceasefire brokered between Cambodia and Thailand, and the agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, “brokered by the United States.”

But the UN chief warned that the “pillars of peace” were “buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference.”

“Sovereign nations, invaded. Hunger, weaponised. Truth, silenced. Rising smoke from bombed-out cities. Rising anger in fractured societies. Rising seas swallowing coastlines,” he said.

The UN’s leader said that “around the world, we see countries acting as if the rules don’t apply to them. We see humans treated as less than human.”

He pointed to Sudan where he said “civilians are being slaughtered, starved, and silenced” and Gaza where “the horrors are approaching a third monstrous year.”

In this moment of crisis, Guterres said, the United Nations has never been more essential.

“The world needs our unique legitimacy, our convening power, our vision to unite nations, to bridge divides, and confront the challenges before us,” he said.