THE UNITED NATIONS: Antonio Guterres assumes the reins of the United Nations on Sunday hoping to breathe new life into the world body.
The Portuguese former prime minister, 67, will become the first onetime head of government to lead the UN, succeeding South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon for a five-year term.
His unanimous election has energized UN diplomats who see him as a skilled politician who may be able to overcome the divisions crippling the United Nations.
One Western ambassador regretted only that a woman wasn’t picked to take the post for the first time, adding with a smile that “except for the gender, he is perfect.”
Guterres faces a monumental task grappling with complex crises in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, North Korea and elsewhere — overseeing a clunky entrenched bureaucracy and a bitterly divided Security Council that will leave him little room to maneuver.
Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House on Jan. 20 likely will further complicate his task.
Guterres has acknowledged that “the secretary general is not the leader of the world,” but rather that his work depends on the goodwill of the world’s great powers.
After two terms under Ban, widely criticized for lacking initiative and charisma, some diplomats are banking on a change of style and personality to revitalize the UN.
An engineer by training and a practicing Catholic, Guterres fought for migrants’ rights as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015.
He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, anchoring his country to the European Union and working to raise living standards.
He has laid out three priorities for change: Working for peace, supporting sustainable development and improving internal UN management.
One issue looms above the others, however.
“My deepest regret on leaving office is the continuing nightmare in Syria,” Ban recently declared.
The UN has looked on helplessly as the Syrian Army laid siege to the fighters' stronghold of Aleppo, the country’s second city, backed by Russia and Iran.
Their sole concession to the UN was to allow a small handful of observers to follow the evacuation of thousands of civilians.
“Too little, too late,” one diplomat said.
Guterres inherits the portfolio with Moscow and Ankara spearheading a nationwide cease-fire effort.
Ban has already gone through two Syria mediators — Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi, who both resigned — before appointing Staffan de Mistura, who has appeared exasperated over the UN’s powerlessness over the conflict.
The same helplessness and at times disunity has marked the UN’s response to the civil war that ravaged South Sudan for three years. A US initiative to impose an arms embargo failed, winning only seven votes from the 15 countries that sit on the Security Council.
The approximately 13,000 peacekeepers deployed in the country have been criticized for failing to protect the civilians crowding UN bases.
Elsewhere on the continent, accusations of rape have permanently tarnished the reputation of UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.
Guterres has acknowledged the criticism, saying “it is time for the United Nations to recognize its shortcomings and to reform the way it works.”
“The United Nations needs to be nimble, efficient and effective.”
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Guterres seeks to breathe new life into UN
Guterres seeks to breathe new life into UN
Neglected killer: kala-azar disease surges in Kenya
MANDERA: For nearly a year, repeated misdiagnoses of the deadly kala-azar disease left 60-year-old Harada Hussein Abdirahman’s health deteriorating, as an outbreak in Kenya’s arid regions claimed a record number of lives.
Kala-azar is spread by sandflies and is one of the most dangerous neglected tropical diseases, with a fatality rate of 95 percent if untreated, causing fever, weight loss, and enlargement of the spleen and liver.
Cases of kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, have spiked in Kenya, from 1,575 in 2024 to 3,577 in 2025, according to the health ministry.
It is spreading to previously untouched regions and becoming endemic, driven by changing climatic conditions and expanding human settlements, say health officials, with millions potentially at risk of infection.
Abdirahman, a 60-year-old grandmother, was bitten while herding livestock in Mandera county in Kenya’s northeast, a hotspot for the parasite but with only three treatment facilities capable of treating the disease.
She was forced to rely on a local pharmacist who repeatedly misdiagnosed her with malaria and dengue fever for about a year.
“I thought I was dying,” she told AFP. “It is worse than all the diseases they thought I had.”
She was left with hearing problems after the harsh treatment to remove the toxins from her body.
East Africa generally accounts for more than two-thirds of global cases, according to the World Health Organization.
“Climate change is expanding the range of sandflies and increasing the risk of outbreaks in new areas,” said Dr. Cherinet Adera, a researcher at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in Nairobi.
- ‘So scared’ -
A surge in cases among migrant workers at a quarry site in Mandera last year led authorities to restrict movement at dusk and dawn when sandflies are most active.
At least two workers died, their colleagues said. Others returned to their villages and their fates are unknown.
“We did not know about the strange disease causing our colleagues to die,” said Evans Omondi, 34, who traveled hundreds of miles from western Kenya to work at the quarry.
“We were so scared,” added Peter Otieno, another worker from western Kenya, recalling how they watched their infected colleagues waste away day by day.
In 2023, the six most-affected African nations adopted a framework in Nairobi to eliminate the disease by 2030.
But there are “very few facilities in the country able to actively diagnose and treat,” kala-azar, Dr. Paul Kibati, tropical disease expert for health NGO Amref, told AFP.
He said more training is needed as mistakes in testing and treatment can be fatal.
The treatment can last up to 30 days and involves daily injections and often blood transfusions, costing as much as 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($775), excluding the cost of drugs, said Kibati, adding there is a need for “facilities to be adequately equipped.”
The sandfly commonly shelters in cracks in poorly plastered mud houses, anthills and soil fissures, multiplying during the rainy season after prolonged drought.
Northeastern Kenya, as well as neighboring regions in Ethiopia and Somalia, have experienced a devastating drought in recent months.
“Kala-azar affects mostly the poorest in our community,” Kibati said, exacerbated by malnutrition and weak immunity.
“We are expecting more cases when the rains start,” Kibati said.
Kala-azar is spread by sandflies and is one of the most dangerous neglected tropical diseases, with a fatality rate of 95 percent if untreated, causing fever, weight loss, and enlargement of the spleen and liver.
Cases of kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, have spiked in Kenya, from 1,575 in 2024 to 3,577 in 2025, according to the health ministry.
It is spreading to previously untouched regions and becoming endemic, driven by changing climatic conditions and expanding human settlements, say health officials, with millions potentially at risk of infection.
Abdirahman, a 60-year-old grandmother, was bitten while herding livestock in Mandera county in Kenya’s northeast, a hotspot for the parasite but with only three treatment facilities capable of treating the disease.
She was forced to rely on a local pharmacist who repeatedly misdiagnosed her with malaria and dengue fever for about a year.
“I thought I was dying,” she told AFP. “It is worse than all the diseases they thought I had.”
She was left with hearing problems after the harsh treatment to remove the toxins from her body.
East Africa generally accounts for more than two-thirds of global cases, according to the World Health Organization.
“Climate change is expanding the range of sandflies and increasing the risk of outbreaks in new areas,” said Dr. Cherinet Adera, a researcher at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in Nairobi.
- ‘So scared’ -
A surge in cases among migrant workers at a quarry site in Mandera last year led authorities to restrict movement at dusk and dawn when sandflies are most active.
At least two workers died, their colleagues said. Others returned to their villages and their fates are unknown.
“We did not know about the strange disease causing our colleagues to die,” said Evans Omondi, 34, who traveled hundreds of miles from western Kenya to work at the quarry.
“We were so scared,” added Peter Otieno, another worker from western Kenya, recalling how they watched their infected colleagues waste away day by day.
In 2023, the six most-affected African nations adopted a framework in Nairobi to eliminate the disease by 2030.
But there are “very few facilities in the country able to actively diagnose and treat,” kala-azar, Dr. Paul Kibati, tropical disease expert for health NGO Amref, told AFP.
He said more training is needed as mistakes in testing and treatment can be fatal.
The treatment can last up to 30 days and involves daily injections and often blood transfusions, costing as much as 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($775), excluding the cost of drugs, said Kibati, adding there is a need for “facilities to be adequately equipped.”
The sandfly commonly shelters in cracks in poorly plastered mud houses, anthills and soil fissures, multiplying during the rainy season after prolonged drought.
Northeastern Kenya, as well as neighboring regions in Ethiopia and Somalia, have experienced a devastating drought in recent months.
“Kala-azar affects mostly the poorest in our community,” Kibati said, exacerbated by malnutrition and weak immunity.
“We are expecting more cases when the rains start,” Kibati said.
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