In the Washington Post today Colum Lynch reports on the developing world's disquiet with some of Secretary Ban's early moves to re-organize UN bureaucracy. Apparently, some member states worry that Ban is too "pro-American," and are suspicious about whom or what is motivating him.
Right now, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding an open hearing on "The Future of the United Nations under Ban Ki-Moon" with Tim Wirth, former Senator and current President of the UN Foundation, John Bolton, the former U.S. Perm Rep to the UN, and George Mitchell, former Senator Majority Leader.
Watch it live.
Ghanim Alnajjar, an independent UN human rights expert, called for the release of three journalists arrested in Somalia and expressed concern over the closing of radio and television stations.
"Threats to journalists and media outlets constitute serious violations of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Alnajjar said. More
Tomorrow the House Committee on Foreign Affairs is holding an open hearing, The Future of the United Nations under Ban Ki-Moon.
Details after the jump.
Marc Lacey's Sunday New York Times piece describing UN peacekeepers' recent incursions into the gang-infested Cite-Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince sheds some light into the difficult task blue-helmets face in Haiti. There are 8,000 mostly Jordanian and Brazilian blue-helmets in Haiti. And as the Times piece explains, they are starting to stake a more aggressive posture against organized criminal groups that terrorize urban slums and threaten the democratically-elected Preval government. Heavily armed UN troops are acting as a constabulary force, going block-by-block to apprehend crime bosses in order to make life more tolerable for the residents of Port-au-Prince.
Because Haiti is so close to American shores, it stands as a sharp example of how peacekeepers can take on a role that would otherwise fall to American soldiers.