Breaking news from the Associated Press:

"The Security Council voted Friday to expand the United Nations' role in Iraq in a move aimed at promoting talks among ethnic and religious rivals and winning support from the country's neighbors.

The resolution, approved unanimously, authorizes the U.N., at the request of the Iraqi government, to promote political talks among Iraqis and a regional dialogue on issues including border security, energy and refugees."

More.

Yesterday the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to deploy up to 26,000 peacekeepers in an effort to stop the violence in Darfur.

The resolution will create the world's largest peacekeeping operation, costing about $2 billion in its first year and drawing on military and police forces from the African Union and the United Nations, a United Nations spokeswoman said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the mission "historic and unprecedented."

The New York Times has more.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged the United States and others to assist Syria and Jordan, the two countries caring for the biggest proportion of Iraqi refugees.

"It is unconscionable that generous host countries be left on their own to deal with such a huge crisis," UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said. "We strongly urge governments to step forward now to support them in dealing with this situation and renew our call for international solidarity and burden sharing."

Syria and Jordan have estimated 2 million Iraqi refugees between them.

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UPI's William Reilly speculates that Sunday's car bombing that killed six Spanish UN peacekeepers in Lebanon may harbinger future attacks on the UNIFIL. "The question that immediately arises is whether this attack signals a change in Lebanon's unfortunate legacy of car bombs that have been used in a series of assassinations going back to late 2004, targeting politicians critical of Syria's role in Lebanon. In other words, has the United Nations become a target?"

One of the car bombings to which Reilly refers was the February 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Harriri, who was often critical of Syrian influence in Lebanese politics. The assassination led to great public outcry, and the United Nations conducted an investigation into the circumstances of his death. During the investigation, all roads led to Damascus and the Security Council authorized a special tribunal to prosecute Harriri's alleged assassins and conspirators.

The targets of the prosecution may very well be the same people who orchestrated Sunday's deadly car bombing. If that is the case, blue helmets may find themselves increasingly in the terrorists' cross hairs as the tribunal moves a head. Scary.

Today, June 20, is United Nations World Refugee Day. And for the first time since 2002, the number of refugees and displaced persons around the world is actually increasing. According to a new report (pdf) by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, the number now approaches 10 million people, a 14 percent rise in the over last year's figures. Sadly, the dramatic increase is largely due to the war in Iraq, where an estimated 1.5 million people have been forced to find refuge in neighboring Jordan and Syria.

Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has has condemned the murder of Iraqi journalist Sahar Hussein Ali al-Haydari. This death follows the murder of two female Afghan journalists in recent weeks.

"In only a few days, three women journalists have been brutally murdered...These pioneering women were targeted because they devoted their energy and courage to help bring about democratic change in their societies...I trust these particularly heinous crimes will not go unpunished."

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports taht at least 106 journalists and 39 media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003.

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Cluster bombs are bad news. Small bomblets packed into artillery shells explode over a target, spewing golf-ball sized mini bombs far and wide. The problem is, not all of the bomblets explode on impact. Some are duds. And much like landmines, the unexploded sub-munitions lay dormant until disturbed. If a child, for example, picks up an unexploded bomblet it may blow up in her face. Like landmines, cluster bombs continue to kill and maim long after hostilities have ended.

So far, efforts to control the use of cluster bombs have been disregarded by the United States, which argues for their military utility. But the United States government may have just had a change of heart. The Associated Press reports today that the American delegate to the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons, which is meeting in Geneva this week, has agreed to participate in negotiations on cluster bombs. American officials have said they are not seeking an outright ban, but are open to regulating the use and manufacture of cluster bombs. This, at least, is an improvement over a previous policy of simply ignoring international efforts on cluster bombs.

In Addis Ababa yesterday, African Union and United Nations negotiators announced that the Sudanese government accepted a plan to send up to 25,000 troops to Darfur on an AU-UN "hybrid" peacekeeping mission. So should we cheer this news? I'd hold off the hosannas for now.

The government of Sudan has reneged on previous deals to send peacekeepers to Darfur. And even this newest agreement, it seems, is not without conditions. Apparently, Khartoum has demanded that the mission only deploy peacekeepers from African countries and that the African Union--not the United Nations--command the mission. These two conditions may seem innocuous, but they could be potentially crippling obstacles to the successful deployment of peacekeepers to Darfur.

First, there is simply not a surplus of African troops available for such a deployment. Second, countries that historically contribute the bulk of peacekeepers to UN missions will be reluctant to send their troops to a mission led by an external organization. These countries--India, Pakistan, Bangladesh--will be understandably hesitant to put their soldiers under the command of an organization with no track record in peacekeeping. Finally, there are a number of logistical challenges to the hybrid concept, and the General Assembly's Fifth Committee will have to debate funding a hybrid mission when a traditional UN peacekeeping mission would be a more practical option.

Ambassador Khalilzad reacted cautiously to the news from Addis: "If this is an unconditional acceptance, this would be a positive step that we would welcome." he said. "But, if it's conditional, as we hear, that there will be only African troops involved and no non-Africans, that's putting a condition on the acceptance and that would be unacceptable." Given the complications of such a force--and Khartoum's history of backing away from such deals--Khalilzad's skepticism is understandable.

In a report released on Monday, Ban Ki-moon raised the possibility that the UN may expand its operations in Iraq. Clearly on the Secretary General's mind was the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed a top UN diplomat, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 16 others. From the Guardian:

The United Nations is a major promoter of electoral, constitutional and political efforts to build a united, democratic Iraq but because of the "precarious" security situation it needs the speedy construction of a new residential compound in Baghdad that can withstand the impact of rockets and other high-caliber weapons, he said.

"The security situation in Iraq remains complex and unpredictable and is a major limiting factor for the United Nations presence and activities in Iraq," Ban said in the report covering the period from early March to early June.

[snip]

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who was previously the top U.S. envoy in Iraq, has stressed several times that the United States believes the United Nations can and should step up its activities in Iraq, even in the current security climate.

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On June 10, 1999, after 78 days of a US-led NATO bombing campaign, the Serbian army withdrew from Kosovo, a small province with an ethnic-Albanian majority. But with the Serbian Army's eviction, the ethnic-Serb dominated government in Kosovo collapsed. To take its place, and oversee Kosovo's physical and political reconstruction, the Security Council created the United Nations Interim Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, that very day.

From the outset, a large NATO force in Kosovo obviated the need for a significant deployment of UN peacekeepers. The United Nations, however, provided the bulk of international civilian administrators and supplied a "blue hat" police force, which has played a crucial role in Kosovo's reconstruction.

As envisioned by the Security Council resolution, Kosovo's physical and political reconstruction would be built upon on four "Pillars." The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would oversee democratization and institution building. The European Union would spearhead economic development. The United Nations was left with the difficult task of setting up a judicial system and polices services, while a UN representative would serve as the top civilian administrator. UNMIK would remain operational until Kosovo's final status--either as a sovereign state, province of Serbia, or something in between--was decided.

Setting up a functioning police force was a particularly difficult task. When Serbian forces left Kosovo, the police force--which was aligned with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic--disintegrated. The job of maintaining law and order through basic police work like investigating crimes and traffic control fell to the United Nations.

Their most important task, though, was hiring and training local police. In 2004, the Kosovo Police Service reached its planned size of nearly 7,000 officers. Today, there are fewer than 2,000 UN Police in Kosovo, reflecting the fact that the Kosovo Police Service is now up and running.

Meanwhile, uncertainty over Kosovo's final status remains a constant challenge to the mission. In March 2007, Martti Ahtisaari, the UN's top diplomat for the "future status process" recommended the province's independence from Serbia. Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia, balked at this suggestion. Should the debate in the Security Council remain intractably stalled, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government may unilaterally declare independence from Serbia. If that happens, European governments could be split over whether or not to formally recognize Kosovo, which could potentially threaten the flow of funds for Kosovo's reconstruction.

Until questions about Kosovo's final status are resolved, UNMIK will likely stay put and continue to help the fragile Kosovo government assume greater administrative control over its territory.

Though far from the television screens of most Americans, some of the fighting in Ethiopia and Eritrea resembles a war with which they might be familiar. At its peak, hundreds of kilometers of trenches snaked their way around the border region of the two neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa, raising frequent comparisons to World War One. And like World War One, the toll of the trench warfare on conscripts has been exacting. Though no one knows for sure, 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed. There have also been as many as 700,000 displaced or made refugees from the war, which at one point cost these desperately impoverished countries $1 million a day to sustain.

For most of the 20th century, Eritrea, the smaller of the two countries, was a province of Ethiopia. After a long struggle, it gained independence in 1993. But the precise borders were never demarcated. One desolate region in particular, Badme, was a persistent point of contention. In May 1998, Eritrean fighters skirmished with the local Ethiopian-aligned forces there. Ethiopia's response was swift and both countries sent massive numbers of troops and artillery to the border region. Soon, 300,000 soldiers were staring at each other along an 800 kilometer trench line.

In May 2000, then-United States National security advisor Anthony Lake helped oversee international and regional efforts to end the conflict. In June 2000, both sides signed the Algiers Peace Agreement, ceasing hostilities. The Security Council then authorized the deployment of over 4,000 peacekeepers to the newly formed United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) to patrol the border region.

As part of the Algiers agreement, the two sides agreed to let a neutral commission determine the official boundaries. Two years later, the commission, in collaboration with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague awarded Badme to Eritrea. Other disputed territories went to Ethiopia and the two sides agreed to abide by the verdict. Ethiopia began withdrawing troops from the frontier and UNMEE began to scale back its presence. However, all was not well. In 2004, Ethiopia disputed the boundary ruling and deployed tens of thousands of troops to the border region, including Badme. A frustrated Eritrea expelled UNMEE troops from certain counties and restricted UN helicopter flights. A seemingly intractable stalemate persists to this day.

In May 2006, with its movements restricted, UNMEE was forced to downsize. Today, there are only 1,700 UNMEE troops patrolling the region, and one of their most important tasks is locating and disposing of the estimated 3 million landmines that dot the border region.

The Security Council has threatened both sides with sanctions, but the situation remains volatile. At this point, the main goal of international diplomacy is to force both sides to agree to the terms of the Algiers Agreement, including the border demarcations authorized by the Court of Permanent Arbitration. This is no easy task, but the alternative is an unstable stalemate that could once again flare into brutal warfare.

United Nations human rights experts have reported some progress in their talks with the Sudanese Government on the conflict in Darfur.

The UN Experts Group on Darfur "welcomed the positive approach taken by the Government of Sudan and specific proposals made by the Government," members said in a statement released in Geneva. "While there was common understanding on several important steps to improve the human rights situation in Darfur that could be implemented in the future, further dialogue would be pursued on other issues."

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When the United Nations is responsible for birthing a new country, as it was in East Timor over the past eight years, one can be forgiven for being a touch confused by the alphabet soup of UN missions involved.

Please bear with me: Following an East Timor referendum on independence from Indonesia in 1999, UNAMET was replaced by UNTAET, which in turn became subsumed into UNMISET and later transitioned into UNOTIL, that is, until 2006 when UNMIT -- the United Nations Mission in East Timor -- took over. For those less versed in UN-ease, let me explain.

East Timor, or Timor Leste as it is formally known in the UN system, is a tiny country situated on the eastern shores of the Indonesian archipelago. It stands today as an example of a country that was nurtured into existence and then protected at birth by the United Nations. Observers have hailed East Timor as a nation-building success story, but it is clear that East Timor is still a work in progress.

The conflict in East Timor draws its roots from Portugal's abrupt decision in 1974 to abandon East Timor, a territory it had colonized for centuries. Just days following the Portuguese withdrawal, the Indonesian government moved forces into East Timor, claiming that a communist movement threatened to spill over into Indonesia itself. So began a quarter-century of terrible suffering for the people of East Timor. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people are believed to have been killed in the 25 years of Indonesian occupation.

In 1999, under international pressure, Indonesian president BJ Habbibie acceded to a referendum that would let East Timor decide on independence from Indonesia. The Security Council then created UNAMET, the first of five UN missions in East Timor, to administer the elections.

On August 30, East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence. But following the elections, the Indonesian military and pro-Indonesian militias instigated riots and violence soon spread out of control. The Security Council quickly approved an Australian-led international force that was able to stem the violence. By October 1999 a new international police force, UNATET, was authorized to keep the peace as East Timor prepared for national elections.

In 2002, East Timor voted for a president and parliament. The country, however, remained fragile, and the new government asked the United Nations to approve a new peacekeeping mission, UNMISET, to help provide security as the fledgling democracy built itself from scratch. By August there were nearly 5,000 UN peacekeepers in East Timor. The United Nations, meanwhile, welcomed a new member to the family. On September 27, the General Assembly voted unanimously to make East Timor the UN's 191st member state.

In May 2005, UNMSET closed its doors and the peacekeeping mission was replaced with UNOTIL, a political mission to support the development of the nation's infrastructure and state institutions. Still, all was not well in Dilli, East Timor's capital. In April 2006, a rally in support of East Timorese soldiers who were fired for desertion turned into a violent riot. Many were killed and an estimated 100,000, one tenth of the population, fled their homes. The crisis threatened to undermine seven years of UN and Timorese efforts to rebuild their country. Once again, Australia led an international intervention to restore order in the country. The Security Council, meanwhile, approved yet another mission, one that exists to this day.

Today, there over 1,600 uniformed personnel, mostly police, deployed in the United Nations Mission in East Timor, UNMIT. They support state institution and capacity building and helped oversee recent presidential elections, which concluded on Sunday when East Timor's newest president, the Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, assumed office. UNMIT is scheduled to conclude in February 2008. But prior to that, the Security Council may decide to reauthorize UNMIT for another year to make sure that East Timor is on stable footing.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has started talks with rebel groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) to negotiate the release of hundreds of child soldiers; 220 have been freed so far.

Discussions have started with the full support of the Government of CAR, which has engaged in talks with the UNICEF since the first UN assessment mission in the Vakaga region identified armed children among the ranks of non-State armed groups in January, the agency said in a news release.

"This UNICEF programme not only contributes significantly to children's welfare, but also helps resolve one of CAR's most pressing problems," said the agency's CAR Humanitarian Coordinator, Toby Lanzer.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the largest and most expensive peacekeeping operation in the world. As of March, there were 18,336 total uniformed personnel, including 16,594 troops, 713 military observers, and 1,029 police, costing over $1 billion per year. But the price of peace is still less than the cost of years of war in Congo, which claimed more lives than any other conflict since World War Two.

From 1998 to 2003 nearly 4 million people are thought to have perished in a civil war stoked by Congo's neighbors. Today, that fighting has largely, but not completely, subsided. And while it is too early to call the DRC a UN Peacekeeping success story, it is clear that the United Nations Mission in the Congo (called by its French acronym, MONUC) is responsible for overseeing Congo's significant strides toward peace and democracy in recent years.

For 37 years Mobutu Sesse Seko ruled Congo (then called Zaire) by enriching himself and impoverishing his citizens. Laurent Kabila, a rebel leader supported by some of Congo's neighbors, overthrew Mobutu in 1997. The country soon plunged into brutal civil war, with various armed factions sometimes serving as proxies for Congo's nine neighboring countries. In early 2001, the 29 year old Joseph Kabila assumed the presidency following his father's assassination. Kabila the younger soon made significant efforts toward a comprehensive regional peace process, which became formalized in a 2003 agreement.

To prevent spoilers from undermining the agreement, the Security Council authorized a deployment of peacekeepers. (The United Nations has a long history in Congo. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash while en route to negotiate a ceasefire in Congo back in 1961.) This newest round of UN intervention began in 1999 when MONUC military observers were deployed to monitor a nominal ceasefire agreement between Congo, a rebel movement within Congo, and five of Congo's neighbors. In 2001, the Security Council expanded MONUC to 3,600 peacekeepers. The fighting, however, continued. In the north-eastern province Ituri, the fighting bordered on genocide, sparking the Security Council to dramatically expand the number of troops deployed there. Soon, there were over 10,000 troops in the DRC, many in Ituri.

These peacekeepers face grueling tasks. The country is the size of Western Europe, with few roads to support armored personnel carriers and other heavy military equipment. There were some setbacks. In 2004, an armed group overran UN forces and took over the town of Bukavu, killing many residents and looting their possessions. In response, the Security Council reinforced MONUC with additional 6,000 troops and expanded its mandate to ensure civilian protection. A newly emboldened Monuc force in Ituri began to experiment with more assertive peacekeeping tactics. Rather than simply provide protection to civilians and humanitarian workers, peacekeepers in Ituri sought to roll back militias by in aggressive tactical raids.

By 2005, MONUC's most important task was deterring spoilers from undermining national elections planned for 2006. These elections, which took place in late July, were a logistical accomplishment of historical proportions. The United Nations registered some 25 million people throughout the country. Ballots were transported by truck, plane, helicopter and even canoe. 80% of the population voted, and after a runoff selected Joseph Kabila. For the first time in 40 years, the Congolese people had voted for in a multiparty election.

After years of war, the DRC remains a broken country. It consistently ranks near the top of Foreign Policy's failed states index. Kabila's government is unable to deliver basic services to most of its citizens and depends on foreign assistance. The largest, most expensive, and most accomplished peacekeeping mission in the world, however, continues to offer the Congolese people a blanket of protection while democracy takes root.

Colum Lynch reports that the African Union force in Darfur may be on the verge of collapse:

The African Union's first major peacekeeping mission — once considered the last line of defense for Darfur's civilians — has been crippled by funding and equipment shortages, government harassment and an upsurge in armed attacks by rebel forces that last month left seven African troops dead.

The setbacks have sapped morale among peacekeepers, many of whom have not been paid for months. It has also compelled the force -- which numbered 7,000 troops at its peak -- to scale back its patrols and has diminished its capacity to protect civilians, aid workers and its own peacekeepers. In one example, Gambian troops last month failed to aid a Ghanaian peacekeeper who was gunned down in a carjacking incident within 300 yards of the mission's Darfur headquarters, U.N. officials said.

When the fighting reached its peak in Darfur in spring 2004, the government of Sudan allowed a small number of African Union peacekeepers in to Darfur. Ostensibly, their job was to monitor a nominal cease-fire brokered between the government and rebels--not provide civilian protection. Still, considering the small number of troops, sparse resources at their disposal, and restrictive mandate, the African Union Mission in Sudan conducted itself admirably. In 2005, I interviewed Brian Steidle, a former US marine who served with the AU force. He recalled one incident in which the African Union deterred a government and janjaweed attack on a town of 45,000 by positioning merely 35 soldiers in the town.

So we know that the African Union can be effective. The problem is the AU is new at this. Its funding mechanisms are not guaranteed and neither are its logistical capabilities fully developed. But until a UN peacekeeping force sets foot in Darfur, AU troops are the only international boots on the ground. Donor countries need to do all they can to support them.

Ten years ago, I would have sounded crazy should I have predicted that Liberia would become a functioning democracy by 2007, and that Charles Taylor, the Liberian warlord turned president, would be in jail awaiting prosecution for war crimes. And rightly so -- in 1997, Liberia was a singularly dismal place on earth. Taylor had just been elected president after leading a bloody insurgency characterized by the recruitment of child soldiers, wide-spread rape and mutilation. Taylor's popular support, however, was less from admiration than fear. Prior to the election, throngs on the street chanted, "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, I'm going to vote for him!" Better to vote him president than have him lose the election and turn his wrath against the people.

For the previous eight years, the civil war in Liberia had claimed the lives of 150,000 people and displaced 850,000 to neighboring countries. The illegal trade of diamonds and other natural resources abundant in Liberia fueled the civil war, and helped fund Taylor's regime. In 1999 a new round of fighting erupted when a rebel movement backed by Guinea took hold in northern Liberia. In early 2003, separate rebel movement from the south emerged. By the summer, the rebels had gained considerable strength and were threatening Monrovia, Liberia's densely populated capital.

So began a series of events that eventually led to Taylor's ouster. The United States diverted a ship carrying 1,500 marines heading toward the Persian Gulf and stationed it just outside of Monrovia. And just as the Marines were arriving to Liberia's shore, a United Nations war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone issued an arrest warrant for Taylor, whose forces are alleged to have committed crimes against humanity during the neighboring country's own civil war. Then, on August 1, the Security Council authorized a multinational force for Liberia. With a detachment of marines just off shore -- and Nigerian troops en route to Monrovia -- President Bush joined regional leaders and called for Taylor to leave Liberia. On August 11, following a second suggestion from President Bush that Taylor exit Liberia, he fled to exile in Nigeria.

After terrorizing West Africa for over a decade, Taylor was finally dislodged from power. His successor entered into a peace agreement with the rebels that established a transitional government and paved the way for free elections. By the end of the summer, the Nigerian-led multinational force became an official UN peacekeeping operation to assist in the implementation of the peace agreement and deny spoilers an opportunity to plunge Liberia back into chaos. Years of sanctions left the economy in ruins and rampant corruption meant that state services and infrastructure were virtually non-existent. The newly formed United Nations Assistance Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) provided security guarantees that let the United Nations and other international agencies embark on a series of humanitarian and infrastructure building projects throughout the country.

In 2006, Liberians elected lead Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state. Soon after winning election (to well deserved international fanfare) Sirleaf formally requested Taylor's extradition from Nigeria to face the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. Today, Taylor is in a jailhouse in The Hague awaiting his trial. Liberia, meanwhile, is steadily moving forward. The 15,000 strong UNMIL (which includes the UN's first all female police unit) is overseeing the disarmament and demobilization of former fighters, and helping UN and international agencies restore basic services to the Liberian people. Key to Liberia's progress is opening its abundant natural resources up to international trade. To that end, in May 2007, the Security Council lifted sanctions on the Liberian diamond trade, which for most of the country's history had been a source of misery, rather than prosperity for the Liberian people.

Despite Liberia's significant accomplishments post-Taylor, the state is still fragile. Over 250,000 people were killed in the conflicts. Considering that the population of Liberia is only slightly over 3 million that is a staggering percentage of the population. State infrastructure remains in ruins and Liberians continue to depend on the United Nations and other international agencies continue to deliver key services. Still, considering Liberia's significant progress from where it was just 10 years ago, it is clear that the country is on a hopeful path.

United Nations Special Envoy Jan Eliasson said that the peace process in Darfur is at a "crossroads," after he and his counterpart from the African Union (AU) finished their third joint visit to Sudan.

Serious obstacles to the political process - including the dire humanitarian situation, the persistence of tribal clashes and unrest in camps - still exist, Jan Eliasson told reporters at the Khartoum headquarters of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

"We have talked very much about peacekeeping, an indispensable part of the process towards peace in Darfur, but we all must remember there has to be a peace to keep," said Eliasson.

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Two steps are generally required to stop an on-going conflict through diplomacy at the United Nations. When combatants become convinced that they have more to gain from peace than continued fighting, some sort of cease-fire agreement can be brokered. Then, once the parties agree to a ceasefire, the United Nations can put into place mechanisms to enforce the ceasefire. While the former depends on political will of the Security Council, the achieving the latter often requires the skill of diplomats in the General Secretariat.

In the summer of 2006, this process was on full display when the United Nations worked out a ceasefire between Israel and militant forces in Lebanon.

On July 12, Hezbollah militants killed eight Israeli soldiers stationed near the Lebanon-Israel border and captured two others. The Israeli Defense Forces retaliated with incursions into southern Lebanon and bombed targets throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of civilians in the region were displaced as Hezbollah rockets rained down on northern Israel and Israeli bombs rocked southern Lebanon.

After thirty four calamitous days the parties to the conflict agreed to a ceasefire negotiated through the Security Council. Resolution 1701, which passed unanimously, called for the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese soil, and the deployment of a large peacekeeping force to help the Lebanese national army exert control over southern Lebanon. However, out of expediency the resolution left some key issues for later negotiations. The ceasefire held, but conditions on the ground remained deeply volatile. Resolving these outstanding problems required the intervention of someone regarded as an honest broker.

With historic powers unable or unwilling to step up, Secretary General Kofi Annan embarked on a frantic shuttle diplomacy to shore up the resolution. In eleven days, Annan traveled to Belgium, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Spain. He faced the daunting task of convincing regional actors to support the ceasefire. Further, Israel had insisted that it would only withdraw troops from Lebanon and lift its sea and air blockades once a peacekeeping force was in place. This did not sit well with Lebanese President Fouad Sinora, who was eager to see it lifted. A credible peacekeeping mission needed to be deployed--and it needed to happen fast.

The United Nations has had a peacekeeping force deployed to Lebanon in some form since 1978. Per the Security Council resolution, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was to be drastically expanded and given a new mandate. But as with every peacekeeping mission, it is up to member states to actually contribute the troops. Convincing member states to commit troops, and then setting up the logistics of the actual deployment is often a laborious task. To complicate matters, Israel demanded that the peacekeepers only come from countries that have sophisticated military capabilities and diplomatic relations with Israel. But in the interest of balance, local sensitivities, and to avoid the appearance that UNIFIL would be an occupying force, the peacekeepers would have to be complimented by soldiers from Muslim countries as well. These political demands left precious few countries from which to draw troops.

In the end, France and Italy contributed the bulk of peacekeepers to UNIFIL. While in Ankara, Annan was also able to convince Turkey, which has relations with Israel, to contribute to the force. And following Annan's trip to Jerusalem, the Israeli government softened its position and consented to Indonesian contributions to UNIFIL. (Indonesia does not have formal relations with Israel.) During the trip, Annan was also able to orchestrate the lifting of the Israeli blockade. Working the phones, he secured French and German commitments to patrol the Lebanese coast and serve as border control agents at Lebanese airports. This is particularly significant because Germany, for historical reasons, has been reluctant to deploy troops to peacekeeping missions involving Israel.

Within weeks of Annan's trip, the first contingent of peacekeepers set foot in Lebanon. In fact, between the resolution and the deployment, only seventeen days lapsed, a remarkably fast deployment. This shows that when the political will is there, peacekeeping missions can get off the ground quickly. Today, there are currently over 13,000 uniformed personnel in Unifil. They continue to augment the Lebanese National Army in southern Lebanon. Troops also support other UN initiatives throughout Lebanon, such as removing unexploded ordinances, rebuilding and other humanitarian efforts.

Thanks to the quick intervention of the Secretary General, backed by crucial political support of member states, the ceasefire still holds in Southern Lebanon. Now the major task before the international community is to help establish a lasting comprehensive peace in the region.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a $40 million donation from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), to help feed over 2 million people in Darfur.

Kenro Oshidari, Sudan Representative UN World Food Programme (WFP) said this latest donation will help the agency "to purchase and pre-position food assistance in Darfur before the rainy season, which is about to start and will last until October."

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These days, when one hears about a bloodbath in Sudan thoughts immediately drift to Darfur, Sudan's beleaguered western region where an estimated 200,000-400,000 people have died since the outbreak of civil war four years ago. However, as horrific as that number is, it pales in comparison to the carnage visited upon South Sudan for most of the last twenty years.

Sudan is an enormous territory with a relatively week central government. In 1983, the government in Khartoum tried to impose a harsh version of Islamic law over all of Sudan. The mostly Christian and animist provinces to the south rebelled. Four years later a new government began peace talks with the south. But then, in July 1989, a Sudanese Army General named Omar al Bashir, backed by the hard-line National Islamic Front (NIF), took power in a coup. Top among Bashir and the NIF's grievances was the previous government's progress toward a peace agreement with the south.

With Bashir in power, the civil war entered a new and deadlier phase. Using tactics that would foreshadow the enlistment of the janjaweed proxy militias in Darfur, Bashir and the NIF exploited existing ethnic tensions in southern Sudan--to brutal effect. In 1994 a Human Rights Watch report cited indiscriminate bombings, summary executions, and starvation as having claimed the lives of 1.3 million people in southern Sudan. The death toll continued to rise in Southern Sudan through out the 1990s, making it one of the worst man-made humanitarian disasters in the world; an estimated two million people died in nearly twenty years of fighting.

In 2001, the new American Presidential administration breathed fresh life into peace talks between Khartoum and the South. President Bush assigned former Senator John Danforth as his personal envoy to Sudan and made ending the long civil war a foreign policy priority. The United Nations and donor countries like Norway also played a significant role in these efforts, which resulted in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed on January 9, 2005. The following day, the Security Council approved a peacekeeping deployment to southern Sudan to support the young agreement.

Today, there are little over 10,000 uniformed personnel in the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), including 8,766 troops, 599 military observers, and 662 police. The deployment monitors ceasefire agreements and is mandated to protect civilians should a new outbreak of fighting occur. UN troops and police also protect international civilian personnel who administer humanitarian aid and help to oversee compliance with key aspects of the CPA, which includes a referendum on southern independence set for 2011.

South Sudan is clearly on the road to recovery. It is a resource rich territory, and with the security situation much improved foreign investment is starting to flow to the region. Still, there is persistent worry that the government in Khartoum may break the agreement, particularly as the referendum date nears. There are also some outstanding border and wealth sharing disputes, which at times threaten to escalate into broader conflict. But what is really hanging over the head of UNMIS is the conflict in Darfur. Successive UN resolutions have carved out a role for UNMIS in Darfur, but so far the central government refuses to permit significant numbers of blue-helmets from entering Darfur. There is significant concern that pressing Khartoum on this issue may negatively effect the government's compliance with the CPA.

Despite these challenges, the CPA is still holding. But the fragility of the agreement means that peacekeepers will likely remain in south Sudan for the foreseeable future.

A five-year plan for peace and development in Iraq was co-launched today by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which world leaders pledged their partnership with the Iraqi Government. Over $30 billion in financial commitments have been announced so far.

The 74 delegations unanimously adopted a resolution reaffirming their shared commitment to a secure and stable Iraq and emphasizing the need for improved governance, anti-corruption measures, equal protection for all Iraqis and an institutional framework based on the rule of law.

Secretary-General Ban, in a press conference following the adoption of the resolution, said he was pleased that a number of countries have already made concrete commitments, estimated at over $30 billion.

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Editor's Note: Keeping the Peace will be a month long series of the Posts on Peace campaign. We will provide a snapshot of the history and current challenges facing nearly every peacekeeping mission around the globe. Next up: UNMIS, the 10,000 strong peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan. Enjoy.

In 1991 Haitian military officers deposed the popular and democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide. Aristide fled to the United States, but his remaining supporters quickly suffered at the hands of the new regime. Massive political violence and general lawlessness soon wracked Haiti. Thousands of Aristide's supporters were slain. And many of those who survived opted to test their luck on rickety fishing boats destined for the United States.

By 1993, the United States Coast Guard had intercepting tens of thousands of these so-called "boat people." Clearly, something had to be done.

With a looming refugee crisis and growing instability in a country only a few hundred miles from Florida, the United States government sought to intervene. In July 1994, the Security Council authorized the deployment of a US-led multinational force to Haiti. 20,000 US marines were soon heading there to facilitate the return of the Aristide government and help restore law and order. This initial US-led deployment was followed by successive UN missions in Haiti. Today, the heir of the initial American-led intervention is MINUSTAH, which was authorized by the Security Council in February 2004.

The Council approved this newest mission when Aristide fled the country amidst an insurrection that threatened to unleash a new round of violence. But this time around, American marines were not at the UN's disposal. Rather, there are some 8,000 uniformed personnel in MINUSTAH, including over 7,000 (mostly Brazilian) troops and over 1,800 police. Their job is tough. While Haiti has demonstrated steady political progress, ruthless gangs still exert de facto control over much of Port-au-Prince's sprawling slums.

On February 7 2006, Haiti held presidential elections that were supported by UN agencies. Rene Preval, a former aid to Aristide, won and asked peacekeepers to help oversee efforts to disarm and reintegrate Haiti's fractious militias and criminal gangs. To that end, MINUSTAH recently undertook its most ambitious mission to date. In February, peacekeepers entered Cite-Soleil, Port au Prince's largest slum, to arrest a shadowy crime boss known only as "Evans." During the crackdown peacekeepers went block-by-block to rescue neighborhoods from the grip of this ruthless mobster and extortionist. The crackdown continues to this day.

Since the deployment, fifteen blue helmets and three police officers have been killed, making Haiti one of the more dangerous peacekeeping missions on the planet. This year, the MINUSTAH will cost member states $489.21 million. According to the United States General Accountability Office, this is a bargain. In 2006, a detailed GAO study compared Haiti's UN mission to a hypothetical American deployment and found the UN mission in Haiti achieves the same objectives while being eight-times less expensive.

The reason for comparison is obvious. Being so close to American shores, instability in Haiti poses a direct threat to the United States. As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told then-Secretary General Kofi Annan in late 2004, "There are six thousand Brazilian troops in Haiti. If they weren't, there would be six thousand marines."

The International Criminal Court just issued its first set of arrest warrants for two individuals, a janjaweed commander and a government official, accused of war crimes in Darfur. This is a fairly momentous occasion. Since the war in Darfur began, there has yet to be any criminal accountability for the massive violations of international humanitarian law which have defined that conflict.

Now that the warrants have been served, the ICC needs to get their hands on these two for trial in The Hague. The problem here is that the ICC has no Marshall Service of its own. Rather it must rely on the cooperation of member states to carry out the arrests. If the suspects were in Belgium this might not be a problem. But since they are both still in Sudan, their arrest can really only come at the hands of Sudanese authorities. Needless to say, the Sudanese government is reluctant to send the suspects to The Hague. Therefore, for justice to be served the international community must press the government of Sudan to hand over these suspects for trial.

For the simple sake of justice, these two should be put on trial for their role in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. But the warrants also serve more immediate goals. One can imagine the Security Council contemplating a new set of sanctions should Khartoum harbor wanted war crimes suspects. After all, the ICC investigation in Darfur was a creation of the Security Council. Now it seems the ICC is giving back by providing the Council with new ammunition in its diplomatic row with Sudan -- which still refuses to let a robust peacekeeping force enter Darfur.

There should be a flurry of Security Council activity on Kosovo in the next week or two. In March, Martti Ahtisaari, the UN's top diplomat for the "future status process" of Kosovo recommended the province's independence from Serbia. Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia, balked at this suggestion and instead recommended that the Security Council send a fact-finding mission to Kosovo--a move some saw as a delaying tactic.

When that mission returned yesterday, American officials reiterated their strong support for Kosovo's independence. "We hope that Russia understands that Kosovo is going to be independent one way or another," Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried told Reuters. "It will either be done in a controlled, supervised way that provides for the well-being of the Serbian people, or it will take place in an uncontrolled way and the Kosovo Serbs will suffer the most, which would be terrible."

Should the debate in the Security Council remain intractably stalled, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government may unilaterally declare independence from Serbia. And if Kosovo declares independence without formal UN approval, European Union member states will be divided over whether or not to formally recognize Kosovo. Given that the E.U. ponies up much of the cash to support Kosovo reconstruction, a potential E.U. split could seriously disrupt reconstruction efforts.

So even though the diplomacy is tough, the UN route is really the only option for Kosovo. As Dan Fried remarked, "I see absolutely no advantage to doing this any other way than through a Security Council resolution. I see merely disadvantages. The alternatives are all worse."

The United Nations refugee chief has pledged to step up efforts to improve local access to water in the Darfur region.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres toured areas adjacent to the Sudanese-Chadian border and met with African Union (AU) officials in West Darfur yesterday, the third day of his visit to Sudan.

An estimated 25,000 Chadians have sought refuge in West Darfur, despite the conflict in that part of Sudan, because of fighting across eastern Chad in recent months between rebels and Government forces.

Guterres acknowledged the vital importance of water to everyone living in the area and promised that UNHCR would do all it could to find better solutions for the refugees.

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About 100,000 tons of World Food Program aid is being held at the Port of Sudan by government officials who contend that the food is genetically modified. The food aid is mostly sorghum wheat donated by the United States and meant for distribution in Darfur.

According to the WFP it has been certified by independent laboratories as not genetically modified.

"We had it tested by a French laboratory along with Canadian split peas which the Sudanese are also objecting to, and neither food consignment is GM. In any case, there is no GM sorghum on the market, it doesn't exist," said the WFP's Caroline Hurford.

News of the hold up comes as the new head of the WFP, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Josette Sheeran, visited Sudan on Wednesday. Perhaps Khartoum seeks to embarrass a key member state pushing for UN peacekeepers in Darfur. Whatever the reason, a responsible government would not hold hostage aid intended to feed their own citizens.

According to the latest United Nations human rights report on Iraq, large-scale killings and targeted assassinations continue to impede efforts to bring lasting stability and security to Iraq.

Although Government officials declared a drop in the number of killings in late February after the Baghdad Security Plan was launched, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) says the number of reported casualties rose again in March.

UNAMI also voiced concern regarding the handling of suspects arrested as part of the Plan. The new procedures "contained no explicit measures guaranteeing minimum due process rights." Rather, the report argues, "they authorized arrests without warrants and the interrogation of suspects without placing a time limit on how long they could be held in pre-trial detention."

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The United Nations-sponsored International Compact for Iraq (ICI), which seeks to consolidate peace and pursue political, economic and social development, will be launched in Egypt early next month.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would attend the launch in Sharm el-Sheikh on 3 May.

The Compact is a five-year national plan that includes benchmarks and mutual commitments from both Iraq and the international community, all with the aim of helping Iraq on the path towards peace, sound governance and economic reconstruction.

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Perhaps the most disturbing detail to come out of this new UN report on Darfur are revelations that the Sudanese government has painted military planes and attack helicopters white, thereby disguising them as humanitarian aircraft. Some planes have even had "U.N." stenciled on their wings.

This is deeply problematic for two reasons. One, the types of airplanes used by the Sudanese military are not your typical bombers. Rather, they are Russian-made Antanovs, which are designed principally as transport planes. The Sudanese military, however, has refitted Anatanovs to function as bombers. So from a distance it is hard to make out whether a white transport plane belongs, say, to the World Food Program, or whether it is a refitted Antanov, armed to drop payloads filled with thousands of tiny shards of metal.

What makes this new development more troubling is that air transport is the main way that humanitarian organizations access Darfur. By disguising military aircraft, the Sudanese government may forestall efforts to enforce a ban on offensive military over-flights in Darfur. When governments or policy makers call for no-fly-zones over Darfur, humanitarian organizations can now rightly worry that their planes may be mistaken for military aircraft.

In a UNHCR-organized conference in Geneva, some 450 delegates met to discuss the nearly 4 million Iraqis who have fled their homes.

"There was truly a humanitarian spirit that allowed us to work together, to work together in a committed way for the same purpose - the people we care for, the Iraqis displaced inside and outside Iraq," UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) António Guterres told a concluding news conference after the two-day gathering that drew representatives of 60 nations.

There are some 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Iraq and 2 million refugees abroad.

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The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) says that the escalating violence in Iraq combined with a shortage of health workers is putting severe pressure on the health of the Iraqi population.

A release from the WHO relays concern that health services will not be able to help the millions of people who have been displaced.

The government estimates that almost 70 per cent of critically injured patients with violence-related wounds die while in the Emergency and Intensive Care Units due to a shortage of competent staff and a lack of drugs and equipment, WHO said in a news release published in conjunction with a conference in Geneva being organized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the needs of the nearly 4 million uprooted Iraqis.

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As news of Sudan's agreement to let some 3,000 UN troops into Darfur reached world capitols yesterday, officials were quick to caution that the deployment of these troops should not supplant the ulitmate goal of diplomacy toward Sudan. As the head of UN peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno warned, "The heavy support package, as its name indicates, is not the robust force that Darfur needs. It's a support package to lay the ground for a future robust force. It's a transition to a hybrid mission. That's how we see it." Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who was visiting Chad at the time, agrees. So do officials from the United Kingdom, which holds the Security Council presidency this month. Yesterday, Tony Blair threatened to pursue sanctions should Sudan renege on this most recent agreement, "We must be prepared, as the United Nations Security Council, if they do not agree to the U.N. package, to pass a strong resolution with sanctions in respect to the Sudanese government."

The story is still developing. Still, officials seem to be saying that this incremental step is useful only to the extent that it helps pave the way for the deployment of the full contingent of UN forces, called for by Security Council 1705.

Today the UN refugee agency opened an international conference on the humanitarian crisis facing nearly 4 million refugees and displaced people in Iraq. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres called for a sustained international response.

"The humanitarian dimension of the problem can no longer be overlooked...Almost 4 million Iraqis are watching us today. Their needs are as obvious as the moral imperative to help. All of us - representatives of governments, international organisations and civil society - are now compelled to act."

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During the Arab League summit in Riyadh two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Secretary General Ban Ki moon held extensive talks about the crisis in Darfur with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. At the time, the meeting was significant principally for the fact that it was one of the first times that a regional power like Saudi Arabia took interest in Darfur. Now, if news accounts prove accurate, it would seem that this meeting could have actually yielded an important breakthrough.

The official Saudi news agency reported last night that Bashir contacted King Abdullah to say that he has signed a joint agreement with the United Nations and African Union to delineate the respective roles of Sudan and the international organizations to resolve the crisis in Darfur. Details about the pledge are still sketchy. But if news reports this morning are accurate, Sudan has agreed to the so-called "phase 2" heavy support package that would let some 3,000 UN troops augment the AU force in Darfur.

To be sure, Bashir has backed away from similar pledges in the past, so his government should be judged by actions, not words. Also, while a hybrid AU-UN force would be an important development for Darfur, it is still an incremental step. The ultimate goal remains deploying the full compliment of 17,000 peacekeepers called for in Security Council Resolution 1706, passed in late August. Still, if today's apparent agreement helps that mission materialize, it would be a positive step.

The senior United Nations envoy to Iraq, the Secretary-General's Special Representative Ashraf Qazi, condemned weekend bombings which targeted hundreds of civilians.

Qazi "denounced in the strongest terms the bombings in Karbala, and Al Jaderyia Bridge in Baghdad on Saturday, 14 April, and Al-Ottaeefia neighborhood on Sunday, 15 April, which caused the death and injury of more than two hundred innocent civilians."

Mr. Qazi described these wanton acts of deliberate violence against men, women and children while going about their daily lives as "heinous."

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This is incredible. Google Earth teamed up the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to create an interactive map of the genocide in Darfur. It features a host of features, including icons where villages were maimed or destroyed and photos of life in the refugee camps and relief efforts. This breathtaking photograph of a World Food Program air drop over Geniena, the capital of the west Darfur province, can be seen when you download google earth and search for "Darfur."

The United Nations, the African Union (AU) and the Sudanese Government will participate in a technical-level meeting next week to finalize the measures for the UN "heavy support package" to the AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

Monday's meeting is not intended to re-negotiate the heavy support package, the second phase of the three-step process culminating in the eventual deployment of a hybrid UN-AU force, Mr. Ban told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.

"As the Government of Sudan has made certain reservations on my proposals, this meeting will be used to clarify and for an exchange of views on this heavy support package," he said following a briefing to the Security Council on his recent trip to the Middle East.

"We hope that, through these consultative meetings, we will be able to deploy hybrid forces as soon as possible."

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Martti Ahtisaari, the United Nations special envoy for the future status of Kosovo, presented the Security Council with a 61 page report outlining steps for eventual Kosovar independence. The New York Times has the story.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke out yesterday about the murder of five African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Darfur, saying it further illustrates the need for a hybrid UN-AU force in the region.

"I would like to strongly deplore such killings," Ban said in New York yesterday. "That really illustrates the necessity and urgency of dispatching hybrid peacekeepers to Darfur."

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After visiting South Lebanon, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced hope for peace between Israel and Hezbollah.

Responding to questions at a press conference in Naqoura, Mr. Ban said both Israel and Lebanon showed interested in this goal. "It is important that the current cessation of hostilities could be transferred and developed into a permanent ceasefire. I know that Lebanese Government is very much interested."

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Also see The New York Times