Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan Resigns as Special Envoy for Syria

• August 2, 2012

Kofi Annan, the joint special envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League for the Syrian crisis, resigned today, leaving any residual hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict gone for now. The resignation seems to have taken the UN by surprise, though Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the UN, said …

Middle East, Security Council

3 Comments

UN Mission in Syria Renewed for 30 Days

Dulcie Leimbach

• July 20, 2012

A day after the United Nations Security Council refused to adopt a British-sponsored resolution that would have sanctioned the Syrian government if fighting persisted, the council agreed unanimously to renew the mandate of the UN mission in the country to monitor a cease-fire that never happened. The 400-member team, called the UN Supervision Mission …

Security Council

2 Comments

Top New UN Assignments, and Syria Deputy Envoy Leaving

PassBlue

• July 18, 2012

Adama Dieng, the registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, has been named the United Nations secretary-general’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide. Dieng, a Senegalese, replaces Francis Deng of Sudan, who has been in the post since 2007 as an under secretary-general and is a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Institution …

Child Soldiers, GOINGS-ON

6 Comments

The Missing Russian Deliveryman

Jeffrey Laurenti

• June 8, 2012

Kofi Annan was too diplomatic to say it in public, but his meaning as he “briefed” the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday on the continuing strife in Syria was unmistakable: Russia has failed. Annan’s plan to halt the fighting that has convulsed Syria for 15 months was crafted to Moscow’s specifications. It made …

WORLDVIEWS

One Comment

For Syria, a Way Out That Still Involves the UN

Amin Saikal

• June 8, 2012

CANBERRA — Syria is tearing itself apart. The minority Allawite-dominated regime of Bashar al-Assad remains determined to crush the opposition, which despises the regime so much it will not bow out. The Kofi Annan peace plan has seemingly failed, and the international community, or more specifically the United Nations Security Council, has found itself …

WORLDVIEWS

2 Comments

A Possible Replacement for UN Political Affairs Chief

PassBlue

• April 30, 2012

Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department, is said to be replacing B. Lynn Pascoe, the United Nations’ under secretary-general for political affairs, who has served for five years. The announcement has not been made formally by the UN, but it was reported in UN Forum, …

GOINGS-ON

One Comment

The International Criminal Court’s Stance on Torture

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 30, 2012

People who deal professionally with victims of physical and psychological torture want to not only heal their patients but also stop torture dead in its tracks. So they were pleased to learn that like other individuals or groups, they could submit evidence they had gathered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, …

Child Soldiers, ICC, International Justice

5 Comments

WORLDVIEWS

Ban’s Second Term: It’s Time to Involve UN Diplomats

Helmut Volger

• March 26, 2012

BERLIN — Like his predecessors, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon started his second term, in January, by presenting a program to the General Assembly and to the public, adorned with a momentous title: The Five Year Action Agenda, “The Future We Want.” It outlines in ambitious rhetoric the key areas where Ban thinks …

Secretary-General, WORLDVIEWS

4 Comments

GOINGS-ON

Annan Assembles a Veteran Team for Syria

Barbara Crossette

• March 22, 2012

Kofi Annan, with the Security Council now fully behind his mediation mission in Syria, has gathered a group of experienced former United Nations officials and diplomats to work with him as he seeks the end of hostilities and, ultimately, a political settlement in Damascus. The latest addition to the former secretary-general’s team is Jean-Marie …

GOINGS-ON

4 Comments

The Security Council Shows Unity on Syrian Crisis

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 21, 2012

The Security Council adopted a presidential statement today backing Kofi Annan, the joint United Nations-Arab League special envoy to Syria, on his mission to resolve the year-long crisis there. Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told the press after the adoption that his country’s stance on Syria had not changed and that the statement reflected …

ICC, Middle East, Security Council

2 Comments

GOINGS-ON

In Their Own Words: A UN Oral History Project Moves Online

Barbara Crossette

• February 1, 2012

What goes on inside the United Nations as important issues are hashed out by officials and diplomats is rarely seen or heard by outsiders – consider the tense negotiations on Syria right now, done behind closed doors. But earlier this month, the opening of an archive of interviews with both insiders and others who …