UN Peacekeeping

As French Troops Leave Mali, Will the UN Mission Face Deadlier Risks?

• March 23, 2022

As the world’s deadliest United Nations mission, in Mali, registered its first two peacekeeper deaths for 2022 from improvised explosive devices, uncertainty looms over the role that the French military operation Barkhane will play in helping protect UN bases from fatal attacks. Mali’s military junta ordered the French troops out of the country in …

Africa, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

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Ukrainian Peacekeepers’ Departure From the UN Could Be ‘Severely Detrimental’ to the Congo Mission

Clair MacDougall and Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

• March 16, 2022

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Next to a white, scratched United Nations hangar, soldiers in green-and-gray fatigues straddled parts of a Mi-8 Soviet-style helicopter, adjusting motors and rotors in the morning light of March 7. One member of the Ukrainian Aviation Unit of peacekeepers deployed here watched footage on his mobile phone …

Africa, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

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As Mali’s Security Worsens, UN Peacekeeping Must Adapt: An Interview With a Force Commander

Katarina Hoije

• January 18, 2022

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — As Mali adapts to worsening security problems internally and the rest of the Sahel region by working with new partners, like a Russian paramilitary group, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali must also change too. That is what Dennis Gyllensporre of Sweden, the mission’s most recent force commander, suggested …

Africa, UN Peacekeeping

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BOOKS

A Fresh Look Back at Two UN Deaths in the Congo

Irwin Arieff and Deborah Baldwin

• January 15, 2022

Nearly five years after the murder of two United Nations investigators in a rough and lonely patch of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, their lives and their deaths have become a metaphor for the extraordinary challenges faced by the UN and other international actors promoting peace in the world’s most forlorn and unsavory …

Africa, BOOKS, UN Peacekeeping

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Terrorists’ IED Attacks Make the UN Mission in Mali Even Deadlier in 2021

Clair MacDougall

• December 23, 2021

The world’s deadliest peacekeeping mission has recorded a twofold increase in fatalities among its troops from improvised explosive devices this year over last year, reinforcing what analysts say: more sophisticated attacks are being carried out by jihadists in Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel region of West Africa. Half of the 28 uniformed peacekeepers …

Africa, UN Peacekeeping

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Unarmed Peacekeepers Were Shot at and a Girl Was Killed: Will the Truth Ever Be Known?

Maurizio Guerrero

• December 14, 2021

Ten unarmed United Nations peacekeepers traveling in a clearly identified UN minibus were wounded on Nov. 1 by gunshots fired at them by presidential palace guards in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. Two of the peacekeepers were seriously injured. These facts are undisputed. The cause of the attack — and even …

Africa, UN Peacekeeping

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WORLDVIEWS

My Work on the Origins of Minurso, the UN Mission in Western Sahara

Joseph Alfred Grinblat

• October 27, 2021

It is now 30 years since the United Nations referendum mission for Western Sahara, known as Minurso, was created, and I was one of the original staff members. Starting in 1971, Sahrawi students in Morocco started a movement for the independence of Spanish Sahara. The Sahrawi are the Indigenous people of the western region …

Africa, Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

In August, India Aims to Use Its Security Council Seat to Show Why It Should Be Permanent

Stéphanie Fillion

• August 2, 2021

The presidency of the Security Council is always a high time for a country’s diplomacy, but for India right now, it’s more than that. In August, the country is going to try to show the world why it deserves a permanent seat in the United Nations’ most important body. According to T. S. Tirumurti, …

General Assembly, Middle East, Security Council Presidency, Terrorism, UN Diplomats, UN Peacekeeping

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THIS WEEK @UN

Seeking Racial Justice; $6 Billion for Peace Ops; Gender Equality on the Front Burner, for Now

Ivana Ramirez

• July 2, 2021

Ending racism across the world; UN peacekeeping’s $6 billion annual budget O.K.’d; Norway’s diplomatic troubles; gender equality on the front burner (for now). You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We are halfway through …

Africa, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Peacekeeping

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Humanitarian Aid Is France’s Big Theme for July

Stéphanie Fillion

• July 1, 2021

France is in the diplomatic spotlight at the United Nations as it’s not only leading the Security Council for the month of July, but it is also just finishing up hosting the long-awaited Generation Equality Forum, a UN-led gathering that brings together governments, corporations and citizens groups to secure commitments for achieving gender equality. …

Africa, General Assembly, Humanitarian Aid, Security Council Presidency, UN Peacekeeping

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A Year Later, a Sex-Video Inquiry Tied to the UN Mission in Israel Remains a Mystery

Maurizio Guerrero

• June 3, 2021

Almost a year ago, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization released a statement characterizing as “abhorrent” a video in which a man and a woman appeared to be having sex in the back seat of a four-wheel drive vehicle with UN logos on it. The video’s content, apparently shot on a major road in …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Secretary-General, UN Peacekeeping

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WORLDVIEWS

Is Combating Sexual Abuse in the UN Now a Low Priority for Guterres?

Sabrina White and Fred Carver

• May 12, 2021

LONDON — On taking his oath of office in December 2016, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres listed four priorities for his new job, the first combating sexual exploitation and sexual abuse across the UN system. In contrast, Guterres’s recent vision statement presented to the UN’s 193 member states as part of his candidacy for …

Gender Violence, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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The UN’s Guterres, an Incumbent With Strong Backing by Europe, Is Bound to Win Another Term

Barbara Crossette

• May 9, 2021

It was all over in one crucial week. Barring an unforeseen hitch, António Guterres is the clear winner of a second, five-year term as secretary-general of the United Nations, beginning on Jan.1, 2022. This was not a surprise: he had no major competition and the process moved faster than expected. A three-hour question-and-answer session …

Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

US Recommits to the Human Rights Council; Atrocities in Mali; a New Candidate for the UN’s Top Job

Ivana Ramirez

• February 12, 2021

The US returns to the Human Rights Council; atrocities documented in the Mali conflict; a woman declares her candidacy for UN secretary-general. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. In …

Gender Violence, General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Peacekeeping

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UN Probe Details Atrocities in Mali and Civilian Deaths From French Airstrikes

Clair MacDougall

• February 8, 2021

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — A recent United Nations investigation has documented years of grave human-rights violations, including war crimes and other atrocities, in Mali that have gone unpunished as the UN peacekeeping mission there struggles to stabilize the troubled West African nation. A highly detailed, 336-page report on the abuses, obtained in full by …

Africa, Gender Violence, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations

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