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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Patrick Wintour in New York

UNCOVERED: Superpowers cannot solve worlds problems un chief says in final general assembly address | History Defined

Guterres speaks at a podium bearing the United Nations emblem
Guterres said there needed to be ‘a recognition, especially by superpowers, that their power isn’t so super. Their power has limits.’ Photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images

The world’s fault lines have turned from cracks into canyons as superpowers show that they alone do not have the military, economic and technological power to guarantee security or solve the world’s problems, the outgoing secretary general of the United Nations has said in his final address to the general assembly.

In a speech laced with despair but also glimpses of defiant hope, António Guterres said that over the last decade, largely spanning his 10-year period in office, “wars erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty. Civilians were targeted. Human rights trampled. Hunger weaponised. Humanitarians killed. International law cast aside.”

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