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The United Nations has hailed the potato as a potential solution to solving the looming global food shortage.

With wheat and rice supplies declining, the UN is encouraging low-income countries to grow more potatoes to cover the food shortfall.

It's also declared 2008 as the International Year of the Potato to try and raise awareness of how important the humble spud is to agriculture and the economy.

The International Year of the Potato also happens to have a fantastic website, from which I learned many facts dispelling my previous assumption that the potato consisted simply of "empty carbs." For instance,

They have the highest protein content (around 2.1 percent on a fresh weight basis) in the family of root and tuber crops, and protein of a fairly high quality, with an amino-acid pattern that is well matched to human requirements. They are also very rich in vitamin C - a single medium-sized potato contains about half the recommended daily intake - and contain a fifth of the recommended daily value of potassium.

Nutritious, delicious, and potentially life-saving.

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Uganda's fugitive guerrilla Joseph Kony will meet mediators on Saturday on the Sudan-Congo border and may even sign a final peace deal, a rebel negotiator said on Wednesday.

But the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) still wants more details on how Uganda's government plans to use traditional reconciliation rituals to help him avoid prosecution for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

But after spurning the peace process a month ago, ostensibly for very much the same reasons, Kony's credibility -- already at the level of an indicted mass murderer -- is, to say the least, suspect. Moreover, it is unclear how the "peace vs. justice" stalemate has advanced in the last month: the Ugandan government -- and even some of Kony's victims -- are willing to drop the ICC indictments in favor of means of traditional justice, but the ICC insists that Uganda is legally obliged to hand over Kony. Kony is calling for a "workshop" to address the issue, but it is unlikely that he will be appeased by anything less than getting the ICC out of the picture entirely.

In a new report, the ENOUGH project proposes the option of offering Kony exile -- while using ICC indictment as a credible stick to end his nefarious influence in the region. ENOUGH is rightly skeptical of Kony's intentions, and the report prioritizes restoring peace and security over securing a formal peace deal with Kony, which, in light of his past unreliability, seems a very sober strategy.

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"Burma's ruling military junta today impounded United Nations food shipments bound for the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta, and U.N. officials said they would suspend further aid to the country in response.

Two planes carrying about 76,000 pounds of high-energy biscuits landed in Rangoon today, but were forced to offload into a government-controlled warehouse, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N.'s World Food Program in Bangkok. Risley said UN officials were told that only Burma's minister for social welfare could release the aid for distribution.

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Addressing participants at the start of a five-day national women's conference in the capital, Monrovia, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Liberia, Ellen Margrethe Løj, yesterday highlighted the need to take the message of women's empowerment and the advancement of human rights to the community level.

'When discussing these issues, ensure that they are not only discussed with intellectual women in Monrovia; make sure that all women of Liberia are involved in these efforts,' she told the gathering, which included UN and Government officials, diplomats, local women leaders, female traditional and religious leaders and members of civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Løj also addressed women's participation in agriculture in reference to the rise in food prices, as well as the prevalence of rape in Liberia, which is currently the single most frequently committed serious crime in the nation.

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The junta has never had a reputation for caring much about its own citizens, but the fact that they are erecting all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles to prevent life saving relief from reaching their own citizens is downright criminal. Given this behavior, I wonder if the Security Council should invoke the "Responsibility to Protect" and authorize the violation of Myanmar's sovereignty by other member states? (This is the principal, agreed upon by UN member states in 2005, that the international community is permitted to violate the sovereignty of a country when that country is unwilling or unable to prevent mass atrocities from being visited upon its own citizens.)

It seems that at least one P-5 member, France , thinks so. The proposal was aired by Bernard Kouchner, French foreign minister and founder of Doctors Without Borders, but quickly shot down by China and Russia. The UN's Top Humanitarian Official, John Holmes, also derided the proposal, saying "I'm not sure that invading Myanmar would be a very sensible option at this particular moment. I'm not sure it would be helpful to the people we're actually trying to help."

True, the immediate goal is to get relief to Burmese citizens as fast as possible. Right now, this means working with the military junta. But if this kind of obstructionism on the part of the Burmese government is not overcome soon, invoking Responsibility to Protect should not be too far outside the realm of possibility.

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>>Burundi - A day after the Forces for National Liberation, the remaining active rebel group, agreed to implement a peace deal, Burundi's army killed 50 FNL fighters in a gun fight outside of Bujumbura. Both sides claim they were provoked. The people of Burundi have suffered under a decade-long civil war between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority that has left over 300,000 dead.

>>Israel - Celebrations have begun in Israel to mark its 60th anniversary. President Bush will visit next week. Palestinians, on the other hand, are holding solemn marches in the West Bank to mark the day they call al-Nakba, or "the Catastrophe." The celebrations are also overshadowed by a continuing corruption probe against Prime Minister Olmert, which prompted him to cancel the customary interviews granted to local media on independence day.

• Djibouti Asks for UN Help
• World AIDS Orphan Day
• After A Devastating Natural Disaster...

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The tiny port nation of Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa, has urged the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action to prevent a conflict with its northern neighbor Eritrea.

In a letter to the council president circulated Tuesday, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said Eritrea has launched a major military buildup on their border overlooking critical Red Sea shipping lanes.

It is not yet clear how the Security Council will respond to Youssouf's appeal, and Djibouti is as yet unsatisfied with the mediation from the Arab League and African Union. According to Djibouti's president, the Eritrean and Djiboutian armies are each massed along the border, and "the situation is explosive." With Russia and Georgia also -- at least rhetorically -- sparring over the region of Abkhazia, yet another regional confrontation over territory is clearly not in the UN's interests. In the border spat with Ethiopia, though, Eritrea's government did not exactly welcome the continued presence of UN peacekeepers, eventually forcing them out of the country by withholding necessary fuel supplies. In that case, the UN had even ruled that the disputed border territory at hand belonged to Eritrea, so one can only imagine how the country would react to UN involvement in a case in which its claim to Djibouti's land seems much more dubious.

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Simply put, resources are needed. As such, in 2002 FXB International founded World Aids Orphans Day, a grassroots campaign to push all nations to direct at least 10 percent of their HIV/AIDS funding to the care of orphans. So far, the US, UK, and Ireland are the only nations to do so. To join the effort, go to www.worldaidsorphans.org.

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[World Food Program] now has more than 800 metric tonnes of food stocks available in its warehouses in Yangon, and will deliver these food resources to all areas in need, including the Ayeryawaddy Division, the largest and hardest hit of the five major divisions affected by the cyclone. WFP's $500,000 initial emergency operation will fund the airlifts of food supplies and emergency staff deployments.

The UN refugee agency, for its part, is emptying its emergency shelter material stockpiles in neighbouring Thailand of plastic sheeting and tents for some 10,000 people for urgent dispatch to Yangon. The supplies would be distributed through a Disaster Management Committee that had been established by the Myanmar Government.

Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told journalists in Geneva that the agency's office in Myanmar yesterday purchased $50,000 worth of urgently needed basic supplies in Yangon for distribution, including emergency tarpaulins, plastic sheeting and canned food.

In addition, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has dispatched teams to make initial assessments in Yangon, Pathein and Bago, and is positioning relief supplies. The agency says it will work with partners and the Government to provide access to clean water, safe sanitation and improved hygiene, and will seek to protect children and help them return to school as soon as possible.

UNICEF's Myanmar field staff have started delivering urgently-need supplies to the Irrawaddy delta, and has provided medicines, first-aid kits and oral rehydration tablets to Laputta township, one of the most severely impacted areas.

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>>Chile - The once-thought-dormant Chaitén volcano in southern Chile erupted again yesterday, blasting ash and lava dozens of miles into the air. Residents living withing a 30-mile radius were evacuated, and, with the help of navy warships, moved to Patagonia. Since it began on Friday, the eruption has covered a 60-square-mile block with 15 inches of ash, destroying farmland, rendering the air unbreathable, contaminated water supplies, and making rescue efforts difficult.

>>Myanmar - As the death toll in the wake of Cyclone Nargis (damage graphic) rises to 22,500, Myanmar's military junta is experiencing increased pressure from abroad to further open its doors to international aid. The World Food Program has said that as many as a million people have lost their homes. Over 24 million people live in the declared disaster areas. A UN assessment team is still waiting on their visas. Some, including President Bush speaking yesterday in Washington, have also taken the opportunity to press on political reforms.

• Significant Progress in Sierra Leone
• Bears and Bugs
• Obama's Influence in Nigeria?
• The Necessity of a Building
• Major UN Renovation Officially Underway

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The United Nations mission in Sierra Leone has made "significant progress" in supporting the Government to consolidate peace in the country, by strengthening the security sector, by promoting human rights and the rule of law, and by helping prepare for upcoming elections, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report.

However, Mr. Ban also cautions that the "the country continues to experience political tension along ethnic and regional lines" and cites high unemployment, poor economic and social conditions, and the rising price of food and gasoline, as other factors which "have the potential to derail the peace consolidation process."

This update on the improving situation in Sierra Leone follows similarly encouraging news out of neighboring Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. As Ban's prudent warning suggests, however, these transitions toward peace and democracy in West Africa do not come unaccompanied by serious lingering problems and potential pitfalls. After easing violent societies into stability, the UN faces perhaps the even steeper challenge of consolidating these gains and ensuring that former war zones become politically and economically sustainable. That's why the peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone, scheduled to withdraw in September, will be replaced by a peacebuilding office.

These peacebuilding efforts will be funded out of the UN's relatively new Peacebuilding Fund, created in late 2006 to provide societies transitioning toward peace with "a crucial bridge between conflict and recovery at a time when other funding mechanisms may not yet be available." Despite the enormity and importance of its work, though, the Peacebuilding Fund has received less than a third of the money it needs to operate -- including zero contributions from the United States.

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Small, frail and subsisting in warm areas, insects in tropical climates are imminently threatened by rising temperatures. The survival of these insects is not only important for the sake of their own survival; they are essential to the survival of their entire habitat. When insect species disappear from the planet, the foundation of the food chain becomes damaged, and when foundations crumble, structures collapse. Insects also provide services like decomposition and pollination that keep the life-cycle moving, and without them, many other plant and animal species will be under extreme pressure for their survival.

Even though they are not cuddly or famous for their hugs, these species require attention. Insects are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation and act as indicators. If they cannot adapt, this does not bode well for the other planetary inhabitants.

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The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

"The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem," the militant group said in an e-mailed statement.

The prospect of an end to violence in the volatile region is certainly welcome, but there's one minor hole in the rebels' claim: as Matt Yglesias points out, the Obama campaign does not recall its candidate making any such appeal.

Writing at The Plank, Dayo Olopade provides this interesting observation.

At the time--unlike past attacks--MEND seemed to be courting American attention: "The ripple effect of this attack will touch your economy and people one way or the other and (we) hope we now have your attention," the group said last month.

Well, oil is $120/barrel--looks like you've got it. The direct link to Obama, however, seems suspect. He did attempt some high-level suasion during January's election crisis in Kenya, but I'm doubtful his grueling schedule these last six weeks has left much time for Skyping with MEND. It is notable that even the hint of the "Obama touch" has a band of saboteurs rubbing their chins about an end to a longstanding conflict.

True. And if this mysterious ceasefire appeal does indeed induce the rebels to cease their attacks, while the Obama campaign may not mind taking credit, the greatest beneficiaries will be the Nigerians suffering from violence in this oil-rich region.

UPDATE: Apparently MEND rebels have set their eyes on another American politician to broker peace -- former president Jimmy Carter (as well as possibly UN Messenger of Peace George Clooney). What's more, Carter, who attempted to mediate the region's conflict nine years ago, seems inclined to accept.

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The renovation really isn't the issue here...Either the UN is a worthwhile use of American funds or it isn't. If it is, the renovation doesn't make it less so, and the building obviously needs a lot of work...

True, but this is not the entirety of the matter. Of course the construction of a new building doesn't make the UN less of "a worthwhile use of American funds." Renovation of its headquarters doesn't make it more deserving of American funds either. The relevant point here, which needs to be made more emphatically, is that, if the is UN indeed "worthy" of U.S. funding -- which we here at UN Dispatch firmly believe it is -- then it affirmatively needs a new building in order to continue its mission.

Ed also objects to the cost of the renovation, calling it "a rather expensive project even for the United Nations." This, however, neglects to mention the reason that the building's costs have expanded -- namely, because the U.S. has dragged its heels throughout the process, raising pedantic objections as the costs of construction continued to rise.

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It is only slight exaggeration to say that visitors to the United Nations HQ in New York can sometimes see asbestos dripping from the walls. The building is old and decrepit. City officials would have condemned the building long ago if not for the fact that it falls under international jurisdiction. The sad fact is UN HQ, an international symbol and New York landmark, has not undergone a major renovation in fifty years. That is, until now. From the UN News Center:

Shovels in hand and donning blue hard hats, members of the United Nations community, led by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, today broke ground for the construction of temporary conference venue at the world body's New York Headquarters, marking the beginning of a five-year, $1.9 billion overhaul of the landmark complex.

"Today, we turn the soil which the United Nations stands on to mark the rebirth, or renovation, of our Headquarters," Mr. Ban told representatives of Member States, the Host Country, staff and the private sector gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony on the North Lawn.

The construction of the temporary conference building is the first phase of the project, known as the Capital Master Plan (CMP), which aims to make the five-decade old Secretariat and adjacent buildings -- plagued by leaks, safety violations and outdated systems -- safer, more efficient, greener and more modern.