UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday formally proposed slashing the core UN budget for next year by $577 million and cutting more than 18 percent of jobs.
Guterres is seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis, driven largely by US arrears.
“We ended 2024 with $760 million in arrears, of which $709 million is still outstanding from 2024. We have also not received $877 million of 2025 dues and so thus, arrears now stand at $1,586 million,” Guterres told the 193-member UN General Assembly budget committee.
He proposed a core budget of $3.238 billion for 2026, a reduction of 15 percent compared with this year. That budget includes political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic, social affairs and communications work. Contributions to most UN agencies, funds and programs — such as the World Food Programme and children’s group UNICEF — are voluntary.
“Liquidity remains fragile, and this challenge will persist regardless of the final budget approved by the General Assembly – given the unacceptable volume of arrears,” Guterres said. The United States is the top contributor to the UN core budget, paying the maximum 22 percent according to assessments agreed upon by the General Assembly. US President Donald Trump has described the UN as having “great potential” but said it is not fulfilling that. He wants to slash US funding. Guterres launched a reform task force in March, known as UN80, which seeks to cut costs and improve efficiency. UN peacekeeping has a separate budget. In October, senior UN officials said a quarter of peacekeepers in nine operations around the world would be cut due to a lack of money and as future funding from the United States remains uncertain.
UN chief proposes slashing 2026 budget by $577 million, cutting 18 percent of jobs
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UN chief proposes slashing 2026 budget by $577 million, cutting 18 percent of jobs
- Guterres is seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis, driven largely by US arrears
Ethiopia’s prime minister accuses Eritrea of mass killings during Tigray war
- Landlocked Ethiopia says that Eritrea is arming rebel groups, while Eritrea says Ethiopia’s aspiration is to gain access to a seaport
- Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s government Tuesday for the first time acknowledged the involvement of troops from neighboring Eritrea in the war in the Tigray region that ended in 2022, accusing them of mass killings, amid reports of renewed fighting in the region.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while addressing parliament Tuesday, accused Eritrean troops fighting alongside Ethiopian forces of mass killings in the war, during which more than 400,000 people are estimated to have died.
Eritrean and Ethiopian troops fought against regional forces in the northern Tigray region in a war that ended in 2022 with the signing of a peace agreement.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told The Associated Press that Ahmed’s comments were “cheap and despicable lies” and did not merit a response.
Both nations have been accusing each other of provoking a potential civil war, with landlocked Ethiopia saying that Eritrea is arming and funding rebel groups, while Eritrea says Ethiopia’s aspiration is to gain access to a seaport.
“The rift did not begin with the Red Sea issue, as many people think,” Ahmed told parliamentarians. “It started in the first round of the war in Tigray, when the Eritrean army followed us into Shire and began demolishing houses, massacred our youth in Axum, looted factories in Adwa, and uprooted our factories.”
“The Red Sea and Ethiopia cannot remain separated forever,” he added.
Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare.
Gebremeskel said the prime minister has only recently changed his tune in his push for access to the Red Sea.
Ahmed “and his top military brass were profusely showering praises and State Medals on the Eritrea army and its senior officers. … But when he later developed the delusional malaise of ‘sovereignty access to the sea’ and an agenda of war against Eritrea, he began to sing to a different chorus,” he said.
Eritrea and Ethiopia initially made peace after Abiy came to power in 2018, with Abiy winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts toward reconciliation.
In June, Eritrea accused Ethiopia of having a “long-brewing war agenda” aimed at seizing its Red Sea ports. Ethiopia recently said that Eritrea was “actively preparing to wage war against it.”
Analysts say an alliance between Eritrea and regional forces in the troubled Tigray region may be forming, as fighting has been reported in recent weeks. Flights by the national carrier to the region were canceled last week over the renewed clashes.
