United Nations Archives - Humanosphere

United Nations

Howard Buffett Foundation attacks UN to shift blame from Rwanda |

Howard G. Buffett is pushing the international community to fully restore aid to Rwanda.

When a UN Group of Experts (GoE) report found that Rwanda was supporting rebels fighting a deadly conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a number of countries including the U.S. and Britain cut or suspended foreign aid in protest.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame steadfastly denied supporting the Congo militias that have been wreaking havoc along the Rwanda-Congo border, but the evidence was strong enough to convince even some of Kagame’s biggest supporters that Western powers needed to send a message of disapproval.

That didn’t include Howard Buffett, Warren Buffett’s son, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Buffett and Blair argued against the move, contending that reducing aid to Rwanda would just cause more harm than good to the unstable Great Lakes region of central Africa.

“Cutting aid does nothing to address the underlying issues driving conflict in the region, it only ensures that the Rwandan people will suffer — and risks further destabilizing an already troubled region,” Blair and Buffett wrote in a recent Foreign Policy article.

This was followed by a report from the Howard G Buffett Foundation making the same points. The report went further by questioning the reliability of the GoE – the group that originally reported evidence the the Rwandan government was supporting rebels in the eastern DRC.

It’s worth noting that the Buffett Foundation report was written by unknown authors and using unnamed sources. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, DR Congo, Howard Buffett, Paul Kagame, rebels, Rwanda, Tony Blair, United Nations

February 22, 2013 | 12:46 PM | By Tom Murphy |

UN Refuses to Compensate Haiti Cholera Victims |

: Haitian boy with cholera; Unicef

The UN continues to deny responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti. It also now claims it is immune from compensating Haitian cholera victims.

UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon told Haiti’s President Michael Martelly that the UN is both unwilling and not required to compensate the victims.

The United Nations advised the claimants’ representatives that the claims are not receivable pursuant to Section 29 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,” spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York.

Evidence that the outbreak came from Nepalese UN peacekeepers is overwhelming, but the UN has yet to claim responsibility. A lawsuit brought against the UN by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) in November 2011 called for a national water and sanitation system, compensation to the victims and a public apology from the UN to the victims. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Justice, cholera, Haiti, United Nations

November 30, 2012 | 2:42 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Five reasons why you might be confused about Congo |

Flickr, dag

Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited

Congo makes a lot of people feel like the hapless Mr. Jones in Bob Dylan’s Ballad of a Thin Man:

“You know something’s happening but you don’t know what it is.”

For example:

The news today out of Congo is that the Rwandan-backed rebels — known either as M23 or the Congolese Revolutionary Army, who have been fighting with the official (non-revolutionary) Congolese Army and against other militias made up of Rwandans who years ago fled to Congo during the genocide — have decided not to withdraw from the city of Goma. As the AP reports:

The delay raises the possibility that the M23 rebels don’t intend to leave the city they seized last week, giving credence to a U.N. expert report that says neighboring Rwanda is using the rebels as a proxy to annex territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo.

UN peacekeepers evacuate children from Goma, Congo

One thing that’s fairly safe to predict when it comes to these chronic conflicts in the eastern provinces of DR Congo (the ‘DR’ now perhaps standing for Destructively Repetitious as opposed to Democratic Republic) is that the players there almost never do what they say they’re going to do and whatever they report to outsiders is such a house-of-mirrors they could work for Congress.

So, I have decided to prepare a list of key points to keep in mind when reading about conflict in the Congo. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Basics, Politics, Congo, Goma, Rwanda, United Nations, war

November 20, 2012 | 2:00 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Rwandan-backed rebels take Congo city Goma |

A rebel army widely believed to be backed by the Rwandan government has taken over Goma, a city in eastern DR Congo bordering Rwanda. Many are concerned that this action could spark a much larger regional war.

Flickr, Pan-African News Wire

Col. Sultani Makenga of the rebel forces formerly known as M23, now the Congolese Revolutionary Army.

This is a big deal folks. Remember the last time you didn’t pay attention to what was happening in this neck of the woods? Remember that movie, Hotel Rwanda? Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a darling of the west, but he also seems to be backing this illegal military invasion of a neighboring country. How will the world respond? See news reports listed below: Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Basics, Congo, militias, Paul Kagame, Rwanda, Uganda, United Nations, war

November 7, 2012 | 12:15 PM | By Tom Paulson |

The United Nations’ business benefits mostly the U.S. |

This will probably be a bit confusing for the black helicopter crowd and those who want the U.S. to ‘get out’ of the United Nations. Putting aside the harm (and absurdity, frankly) of not participating in the UN on international issues, The Guardian says the UN business supports a lot of American sales and jobs.

As Claire Provost writes:

“The UN spends billions of dollars each year buying goods and services for peacekeeping, humanitarian and development projects around the world…. The US is still the top supplier of goods and services to the sprawling UN system, providing 10% of the total last year.”

Guardian

FILED UNDER: Basics, business, United Nations

September 28, 2012 | 10:55 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Israel’s leader and cartoon diplomacy |

It’s not clear if one should laugh or cry watching how a world leader made his case — for military intervention, no less — at the United Nations this week. Below is the actual photo of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN talking about the threat posed by Iran’s reported efforts to build nuclear weapons.

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu explaims complex geopolitics

I was not alone in immediately thinking of Wile E. Coyote’s attempts to destroy Road Runner, a comparison which apparently occurred to almost everyone else as well, such as these reports by the Times of Israel and the Atlantic (which seems to have confused the story line by making Bugs Bunny the target of the wiley coyote….)

Times of Israel

The Atlantic

But perhaps the best perspective on Bibi’s cartoonish approach to geopolitics was provided by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show who summarized a number of bizarre comments made by world leaders at the UN this week – scoring Netanyahu as best of the bizarre:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

FILED UNDER: Politics, Benjamin Netanyahu, iran, Israel, United Nations

September 27, 2012 | 11:55 AM | By Tom Paulson |

We must end polio – if only so Bill Gates can talk about something else |

That sounds flip. But it’s not meant to undermine the global campaign to eradicate polio or (continue to) irritate the media folks at the Gates Foundation. It’s meant to underline the frustration I assume Bill Gates and many other advocates of this important global health goal must feel, even if they don’t say so.

News analysis (of sorts)

Today, at the United Nations, Bill Gates, heads of state from the polio-plagued countries Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan, the head of the UN, the fiesty chief of the World Health Organization and other ‘global luminaries’ today repeated the call to push on with the ongoing effort to rid the world of polio.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the world is at a decisive moment and that he has made polio a “top priority” for his second term.

“Failure to eradicate polio would be unforgivable…. Failure is not an option,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization. India was recently declared polio free, a major achievement for the campaign.

Gates Foundation
Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes in Nigeria for polio vaccination

“The evidence is clear: if we all do our part, we can and will end this disease. But we must act quickly and give ourselves the very best chance to succeed,” said Gates, who had earlier explained on his personal blog why he flew 3,000 miles to speak for three minutes at this somewhat predictable event. “When we defeat polio, it will motivate us to aim for other great health and development milestones.”

Yeah, yeah. Same old stuff. But that last statement by Gates is key.

Chances are, this particular dog-and-pony show among all the other UN dog-and-pony shows — despite the alleged luminaries — may get only passing notice because, well, most people don’t really care about polio. That’s why they bring out luminaries – to get you to pay attention.

(NOTE: The first news report I saw on this gathering of luminosity was an AP story in which the reporter at the polio event asked Gates what he thinks of the new Windows 8 operating system. Gates said, “Very exciting.” No word if the journalist asked about polio….) Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Afghanistan, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, eradication, Nigeria, Pakistan, polio, United Nations, World Health Organization

August 16, 2012 | 8:00 AM | By Tom Murphy |

Catching Up on Cholera in Haiti |

When cholera broke out in Haiti in October 2010, reporter Jonathan Katz* was the first to break the story connecting UN peacekeepers from Nepal to the outbreak. Nearly two years later, Haiti is still struggling to address the issue of cholera and the UN has yet to admit that it was to blame for the outbreak.

I caught up with Jonathan to discuss his original reporting, the outbreak and the UN’s response. Continue reading →