RISK OF NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION IS BACK AFTER DECADES: UN CHIEF GUTERRES

Editors' Choice News Desk World

The Secretary-General António Guterres attends the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima.

Mon 08 August 2022:

The risk of nuclear conflict has resurfaced after decades, according to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who urged nuclear states to pledge not to initiate the use of their weapons.

Any attack on a nuclear plant is a “suicidal thing”, Guterres said, responding to reports of renewed Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

Guterres spoke at a news conference in Tokyo after attending the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on Saturday to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.

He also called on Japan to halt public and private financing of coal projects as part of the country’s commitments to curbing fossil fuel emissions.

“Nuclear weapons are nonsense. Three-quarters of a century later, we must ask what we’ve learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city in 1945”, he urged during the solemn event at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park attended by dozens of people.

The UN Secretary-General warned that a new arms race is picking up speed and world leaders are enhancing stockpiles at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars with almost 13,000 nuclear weapons currently held in arsenals around the world.

“…Crises with grave nuclear undertones are spreading fast — from the Middle East to the Korean peninsula, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine… Humanity is playing with a loaded gun”, he cautioned.

He underscored that countries with nuclear weapons must commit to the “no first use” of them, and assure other states that they will not use –or threaten to use—nuclear weapons against them.

“We must keep the horrors of Hiroshima in view at all times, recognizing there is only one solution to the nuclear threat: not to have nuclear weapons at all”, the UN chief stated.

Time to proliferate peace

Guterres stressed that leaders cannot hide from their responsibilities.

“Take the nuclear option off the table — for good.  It’s time to proliferate peace. Heed the message of the hibakusha: “No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!”, he said, recognizing that in 1945, two atomic bombs were detonated over the skies of Japan – first in Hiroshima on 6 August, and Nagasaki three days later, on 9 August.

Mr. Guterres also sent a message to the young people urging them to finish the work that the hibakusha have begun.

The world must never forget what happened here. The memory of those who died — and the legacy of those who survived — will never be extinguished”, he concluded.

The UN Secretary-General will be in Japan over the weekend, where he will meet with several Japanese senior officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

He will also meet a group of surviving victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and participate in a dialogue with young activists who are leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other global issues.  

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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