Distinguished representatives of the media,
It is always an honour to attend the African Union Summit.
Africa is navigating some of the world’s hardest challenges — and doing so with determination, creativity, and resilience.
Not miracles.
But steady, practical work to solve real problems in an international environment that is more polarized, more unpredictable, and more volatile than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
From regional integration efforts to investments in clean power and infrastructure, progress is happening — sometimes unevenly, sometimes slowly — but it is happening.
Distinguished representatives of the media,
I carry with me my deepest gratitude to the governments and people of Africa for their global leadership in the struggle for justice and equality – and my deepest conviction in the enduring power and promise of Africa.
That conviction is reflected in concrete action.
The United Nations-African Union partnership is stronger than ever.
Over the last decade, we’ve turned shared principles into joint frameworks on peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights.
And that work continues.
I spoke to the Summit on three priorities.
First – peace and security.
Many parts of the continent face deep complex crisis – including Sudan, the DRC, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
These conflicts have multiple actors, multiple interests, and multiple layers.
African institutions and leadership are engaging to silence the guns. Some are over-stretched. Some are under-resourced. But none can operate on political goodwill alone.
That’s why Security Council Resolution 2719 is so pivotal.
For the first time, there is a clear mechanism for AU-led peace support operations authorized by the Security Council, funded through assessed, which means mandatory contributions.
This is a realistic step toward shared responsibility for conflicts that have worldwide consequences.
But I must once again express my profound regret that the Security Council failed to achieve consensus on funding through assessed contributions for the AU Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia.
At the same time, the UN is reviewing peacekeeping to ensure mandates are achievable, transitions are orderly, and missions don’t become open‑ended by default.
And yes – the Security Council must reflect today’s world.
Many African countries were under colonial rule when the Council was created.
Now is the time to strengthen the Security Council for the 21st century.
That means, at long last, two permanent African seats on the Security Council.
Africa must be part of global decisions – not just of global consequences.
Second – financial justice.
Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest‑growing economies – and some of the most fiscally constrained.
Debt burdens, high borrowing costs, and limited access to long‑term finance are blocking progress in education, health systems, and job creation.
The international financial architecture was built for a world that no longer exists – and it has been failing for many developing economies today. It was created by rich countries to take essentially into account the interests of rich countries.
And it is simply unconscionable that having endured the deep scars and lasting consequences of colonialism, Africa must still contend with an economic and financial system that remains totally unjust.
That’s why we must:
Ensure that developing countries finally have a real voice and a meaningful participation in the international financial institutions that shape their future.
That is why it is essential to triple the lending capacity of multilateral development banks to support developing countries, namely in Africa.
And to cut borrowing costs and support countries in debt distress.
Third – climate action.
The people of Africa did not cause the climate crisis.
Yet they’re paying the highest price – through droughts, floods, hunger and deadly heat.
And they’re left with far too little support to adapt and make the transition to clean energy.
This is climate injustice – plain and simple.
Developed countries need to triple adaptation finance, mobilize 1.3 trillion US dollars a year by 2035, and surge contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund.
With the right support, Africa will become a renewables powerhouse;
And Africa’s critical minerals and resources will help create new industries and jobs – building value at home, not exporting value away.
The plundering and exploitation of Africa’s resources must end.
Once again, it’s an honour to be here, and I thank the leaders and people of Africa for their warm welcome.
The United Nations stands with Africa – for peace, sustainable development, and climate justice.
And allow me to make here to the distinguished members of the press, the same comments that I made to the plenary.
Some people say that this presence is, for me, a farewell. It's not true.
First of all, I can guarantee that until the 31st of December, the United Nations will continue to consider Africa its first priority in all its activities.
And second, that our partnership with the African Union is the most relevant strategic partnership and will remain so everywhere.
And even after the 31st of [December], wherever I will be and whatever I will be doing, I can guarantee that in the center of my concerns and my active solidarity, that will always be Africa.
Like we say in my language, Africa sempre.
Thank you very much.
Spokesperson: Thank you. Thank you, with this, we will open for some questions. Let me start with a representative of an Ethiopian media. Ethiopian Herald, please, you have the floor. Go ahead with your question.
Question: Thank you, Secretary-General and welcome to Addis Ababa. My question is: the African Union has been pushing for true UN reform, and permanent representation for Africa at the UNSC [Security Council]. In various occasions, you also supported those ideas. So, when these initiatives, ideas are going to happen? And how do you assess the role of Ethiopia and the government in this regard?
Secretary-General: Well, it is for Africans to choose the African countries that should be members, permanent members, of the Security Council. It's not for me to make that selection. But we recognize that there has been a lot of resistance to changing the Security Council. But the Security council was created, as you know, after the Second World War. And if you look at the Security Council today, you still have three European Permanent Members: France, the UK, and Russia. And no African member. You have one Asian member and no Latin American member. So, the Security Council does not represent today's world. At the same time, we have seen the Security Council being very ineffective because of the vetoes that do not allow the Security Council to take decisions in order for conflicts to be able to be stopped.
So, the reform of the Security Council is absolutely essential. And I have to say that the UN suffers a lot because of that. When I visit many countries, they say the UN is not functioning. No, the UN is functioning. I mean humanitarian aid is being distributed, in sometimes dangerous areas. Development support to countries is there. We are assuming leadership in the fight against Climate Change. We just created a High Level Independent Scientific Panel for Artificial Intelligence. But in the Security Council, it's the Member States that decide. And so, the reform of the Security Council is essential. I know there are resistances, but we will do everything to convince Member States that this needs to be done sooner rather than later and I fully understand the frustration in the African continent, in relation to that fact.
But it's not only the Security Council. If you look at the Bretton Woods institutions, if you look at many other international financial institutions, developed countries still have a much higher share than what their economies really represent, in relation to developing countries, including the African ones. And that also must change.
We must have international institutions that represent the world of today and not the world after the Second World War.
Question: Je vous remercie Monsieur le Chef de l’ONU de nous accorder cette opportunité. Je suis le chef du département de News à ASBU à Tunis. Nous avons 22 pays arabes. Ma question c’est la suivante. Est-ce que vous pouvez couronner cette carrière, à la fin de votre mandat, pour faire appel à une session extraordinaire pour l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU ou du Conseil de sécurité afin de discuter la situation humanitaire en Palestine. Le carnage n’est pas encore arrêté et la souffrance des familles. Et en tant qu’arabes, nous vous remercions de votre position vis-à-vis des questions arabes. Merci beaucoup.
Secretary-General : Il y a eu dèjà différentes réunions de l’Assemblée générale et même du Conseil de sécurité et il y a des décisions prises. Ce qu’il faut, c’est garantir que ces décisions sont adoptées. Il y a une décision pour un cessez-le-feu, mais malheureusement on continue à voir des bombardements à Gaza. Il y a une décision des Nations Unies pour le retrait des forces israéliennes de Gaza, mais elles y sont encore. Il y a des décisions du Conseil de sécurité et de l’Assemblée générale qui visent à la considération que Gaza est une partie intégrante de l’État palestinien et qu’il faut absolument avancer dans la logique du respect de l’auto-détermination du peuple palestinien. Ce n’est pas par manque de décisions des organes des Nations Unies que les choses ne sont pas encore entièrement dans la bonne direction, même s’il y a eu des progrès. C’est parce qu’il y a eu des obstacles et il y a encore des difficultés et la plupart de ces obstacles et de ces difficultés ont été surtout par l’action de l’État d’Israël qui maintien un contrôle sur une grande de Gaza.
Question: Thank you for your time. Yesterday, Secretary-General you took part in the Italy-Africa Summit, with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni here in Addis Ababa. Italy is working quite closely with the African Union, and other actors on the continent. So, I would like to ask you, what you can ask to do with the Sudan, will Italy do something for what happens, for instance, in Sudan? And what do you expect from this Italy- Africa collaboration? Thank you.
Secretary-General: Well, there are two different things. In relation to Sudan, it's not to Italy that we must look. We must look first of all to create conditions to put pressure on the two parties of the conflict, and to put pressure on all those that are supporting and arming the two parties to the conflict, some in the African continent and some outside the African continent.
And obviously, I'm absolutely convinced that Italy shares my concerns, and together with many other countries and institutions we'll be doing everything possible to overcome the resistances that I've mentioned.
On the other hand, we have seen with a lot of interest the Mattei Plan, and I was very positively impressed by the declaration that was made by Prime Minister Meloni, showing commitments to have with Africa a relationship based on mutual respect and trust, which is something that sometimes is missing in other circumstances.
Spokesperson: Let me go now to Al Sharq news. Go ahead, sir.
Question: Thank you. I would like to ask about the violation in the capital El Fasher, in North Darfur, amount to war crimes as the UN said yesterday. What are the next steps of accountability you envision in Sudan since the war erupted in your opinion? And what is the last update of your effort to bring peace to this country? Thank you.
Secretary-General: We have been very actively engaged with the African Union, together with the African Union, with the Arab League, with the QUAD, and with other key actors in order to put effective pressure for an immediate ceasefire, for access without any restrictions to all areas, and for a Sudanese-led process leading to a new civilian democratic government. And we are in full agreement, all the organizations that I mentioned, in relation to that. The difficulty has been that both sides believe that they can win the war, and at the same time, a number of other countries are feeding that war in a way that makes the negotiations for peace much more difficult, and the obstacles for peace much more difficult.
And I strongly hope that there will be decisions, namely, at the level of the Security Council, for true accountability, in relation to all the crimes that have been committed until now, and some of them were horrendous - you mentioned El Fasher - it is probably the most horrendous, but we have seen a carnage in Sudan that is totally intolerable in the 21st century.
Spokesperson: A question to CGTN. Yes, please go ahead.
Question: So, first, I'd like to get you a request on that row between Ethiopia and Eritrea. What are your thoughts on how that can be resolved? And also, you mentioned the fact that Africa will remain a priority for the UN, but we have seen major cuts to your budget across several agencies. So, with both of your operations in Africa, how do you plan to deal with that going forwarr with those shortfalls and still provide that support that Africa needs?
Secretary-General: Well, Ethiopia and Eritrea are two neighbours, and two countries that have had a common past struggle. So, my strong hope is that the two countries will be able to reconcile and will be able to contribute to the peace and stability in the continent.
We were very careful in the budget of the Secretariat to spare the African continent. And this can be confirmed, I believe, by the President of the Economic Commission for Africa [Claver Gatete], and also by Parfait [Onanga-Anyanga, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union]. We were very careful to spare the African continent, because it's where the needs are bigger. The drama was the dramatic cuts that humanitarian aid provided by donors have suffered. The biggest cut was of course the United States cut when the USAID was extinguished. But there were several other countries, namely in Europe and in other parts of the world that reduced their contributions to humanitarian aid. And this has created a dramatic situation in many of our operations. And you can't imagine, I was High Commissioner for Refugees, and I've worked for 10 years with the most vulnerable people in the world and I know how needed it is to provide them effective assistance.
And I've seen my colleagues that are today in the High Commission for Refugees having to work with half the resources I had at that time and with more refugees than the ones that I had at that time.
So, this is something that is extremely, extremely painful for us to see people suffering and not to have enough resources to respond to their most basic needs.
Question: Thank you very much, from China’s Xinhua News Agency. So, this morning, China’s president Xi Jinping, sent a congratulatory letter to the opening of the AU summit. And in this letter, he mentioned that China has introduced and will implement the zero-tariff policy to all African nations that have diplomatic ties with China. This policy will come into force starting from May 1st this year. So my question is, how do you assess the significance of the zero-tariff policy towards African nations, and especially in a time characterized by high tariffs.
Secretary-General: I would appeal to all developed countries and to all countries with a large economic potential to take exactly the same measure. Africa needs free trade for its goods, and Africa cannot be penalized, being a continent with enormous economic difficulties, by trade policies that are restrictive and by tariffs that do not allow African products to be competitive. We have witnessed the multiplication of tariffs in recent times, and I am a strong supporter of free trade, and I am a strong supporter of reducing the tariff levels at global level in order to be able to provide for global prosperity.
Question : Merci pour l’opportunité. Cette semaine, le Ministre des Affaires étrangères, Jean-Noël Barrot a appelé à la démission de Francesca Albanese, après des propos sur Israël. M. Guterres, j’aimerais avoir votre réaction sur cette affaire.
Secretary-General : Madame Albanese acte en pleine indépendance et naturellement on respecte cette indépendance. Elle n’est pas membre du personnel des Nations Unies. Naturellement, le gouvernement français est libre d’exprimer les opinions que le gouvernement français a.