BIAFRA : UN official criticizes Sec-Gen Guterres’ ‘weak statement’

A senior UN official, Ms Agnès Callamard, has urged the body’s leadership to “step up” to prevent another war.

Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, said the statement of Secretary-General António Guterres was not weighty.

Guterres had called for maximum restraint on the rising tension between the U.S. and Iran over Friday’s killing of a top Iranian military commander in a U.S. strike in Iraq.

But Callamard said Guterres’ statement “does not bode well’’, urging UN and its leadership to use “all the legal tools and platform’’ at their disposal to de-escalate the situation.

“There is no more pressing time for the #UN and its leadership to step up than now.

“But this statement does not bode well. You have the legal tools and the platform. Please use them,’’ she tweeted.

At Friday’s briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York, Guterres spokesperson, Farhan Haq, said the UN chief had made several calls, including to the US ambassador “to ensure resolution of the natter through diplomatic means’’.

“As you know we have UN missions and diplomatic efforts throughout the region.

“There is the UN assistance mission in Iraq, our special representative there has been very active in working with the various groups to make sure that the situation on the ground can be as stable.

“And we will continue to work with all parties to further the cause of stability in Iraq,’’ he said.