African Union

Growing Crises in Myanmar and Tigray; Getting to Know the US Envoy; Will the UN’s Top Humanitarian Job Go to the UK Again?

• March 6, 2021

Continuing crises in Myanmar and Ethiopia; the US envoy to the UN’s first week; why Britain has held the top humanitarian job for so long; and women’s gains in the African Union. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

Combating Covid-19 Universally; Picking the Next UN Boss; the Climate Pact Needs the US

Ivana Ramirez

• December 4, 2020

Covid-19 and its vaccine get their own special session; steps to select the next United Nations leader must begin; pressure builds on the United States to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most-pressing issues facing the international organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s …

Africa, Climate Change, Governance, Health and Population, This Week @UN

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

South Africa, Bringing the Continent Inside the Security Council

Stéphanie Fillion

• December 3, 2020

In the last hurrah of its two-year term, South Africa happens to be president of the Security Council in December, so it is making the most of its final month by holding a debate on the all-important United Nations-African Union relationship. South Africa is also chairing the African Union this year, until February 2021, …

Africa, Security Council Presidency

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Sidelining Africans, the US Imposes Its Own Choice for UN Envoy to Libya

Maurizio Guerrero

• November 16, 2020

Ignoring two proposals from Africa to fill the United Nations special envoy post for Libya, the United States demanded that the secretary-general, António Guterres, accept its own choice, several diplomats have told PassBlue. The maneuver could leave Africa with only a minimal voice in the mediation of a war in its own continent, spurred …

Africa, Gender Violence, Libya, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Special Envoys

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COVID-19

Africans Struggle to Be a Unified Force in the UN Security Council, Complicated by the Coronavirus

Maurizio Guerrero

• April 13, 2020

The three elected members that represent Africa on the United Nations Security Council generally present a unified front on the continent’s numerous challenges — many involving foreign intervention — that land on the Council’s agenda. The problem for Africans is that the big world powers routinely ignore them. The other problem is that Africans …

Africa, Covid-19, Security Council

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As Kenya and Djibouti Fight Over a UN Security Council Seat, China Pops Up

Maurizio Guerrero

• January 24, 2020

Djibouti is vying with Kenya to win an elected seat in the United Nations Security Council for the 2021-22 term among the African bloc. The candidacy contest for the current open seat has revealed a rare open disagreement between African nations that is linked to China’s control in parts of the continent. The African …

Africa, Security Council

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GEOPOLITICS

Did Equatorial Guinea Bribe Its Way to a UN Security Council Seat?

Kacie Candela

• May 23, 2017

Amid the predominantly Francophone region in West Africa is tiny Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea, a country blessed — or cursed — with vast oil reserves. For most of its independent life, the country has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has the distinction of being the longest-serving nonroyal head of state in …

Africa, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Poverty, Security Council

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BOOKS

Africa’s War Problem

Irwin Arieff

• July 12, 2016

Too much of Africa is a mess. While there are, of course, great success stories, many countries continue, despite the end of colonialism and the Cold War, to suffer wildly from poverty, illness, corruption, coups and wars — too many compared with the rest of the world. Even as an outsized slice of United …

BOOKS

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BOOKS

Regional Organizations Remain Vital to the UN

Helmut Volger

• April 30, 2013

Formed as a “club” of nation states, the United Nations took some time to find out that cooperation with regional organizations might be of some use in improving social and economic living conditions as well as maintaining international peace and security and safeguarding the enjoyment of human rights. It was not before the economic …

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Regional Partners Lighten the UN’s Burdens

Barbara Crossette

• November 26, 2011

Since the founding of the United Nations more than 65 years ago, groups of regional nations – in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas – have become the organization’s political, peacekeeping and development partners. While some of these groups have kept a low profile, several now find themselves in the international spotlight as crucial …