Jeffrey Gettleman brings breaking news of renewed rioting in Kenya.

Riots erupted in Kenya on Tuesday as opposition leaders announced that they were suspending talks with the government over a stalled power sharing agreement.

According to witnesses, dozens of young men stormed into the streets of Kibera, a sprawling slum in the capital, Nairobi, lighting bonfires, ripping up railroad tracks and throwing rocks at police officers in a scene reminiscent of the violence that convulsed Kenya in the wake of the Dec. 27 election.

"No cabinet, no peace!" the protesters yelled, referring to the stillborn cabinet that has yet to be formed because of bitter divisions between the government and the opposition.

The spark behind the violence -- the first such incident since Kofi Annan helped broker a shaky peace deal over a month ago -- seems to be the question of assigning cabinet positions equitably between both sides. The elected president, Mwai Kibaki, is pushing for a larger cabinet, but is withholding the keys to the more powerful positions, such as the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, and internal security. The specific issue that plagued Annan's mediations -- the question of how much power to assign to the newly created position of prime minister, slated to go to opposition leader Raila Odinga -- does not seem to have resurfaced yet, and, according to Gettleman, opposition leaders deny instigating the protests.

Assigning cabinet positions is no trivial matter, though, and opposition leaders will have to work together to come up with a proposal that reflects their parties' near equal levels of support. A similar problem has persisted in Sudan, where one of the most frequently voiced complaints of previously marginalized Southerners is that, even with the signing of a major peace deal in January 2005, many of the most powerful ministries remain in the hands of Northern elites. Best for the international community to invest as much as it can in resolving this problem now, or else it will risk poisoning Kenya's new government.

Be sure to catch the Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo which premiers tonight on HBO. To learn more about the crisis of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, visit the Enough Campaign and join a conference call about the film tomorrow night with the filmaker, Lisa Jackson; ENOUGH Co-chair John Prendergast; and the Director of Public Policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Kiersten Stewart.

In honor of Petraeus day on Capitol Hill, I thought I'd flag two video posts on our sister site On Day One in which Cato scholars Justin Logan and Chris Preble say that the United States should swear off nation building. The lesson of Iraq, they say, is not that the United States should learn how to do nation building better, but that the United States should not do it at all. Personally speaking, I'm sympathetic to this view. That said, I still think that there is a great need for nation building and post conflict reconstruction in today's world. Enter UN Peacekeeping, which has a demonstrated (if under-appreciated) record of success in post conflict zones. Rather than trying to do a better job of invading and occupying countries, it may make more sense to broaden our support for the one organization that has some experience and expertise in this line of work.

Watch their videos and let us know what you think.

Last year, the UN's first-ever all-female police unit deployed to Liberia. In this video, which is featured on the front page of the Better World Campaign, Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Women's Empowerment, describes the successes that this deployment brought to Liberia (check out a longer video here).

This unit was so successful, in fact, that the UN has deployed another such contingent, as reported by Voice of America last week:

A second Indian all-female contingent has been deployed in Liberia for a few months now, showing that women can become the norm for peacekeeping operations. They are also inspiring Liberian women to become part of the country's security reconstruction.

The increase in Liberian women joining their country's police force is only one of the benefits that the presence of female police officers has brought to Liberia. In addition to backing up Liberia's police and contributing to the overall security situation, the female peacekeepers, according to Tahir-Kheli, have directly contributed to improved reporting of instances of violence against women and to a corresponding decrease in the actual number of instances of such violence.

Comfort Lamptey, a UN adviser on gender, attests to the advantages that women police officers bring to cultures in which even reporting rape is stigmatized.

"I think that in a lot of countries women who have been subject to gender-based violence feel more comfortable talking to a woman," she said. "In many countries where women have been raped by men in uniform, they are more comfortable talking to another woman than men in uniforms. Having women in the field who are well-trained may be able to respond to women who have been violated."

This is exactly the reason that an all-female police contingent is needed in places like DR Congo and Darfur, where rape continues unchecked and unpunished.

As an additional benefit, the presence of women in the ranks of peacekeepers has also effectively served to police the behavior of peacekeepers themselves. In Lamptey's words, "the presence of more women can actually help dilute a macho approach to peacekeeping," which can in turn help combat the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) among peacekeepers. In Liberia, for example, the number of reported SEA violations decreased from 45 in 2005, to 30 in 2006, to just nine allegations in 2007.

While the UN has a long way to go toward bridging the gender gap among peacekeepers, doing so will do more than simply improve the male-female ratio. The increased use of female peacekeepers will clearly improve UN peacekeeping qualitatively, making it more efficient and expanding the realm of what it can achieve.

Delegates from a State Department designated foreign terrorist organization, the Lord's Resistance Army, have been granted U.S. visas so they can travel to New York to meet the Security Council. Some background: The LRA is a militia that has terrorized the population of northern Uganda for nearly two decades. A peace deal, however, is in the works--and could even be signed by the LRA's notorious leader as early as Thursday. One sticking point in the peace deal are what to do about the International Criminal Court indictments on the LRA's leadership, and the delegates are hoping to press the Security Council to stay those indictments in the interest of peace.

The State Department's decision to grant LRA delegates visas seems to signal that the United States is willing to at least countenance lifting the indictments. This is not entirely unreasonable. One possible solution to the justice v peace dilemma emerging from the peace talks in Northern Uganda, after all, is to exile Kony and his top lieutenants and temporarily lift the indictments in return for full compliance with the peace accord. This solution may make the ICC Prosecutor cringe, but it shows how politically useful these indictments can be as mechanisms to enforce a peace.

Congratulations Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru for winning this year's Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (full list). UN Dispatch expects to at least be nominated next year.

>>Olympics - Over 3,000 French police officers were unable to stop protesters along the route of the Olympic torch ceremony in Paris, the last leg of which has now been canceled. The torch, on a 58-day journey through 21 nations, was extinguished three times, and some Olympic officials have openly wondered whether that agenda should be cut short. China has vowed to continue. Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, said the executive board will decide on Friday whether the relay will continue. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has called for a boycott of the opening ceremonies.

>>Iran - President Ahmadenijad announced on Iran's "national nuclear day" that the nation is installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its Natanz facility, which would triple the number. Iran maintains that it is enriching uranium for civilian purposes.

>>Iraq - As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker prepare to deliver a progress report on Iraq to Congress today, Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to disband his 60,000-strong al-Mahdi army if Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other clergy based in Iran say he should. Al-Sadr's spokesman said that he sought a similar ruling last year and was told to keep his militia intact. The announcement was unexpected given recent clashes between the Mahdi army and Iraqi security forces.

• A Step Toward Peace in Cote d'Ivoire
• Unsubstantiated Allegations Against the UN Development Program
• Sexual Violence Continues in Darfur
• UN Plaza: Ambassador Thomas Pickering

Africa

• Zimbabwe - Martin Meredith: Mandela and Mugabe both embraced violence, but one could not give it up
• Egypt - Muslim Brotherhood to boycott election
• Egypt - Polls open in Egypt amid tensions
• Morocco b 9 Imprisoned for Casablanca Blasts Escape
• Mauritania - Two die in Mauritanian battle
• South Africa - Tsvangirai presses Mbeki to demand election results
• Sudan - Sudanese child soldier raps against gang violence in Britain

Americas

• Argentina - An Ambassador Born of the 'Dirty Wars'
• Mexico - State Oil Industry's Future Sets Off Tussle in Mexico
• U.S. - Asian Inflation Begins to Sting U.S. Shoppers
• U.S. - Attacks in Baghdad Spiked in March, U.S. Data Show
• Haiti - Death toll rises in Haitian food price protests

Asia

• Nepal - Maoists in, king out as Nepal faces historic vote
• Nepal - Old climber alters Everest plan
• Philippines - Nine jailed over Philippine plot
• Vietnam - Small Plane Crashes Near Hanoi, Killing Five
• India - India pledges Africa investment
• E. Timor - East Timor president hints at retirement
• E. Timor - E Timor militia leader released
• Japan - Japan village exposes secret world of ninja fighters
• Japan - Japan bank chief decision nears
• Afghanistan - General McNeill warns of a more ruthless Taleban

Europe

• Germany - Germans shun space race legacy
• France - Muslim Graves Desecrated in France
• Montenegro - Montenegro: Incumbent Wins Presidential Vote
• Spain - Two people die from vCJD in Spain
• Spain - Spain's worst drought for a generation leaves water and comradeship in short supply

Middle East

• Iran - Major powers plan to meet on Iran in mid-April: U.S.
• Israel - Olmert and Abbas resume meetings after hiatus