Outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday bid farewell to the United Nations where he has worked for 10 years.

Ban said "thank you" to UN staff here at UN headquarters before his departure and encouraged them to keep working hard on UN causes and never give up, Xinhua news agency reported.

A crowd of UN officials, staff members, diplomats gathered here to see him off.

Ban told the crowd that he will join the New Year celebration at the Times Square in New York City on Saturday.

He will push the button beginning the official 60-second countdown to the New Year, and call on people worldwide to take actions in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"Millions of people will be watching as I lose my job," he quipped. "Now I feel a bit like Cinderella. Tomorrow at midnight, everything changes."

Ban's tenure as the eighth UN Secretary-General started on January 1, 2007 and will end on December 31, 2016.

Portugal's Antonio Guterres will succeed Ban on January 1, 2017.

Also readUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges India, Pakistan to de-escalate tensions; offers to mediate

Ban Ki-Moon asks Sharif, Modi to address outstanding issues</s>Ban Ki-moon, the outgoing UN secretary-general, says he laments not ending conflicts or doing more to promote peace as he ends 10 years at the UN.

Thronged by UN staff as he made his way out of UN headquarters on Friday, the South Korean diplomat thanked his colleagues, saying it was an honour to have worked with them.

"You should be very proud, just as I am so very proud to call you my colleagues," he said.

The 72-year-old transfers stewardship of the world body to Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, amid continuing conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Mali, the Central African Republic and Libya, to name but a few.

Ban said he lamented the "fires still burning", and in a rare show of criticism of world leaders, criticised unnamed presidents, prime ministers and monarchs for the turmoil.

Singling out Syria, he said he could not understand why it was being held hostage to "the destiny" of Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian conflict has killed an estimated 400,000 people, contributed to Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group to emerge as a global threat.

Turning elsewhere, Ban said in his decade at the UN he had endeavoured "to never give up. To keep dreaming, to keep believing, and to keep working hard until we achieve progress".

He urged UN staff to remain focused on advancing UN development goals and work towards addressing issues ranging from climate change to gender empowerment.

Mixed legacy

Despite serving two terms and being unanimously re-elected in 2011, Ban leaves behind a mixed legacy.

In his first term, he was criticised for not speaking out against human rights abuses in China and Russia.

And, in his second term, for the UN's handling of the cholera epidemic in Haiti and its failure to deal effectively with sexual abuses by UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic and elsewhere.

His decision to remove an Arab coalition bombing Yemen from a UN blacklist after Saudi Arabia threatened to stop funding UN programmes was sharply rebuked.

On the other hand, he has won plaudits for helping move climate change to the top of the global agenda and strongly backing gay rights despite opposition from many countries.

From Sunday, Guterres, 67, takes over from Ban. He is the first former head of government to lead the UN and will preside over a five-year term.</s>António Guterres assumed office on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, as the ninth UN Secretary-General after Ban Ki-moon’s exit following the completion of a 10 year- tenure on Saturday, Dec. 31. Guterres, in his maiden message as the UN Secretary-General, entitled: “Appeal for Peace”, urged the world to make a New Year resolution “to put peace […] The post Ban out, Guterres assumes office as UN Secretary-General appeared first on Punch Newspapers... Read Full Story</s>MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ki-moon was born June 13, 1944 in North Chungcheong Province in the Republic of Korea. As a teenager, Ban won a contest organized by the Red Cross and was awarded a trip to the United States. During his US visit, the future UN chief met then US President John F. Kennedy.

In 1970, he graduated from Seoul National University receiving a bachelor's degree in international relations and in 1985 earned a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Ki-moon worked for the South Korean embassy in India and served as first secretary of South Korea’s UN Permanent Observer Mission in New York. He also held diplomatic positions at the South Korean Embassy in the United States.

In 1990-1992, he served as Director-General for American Affairs and in 1995-1996 served as Deputy Foreign Minister for Policy Planning and was Ambassador to Austria in 1998-2000.

In 1999, Ban headed the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

In 2001, as South Korea held the rotating presidency at the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Ban was appointed to be the chief of staff to the General Assembly president.

Three years later he became South Korea’s foreign and trade minister.

He held numerous nuclear talks with North Korea and in 2005, as foreign minister, played a crucial role during the fourth round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue in Beijing.

In January 2007, Ban Ki-moon entered upon his duties as the UN secretary-general replacing Kofi Annan. He was unanimously reelected to hold this office in June 2011. His second five-year term expires at midnight on December 31, 2016.

UN Secretary-General-designate Antonio Guterres will take over from Ban Ki-moon on January 1, 2017.

Ban Ki-moon was awarded the Order of Service Merit, 1st class, by the government of South Korea three times. He also received a number of awards from foreign states.

Ban is regarded as a candidate for South Korean presidency, though he has not announced a decision to join the presidential race to date. He has higher popular support compared to the other candidates, according to a poll published on December 26.

The outdoing UN secretary-general speaks Russian and French. He is married and has three daughters and a son.</s>UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon paid an emotional farewell to the United Nations on Friday, wistfully describing his two-term stint at the helm of the global body as something of a fairy tale.

“I feel a bit like Cinderella. Tomorrow at midnight, everything changes!” he joked to staff and colleagues as he wrapped up a decade leading the United Nations.

Beginning Sunday, former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres, 67, takes over from Ban.

Guterres is the first former head of government to lead the UN, succeeding Ban for a five-year term.

Ban, in a more serious vein, said it has been a “privilege” to have been at the head of an organization that endeavored to tamp down global conflict and end suffering—and said it was an honor to have shared that mission with his co-workers.

 

 “You should be very proud—just as I am so very proud to call you my colleagues,” the South Korean diplomat said.

He added that in his decade at the UN, he has endeavored “to never give up. To keep dreaming, to keep believing, and to keep working hard until we achieve progress,” he said.

Ban added that as UN chief, he also has been guided by a desire “to keep the focus on people—on people’s rights and people’s dignity… and to stand up for those who are left behind.”

As a first act after leaving the pinnacle of global diplomacy, Ban will ring in the new year at Times Square by formally launching the traditional New Year’s Eve ball drop, to be attended by hundreds of thousands of revelers.

“Tomorrow night, on the eve of the New Year, I will be in Times Square for the ball drop—millions of people will be watching as I lose my job!” the outgoing UN leader joked.</s>Ban Ki-moon will end ten years as Secretary-General of the United Nations on Dec. 31.

Ban will spend his last moments in the role pushing the Waterford crystal button in Times Square. “Millions of people will be watching as I lose my job,” he said in a speech to his staff today.

READ MORE: Antonio Guterres sworn in as UN Secretary-General, will replace Ban Ki-moon

It has been a busy month for the secretary-general. Alongside final interviews and ceremonies to honour him, there was a controversial Security Council resolution to end Israeli settlements, efforts to avoid genocide in South Sudan, and the ongoing war in Syria.

“Aleppo is now a synonym for hell,” he said to reporters earlier in December. The war that engulfed that city, and Syria for six years, stands out for him.

To the General Assembly in September he said: “My deepest regret on leaving office is the continuing nightmare in Syria.”

WATCH: Ban Ki-moon says United Nations has failed the people of Syria

In his last year, Ban Ki-moon attempted to address some of the UN’s failings.

He apologized to the people of Haiti for the UN’s handling of the 2010 cholera outbreak. The organization refused initial calls to investigate, and denied wrongdoing. Eventual investigations and reports pointed to a UN base as the source of infected waste which contaminated rivers. According to a UN fact sheet, the outbreak has affected an estimated 780,000 people and killed over 9,100.

READ MORE: Hurricane Matthew: Why a distrust in aid groups may impact Haiti relief efforts

Allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic shocked the Secretary General and led to an investigation this year. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services identified 16 perpetrators and 139 victims, 25 of whom were minors. Measures to address the problem were implemented, including court marshals for perpetrators and a victim’s assistance fund.

“I may have to leave many things unfulfilled,” the secretary-general told UN News in his final interview on Dec. 22. But he emphasized the positives. He said the Paris Agreement on climate change and the establishment of Sustainable Development Goals were “important, ambitious and far-reaching achievements.”

The Paris Agreement has 197 parties committed to curb emissions and address climate change. Ban Ki-moon said it represents a new era of global cooperation. That cooperation is in jeopardy if president-elect Donald Trump pulls the U.S. out of the agreement. After tweeting on Nov. 6 that climate change was a concept created by the Chinese, Trump told the New York Times later that month that he has an ‘open mind” on the issue and there is “some connectivity” between human activity and climate change. Canada ratified the Paris Agreement in Parliament in October.

READ MORE: UN chief hopeful Donald Trump will change his mind about climate change

The General Assembly adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 after 15 years of the Millennium Development Goals. These new goals are benchmarks for the 193 member countries to end poverty, provide inclusive and equitable education, and achieve gender equality, by 2030.

“Without the United Nations I would not be standing here today as the Secretary-General,” Ban said. UN troops and aid were present in Korea when he was a boy. He said he tried to make sure children do not face the challenges of poverty and war that he experienced.

“I told them, do not despair. I was you and you can be me. You can become Secretary-General of the United Nations. Do not despair because we will be with you just as the United Nations was with me.”

Ban Ki-moon’s name is being floated as a presidential candidate in South Korea. 29 lawmakers left the ruling Saenuri Party on Dec. 27, dissatisfied with impeached President Park Geun-hye, and hope to create a new party which he could lead.

When the ball drops in New York’s Times Square, António Guterres will become the UN’s ninth Secretary-General. His five-year term ends in 2021. Guterres is a former two-term Portuguese prime minister and former head of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.</s>António Guterres assumed office on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, as the ninth UN Secretary-General after Ban Ki-moon’s exit following the completion of a 10 year- tenure on Saturday, Dec. 31.

Guterres, in his maiden message as the UN Secretary-General, entitled: “Appeal for Peace”, urged the world to make a New Year resolution “to put peace first”.

“On my first day as Secretary-General of the United Nations, one question weighs heavily on my heart.

“How can we help the millions of people caught up in conflict, suffering massively in wars with no end in sight?

“Civilians are pounded with deadly force. Women, children and men are killed and injured, forced from their homes, dispossessed and destitute. Even hospitals and aid convoys are targeted.”

According to him, no one wins these wars rather, everyone loses.

Guterres pointed out that trillions of dollars were spent destroying societies and economies, fueling cycles of mistrust and fear that can last for generations.

He regretted that whole regions were destabilised adding, the new threat of global terrorism affects us all.

“On this New Year’s Day, I ask all of you to join me in making one shared New Year’s resolution: Let us resolve to put peace first.

“Let us make 2017 a year in which we all – citizens, governments, leaders – strive to overcome our differences.

“From solidarity and compassion in our daily lives, to dialogue and respect across political divides… From ceasefires on the battlefield, to compromise at the negotiating table to reach political solutions…

“Peace must be our goal and our guide,” the new UN scribe said.

According to him, all that we strive for as a human family – dignity and hope, progress and prosperity – depends on peace.

“I appeal to you all to join me in committing to peace, today and every day.

“Let us make 2017 a year for peace,” Guterres, who will arrive the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday for his first official working day, appealed.

NAN recalls that the new UN chief was sworn in on Dec. 12, 2016 as the ninth Secretary-General.

Having witnessed the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth, in refugee camps and in war zones, Guterres is determined to make human dignity the core of his work, and to serve as a peace broker, a bridge-builder and a promoter of reform and innovation.

Prior to his election as Secretary-General, he served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organisations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades.

The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.

Before joining UNHCR, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service.

He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor.

As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs, and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit.

The new secretary-general was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.

Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 where he served as a member for 17 years.

During that time, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Parliamentary Committee for Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment.

The UN scribe was also leader of his party’s parliamentary group.

From 1981 to 1983, Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he chaired the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.

For many years, the ninth UN scribe was active in the Socialist International, a worldwide organisation of social democratic political parties.

He was the group’s Vice-President from 1992 to 1999, co-chairing the African Committee and later the Development Committee, and served as President from 1999 until mid-2005.

In addition, he founded the Portuguese Refugee Council as well as the Portuguese Consumers Association DECO, and served as president of the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, an association carrying out social development projects in poor neighbourhoods of Lisbon, in the early 1970s.

The new UN chief is a member of the Club of Madrid, a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world.

Born in Lisbon in 1949 and graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico with a degree in engineering, Guterres is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

He is married to Catarina de Almeida, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lisbon, and has two children, a stepson and three grandchildren.</s>António Guterres in as 9th UN Secretary-General, Ban out

António Guterres assumed office on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, as the ninth UN Secretary-General after Ban Ki-moon’s exit following the completion of a 10 year- tenure on Saturday, Dec. 31. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Guterres, in his maiden message as the UN Secretary-General, entitled: “Appeal for Peace”, urged the world to…

The post António Guterres in as 9th UN Secretary-General, Ban out appeared first on The Herald Nigeria – 24/7 News updates from Nigeria.

This post was syndicated from The Herald Nigeria – 24/7 News updates from Nigeria. Click here to read the full text on the original website.

Also, Like us on facebook</s>He took the oath before the UN General Assembly on December 12, 2016 with then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wishing him success.

Guterres, 67, served as the prime minister of Portugal from 1995-2002. Guterres, who is also the former European Council president and ex-head of the Socialist International association of political parties, also served as the UN high commissioner for refugees in 2005-2015. He has vowed to be an impartial and independent mediator for the UN member states and to recognize the leadership of the states and the limitations of his role.</s>MOSCOW (Sputnik) — He succeeded Ban Ki-moon, whose term as UN chief expired at midnight on December 31, 2016.

Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres was born on April 30, 1949 in Lisbon. He graduated from the Instituto Superior Tecnico in 1971 with a degree in engineering.

Guterres entered politics in 1976 when he joined the Socialist Party and was elected to Portugal's Assembly of the Republic. He served as a legislator for 17 years. While in the unicameral parliament, he was chairman of committees tasked with overseeing Portugal's economy, public finances and environmental matters. Guterres also led his party’s parliamentary faction.

From 1981 to 1983, Guterres was a member of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, eventually becoming chairman of the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.

Guterres became secretary-general of the Portuguese Socialist Party in 1992 and prime minister of Portugal in 1995 following the Socialists’ election victory. He served in both positions until 2002.

As prime minister, Guterres was active in international efforts to end the crisis in East Timor, including a UN-backed agreement with Indonesia that put the island’s independence to a popular vote.

Guterres briefly led the European Council in 2000, where he championed the adoption of the so-called Lisbon Agenda and was co-chairman of the first EU-Africa Summit.

For many years, Guterres was an active member of the social democratic organization Socialist International. He served as the group’s vice president from 1992 to 1999 and as president from 1999 until mid-2005.

In 2005, the UN General Assembly elected Guterres to head the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). During his two extended terms, he oversaw budget and structural reforms at the agency and strengthened its emergency-response capacity.

​Under Guterres, the UNHCR responded to the largest displacement of people since World War II, marked by wars in Syria and Iraq as well as ongoing violence in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Yemen. During his decade at the agency, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide increased from 21 million in 2005 to nearly 64 million by the end of 2015.

In addition to holding political office, Guterres founded the Portuguese Council for Refugees and the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection, and he served as president of the Centro de Acao Social Universitario, a social development organization active in poor neighborhoods of Lisbon.

Guterres is fluent in Portuguese and three UN languages — English, French and Spanish. He is married and has two children.
Portugal's António Guterres begins his term as United Nations Secretary-General, replacing South Korea's Ban Ki-moon.