The United Nations (UN) assumed on Wednesday that the international community is treating the African continent with "injustice and immorality" and that, from the standpoint of the covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, Africa is condemned to an extremely difficult situation.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has criticized countries that have imposed restrictions on travel from South Africa and neighboring countries. The statements were made at the end of a meeting with the representative of the African Union (AU), Moussa Faki Mahamat, in New York.

The two officials considered that closing borders only to African countries amounts to a regime of "travel apartheid" and considered it "unacceptable" that one of the most vulnerable parts of the world is condemned to confinement, which represents an added difficulty for economic recovery after the pandemic.

In this respect, the measures applied by countries in Europe and other continents are unfounded and unjustifiable, besides being a punishment for the transparency of African countries for alerting the world of the emergence of the Omicron variant, which, however, was already circulating in other parts of the world before the disclosure.

"With a virus that truly has no borders, travel restrictions that isolate any country or region are not only deeply unfair and punitive - they are ineffective," Guterres said.

In this sense, the richest nations will have to "significantly strengthen" their support for developing countries by showing more solidarity, but also maintain a "massive commitment" to freezing the debts of African nations and allocating "Special Drawing Rights," stressed the UN official.

According to Moussa Faki Mahamat, "it is regrettable" that the international community has not offered "active and dynamic solidarity" with Africa.

Guterres and Mahamat met in New York at the UN headquarters for the fifth annual UN-AU conference, where threats to peace, terrorism in Africa and the climate crisis were discussed.