A very newsworthy press release from the Better World Campaign:

The Better World Campaign delivered today to the U.S. Congress a letter signed by 80 organizations calling for payment of U.S. debt to the United Nations, which at the beginning of this year amounted to more than $2.8 billion to the UN's regular budget and peacekeeping accounts. The debt makes up 25 percent of the UN's annual budget, and is ten times the amount owed by any other nation.

"This letter clearly shows that the American public wants the U.S. to keep its word at the UN and stop going it alone," said Better World Campaign Executive Director Deborah Derrick. "This Congress can begin the process of repairing U.S. financial standing at the UN when it takes up the President's FY 2008 Supplemental Funding Request in the coming days," she added.

The President's FY 2008 supplemental request, expected to be taken up by the Congress the week of April 21st, includes $334 million for the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan, and $53 million for the UN's political missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. has called on the UN to take a greater role in these missions, but has not fully funded them.

For 80 organizations to sign on to a letter to Congress, the "ask" must have pretty universal appeal. Paying U.S. dues to the UN enjoys this kind of traction for very legitimate reasons: paying these dues makes sense, improves U.S. standing in the world, and is firmly in the U.S.'s interest. To emphasize these points, Better World Campaign -- the sister organization of the UN Foundation, Dispatch's sponsor -- has launched its "Don't Go It Alone" campaign, highlighting the effectiveness of working through the UN and the pressing need for the U.S. to follow up on its funding commitments.

MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is typically -- and accurately -- described as, at over 17,000 uniformed personnel, the largest such mission currently deployed. What is less frequently considered, however, is the sheer size of the ground that these 17,000 peacekeepers have to cover. Just take a look at a map.

DR Congo is about the size of Western Europe. With that perspective, it's easy to understand why the Secretary-General, in his most recent report on the mission, worries that it risks becoming "stretched to the limit" as it transitions almost entirely to the eastern part of the country. Indeed, at a press conference in New York yesterday, the Secretary-General's Special Representative to MONUC, Alan Doss, confirmed that 92% of the mission's forces were now deployed in eastern Congo -- a crucial repositioning that will help the mission build on January's ceasefire in the volatile region.

Even in just two of Congo's smallest provinces, though, UN peacekeepers still have to patrol an area the size of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg combined. Speaking today at the Wilson Center, Mr. Doss made the telling analogy that MONUC's task of patrolling one of these provinces, South Kivu, is equivalent to having one police officer cover all of Manhattan, plus a sizable chunk of Brooklyn.

We often don't appreciate how tall of a task UN peacekeepers in remote, expansive , violent locations face. Give that statistic to a police officer in New York City, though, and I imagine s/he'll appreciate it a whole lot more.

While over 10 million women and children in developing countries continue to die every year from preventable and treatable causes, a new report released today by UN agencies and partners calls for improved health care systems to reduce maternal and child deaths:

'Tracking Progress in Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival' finds that few of the 68 developing countries that account for 97 per cent of maternal and child deaths worldwide are providing the necessary health care to save lives.

The 2008 report was released today as leading global health experts, policy-makers and parliamentarians convene in Cape Town, South Africa, to address further efforts to slash maternal and child mortality by 2015, part of a set of internationally-agreed targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

And this is not to mention that donor funding for maternal, newborn and child health has actually increased over the past few years. So while there has been much improvement, the fact that health care needs are so high in these countries still result in health care programs being "grossly unfunded," says the report.

More support from the Republican party for action on climate change, as John McCain responds to a question from Hardball's Chris Matthews on MSNBC about where he differs with Bush. Here's what McCain had to say:

So what's an area of disagreement? Climate change. Climate change. I believe that climate change is real. I think we have to act...

(APPLAUSE)

Absolutely right Senator. He continued on to try to convince those who still deny the reality of the climate crisis to come on board anyway:

I would just like to put the question this way to my fellow Americans. Suppose that we are wrong and there's no such thing as climate change but we go ahead and adopt green technologies and we reduce greenhouse gas emissions? All we've done is give our kids a cleaner planet, OK? But suppose...

(APPLAUSE)

Suppose we are right and do nothing. Suppose we just continue this endless debate and continue the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, and we hand these wonderful Americans a damaged planet? I think the answer to that is pretty obvious.

An interesting call to action from John McCain on climate, to be sure. Citing this as a departure from Bush's policies however, may soon prove problematic as Bush has also indicated recently that the Administration will push for legislation regulating greenhouse gases.

Given that all three frontrunner candidates for the Presidency are on board for fighting global warming, the November election, no matter the outcome, will almost definitely spell progress for agreeing on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says it is. South Africa, this month's president of the Security Council, however, doesn't think so. From the AP's Edith Lederer:

[South Africa's] U.N. Ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, insists that Zimbabwe is not on the agenda because the matter is being dealt with by the Southern African Development Community.

SADC leaders held a summit in Zambia that ended before dawn Sunday with a weak declaration that failed to criticize the absent Mugabe. The declaration called for the expeditious verification of election results in the presence of the candidates or their agents "within the rule of law," and urged "all parties to accept the results when they are announced."

South Africa has traditionally been criticized for not pushing Mugabe harder on reform, so punting the issue entirely to a regional organization seems a little suspicious. Kumalo, however, seems to recognize that such a pressing concern -- the stalemate could possibly lead to the end of the Mugabe's 28-year reign -- likely can't avoid mention at such a prominent Security Council meeting, particularly when the U.S., Britain, and France, have all indicated that they intend to discuss Zimbabwe.

'Those are huge countries,' Kumalo said. 'They can raise whatever they want to raise and all I have said was that we don't expect Zimbabwe to be discussed tomorrow (Wednesday). But they can raise anything.'

This is not just a power move by the "huge countries" of the West, of course. At a meeting dedicated to improving the UN's cooperation with regional African organizations, it seems only appropriate to discuss how the UN, AU, and SADC can work together to ensure that Zimbabwe's election results are determined freely, fairly, and transparently.

An editorial in today's Houston Chronicle argues that for their own security, wealthy nations must act swiftly to confront the global food crisis.

Sparked by the high price and low availability of food, rioting on several continents has provided a sour taste of the unrest that could result from what experts report is a growing food crisis. It will take a coordinated, multinational effort to avert an international disaster of widespread starvation and violence.

According to the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Jacques Diouf, the world's poorest countries can expect the cost of imported food to rise 56 percent, even though the world's cereal production is forecast to increase slightly. That will spell extreme hardship for developing countries that already spend a large portion of their gross domestic product to buy food from abroad.
[snip]
When people are starving, governments destabilize, people fight for dwindling resources and refugee populations explode. So, providing aid that puts food on poor people's plates is more than a mere humanitarian gesture. Food aid can be the salve that defuses the threat widespread starvation poses to world peace and security.

Read more.

>>Russia - Vladimir Putin has confirmed that he will accept the reigns as head of United Russia, the nation's dominant political party, as well as become prime minister of Russia, at the end of his presidency. Putin, however, will not become a member of that party. Some analysts see these developments as an important step toward Russia becoming more of a parliamentary democracy.

>>Olympics - The Olympic torch began its journey through Asia yesterday in Pakistan. It will continue on to India. Both nations "trimmed" their torch routes in fear of interruptions by protesters. The New York Times reports on the interesting history of the torch relay.

>>Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's Joint Operations Command, including the military, police, and intelligence agencies, took complete, though some say "temporary," control over the national decision-making process in the days following the presidential election, according to a remarkable story in the Washington Post. That includes decisions of the electoral commission, which still refuses to release results from the election. According to sources in the article, the apparatus intends to relinquish control to Mugabe when it is no longer threatened by Tsvangirai, an individual with no military background. Also, a protest called by the opposition yesterday failed to take off.

>>Gaza - Jimmy Carter will meet with two senior Hamas officials in Cairo on Wednesday. Both the U.S. and Israel have called on the former president to shun the group. Government ministers refused to meet with him during his stay in Israel this week. Carter has billed his trip as a "study" mission.

• Bush Warming Up to Climate Legislation
• Kony Stays in the Jungle
• U.S. Senate Acts on Chad, Darfur, and Central African Republic
• Welcome, J-Street
• V-Day and UNICEF Team Up to Stop Rape in the Congo

Africa

• Uganda - School fire kills Uganda children
• Zimbabwe - Military Leaders Making the Decisions in Zimbabwe
• Congo - Passenger jet ploughs into busy market

Americas

• Haiti - Price of rice prompts renewed anger in Haiti
• Venezuela - Venezuela raises foreign oil tax
• US - Iraqi Unit Flees Post, Despite American's Plea
• Canada - Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient 'Toxic'
• America - Conservative Party Raided
• Colombia - Colombia trade spat raises fears for Doha

Asia

• Japan - Japan vaccinates bird flu workers
• Nepal - Nepal king told: 'Go gracefully'
• Bangladesh - Fatal train crash in Bangladesh
• Indonesia - 600 Flee Erupting Indonesian Volcano
• Pakistan - Olympic Torch Kicks Off Asian Journey in Pakistan
• Russia - Putin to Take Helm of Party After Leaving the Presidency
• Myanmar - 20 Held in Campaign Against Generals' Constitution
• Thailand - Driver of Death Truck Surrenders After Manhunt
• Kazakhstan - Biggest grain exporters halt foreign sales
• China - China's economy grows 10.6% in first quarter
• N. Korea - Republicans hit at US deal with N Korea
• Pakistan - 'Quietly triumphant' Sharif turns screw on Musharraf
• India - Tibetans in India Facing Tight Security for Torch
• China - CNN apologises to China over 'thugs and goons' comment by Jack Cafferty

Europe

• Equatorial Guinea - Spanish Police Arrest Exiled Opposition Leader
• France - France Takes Aim at Cult Of Thinness

Middle East

• Israel - Three Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza fighting
• Iraq - Dozens Killed in Bombings in Four Iraqi Cities
• Yemen - Three Police Die in Yemen Explosion
• Iran - Chief of Police for Tehran Was Arrested, Iran Confirms
• Israel - Carter to meet Hamas officials
• Israel - Fighting erupts in Gaza
• Iraq - Diplomats Warned of Possible Mandatory Service in Iraq