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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2392394
Sep 4, 2006 — By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The commander of U.N. peacekeepers said a joint meeting with Lebanese and Israeli officers on Monday had brought closer a full Israeli troop withdrawal from south Lebanon in line with a U.N. resolution.
Major-General Alain Pelligrini met representatives of the Lebanese and Israeli armies at his UNIFIL headquarters in the southern Lebanese port of Naqoura to coordinate the process of the Israeli pullout and Lebanese deployment, in conjunction with the peacekeepers, a U.N. statement said.
"The meeting was productive and I think we are on the right track in securing the full withdrawal of IDF (Israeli forces) from Lebanon and finally ensuring that the Lebanese army will take control of the whole border area in the south," he said.
Doha: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday stressed the need to avoid a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, a day after Tehran told him it was determined to negotiate an end to its standoff with the West.
"This is not the time for anyone to take independent decisions," Annan told reporters in Doha, his latest stop in a Middle East tour.
"We want to avoid confrontation. Confrontation is not in the interest of anyone in the region or in the international community."
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10064954.html
KINSHASA, Congo The postelection violence in Congo has only made it harder for the U.N. envoy here to persuade the world not to give up on a country he believes has the potential economic might to stand on its own and secure stability in sub-Saharan Africa.
"My argument generally is that of all the crises in Africa today, if you had to choose one, this is the one you would choose to put right, because this is the one crisis in all of Africa that has the potential for good for the rest of Africa," William Swing said in a weekend interview at the heavily guarded U.N. compound in Kinshasa.
Sprawling, resource-rich Congo "has the potential to change the face of Africa, and the image of Africa," said Swing, a 40-year diplomat who once was the U.S. ambassador here.
But on Aug. 21, events in Kinshasa reinforced a negative image of Africa. Gunfire broke out even before that day's announcement of the results of Congo's first democratic vote for a leader in 46 years. It had become clear in the hours before the official announcement, as results were posted on the Web, that there would be no first-round winner
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/04/africa/AF_GEN_Congo_Elections_Fatigue.php
4.00pm Tuesday September 5, 2006
Prime Minister Helen Clark says she is not taking seriously Time magazine naming her as a possible contender for the role of United Nations secretary general.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan steps down at the end of this year and there has been speculation about who will replace him.
A UN Security Council straw poll in July produced candidates from India, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand, but none were seen as real contenders.
Another straw poll was due this month with Jordan's UN envoy Prince Zeid al-Hussein expected to declare.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10399838
Link (http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/9/6/worldupdates/2006-09-05T203956Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-266137-1&sec=Worldupdates)
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Sudan on Tuesday it would be responsible for any worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur if African Union forces left because of a standoff with Khartoum over control of the mission.
The African Union's mandate to police a ceasefire in Darfur expires on Sept. 30, and the pan-African body has said without a major infusion of cash it could not continue any longer.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks at a news conference in Jeddah September 4, 2006. Annan warned Sudan on Tuesday it would be responsible for any worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur if African Union forces left because of a standoff with Khartoum over control of the mission. (REUTERS/Hamad Mohammed)
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Thursday which transferred control of the AU mission to the United Nations once its mandate expired, assuring the continued presence of peacekeepers with a broader mandate in Sudan's west.
But Sudan has rejected any U.N. presence in Darfur, saying it was tantamount to an invasion that would result in an Iraq-style quagmire, attract jihadis to battle Western troops, and further a U.S. goal of "regime change" in Khartoum.
ISRAEL will lift its eight-week air and sea blockade of Lebanon today, handing over control to international forces.
It said that Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, had been told by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations, that "international forces are ready to take over control posts over the seaports and airports of Lebanon".
A statement from Mr Olmert's office concluded: "Thus it was agreed that ... Israel will leave the control positions over the ports in conjunction with the entry of the international forces."
Israel imposed the embargo - bombing Beirut airport and denying ships access to Lebanese ports - the day after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two of its soldiers on 12 July and sparked a war that was halted by a UN truce nearly five weeks later.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1320352006
Friday September 8, 2006 2:46 AM
AP Photo JRL118
By SARAH DiLORENZO
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The chief of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees called on the international community Thursday to provide Gaza with a peacekeeping force or mission of observers, saying Gaza's 1.4 million people deserve protection.
Karen AbuZayd, the commissioner general for U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said a permanent solution must be found for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, perhaps by setting up a U.N. mission there.
``It would be great to have an international presence, civilian, military, whatever,'' she said.
Conditions in Gaza have reached a breaking point, AbuZayd said, as a result of the recent Israeli military offensive and blockade there since the capture of an Israeli soldier on June 25. Jan Egeland, U.N. humanitarian chief, has called the situation there, where border crossings remain closed at least 50 percent of the time, ``a ticking time-bomb.''
The spokeswoman at Israel's mission to the U.N., Anat Friedman, said that Israel hopes the international community will insist that the Palestinians respond to its demands ``to stop terror and recognize Israel.''
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6066017,00.html
Wednesday September 13, 2006 3:46 AM
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the authorization of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, expressing concern at the upsurge in violence and terrorist activity by the Taliban, al-Qaida and drug traffickers.
Some 20,000 NATO soldiers in the International Security Assistance Force and a similar number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan are facing an emboldened insurgency led by the country's former Taliban rulers that has demonstrated the fragility of Afghanistan's fledgling Western-style democracy.
The violence, centered in the Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, is the deadliest since a U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban's hard-line regime after Sept. 11, 2001, for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The Security Council resolution adopted Tuesday extends the authorization for the NATO-led force known as ISAF for 12 months after the current authorization expires on Oct. 13. The council acted a month early so Germany and other countries can get approval from their parliaments for the continued deployment of their troops, council diplomats said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6076270,00.html
UNITED NATIONS (AP)
Secretary-General Kofi Annan (pictured) backed a UN ministerial meeting next week to help revive the Middle East peace process, saying almost every leader he met recently in the region viewed Lebanon as “a wake up call” to deal with all Arab-Israeli conflicts.
In addition to stabilising Lebanon after the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah militants, he said, Mideast leaders want to see a fresh effort to sort out Israel’s problems with Lebanon as well as with Syria and the Palestinians.
Annan spoke at a news conference on Wednesday after a two-week trip primarily aimed at promoting implementation of the Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hizbollah fighting. The hour-long session also focused on the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting which begins next Tuesday, where Mideast issues are expected to be high on the agenda.
“Throughout my visit, almost every leader I met felt that Lebanon was a wake up call, and we should really focus on stabilising the situation in Lebanon, and relations between Lebanon and Israel, but not stop there – build on from there to deal with other conflicts in the region – Palestine, the Golan Heights,” Annan said.
The Arab League’s call for a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on September 21 to revive the Middle East peace process has received support from many council members, but not the United States, Israel’s closest ally.
http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp?CategoryId=2&ArticleId=121562
Monday September 18, 2006 10:01 AM
1 BEIJING (AP) - China will increase its peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 1,000 and double the humanitarian aid it has pledged, Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday.
The peacekeeping commitment represents a substantial increase in China's presence in the United Nations force in Lebanon, and underscores Beijing's growing strategic interest in the oil-rich Middle East.
``China is very concerned about the situation in Lebanon and hopes it can be fundamentally resolved,'' Wen said at a news conference with visiting Italian Premier Romano Prodi.
China sent 182 peacekeepers to Lebanon at the start of the year - its first peacekeeping contingent to the Middle East - before the clashes in July and August between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. It was not immediately clear how many of those Chinese forces were still in Lebanon.
The UNIFIL force is set to grow from 2,000 to 15,000 troops to enforce a U.N.-brokered cease-fire.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6087724,00.html
President Bush, who once said the United Nations was teetering on the brink of irrelevancy and demanded it show some backbone, has increasingly turned to the organization for international problem-solving, even as most Americans think the body has outlived its usefulness.
On issues from North Korea to Iran to Sudan, the president, who arrives in New York today to attend the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting, has deferred to the United Nations to drive action. Critics say Mr. Bush has been forced to become more multilateral after bucking the world body by invading Iraq, but administration officials assert that the United Nations remains a useful tool to spur foreign leaders to step in on major issues.
"This business about 'Our relationship is so bad' and 'We can't get anything done,' when you look at it, we actually have a fairly smart record of achievement," one senior administration official told The Washington Times last week. "We've gotten resolutions on some pretty serious issues where nobody thought we could get them."
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060918-124651-7037r.htm
AS KOFI ANNAN'S tenure as United Nations secretary-general limps to its inglorious close, the prestige and even the future of the world organization he came into office determined to revitalize could scarcely seem bleaker.
In the minds of many Americans, the U.N. is little more than a glorified talking shop in which hostility to the United States is perhaps the only common denominator and whose impotence is matched only by its corruption.
Though popular with Americans when he first took over in 1997, Annan — who unwisely came back from a meeting with Saddam Hussein proclaiming that the Iraqi dictator was a man he could "do business with" — soon came to be seen as exemplifying all of the U.N.'s faults. Paradoxically, in much of the world, the U.N. and Annan are denounced for being too servile to Washington — an impression that was certainly bolstered during the recent G-8 meeting near St. Petersburg, Russia, when President Bush was caught saying on an open microphone that he was tempted to "tell Kofi" to call Syrian President Bashar Assad to get him to rein in Hezbollah.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-rieff17sep17,0,4272509.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Activists and experts on military-ruled Myanmar urged U.S. first lady Laura Bush on Tuesday to recommend her husband keep up the pressure for human rights in the reclusive Southeast Asian nation.
Bush held a meeting on Myanmar in a sealed-off room in the U.N. basement minutes after listening to President George W. Bush deliver his annual address to the U.N. General Assembly.
"Now that Burma is on the agenda, what are the ways we can bring pressure on the generals?" she asked the group of six activists and experts, referring to Myanmar by its former name, as do all U.S. officials.
"I can tell you that the United States will work very hard with the other members of the Security Council to get a good resolution about Burma. The sooner, the better it would be," she said.
At the request of the United States, a divided U.N. Security Council last week voted to add Myanmar to its formal agenda, a move that classifies its junta government a threat to international peace and security.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-09-20T025313Z_01_N19409821_RTRUKOC_0_US-MYANMAR-UN-USA.xml&archived=False
21 September 2006
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council, acting at the request of Arab countries, holds a rare ministerial meeting here Thursday to discuss how to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.
The meeting, set to start at 3:30 pm (1930 GMT), will be attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN chief Kofi Annan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas among others. It was unclear whether Israel would be represented.
The 22-member Arab League wants a speedy revival of direct negotiations under Security Council auspices on several tracks: Israel and the Palestinians, Israel and Syria and Israel and Lebanon.
Arab countries hope that the 15-member council will at least issue a statement spelling out a mechanism to ensure implementation of the international roadmap for the creation of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.
But the roadmap, drafted by the Middle East Quartet -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- has made virtually no progress since its launch in 2003.
“What matters is that the roadmap determines where we will end up,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheith told reporters here Wednesday after a meeting of Arab ministers here.
His Bahraini counterpart Khaled ben Ahmed al-Khalifa is set to address the council on behalf of the 22-member Arab League, the Egyptian minister said.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa noted that Thursday’s council ministerial session is the first to be held at the request of the Arab group in “nearly 16 years”.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/September/theworld_September726.xml§ion=theworld&col=
KHARTOUM, Sudan Sudan's president lashed out at the U.S., saying Washington's plans to create a "new Middle East" were behind an international push to replace African Union peacekeepers with U.N. forces in war-ravaged Darfur.
President Omar al-Bashir has always opposed United Nations intervention in Sudan's remote Darfur region, but he escalated his anti-Western rhetoric Sunday, targeting America in an appeal to muster domestic support for what he implied would be a lengthy face-off.
In a speech to cabinet ministers and journalists gathered in Khartoum, he said the United States and Britain wanted to recraft the region in Israel's interests.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/25/africa/ME_GEN_Sudan_Darfur.php
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended on Friday that nearly 2,000 U.N. troops and police be sent to East Timor as part of a new peacekeeping mission after violence in May that killed at least 20 people.
The mission would take over peacekeeping duties from an Australian-led international force sent in to restore peace in Asia's newest state after a wave of clashes and arson attacks.
Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal as well as Australia contributed troops and police to that force, which has now begun a gradual withdrawal as the tiny nation stabilizes.
East Timor was plunged into violence after then-Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 soldiers from its 1,400-strong army for mutiny when they protested over alleged discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country.
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N11417890
For a country that is the third largest contributor of troops to the United Nations' peacekeeping missions, the UN has run roughshod over India, holding back reimbursements running into millions of dollars.
Notwithstanding its impeccable track record in UN missions, India is struggling to recover $180.55 million from the UN, which has to compensate it for troop costs, contingent-owned equipment leases and specific services.
Concerned about the delay in the reimbursement of costs, the Ministry of Defence has asked the Permanent Mission of India in New York to take up the matter with the UN.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1810914,0008.htm
UN Probe Into Murder Of Former Lebanese Leader Points To Young Male Suicide Bomber
New York, Sep 29 2006 2:00PM
Evidence suggests that a young, male suicide bomber, probably non-Lebanese, detonated up to 1,800 kilograms of explosives inside a van to assassinate former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut last year, the head of the United Nations-backed investigation into the killing told the Security Council today.
Briefing the Council as he delivered his latest progress report on the work of the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC), Serge Brammertz said DNA analysis conducted on human remains found at the crime scene “produced crucial results” about a man whom investigators believe carried out the bombing.
The report said a tooth found at the scene, and linked to more than 30 other pieces of human remains from an unknown individual, has been identified as belonging to a man in his early 20s. The tooth has a distinguishing mark on its surface, which investigators have concluded is rarely seen among the Lebanese.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0610/S00003.htm
WASHINGTON: South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon will be the next United Nations Secretary General.
Ban won the final informal straw poll with 14 votes, including support from all five Permanent Security Council members.
India's Shashi Tharoor came runner up again with ten 'encourage' votes, three 'discourage' votes and two no opinions. In the three negative votes, one was believed to be that of a permanent member, which would have amounted to a veto.
Tharoor then gracefully conceded victory to Ban and sent him a congratulatory message. ''It is clear that he will be our next Secretary-General,'' he said in an e-mail to ToI.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2070655.cms
By Alexander Casella
When Ban Ki-moon assumes his position of United Nations secretary general on January 1 - barring an unforeseen last-minute hitch - he will take over an organization that, in the words of a senior UN official, has never been in a worse condition.
Politically the organization, which was conceived as a link among nations, has become the arena of a new confrontation between so-called Third World countries and the industrialized world. The fallout of that clash did not spare the current secretary general, Kofi Annan, who after having sought to be all things to all people, ended up being qualified by a major African daily newspaper as "the African who serves his white masters".
http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HJ06Aa01.html
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200610/kt2006100917321911990.htm
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea condemned North Korea’s announcement of its first-ever nuclear test yesterday, saying it supports international efforts to discuss the issue immediately at the United Nations Security Council.
Chong Wa Dae said in a firm but cool-headed tone that it would never tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, which trampled on the hopes of the international community to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.
``It is an unacceptable provocation,’’ presidential spokesman Yoon Tai-young said in a statement after a National Security Council meeting. ``We will cope with the situation sternly guided by firm principle.’’
He made it clear that North Korea would be held solely responsible for all the consequences the nuclear test would bring, including the implications on inter-Korean relations in the coming days.
The statement was not as strong as a previous one issued right after the North’s missile test-firing in early July.
Yoon did not mention concrete measures, such as the suspension of cross-border economic projects. But a government official said that South Korea has decided to suspend a scheduled shipment of its flood aid to North Korea.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/October/theworld_October433.xml§ion=theworld
UNITED NATIONS - The United States decided on Wednesday to push for a vote on North Korea by the end of the week despite opposition from China to some of the sanctions aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its reported nuclear weapons test.
One controversial provision in the US-drafted resolution, was authorization for international inspections of cargo moving into and out of North Korea to detect weapons-related material.
China, diplomats said, had rejected it, but that provision is still in the text, circulated to the 15 Security Council members and obtained by Reuters.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1762910.htm
The United States says it will push for a vote on North Korea sanctions by the end of the week despite doubts from China on some of the measures proposed by the US and Japan.
US Ambassador John Bolton acknowledges there are "a number of disagreements".
But he says he intends to introduce a new draft resolution formally to the 15 Security Council members today with the aim of calling a vote on Friday.
Council members usually need at least 24 hours before adoption of a resolution after its introduction. ....
Friday October 13, 2006 5:01 AM
AP Photo XGB102
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Key U.N. Security Council members neared agreement late Thursday on a U.N. resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test.
The United States reported significant progress in bridging differences with Russia and China, which had sought to moderate the tough sanctions proposed in the U.S. draft resolution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6144293,00.html
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric said on Monday a reinforced international force on the Lebanese border was only there to protect Israel.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said United Nations peacekeepers were doing little to stop Israeli violations of Lebanon's sovereignty and urged the Lebanese to treat the force, UNIFIL, with caution.
"The widening of the scope of Israeli violations in the south and other areas in Lebanon and their repetition within the sight and hearing range of UNIFIL forces that don't interfere to stop these violations... affirm that these forces have come here to protect Israel not Lebanon," a statement from Fadlallah said.
"Therefore, it is the Lebanese people's right to put a question mark over its (U.N. force) role and to be cautious toward it in order to deal with it in a way that would protect Lebanon's security and peace."
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-10-16T112928Z_01_L16544018_RTRUKOC_0_US-LEBANON-CLERIC.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C2_worldNews-1
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20061017-013717-2606r.htm
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Eritrea to remove its troops from the buffer zone on the Ethiopian border.
Annan said that the Eritrean forces included 1,500 soldiers and 14 tanks. A spokesman described Eritrea's action as a major breach of its cease-fire agreement with Ethiopia and said Eritrea had also taken over one of the checkpoints from U.N. security forces.
The Eritrean government denied any incursion. It claimed that the men who had moved into the temporary security zone were there for the harvest and said they go there every year.
The head of the UN mission in Sudan, Jan Pronk, has left the country after being expelled by Sudan's government.
Mr Pronk, who already had shaky ties with Khartoum, wrote in his blog that Sudan's army had suffered defeats in Darfur and its morale was low.
Sudan is resisting strong international pressure to admit UN peacekeepers to try to end the conflict in Darfur.
The expulsion was attacked by former rebels from south Sudan, who joined the national government last year.
The BBC's correspondent in Khartoum, Jonah Fisher, says Mr Pronk's departure from the capital was a low-key affair.
The government, he says, has made it clear they do not want him to return.
....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6076022.stm
uesday October 24, 2006 1:16 AM
AP Photo CAI201
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan still has full confidence in his top envoy to Sudan who was ordered to leave the country after accusing the army of violating U.N. resolutions in the war in Darfur, the U.N. spokesman said Monday.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Jan Pronk, Annan's special representative in Sudan for over two years, left Khartoum because he was recalled for consultations at Annan's request rather than to comply with the government's order.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6166975,00.html
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday said that any United Nations Security Council sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme would only serve to further "motivate" the nation.
"We have been under sanctions for the past 27 years and these things will therefore have no impact, but just lead to more motivation of the Iranian youth," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Varamin, south of Tehran.
The president was referring to scheduled Security Council sanctions against the Islamic state for having violated resolution 1696 calling on Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1832373,00050004.htm
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to give Ivory Coast's prime minister sweeping new powers for guiding the volatile West African nation to elections within a year.
The move, stripping Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivory Coast president, of almost all his authority, came on Wednesday in a resolution rewritten earlier in the day, following a deadlock over a previous draft written by France
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7259F0A0-0555-4B6D-8384-06E0DB51AA0A.htm
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A group of U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors has visited Iran's second network of centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, the official IRNA news agency quoted an official as saying on Sunday.
Despite U.N. Security Council demands that it halt nuclear fuel production work, Iran announced last month that it had started up a second group of 164 centrifuges, which spin at supersonic speeds to enrich uranium.
The networks of centrifuges are known as cascades. Iran says Natanz will eventually house tens of thousands of the machines but that it will only use them to enrich uranium to a level suitable for use in atomic power reactors and not to the much higher level needed to make atom bombs.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-11-05T144432Z_01_HAF545312_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN-INSPECTORS.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C1_%5bFeed%5d-8
The High-Level Panel on United Nations Reform will propose that the UN becomes a tighter and simpler body, according to a draft of the final report.
The panel says UN programmes are often "fragmented and weak", and it has too little power to enforce its plans in areas such as the environment.
The panel says agencies which reform should be rewarded with secure and sustained funding.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6129624.stm
The United Nations humanitarian chief Jan Egeland has met with the elusive leader of Uganda's notorious rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and one of the world's most-wanted war crimes suspects.
Mr Egeland and LRA supremo Joseph Kony, who arrived late for the meeting, met and shook hands at a remote jungle clearing on the border between southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo where the top rebel leadership is based.
Mr Kony emerged from the bush with a retinue of heavily armed fighters and went immediately into a tent for private talks with Mr Egeland believed to be the shadowy guerrilla leader's highest-level international contact ever.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1786755.htm
Mexico City - Half of all children in Latin America live below the poverty line, the vice chairman of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Argentine pediatrician Norberto Liwski, told Efe here on Tuesday.
The recurrent economic crises in the region over the past decade have increased the number of children who are obliged to work, he said, citing his own country as an example.
The number of working children in Argentina rose from 210,000 in 2001 to 1.2 million in 2003 because of the hard times during the four-year slump that saw the country's economy shrink by 20 percent.
Liwski, who is in the Mexican capital to give the federal government the committee's recommendations on its policies regarding children, mentioned Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador as the countries of the region where there is the most child labor.
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4661149
riday, November 17, 2006
By Les Neuhaus, The Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- African, Arab, European and U.N. leaders agreed in principle yesterday to a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region.
The force could be as large as 27,000, including the existing 7,000-member AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, but the leaders did not lay out a timetable for the force to begin work -- partly because Sudan had some reservations, including the question of who would be in charge.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06321/739056-82.stm
GENEVA (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that the United States was "trapped in Iraq," and urged Washington to carefully consider when would be the best time to pull out of the country so the withdrawal does not lead to a further deterioration of security.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-21-annan-iraq_x.htm
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. humanitarian chief said a "dramatic deterioration" of the situation in Sudan's Darfur region has left four million people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
Jan Egeland warned Wednesday that the country could face a major humanitarian disaster within weeks unless there was a true cease-fire and a renewed effort to reach a lasting peace.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against Sudan's Arab-led central government. The Khartoum government is accused of retaliating with the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads, and violence has only increased since the government and one rebel group signed a peace agreement in May.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/breaking_news/16082596.htm
Tuesday November 28, 2006 12:46 AM
AP Photo BAG118
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq, according to a letter circulated Monday.
In the letter, al-Maliki said a top priority of his government is to assume full responsibility for security and stability but it needs more time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6243363,00.html
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0612/S00027.htm
Ambassador Bolton: Good morning.
Reporter: Good morning. I'm sorry. Is there a new proposal on Iran on the table distributed -- or given to the U.S. by the EU? And if so, how does the U.S. feel about it? What does it say?
Ambassador Bolton: I really don't have anything new for you on Iran today, so.
Reporter: Sudan's president said any agreement to send U.N. peacekeepers was -- it was a lie. What do you think of what Sudan's views are on the latest plans to get international forces in?
Ambassador Bolton: Well, the Security Council was very clear in Resolution 1706 in what we expect. And a lot of steps have been taken to try and accommodate the views of the government of Sudan. And their public comments, to date, don't appear to be very helpful in that regard. And I would just simply underline Resolution 1706 remains on the table. And that's the position of the Security Council and, hence, the United Nations.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing opposition from key senators, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will leave office in a matter of days, the White House announced on Monday.
Spokeswoman Dana Perino said President George W. Bush had reluctantly accepted Bolton's decision to leave the U.N. post when the current session of the U.S. Congress ends, possibly at the end of the week.
http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/5/worldupdates/2006-12-04T201727Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-278919-2&sec=Worldupdates
DEPENDENCE, Mo. - Accountability and the responsibility of governments to those they govern will be the focus of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's last major speech before he leaves office.
Annan, who leaves the United Nations on Dec. 31 after 10 years, will discuss principles of global governance - particularly as they relate to the U.S. - during a speech Monday at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library.
http://www.examiner.com/a-448925~U_N__Secretary_General_gives_farewell_addre ss_at_Truman_Library.html
Ban, Ban Ki-moon
With slick orators such as Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton in the house, it was soft-spoken Ban Ki-moon who rocked the mic at Friday night's U.N. Correspondents Association ball.
The incoming secretary-general, who will be sworn in Thursday morning for a five-year term, delivered a brief, warm and unexpectedly funny appearance before scores of well-dressed members of the usually scruffier press corps, and diplomats and bureaucrats.
"My name is Ban, but not James Ban," said the sassy tuxedo-clad South Korean. "I take office in '07. I am not shaken, but you will be stirred."
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061211-123428-7922r.htm
Khartoum - The United Nations is to send a special envoy to Sudan to coordinate assistance to the embattled African Union force deployed in war-torn Darfur, the state media reported on Monday.
Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "said he wanted to dispatch a UN under secretary, Ahmadou Ould Abdallah, to discuss with the government means of providing the support decided in Abuja," the Akhbar Al-Yom daily said.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=iol1166440026212U532&set_id=
Annan term as Pope of the secular world ends
Kofi Annan went to the Truman Presidential Library last week and, in his final address to the United States, reminded Americans that, at the San Francisco Conference of 1945 after the Second World War, they gave the world one of the nation’s greatest gifts — the United Nations. He added: "The UN system still cries out for far-sighted American leadership in the Truman tradition."
Calling for the best in the human character is the enduring legacy of Annan. Quiet by nature, modest in personality and dignified in bearing, Annan took to the helm of the UN in 1997 and became a world star. From the beginning, he willingly thrust the United Nations into the life of the planet in an unprecedented fashion.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143962645
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council gave its unanimous backing Tuesday to a hybrid U.N.-African Union force for conflict-wracked Darfur and urged all parties to quickly beef up the beleaguered African force on the ground.
Expressing deep concern at "the worsening security situation in Darfur," the council said a three-step U.N. proposal to strengthen the African Union's 7,000-troop peacekeeping mission should start immediately.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/world/article/0,1406,KNS_351_5225648,00.html
SEOUL, South Korea: The next U.N. chief expressed regret over the lack of progress in recent international talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Ban Ki-moon, who came to South Korea on Sunday before officially assuming his new job, called for patience in resolving the nuclear standoff.
"I think the continuation of the six-nation talks as positive," Ban said.
He said he does not have any immediate plan to visit Pyongyang, the North's capital, for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il over the nuclear weapons program.
.....
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/26/asia/AS_GEN_SKorea_Next_U.N._Chief.php
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Sudan raised new doubts Wednesday about its commitment to a U.N. peace effort in the violence-wracked Darfur region as its U.N. envoy ruled out any U.N. peacekeeping troops - a key element of the world body's proposal.
The surprise statement came just minutes after the U.N. Security Council announced that it welcomed the Sudanese president's acceptance of the U.N. plan to help end the escalating conflict - a plan that includes deployment of a ``hybrid'' African Union-United Nations force.
......
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6306698,00.html
UNITED NATIONS - With the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region spilling into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended against deploying U.N. peacekeepers in the two countries until all parties agree to a cease-fire and start talks.
The United Nations is still pressing, however, for the Sudanese government to approve the deployment of a "hybrid" African Union-United Nations force in Darfur with 17,300 military personnel and 5,300 police.
Annan's successor, Ban Ki-moon, who took the reins of the United Nations on New Year's Day, is scheduled to meet the special envoy for Darfur, former Swedish foreign minister Jan Eliasson, on Wednesday.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/16371226.htm
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon devoted much of his first days on the job to the three-year conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, which has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.
Since he took over from Kofi Annan on Jan. 1, the new U.N. chief has been holding daily meetings on Darfur in effort to find a peaceful solution.
On Wednesday, he met the new U.N. special envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson. On Thursday, he chaired what he called "a good meeting" with the newly formed Darfur Task Force comprising top U.N. officials.
.......
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/breaking_news/16387463.htm
equalrights4all
06-01-07, 07:07
Do you know any more aboutthe situation in Darfur?
Here are some more news about Darfur and the UN. Follow the link:
Darfur: UN Envoy Heads To Sudan For Talks With Gov
Darfur: UN Envoy Heads To Sudan For Talks With Government, Rebels And Others
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Darfur heads to Sudan and neighbouring Ethiopia tonight for almost a week of talks and meetings with officials from the Sudanese Government, the African Union (AU) and other groups to discuss how to find a lasting solution to the conflict that has left at least 200,000 people dead and displaced more than 2 million others.
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0701/S00029.htm
NITED NATIONS (AP) - The UN Security Council said it backs the speedy deployment of African troops to Somalia and strongly urges a dialogue among all political players, in addition to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the country.
Russia's UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, told reporters after a closed-door meeting Wednesday that members regard Somalia as "a high priority matter" and are concerned about instability,security, and the humanitarian situation.
.....
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/01/11/3299474-ap.html
Secretary-General Ban Calls for More Diplomatic Efforts on Somalia; UN Envoy is Hopeful
New York, Jan 11 2007 3:00PM
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said that while he understood the “necessity” behind the recent United States military operations in Somalia, aimed at suspected Al-Qaida targets, diplomatic efforts must be redoubled to bring peace to the war-ravaged country that has not had a functioning government since 1991.
Mr. Ban made his remarks at his first formal news conference at UN Headquarters in New York since becoming Secretary-General on 1 January, while in Kenya today, his Special Representative for Somalia said closed-door talks on Wednesday between top Somali leaders were an “important step towards reconciliation.?
......
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0701/S00122.htm
Simon Tisdall
Wednesday January 17, 2007
The Guardian
Burma's military junta has been crowing this week over the defeat of a US- and British-backed United Nations security council resolution condemning the regime's egregious human rights abuses. It is a sickening sound for millions of oppressed Burmese effectively imprisoned in their own homeland. And the decisive UN vetoes cast by China and Russia, supported by South Africa of all countries, have dealt another Darfur-scale setback to the international community's newly proclaimed "responsibility to protect".
For once, the Bush administration, democracy and human rights campaigners, and aid agencies are mostly in the same corner. "The US is deeply disappointed by the council's failure," said acting UN ambassador Alejandro Wolff. "The resolution would have been a strong and urgently needed statement about the need for change in Burma whose military regime arbitrarily arrests, tortures, rapes and executes its own people and wages war on minorities within its own borders while refugee flows increase, narcotics and human trafficking grow, and communicable diseases remain untreated."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1992055,00.html
New York - A United Nations team will go to central Africa for the weekend to examine the logistics for a possible peacekeeping force in Chad and the Central African Republic to help thousands affected by the spillover of the Darfur conflict in Sudan.
A technical assessment team visited both countries from November 21 to December 03 and met with the presidents and the government officials, but because of attacks and insecurity in the border regions it was unable to visit eastern Chad or northeastern Central African Republic.
UN associate spokesperson Farhan Haq said the team would try to visit those areas, as requested by the UN security council. He said: "This technical assessment mission ... will be leaving New York this weekend for the region and that mission is expected to last two weeks."
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,9294,2-11-1447_2056738,00.html
Bolton returns
John R. Bolton has left the United Nations and, apparently, the government as well. But you can still hear his refreshingly blunt views on the world body, Iran, North Korea, Israel, Iraq and pretty much anything else. Of course, now it will cost you.
Mr. Bolton is the latest star to sign on with the Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB), a for-profit talent booking firm that books speakers such as former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, entrepreneur Donald Trump, George Bush impersonator Steve Bridges, sports hall-of-famers and best-selling business authors.
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http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070122-121332-2534r.htm
The UN Security Council reached an agreement on Monday on a new mission in Nepal that was expected to include 186 military monitors to help enforce a peace pact between the government and Maoist rebels.
The council last month approved an advance group of 35 monitors in response to formal requests from both sides that the United Nations intervene immediately to monitor disarmament of the rebels and make sure the army stays in their barracks.
....
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1908417,000500020003.htm
The United Nations special envoy on Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, has briefed representatives of the six-nation Contact Group on his proposals for the future status of Kosovo.
The UN has tried to keep the lid on simmering ethnic tensions
The province has been under UN administration since Nato's military intervention in 1999.
In a week's time Mr Ahtisaari will present his recommendations to the authorities in Serbia - to which Kosovo formally belongs - and to the leaders of Kosovo, most of whose inhabitants are independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
.....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6299341.stm
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally proposed on Monday changes to the UN bureaucracy that would downgrade the disarmament affairs department and split peacekeeping into two divisions, measures that met with skepticism from developing nations.
Ban made his realignment proposals in a memorandum obtained by Reuters last week. On Monday he wrote a formal letter outlining the plans to all 192 UN members.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/January/theworld_January837.xml§ion=theworld
New York, Feb 1 2007 11:00AM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today visited the United Nations war crimes court for the Balkans wars in The Hague, Netherlands, and called for action by Security Council members to help bring the two principal Bosnian Serb fugitives, Radovan Karadžic and Ratko Mladic, to trial.
“I know that there is a sense of frustration for not being able to complete what they are mandated to do because of non-cooperation, non-availability of those people indicted,” Mr. Ban told reporters after conferring with the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Fausto Pocar
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00025.htm
New York, Feb 4 2007 11:00AM
Reacting against rising bloodshed in Iraq, the senior United Nations envoy there today called on the country's people to display the far-sighted leadership needed to find a way out of the current crisis.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative, Ashraf Qazi, "condemned in the strongest terms the upsurge in violence in Iraq which targeted innocent civilians in popular markets and universities."
In a statement released by his office in Baghdad, Mr. Qazi said, "This seemingly unending cycle of violence killed and wounded hundreds of Iraqi civilians in Al-Sadriyah area in Baghdad, Al-Maktabat market in Al-Hillah and Kirkuk." The envoy called on Iraqi leaders and citizens to exhibit fresh thinking in the face of the violence "that is tearing their society to pieces."
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00066.htm
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with his top lieutenants for Kosovo tomorrow for talks on the future status of the Albanian-majority Serbian province, which the UN has run since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid brutal ethnic fighting.
Mr. Ban will confer at UN Headquarters in New York with his Special Representative for Kosovo Joachim Rücker and his Special Envoy for the future status process Martti Ahtisaari, who last week unveiled his own proposals that would grant the province the right to govern itself and conclude international agreements, including membership in international bodies.
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00114.htm
Up To $2 Million For Indonesia Flood Relief
Monday, 12 February 2007, 4:04 pm
Press Release: United Nations
UN Offers Up To $2 Million From Emergency Fund For Indonesia Flood Relief
New York, Feb 9 2007 5:00PM
The top United Nations humanitarian official today released up to $2 million from the world body’s emergency fund to help Indonesia’s Government deal with the deadly floods that have already killed at least 50 people and displaced half a million others in the capital Jakarta and surrounding areas.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00184.htm
U.N. chief dispels criticism over allegedly bypassing procedures: NYT
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appears to have been successful in dispelling accusations that he bypassed procedures and consultations, the New York Times reported Monday.
Unlike two weeks ago, ambassadors from 192 U.N. member states left a Friday evening meeting assured that Ban will respect the process of consultation, review and justification on the changes he seeks in reforming the U.N., according to the paper.
......
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20070220/610000000020070220081154E5.html
Only diplomatic means can resolve Iran's nuclear conflict: UN chief
UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary General has stressed that only diplomatic means can settle the ongoing row over Iran's nuclear program.
"Solutions can only be found through talks and dialogue. This is the basic principle in conflict situations," Ban Ki Moon said on Wednesday in an interview with the German ARD TV station. "I regret very much that we have not found the proper solution to the Iran conflict. The issue is now in the hands of the UN Security Council"
Ban called on Iran to convince the international community of its peaceful nuclear intentions.
"During last month's meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister, I have urgently requested him to convince the international community that Iran is in fact interested in the peaceful use of atomic energy," the UN Chief pointed out.
Tehran has repeatedly stated that it is pursuing a civilian nuclear program aimed at generating electricity. Iran has also said that it is ready to resume unconditional nuclear talks in a bid to settle conflict.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=2/22/2007&Cat=2&Num=14
UN warns Asian economies face new threats
(AFP)
26 February 2007
BANGKOK - Asian economies face new threats that could destabilise the region, despite the current boom that resulted from success in overcoming the 1997 financial crisis, a top UN official said on Monday.
Some of the risks now facing the region are similar to those that preceded the 1997 crisis, which began in Thailand and spread around Southeast and East Asia, said Kim Hak-Su, the head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
.........
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/February/theworld_February809.xml§ion=theworld&col=
UN Members Meet in London over Iran Nuclear Sanctions
Representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany met in London Monday to discuss tightening sanctions against Iran. The move follows last week's report by the UN nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, that Iran had failed to meet UN demands to halt its nuclear program. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from London.
,,,,,
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200702/200702270009.html
Ban Ki-Moon Calls for ‘Dialogue
New York, Feb 28 2007 6:00PM
Painting his grimmest picture yet of the humanitarian and security situation in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reiterated the urgent need for a ceasefire, calling for “dialogue and negotiation” from all sides, while the United Nations mission in the country today reported more abductions, hijackings and tribal fighting throughout the region.
In his latest report on Darfur to the Security Council, which was released today and covers the past three months through January, Mr. Ban in particular condemns the recent aerial bombings by the Government and the arrest and physical abuse of international humanitarian staff by local police last month.
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0703/S00013.htm
U.N. nuclear watchdog meeting to focus on problems with Iran, progress on North Korea
By Associated Press
Monday, March 5, 2007 - Updated: 06:53 AM EST
VIENNA, Austria - The chief U.N. nuclear inspector on Monday said his agency cannot be sure that Iran’s nuclear activities are not a cover for a weapons program, adding that uncertainties will persist until Tehran decides to cooperate with his experts.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke as board member nations of the IAEA gathered for a session on approving the suspension of dozens of technical aid programs to Iran as part of Security Council sanctions meant to punish Tehran for its nuclear defiance
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http://news.bostonherald.com/international/asiaPacific/view.bg?articleid=186471
UN diplomats get testy with slow Sudan
nited Nations - Security Council members voiced mounting frustration on Tuesday at Sudan's perceived foot-dragging over United Nations plans for joint African Union-UN peacekeeping in strife-torn Darfur.
"There is a lot of frustration among council members," said South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who chairs the 15-member council this month.
A Western diplomat said African and European members of the council were particularly angry at Khartoum's perceived procrastination.
French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere expressed disappointment that Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir had not yet replied to a letter from UN chief Ban Ki-moon on a proposed joint UN-AU peacekeeping operation in Darfur.
"I am disappointed that we have not yet received the letter... We have been told for days that this letter was about to come," he noted.
.....
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=nw20070307091642483C182867
Key U.N. Security Council members fail to agree on new Iran sanctions
By Associated Press
Monday, March 12, 2007 - Updated: 07:22 AM EST
UNITED NATIONS - The world’s most powerful nations failed to agree on new sanctions against Iran amid reports that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to put Tehran’s case for a nuclear program before the U.N. Security Council.
The surprise announcement about Ahmadinejad’s intention to fly to New York came in the throes of intense debate Sunday among the five veto-wielding permanent council members - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - and Germany on additional measures to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
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http://news.bostonherald.com/international/middleEast/view.bg?articleid=187981
Israel has accused Hezbollah of smuggling arms across the Lebanese-Syrian border, while Beirut accuses Tel Aviv of violating Lebanese airspace with surveillance flights.
The allegations are expected to be included in a report by Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, due for discussion by the Security Council on March 27.
Ban has criticised Israel and Lebanon for violating Security Council resolution 1701, which brought a cease-fire that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in August 2006.
Ban warned that without progress on "core issues ... [resolution] 1701 could be severely tested.''
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BEE7582D-07E5-436C-B0DC-C918D57B7E75.htm
SA seeks UN sanctions 'time out'
20/03/2007 09:04 - (SA)
US visa for Iranian president
Iran not budging on nuke issue
Iran sanctions to be stepped up
Iran wants to brief UN on nukes
SA takes over at UN
SA to promote peace, says Mbeki
New York - South Africa on Monday called for a 90-day "time out" on sanctions against Iran, and said a resolution drafted by six world powers should drop an embargo on arms exports and financial sanctions targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an Iranian bank.
The proposals by South Africa, which holds the presidency of the UN security council this month, were obtained by The Associated Press ahead of an informal council meeting on Tuesday and the first formal discussion on Wednesday on the draft resolution.
Germany and the five veto-wielding permanent council nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - agreed on modest new sanctions on Thursday to step up pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to produce nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,9294,2-10-1462_2086253,00.html
Rice, U.N. Chief Address Mideast Impasse
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 25, 2007; 3:12 PM
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday it was important for Israel and the Palestinians to establish a "common agenda" to move forward on creating a Palestinian state _ an apparent break with Israel, which has ruled out peace talks for now.
Rice also said all the parties need to have a "destination in mind" to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But she conceded the sides were far apart, and had no specific proposal to get long-stalled peace talks moving.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500243.html
Iran Partially Suspends U.N. Cooperation
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
Posted March 25 2007, 2:29 PM EDT
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran announced Sunday that it was partially suspending cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, citing the "illegal and bullying" U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on the country for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top11mar25,0,5391494.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines
U.N. Extends Probe of Lebanon PM's Death
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri until June 15, 2008.
Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz told the council last week that the investigation into the killing of Hariri and 22 others in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005 was making progress but will not be completed when the current mandate expires on June 15.
He said in a recent report to the council that the probe is taking place in a ``volatile political and security environment'' which has hampered his ability to retain staff and to finish the investigation ``in a timely fashion.''
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6513813,00.html
Ban vows to work for Lebanon-Israel truce
NAQoURA, Lebanon (AFP)
UN chief Ban Ki-moon left Beirut yesterday vowing to work towards a permanent ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, after he toured the border area devastated by last summer’s war.
“I am still working to change the cessation of hostilities to a ceasefire agreement,” Ban said at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the border town of Naqoura before flying back to New York.
The UN force is monitoring a truce agreement reached under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 34-day Israeli offensive on Lebanon last August 14.
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http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp?CategoryId=2&ArticleId=147098
U.N. rights chief calls for probe into rapes, disappearances in Darfur
The U.N.'s top human rights official called today for the Sudanese government to carry out an impartial investigation into allegations its soldiers took part in the rape of women in Darfur last December.
GENEVA — The U.N.'s top human rights official called today for the Sudanese government to carry out an impartial investigation into allegations its soldiers took part in the rape of women in Darfur last December....
http://www.startribune.com/722/story/1104533.html
UN to host high-level meeting with AU on Darfur
04-15-2007, 03h17
UNITED NATIONS (AFP)
Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) soldiers, seen here on 14 February 2007 in Umm Rai. UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday opens high-level talks here with the African Union (AU) on Darfur that could clear the way for deploying a sizable UN force in the strife-torn Sudanese region.
(AFP/File)
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday opens high-level talks here with the African Union (AU) on Darfur that could clear the way for deploying a sizable UN force in the strife-torn Sudanese region.
Ban was to hold two days of talks with Alpha Oumar Konare, the chairman of the AU Commission, to nail down a tentative deal reached with Khartoum to send about 2,300 UN troops to Darfur to bolster 7,000 under-equipped AU troops.....
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=171459
UN Secretary-General Counsels Patience on Darfur
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (file photo)
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is appealing to the Security Council to give him more time to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Darfur before imposing economic and military sanctions on the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir. The secretary-general's appeal was made Sunday at a news conference in Geneva. Lisa Schlein has details.
U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon says resolving the crisis in Darfur is one of his highest priorities. He says he believes he has made some progress. He points to a recent commitment from the Sudanese government to let the United Nations deploy several thousand peacekeepers to boost the African Union's 7,000-strong troop level in Darfur.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-04-22-voa12.cfm
UN Continuing to Push Final Phases of Peace Plan in Sudan
The United Nations Mission in Sudan said Wednesday it is pleased that Sudan has accepted the second phase of a proposed three-phase U.N. support package for Darfur. But the U.N. said it will continue to push Sudan to accept the third and final phase, involving the deployment of around 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers to the region......
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-04-25-voa21.cfm
U.N. Chief Urges Global Support for Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world's major powers to support an economic and political reform package for Iraq at a conference in Egypt this week, saying this would encourage Iraqis to promote national reconciliation.
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6596593,00.html
UN hopes to send peacekeepers to Somalia
The Security Council on Monday asked the United Nations chief to begin contingency planning to send UN peacekeepers back to Somalia for the first time since 1995.
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http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=306315
Deadly clash at UN-run school in Gaza Strip sparks concern from Ban Ki-moon
Palestine-UN, Politics, 5/7/2007
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced deep concern over yesterday's violent clash outside a school in the Gaza Strip operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in which one person was killed and eight others – including two schoolchildren – were injured in an intra-Palestinian clash.
In a statement released by his spokesperson, Ban noted that this was the latest in a series of internecine incidents that have "have claimed innocent and unarmed victims.
He called on the Palestinian National Unity Government "to exercise its responsibility to ensure law and order, including the protection of humanitarian organizations such as UNRWA that deliver vital aid services to the people of Gaza," according to the statement.
Ban also urged the Palestinian Authority to take all measures needed to immediately halt the firing of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli population centers, observing that they target civilians by definition, the spokesperson added.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/070507/2007050715.html
Russia says it cannot accept elements of Western draft U.N. resolution on Kosovo
The Associated Press
Published: May 12, 2007
Text Size
MOSCOW: Russia said Saturday that it could not accept elements of a draft U.N. resolution on Kosovo worked out by the United States and European Union nations, maintaining its strong opposition to a Western-backed plan for the Serbian province's independence.
"Of course, discussions with the document's authors are still ahead. But it's obvious that the draft resolution contains some elements which can't be accepted by us," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement. He said talks must continue to help reach a compromise between the Serbs — who want Kosovo remain within Serbia's borders, and the ethnic Albanians who seek independence.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/12/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Kosovo.php
Lebanon PM seeks UN-backed court over Hariri murder
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has written to the United Nations (UN) asking the Security Council to impose an international court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former premier, Rafik Hariri.
Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that Mr Siniora had asked for the action in the face of the refusal of the pro-opposition Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, to call a session of the legislature to ratify the blueprint for the tribunal.
"In a letter sent this morning, the Prime Minister made a strong request to (UN Secretary-General) Ban Ki-moon to ask the Security Council to take a binding decision," Mr Aridi said.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Mr Siniora said: "The Lebanese government believes that the time has come for the Security Council to help make the special tribunal for Lebanon a reality.
"We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to put before the Security Council our request that the special tribunal be put into effect.
"A binding decision regarding the tribunal on the part of the Security Council will be fully consistent with the importance the UN has attached to this matter from the outset, when the investigation commission was established."
He was referring to a UN commission of inquiry, now headed by Serge Brammertz of Belgium, which has implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the killing of Mr Hariri.
The proposed international court, a flagship policy for the Government of Mr Siniora, who was the slain former premier's right-hand man before his death, has fallen foul of Lebanon's six-month-old political crisis that has paralysed all legislation.
All six pro-Syrian Government ministers quit last November, accusing Mr Siniora of riding roughshod over the power-sharing arrangements in force since the 1975-90 civil war.
Both the Speaker of Parliament and pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud have since refused to recognise the anti-Syrian Cabinet.
The pro-Syrian opposition has made plain it strongly opposes any move by the Security Council to impose the international court under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, so Mr Siniora's action is likely to inflame the political crisis which has seen opposition supporters camped outside his offices for months.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1922833.htm
Pirates halt Somali aid shipments
Pirate attacks have risen since the Union of Islamic Courts was ousted
Deliveries of food aid to Somalia by sea have been halted, after an attempt by pirates to seize a ship chartered by the UN food relief agency.
The head of the World Food Programme said their programme to feed one million Somalis is under threat.
The WFP-chartered vessel was attacked on Saturday off the Somali port of Merka after it had just delivered 4,000 tons of food.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6675117.stm
UN peacekeeper in Darfur killed by gunmen
By Alfred de Montesquiou, Associated Press Writer
Published: 28 May 2007
A United Nations peacekeeper who was among a small group of reinforcements sent to Darfur was shot to death at his residence - marking the UN's first casualty since its long-negotiated arrival in the troubled region.
Gunmen shot the Egyptian lieutenant colonel in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, and looted his home late on Friday.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2588911.ece
http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2007/6/2/apworld/20070602101900&sec=apworld
U.N. envoy says East Timor faces 'challenging' parliamentary elections
UNITED NATIONS (AP): The U.N. representative in East Timor praised the young nation's recent presidential elections but warned that the upcoming parliamentary vote would be "more challenging.''
Atul Khare, who heads the United Nations mission in the troubled country, called the votes in April and May that elected Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta as the country's second president "deeply satisfying.''
U.N. envoy raises "alarm" about Mideast, warning that it could see war, containment or diplomacy
UNITED NATIONS: U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen raised an "alarm" about the situation in the Middle East, warning that the region faces the possibilities of full-scale war, a fresh effort to contain the current violence, or energetic diplomacy to try to bring lasting peace.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/12/news/UN-GEN-UN-Mideast-Turmoil.php
Security Council authorizes U.N. investigators to probe killing of anti-Syrian lawmaker in Lebanon
UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. Security Council gave a green light to U.N. investigators to help Lebanese authorities probe last week's killing of an anti-Syrian lawmaker in a massive car bombing in Beirut.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/18/news/UN-GEN-UN-Lebanon-Tribunal.php
Violence threatens Lebanese stability' - UN peace envoy
BEIRUT: Michael Williams, the new special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, reported Wednesday that the regional security situation remained unstable and had deteriorated even further during the most recent reporting period. During his first briefing to the Security Council Wednesday, Williams said that in Lebanon, "renewed violence threatened the nation's stability."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=83261
Somali Leader Wants U.N. to Send Troops
Friday June 29, 2007 1:16 AM
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Declaring that Somalia is at ``a critical crossroads,'' Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Thursday urged U.N. peacekeepers to take over from a small African Union force in the country's capital to help restore security and deal with terrorism...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6744502,00.html
U.N. Report Backpedals on Western Sahara
Tuesday July 3, 2007 4:01 AM
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - In a rare acknowledgment that U.N. officials may have overstepped, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reissued a report Monday on the Western Sahara that eliminated controversial recommendations on the future of the disputed region.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6753683,00.html
U.N. CHIEF SAYS KOSOVO PLAN FACES RISKS
NEW YORK TIMES
07/06/2007
UNITED NATIONS — Progress in stabilizing Kosovo will be reversed unless there is swift action on a U.N. plan for its independence from Serbia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council made public Thursday.
The Security Council is to take up the subject Monday. Efforts have resumed to overcome objections from Russia, which supports Serbia's insistence that Kosovo, a breakaway province, must remain a part of it.
The council is considering a resolution calling for a European Union-managed independence for Kosovo, a plan that has been revised three times to try to meet Russian demands.
But Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, has hinted that if the resolution is put to a vote, Russia will veto it.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since a NATO bombing campaign drove out Serbian forces, which had been cracking down brutally on the ethnic Albanian population.Britain, France and the United States, sponsors of the resolution, have warned that ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population of Kosovo, are growing restive and may declare unilateral independence if the United Nations does not act.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/world/story/C058349E0E0A93F886257310000EF568?OpenDocument
New Kosovo U.N. draft may keep independence route
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Europeans and the United States are drafting a U.N. resolution that would order 120 days of negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians but no longer automatically call for independence.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/07/11/new_kosovo_un_draft_may_keep_independence_route/
Assad: Peace talks only if Israel guarantees return of Golan
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered Monday to facilitate any future peace talks between Israel and Syria, in which the United States has declined to participate...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/882873.html
UN Security Council fails to confirm Shebaa Farms is Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team's report is nearing completion and UN cartographer Miklos Pinter is expected to visit the Shebaa Farms before submitting his final report. UN spokesperson in New York Farhan Haq told The Daily Star that Pinter's report, while not yet completed, is "proceeding toward its conclusion." Pinter has determined in his report that the Shebaa Farms span 20-40 square kilometers, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz last week.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=83931
UN belongs in Iraq
AFTER meeting with President Bush on Tuesday, the UN Secretary General said that the Iraqi situation is "a problem of the whole world" and that the UN is prepared to contribute to the "Iraqi government and people to help them overcome this difficulty."
The US recognises the global importance of stabilising Iraq and supports this forward-leaning approach to enhancing the UN's role. The UN possesses certain comparative advantages for undertaking complex mediation efforts; it can also help internationalise the effort.....
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2007/July/opinion_July78.xml§ion=opinion&col=
2nd UN nuclear watchdog team arrives in North Korea
BEIJING: A second team of U.N. nuclear experts arrived in North Korea on Saturday to monitor the shutdown and sealing of the country's sole plutonium-producing reactor....
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/28/asia/AS-GEN-Koreas-Nuclear-IAEA.php
UN expands peace role in Iraq
THE United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to expand its role in Iraq after four years in which it took a low profile because of security fears and hostility from the Bush Administration....
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/un-expands-peace-role-in-iraq/2007/08/12/1186857348154.html
Sadr pledges to work with UN if it replaces US, Britain in Iraq
LONDON: Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has pledged to commit his forces and followers to help the United Nations were it to replace American and British troops in Iraq, in an interview published on Monday...
http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=27794
UN Extends African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia
Africa Union soldiers secure the area where they prepare to destroy weapons and munitions in Mogadishu, Somalia
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo says he voted for the resolution, but adds he was not enthusiastic about it. Kumalo said he had expected the Security Council to make a firm decision about deploying U.N. peacekeeping troops to Somalia to supplement the African Union mission there...
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200708/200708210032.html
U.N. Team Should Mediate
When Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker report next month on the results of our "surge" in Iraq, the most important category, political progress, should receive an F. Even if our military forces have made real progress of late, their sacrifices will have been for naught because our diplomatic strategy has been disconnected, anemic and ineffective...
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-commentaryiraq.artaug26,0,1338854.story
Chemical agent found in UN office
The vials of phosgene were removed by US officials and taken to a military lab [EPA]
Potentially dangerous materials left over from a former Iraqi chemical weapons facility have been found at a United Nations office close to its headquarters in New York...
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/49D41F5D-74A2-4728-B1B7-891F10490646.htm
U.N. chief urges Libya to lead on Darfur
SIRTE, Libya — The U.N. secretary-general said Saturday that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had promised to do all he could to bring all of Darfur's rebel groups to a new round of peace talks with the Sudanese government...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/5119584.html
Beijing lambastes Taiwan leader's UN bid
BEIJING -- A Chinese mainland official has lashed out at Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's "Taiwan independence" remarks made on Saturday.
During a rally on Saturday, Chen feverishly whipped up support for his "referendum" plan on the island's entry into the United Nations, and told the lie of "Taiwan being a so...
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/16/content_6110334.htm
UN chief urges Israel to reconsider decision on Gaza Strip
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Wednesday to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity," warning that any cutoff of vital services would violate international law and punish the already suffering civilian ...
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/09/19/4509180-ap.html
U.N. Envoy Fails to Meet Myanmar Leader
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's government unexpectedly allowed the country's leading opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, to leave house arrest briefly on Sunday and meet with a visiting U.N. envoy, but the diplomat failed to meet with the junta's commander...
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/un-envoy-fails-to-meet-myanmar-leader/n20070930082909990024
UN in talks to rescue Sudan deal
Southerners are frustrated over delays in implementing the deal
The top UN official in Sudan has met members of the former southern rebel movement to discuss its recent decision to withdraw from the unity government...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7043271.stm
U.N. expert wants to probe Iraq contractor killings
Claudia Parsons, Reuters
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings said on Friday he plans to investigate deaths caused by the U.S. military and contractors in Iraq, including the recent Blackwater case in Baghdad...
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=722112bf-5b25-4f7e-acfe-e3658c69264f&k=58902
UN tells Myanmar to release child soldiers
Myanmar should release all its child soldiers and allow UN officials to verify government claims that officers have been punished for recruiting minors into the army, the UN chief said.
There are credible reports that Myanmar's army continues to recruit children under 18 despite an official prohibition of the practice, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his report on Friday to the UN Security Council...
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/11/25/2003389592
UN Launches Internet Campaign on Ending Violence Against Women
The U.N. Development Fund for Women has launched a new advocacy campaign to end violence against women. The fund has recruited Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman to help promote the campaign, which is an internet-based initiative that asks people to sign a "virtual book" that promotes women's rights.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-11-26-voa51.cfm
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