"There are too many times when we still do not come to the defence of civilian populations in need," Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said at the outset of the [Security] Council's open debate. "When our response is weak, we appear to wash our hands of our humanitarian responsibilities to protect lives. The world is a safer place for most of us, but it is still a death trap for too many defenceless civilians, men, women and children."
The New York Times reported yesterday that the Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, "who has been accused of arming hit squads in recent battles within the country's security forces" and instructing them "to eliminate opponents of the government and of Mr. Alkatiri's political party," has resigned, an action that many see as the turning point in the recent crisis. As the Times points out, it is unclear how long it will take East Timor to fully recover, but it will undoubtedly be accelerated due the presence of the United Nations, which is already on the ground providing vital security and humanitarian assistance.
Warren Buffett is a generous man. His gift of over $30 billion in stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will nearly double the size of the country's largest charitable organization. As media coverage of the gift has noted, $60 billion is roughly five times the annual budget of the United Nations and its agencies. And as Slate points out, the Foundation's future $1.7 billion annual disbursement requirement is roughly equivalent to UNICEF's annual budget.
"To seize the moment of opportunity that the Abuja peace deal offers for ending the suffering in Sudan's Darfur region, African peacekeeping must immediately be bolstered in anticipation of a "substantial" United Nations force and dialogue must start quickly between the local parties, the world body's top peacekeeping official said today.
It appears that a potentially catastrophic United Nations shutdown has been averted, and all Benny Avni of the New York Sun can do is lament. Indeed, he seems to be parroting Ambassador Bolton, who told reporters yesterday, "While the expenditure cap is going to come off this week one way or another, it would not be right to conclude from that that we made substantial progress or any progress at all on management reform."
"The United States will drop its insistence that rich nations withhold funds from the U.N. budget next month unless management reforms are enacted, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Friday." [Full story]
"United National officials were on Monday trying to break a diplomatic impasse after the Sudanese government suspended their operations in the western region of Darfur.