Antonio Guterres arrived Saturday evening April 30 in Dakar for an African tour. This Sunday’s day will end with an audience and a joint statement with President Macky Sall, also current President of the African Union.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Thea Olivier
Antonio Guterres will begin his visit by chairing an internal meeting at the UN sub-regional office in Dakar this Sunday morning. He will then leave for the site of the future West African headquarters of the United Nations in Diamniadio, a new urban center about thirty kilometers from the Senegalese capital. There, he will also visit the Institut Pasteur’s vaccine manufacturing plant.
He will continue with an audience with President Macky Sall, who is also the current Chairman of the African Union.
This visit takes place in a context of international crisis, with tension around the supply of hydrocarbons and an increase in wheat prices which are already raging in several countries on the continent, raising fears of an unprecedented food crisis.
Last March, Macky Sall had already called on the World Bank to help Africa deal with the economic consequences of the Ukrainian crisis. A few weeks earlier, Senegal had abstained during the vote on the UN resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Other themes that could be addressed: instability in the Sahel, the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and post-Covid-19 recovery progress and challenges.
The head of the UN will leave on Monday May 2, the day of Eid el-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan, to take the direction of Niger then Nigeria before returning to New York on Tuesday May 3.