NEW YORK (AFP)- The new United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Sunday (Jan 1) he would like to make 2017 a year to "put peace first", in a message heralding the new year and marking his first day as the world body's chief.

The Portuguese former prime minister, 67, took over as UN Secretary-General from South Korea's Ban Ki Moon, inheriting complex crises in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, North Korea and elsewhere.

"How can we help the millions of people caught up in conflict, suffering massively in wars with no end in sight?" Mr Guterres said.

"Civilians are pounded with deadly force. Women, children and men are killed and injured, forced from their homes, dispossessed and destitute.

"No one wins these wars, everyone loses."

Ushering in 2017, Mr Guterres asked the world to make "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."

The unanimous election of Mr Guterres - who fought for migrants' rights as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for a decade - has energised UN diplomats who see him as a skilled politician who may be able to overcome the divisions crippling the international organisation.

"Peace must be our goal and our guide," he said. "All that we strive for as a human family - dignity and hope, progress and prosperity - depends on peace.

"But peace depends on us."