"Talking to Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's new British chief of staff, this weekend I sensed a new sense of resolve that the UN was ready to take the fight back to its detractors." More...
From Saturday's NY Times: "A commission investigating the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq has issued an interim report that sheds some light, but not much, on the nature and scope of this much-ballyhooed scandal."
Jonathan Curiel writes about the "rhetorical standoff" on the question of what constitutes genocide: "It's easy to stay mired in this rhetorical standoff ... but to do so would ignore what may be the most important element of the U.N. commission's report: Its gripping narrative of the Darfur violence.... The U.N. commission wasn't trying to absolve the atrocities committed by both sides in Darfur. In fact, the report states unequivocally that the perpetrators of violence in Darfur should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. On this point, there is no debate at all."
From ABC News (via UN Wire): "David Nabarro, the WHO's top health crisis official, said health officials' success at combating disease had exceeded his expectations, after the U.N. body had warned of possible mosquito-and water-borne epidemics in the region, which is in the grip of the rainy season."
The Diplomad, a blog run by U.S. Foreign Service officers, has posted this goodbye note: "Well, friends and foes of The Diplomad, the time has come; it's time to say thanks and good-bye."
Washington, DC - "What we have learned from yesterday's report from the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) is that Paul Volcker will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the problems with the Oil for Food Program. From Secretary-General Kofi Annan's response we learned that he will hold UN staff accountable and fix any and all problems Mr. Volcker identifies. The Secretary-General is using the opportunity of this independent evaluation of UN process and procedures to enact serious and wide ranging reforms. It is a testament to his dedication and determination to reform the UN that he is seizing this moment.
"Not only has the Secretary-General ordered immediate initiation of disciplinary action against two UN officials named in the report as having violated the institution's rules but he has also begun to adopt recommendations that the IIC has made in its two interim reports. These include new management leadership to strengthen the capability and effectiveness of the OIOS [the UN's Inspector General's office]; the creation of an Oversight Committee to ensure action is taken when recommendations are made by the Board of Auditors and Joint Inspection Unit; and making internal audits and reports available to member states."
"Secretary-General Kofi Annan today formally recommends that the United Nations establish a peace-support mission in southern Sudan, and calls on Member States to contribute more than 10,000 troops and 700 civilian police to the operation, warning that the civil war that has just ended there "cannot quickly or easily be dispatched to history."
Significant progress in the fight to eradicate polio: "The number of polio cases reported in Asia almost halved last year, meaning that efforts to eradicate the disease on the continent by the end of 2005 are on course, the World Health Organization said Friday."
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21st Century Vision: "At a time when the United States is trying to forge a global coalition against terrorism and garner more international support in Iraq, the United States should be trying to fix the United Nations system, rather than destroy it. In an article in "Common Dream," Michael Pan, Senior Analyst for National Security at the Center for American Progress lists ten points about the Oil For Food programme that we should consider."