Portugal’s Guterres sworn in as next UN secretary-general

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa watch as Secretary-General-designate Mr. Antonio Guterres of Portugal is sworn in by President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson at UN headquarters in New York

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres took the oath of office on Monday to be the ninth United Nations Secretary-General with his hand on a copy of the UN Charter in front of the 193-member General Assembly.

Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea on Jan 1. Ban steps down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms. Guterres was Portugal’s prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.