Geneva, January 19 (RHC)-- U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres say he is determined to reform the world body and to see a diplomatic “surge” to overcome obstacles in peace talks.  Guterres said the United Nations is irreplaceable and its actions have reduced suffering.  “But I’m also aware of the shortcomings and the failures of the United Nations,” he told reporters.

“That’s why I’m totally committed first of all to a surge in diplomacy for peace, to make the U.N. more effective in trying to address the dramatic multiplication of conflicts that we are witnessing and to put full priority on the prevention of those conflicts,” he said.

Under Guterres' predecessor Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. tried, unsuccessfully so far, to make peace between warring sides in Syria, Yemen and Libya, while wars in Ukraine, South Sudan, Nigeria and elsewhere have continued unabated.

An early test for Guterres will be U.N.-led talks to reunify Cyprus, a decades-old conflict that has pushed Greece and Turkey to the brink of war in the past.