UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged the Security Council to be united in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, stressing that it was "a generation's fight - and the reason for 'to be of the United Nations themselves' . "A signal of unity and determination on the part of the Council would count a lot in the current anxiety-provoking period ," he added during the first meeting of this body devoted to Covid-19. This session, still ongoing, was supposed to take place behind closed doors but his speech was transmitted to AFP by diplomatic missions attending.
"The engagement of the Security Council will be critical to mitigating the peace and security implications of the Covid-19 pandemic ," Antonio Guterres also told the fifteen members of this body who have shown only divisions since the beginning of the crisis. "To overcome the pandemic today, we need to work together" and "that means strengthening solidarity," he insisted.
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Throughout the session, several ambassadors participating in the meeting leaked extracts from their speeches on their Twitter accounts or directly to journalists. Germany thus stressed that "the pandemic was a question of international security and peace" , while other countries, such as Russia, China or South Africa on the contrary consider that health is not of the Security Council.
France has confirmed that it would devote 1.2 billion euros to the fight against the disease in Africa while Estonia began its speech by noting that "better late than never" to hold this first meeting, a criticism launched to those who delayed the organization.
