The
United Nations as we find it, on-line
Kofi Annan
(left) finishes 2 five-year terms as Secretary
General of the U.N. His successor is Ban Ki-moon of
South Korea - named by General Assembly Friday the 13th in October
2006. Perhaps his first responsibility...figuring out what to do
about North Korea?
Obama U.N. representative Susan Rice. Some U.N. info and
general highlights of
issues:
About
North
Korea: http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/custom/sns-nkoreaprofile,0,4452508.story?coll=hc-nationworld-heds-breaking
World
population growth graphic
from I-BBC...who in turn got the data from
the U.S. Census Bureau! At right above, Foreign Minister Ban of
South Korea, Kofi Annan's successor (odds-on favorite, but you never
know!) as U.N. Secretary General.
I-BBC:
Page last updated at 11:50 GMT, Monday,
16 November 2009
"We must make significant changes to feed ourselves, and most
especially to safeguard the poorest and most vulnerable " Ban Ki-moon
UN chief urges unity over hunger
A growing population means world food output
must increase, says the UN
|
UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has
called for a "single global vision" from world leaders to address the
problems of world hunger and pollution.
Mr Ban's comments
came at the start of a UN conference in Rome aimed at stabilising world
food prices.
He said the summit
needed to co-ordinate closely with the UN climate meeting at Copenhagen
in December.
The UN says one
billion people are hungry and that food production must increase to
feed a growing population.
The World Summit
on Food Security comes a year after major rises in food prices caused
chaos in many countries.
Mr
Ban said both the Rome and Copenhagen summits "must craft a single
global vision to produce real results for people in real need".
He called for a
more co-ordinated approach to the issues, saying there "can be no food
security without climate security".
"The food crisis
of today is a wake-up call for tomorrow," said Mr Ban.
"By
2050, our planet may be the home of 9.1 billion people. By 2050 we know
we will need to grow 70% more food, yet weather is becoming more
extreme and more unpredictable," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
"We must make
significant changes to feed ourselves, and most especially to safeguard
the poorest and most vulnerable."
The
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that if more land
is not used for food production now, 370 million people could be facing
famine by 2050.
'End greed'
FAO head Jacques
Diouf
told the summit that developing countries had made some progress in
reversing the decline in investment in agriculture since prices hit
record highs at the end of 2007.
But he said much
of the money had not yet materialised and that amounts promised were
not at the level needed.
Mr
Diouf said the $44bn (£26.4bn) required for developing countries
was
far less that the $365bn (£219bn) that developed countries spend
each
year on subsidising their farmers.
He recommended
that developing countries dedicate 10% of their expenditure to
agriculture.
Pope
Benedict XVI also addressed the opening of the summit, calling for an
end to the "greed" of financial speculation on food prices.
He
said hunger in the poorest countries should not be considered "a matter
of resigned regret" and criticised unsustainable food production
methods and aid practises which damage agriculture.
Critics say the
summit may fail to set ambitious goals and have
questioned whether it will be effective, as most of the leaders of the
world's richest nations are not attending.
Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the only leader from one of the G8
leading industrialised countries to take part.
Francisco
Sarmento, of campaign group ActionAid, told AFP that the absence of
other G8 leaders "doesn't signal they are serious about finding global
solutions to hunger".
The BBC's David
Loyn in Rome says the
leaders attending the summit will try to keep the world focused on the
consequences of the massive rise in food prices last year, which hit
the poor hardest.
However, he
says the summit is likely to be big on rhetoric but small on concrete
actions.
Poverty, arms and the environment
Washington
Times
Ban Ki-moon
Monday, September 28, 2009
Every September, the world's leaders gather at the United Nations to
reaffirm our founding charter -- our faith in fundamental principles of
peace, justice, human rights and equal opportunity for all. We assess
the state of the world, engage on the key issues of the day and lay out
our vision for the way ahead.
But this year is different. The 64th opening of the General Assembly
asks us to rise to an exceptional moment. We are facing many crises:
food, energy, recession and pandemic flu, hitting all at once. If ever
there was a time to act in a spirit of renewed multilateralism, a time
to put the "united" back into the United Nations, it is now.
And that is what we are doing. Action on three issues of historic
consequence shows the way.
First, leaders of the world are uniting for the greatest challenge we
face as a human family: the threat of catastrophic climate change. Last
week, 101 leaders from 163 countries met to chart the next steps toward
December's all-important U.N. climate-change conference in Copenhagen.
They recognized the need for an agreement all nations can embrace -- in
line with their capabilities, consistent with what science requires,
grounded in green jobs and green growth, the lifeline of a 21st-century
global economy.
We at the United Nations prepared carefully for this moment. For 2 1/2
years, ever since I became secretary-general, we have worked to put
climate change at the top of the global agenda.
Today, we have entered a new phase. Last week's summit sharply defined
the issue and focused attention in capitals the world over. To be sure,
the issues are complex and difficult, especially those of financing
adaptation and mitigation efforts in poorer countries. Yet leaders left
New York committed to clear and firm instructions for their
negotiators: Seal a deal in Copenhagen.
Japan issued a challenge, agreeing to cut emissions 25 percent by 2020
if other nations follow. President Hu Jintao spoke about all that China
is doing already to reduce energy intensity and invest in green
alternatives. He emphasized that China is prepared to do more under an
international agreement, as did President Obama. The road ahead
requires more hard pushing.
Negotiators will gather for another round of U.N. talks Monday in
Bangkok, and we are considering a smaller meeting of major emitting and
most vulnerable nations in November. We need a breakthrough in this
make-or-break year.
We saw another turning point, on another issue of existential
importance: nuclear disarmament. Finally, the assumption that such
weapons are needed to keep the peace is crumbling. At a special summit
called by Mr. Obama, the Security Council unanimously adopted a
resolution that opens a new chapter in U.N. efforts to address nuclear
proliferation and disarmament.
It raises prospects for an expansion of the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty in May and offers hope for bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty into force. It sets forth the initial contours of a
legal framework for action against misuse of civilian nuclear
technology for military purposes and reflects an emerging consensus,
seen in meeting after meeting, that the time has come to increase
pressure on nations failing to respect these principles.
Nations are united on a third front as well. Though some may speak of
"turning the corner to recovery," we see a new crisis emerging.
According to our recent report, "Voices of the Vulnerable," the
near-poor are becoming the new poor. An estimated 100 million people
could fall below the poverty line this year.
Markets may be bouncing back, but incomes and jobs and incomes are not.
That is why, earlier this year, the United Nations put forward a Global
Jobs Pact for balanced and sustainable growth. It also is why we are
creating a new Global Impact Vulnerability Alert System, giving us
real-time data and analysis on the socioeconomic picture around the
world. We need to know precisely who is being hurt by the financial
crisis, and where, so that we can best respond.
That also is why, next year at this time, we will convene a special
summit on the Millennium Development Goals. We have just five years to
meet the targets for health, education and human security that we set
for 2015. At the various Group of 20 summits of the leading 20 economic
countries over the past year, including the latest in Pittsburgh, the
United Nations has spoken and acted firmly for all those being left
behind.
Rhetoric has always been abundant at the General Assembly, action
sometimes less so. Yet listening to the world's leaders speak last
week, I was struck by their passion, commitment and collective
determination to turn a page from a past of countries divided by narrow
interests to nations united in the cause of a global common good.
From confronting climate change to creating a world without nuclear
weapons to building a more equitable and sustainable global economy, I
saw a spirit of renewed multilateralism with the United Nations at the
fore. No nation alone can deal with any of these challenges. As nations
united, the United Nations can.
Ban Ki-moon is secretary-general of the United Nations.
UN
Report: Nature Best Controls Climate Gases
NYTIMES
By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:23
a.m. ETJune
5, 2009
AMSTERDAM (AP)
-- The U.N. Environment Program says nature's way is
best for controlling the gases responsible for climate change.
A UNEP report
says better management of forests, more careful
agricultural practices and the restoration of peatlands could soak up
significant amounts of carbon dioxide, the most common gas blamed for
global warming.
It says
millions of dollars are being invested in research on capturing
and burying carbon emitted from power stations, but investing in
ecosystems could achieve cheaper results. It also would have the added
effects of preserving biodiversity, improving water supplies and
boosting livelihoods.
The U.N. agency
released the report Friday at U.N. climate talks in Bonn, Germany. The
event was Web cast worldwide.
North Korea Announces 2nd Test of Nuclear
Device
NYTIMES
By CHOE SANG-HUN
May
26, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea announced on Monday that it had
successfully conducted its second nuclear test, defying international
warnings and dramatically raising the stakes in a global effort to
persuade the recalcitrant Communist state to give up its weapons
program.
The North’s official news agency, KCNA, said, “The Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea successfully conducted one more underground nuclear
test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear
deterrent for self-defense in every way as requested by its scientists
and technicians.”
The test was safely conducted “on a new higher level in terms of its
explosive power and technology of its control,” the agency said. “The
results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and
technological problems arising in further increasing the power of
nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology.”
The test appeared to have caught South Korea and the United States off
guard, and the news hit just as South Korea’s government and people
were mourning the suicide of former President Roh Moo-hyun.
Hours after the test was reported, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency,
quoting an unidentified intelligence source in Seoul, said the North
had test-fired three short-range, surface-to-air missiles. The three
missiles were launched toward the sea between North Korea and Japan and
had a range of 80 miles, according to the news agency. They were fired
from a base not far from the nuclear test site in northeast North
Korea, Yonhap said.
President Obama reacted swiftly to the nuclear test, warning the North
to retreat from its defiance of the international community.
“Today, North Korea said that it has conducted a nuclear test in
violation of international law,” Mr. Obama said in a statement early
Monday. “It appears to also have attempted a short-range missile
launch. These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and
actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations. North
Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic
missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and
security.
“By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council,
North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international
community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines
stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to
deepen North Korea’s isolation. It will not find international
acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass
destruction and their means of delivery,” the statement said.
China said it was “resolutely opposed” to the test, the official Xinhua
news agency reported.
Russia and Japan said the U.N. Security Council would hold an emergency
meeting Monday.
Geological authorities in the United States, Japan and South Korea
reported that the test triggered an earth tremor with a magnitude of
between 4.5 and 5.3. The tremor emanated from Kilju, the same area
where the North Korea carried out a test in October 2006.
Kim Sung-han, a security expert at Korea University in Seoul, estimated
the test had a power of one kiloton of explosives, slightly more than
the 0.8 kiloton detonation reported in 2006. If correct, that would be
a fraction of the size of the blasts from American bombs that destroyed
the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945 —
themselves considered small by current standards.
But Alexander Drobyshevsky, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, told
RIA-Novosti news agency offered a different estimate, saying that the
force of the blast was 10 to 20 kilotons.
The test comes amid uncertainty about North Korea’s reclusive leader,
Kim Jong-il, and increased speculation about who might succeed him. Mr.
Kim suffered a stroke last August, which prompted him to step up
preparations to transfer power to one of his three known sons. Analysts
believe the favorite son is his youngest, Kim Jong-un, who is in his
mid-20s.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, 2006, which was
considered something of a failure by South Korean and American
officials. North Korea had given some advance notice before that test,
which, like Monday’s test, also was conducted in the country’s
northeast.
Pyongyang had recently threatened to conduct a second nuclear test,
citing what it called Washington’s “hostilities.”
If the North’s latest test was more successful, it could mean that
North Korea has bolstered its atomic weapons capabilities — and its
leverage over the United States, which has sought to denuclearize the
North.
Earlier Monday, North Korea announced that Kim Jong-il had sent a
message expressing “profound condolences” to the widow of Mr. Roh, who
had pursued a more conciliatory policy toward the North. It remained
unclear whether Mr. Kim would send a delegation to Mr. Roh’s funeral on
Friday.
Relations between the Koreas have deteriorated since Mr. Roh’s
successor, Mr. Lee, took office in February 2008, promising to reverse
the “sunshine policy” of promoting political reconciliation with
Pyongyang with economic aid.
Agreements resulting from a 2007 summit meeting called for the South to
spend billions of dollars to help rebuild the impoverished North’s
dilapidated infrastructure. Mr. Lee believed that such aid must be
linked to improvements in the North’s human rights record and the
dismantling of its nuclear facilities.
North Korea has viciously attacked Mr. Lee, calling him a “national
traitor,” cutting off official dialogue and reducing traffic across the
countries’ heavily armed border.
The new test comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between
North Korea and the United States, which keeps a heavy military
presence in South Korea.
Two American journalists are scheduled to be tried June 4 in North
Korea, charged with illegal entry into the North and “hostile acts,”
and that case in particular has aggravated tensions between Pyongyang
and Washington. The relationship was already strained by the North’s
test-firing of a long-range rocket on April 5.
After that launch, Washington pressed the United Nations Security
Council to tighten sanctions on the North. In retaliation, Pyongyang
expelled United Nations nuclear monitors, while threatening to restart
a plant that makes weapons-grade plutonium and to conduct a nuclear
test.
This month, one day after an American diplomat offered new talks on
North Korea’s nuclear program, the North said it had become useless to
talk further with the United States.
“The study of the policy pursued by the Obama administration for the
past 100 days since its emergence made it clear that the U.S. hostile
policy toward the D.P.R.K. remains unchanged,” the North Korean Foreign
Ministry said, using the initials for the country’s official name, the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In comments carried by KCNA, the ministry said: “There is nothing to be
gained by sitting down together with a party that continues to view us
with hostility.”
The rebuff came as Stephen W. Bosworth, the American special envoy on
North Korea, began a trip to Asia with a fresh offer of dialogue. The
North’s vow to “bolster its nuclear deterrent” came just hours before
Mr. Bosworth was due to arrive in Seoul.
The North’s first nuclear test in 2006 was widely condemned, but it
created a new urgency in the six-party talks that had failed to prevent
the blast. The parties to the talks are the two Koreas, the United
States, China, Japan and Russia.
In February 2007, Washington agreed to ease sanctions against banks
dealing with Pyongyang, and North Korea concurrently agreed to a
process that would lead to the dismantling of its nuclear weapons
program. North Korea would receive deliveries of fuel oil in exchange
for certain verifications that it was ending its program.
But last December the process collapsed when North Korea rejected the
verification measures being sought by the Bush administration.
U.N.'S
Ban Warns Slump May Lead to Political Crisis
NYTIMES
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:22
a.m. ET
March 27, 2009
MOSCOW
(Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday warned that
the global economic crisis could swiftly lead to a political crisis.
"I am concerned
that if we do not properly address this issue swiftly, this may develop
rather alarmingly into political instability, into a political crisis,"
the U.N. chief told diplomats in Moscow.
3
Chinese Ships to Leave Friday for Somalia
NYTIMES
By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:40
a.m. ET
December 23,
2008
BEIJING (AP) --
Chinese warships on a mission to protect their
country's vessels and crews from pirate attacks off Somalia will depart
Friday, armed with special forces, helicopters and plans to share
information with other countries working in the area.
The operation,
China's first major naval mission abroad, will include
destroyers Haikou and Wuhan as well as a large supply ship, said Rear
Adm. Xiao Xinnian, Deputy Chief of Staff of the People's Liberation
Army Navy. On board will be two helicopters and traditional weapons
such as missiles and cannons.
''In light of
the peculiarity of this operation, we have also
dispatched some special forces ... these special forces will also carry
some light weapons that correspond with the specific features and needs
of this operation,'' Xiao said at a news conference Tuesday, without
giving additional details.
Though the
purpose of the mission was to protect Chinese ships and
crews, Beijing has called for stepped up cooperation in anti-piracy
efforts. China announced it was sending warships to the area after the
U.N. Security Council authorized nations to conduct land and air
attacks on pirate bases.
''During the
escort operation, Chinese ships are ready and willing to
strengthen information and intelligence sharing as well as (conduct)
humanitarian rescue operations with vessels of relevant countries
according to the situation on the ground,'' said Senior Col. Huang
Xueping, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense.
A Communist
Party newspaper has said the mission would initially last
three months, but Huang did not give an exact length, saying the
duration would depend on the U.N. mandate and conditions in the area.
The ships will depart Friday from the island province of Hainan in
southern China.
A German Navy
frigate, meanwhile, sailed out of Djibouti's harbor
Tuesday to protect civilian ships in the region from Somali-based
pirates.
The Karlsruhe,
with some 240 sailors on board as well as speedboats and
a helicopter, set off after lawmakers in Berlin last week approved
Germany's participation in a one-year, European Union-led anti-piracy
mission.
''There may be
combat situations, and in this respect it would of
course be a combat deployment,'' Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said.
Piracy has
taken an increasing toll on international shipping,
especially in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest sea lanes.
Pirates have made an estimated $30 million hijacking ships for ransom
this year, seizing more than 40 vessels off Somalia's 1,880-mile
(3,000-kilometer) coastline. The shipping route now plagued by
pirates
is important to Germany, the world's largest exporter. Many of its
goods are sent abroad by sea and the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the
Suez Canal, is the quickest route from Europe to Asia.
Food
and water
worries are top
priorities, say Davos speakers
NYTIMES
Mike Nizza (linked to thisfollowing 3 day old story...)
Jan. 29, 2008
DAVOS,
Switzerland (AFP) — Warnings of a water and food crisis seemed
incongruous among the lavish hospitality of Davos this year, but the
danger was stressed repeatedly to the assembled world elite.
Scarcity of
water was named by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a
top priority at the World Economic Forum and he warned that conflicts
lay ahead if the provision of the vital resource could not be assured.
"Population
growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change.
As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts
lie just over the horizon," he said in a speech on Thursday.
Ban reminded
the gathering of the world's wealthy powerbrokers in Davos
that the conflict in Darfur in Sudan was touched off by a drought. "Too
often where we need water, we find guns," he said.
Rising food
prices are also causing problems in emerging countries,
with demonstrations and violence witnessed in a host of countries
including Mexico and African nations Mauritania, Morocco,
Senegal. Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath warned earlier in the
week that prices of some foodstuffs had doubled in his country at a
time when 25 million people in India were estimated to have moved from
taking one to two meals a day.
"What does 25
million people moving from one to two meals a day do for
prices?" he asked a room of corporate bigwigs and policymakers who pay
thousands of dollars to attend the exclusive get-together here.
Referring to
the challenge of providing food at affordable prices, he
said: "Next year in Davos we'll be discussing this."
Analysts forecast that world agricultural commodity prices are set to
increase, particularly for cereals because of increased export taxes in
many producers, strong global demand, a poor harvest in Australia this
year and stepped-up speculation. World Bank president Robert
Zoellick also sounded the alarm, saying the cost of the basic
nutritional requirements of people in many countries, mainly in Africa,
was rising sharply.
"There are fifteen countries particularly vulnerable to high food and
energy prices. We need some targeted efforts towards those vulnerable
populations," he said.
Increased cultivation of crops for the production of biofuels, such as
corn and sugar, has led to higher prices for staple foods in many
countries and led to criticism of the new fuel source. Biofuels,
which were initially hyped as a "green" solution to the world's energy
needs, drew criticism from the chairman of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning
climate change panel.
"Wherever the production of fuels is going to conflict with the
production of food, particularly in a world in which food prices are
going up... obviously we are running into difficult territory," the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman Rajendra Pachauri
told reporters.
"In general, I am not entirely happy with the diversion of areas for
the production of food into the area of production of fuels."
The chief financial officer of Brazil's state-run energy group
Petrobas, Almir Barbassa, argued that market forces were at work and
farmers could not be told what to grow. Brazil is the world's
biggest producer of sugar cane, which can be used to make the biofuel
ethanol as well as sugar.
"With the price of oil going up it is better to use sugar cane to
produce ethanol than to use sugar cane to produce sugar," he told AFP.
"Farmers have the right to do what they want with their products. It's
the choice of producers, not a choice of the markets."
The annual Davos gathering in the Swiss Alps drew about 2,500
delegates, including about 30 heads of state, for five days of debating
and networking. It wrapped up Saturday and concludes officially on
Sunday morning.
Previous administration...
Bush's nominee for U.N. post wins
praise for not being Bolton
DAY
By ANNE GEARAN,
AP Diplomatic Writer
Posted on Mar
15, 5:28 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP)
-- He has been the top Bush administration diplomat in
Iraq - point man for policies Democrats and some Republicans say are
wrongheaded or futile - but there was nothing but praise in the room
Thursday when Zalmay Khalilzad went before senators to interview for a
new job.
"In this time
of crisis, I believe that you are the best and the
brightest to be representing us in this world community of nations,"
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told Khalilzad at his confirmation hearing to
be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Added
Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent: "I cannot
think of anyone more qualified or more appropriate. He represents the
best of America. He is a true American dream success story."
No doubt
Khalilzad has the credentials for the U.N. post: years of
foreign policy expertise, two tours as ambassador under difficult
conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mostly, though,
members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
seemed relieved by the simple fact that Khalilzad is not John Bolton,
the last diplomat President Bush sent to represent Washington at the
United Nations.
The 2005 fight
over Bolton's nomination was among the most bruising of
Bush's presidency. It lasted months and included emotional defections
by Republicans. In the end, Bolton never won Senate confirmation, even
though Republicans held the majority.
Bush gave
Bolton a recess appointment that expired in January.
"I think you're
the nominee that we can be proud of," Nelson told
Khalilzad.
Some senators
took swipes at Bolton, but mostly they praised Khalilzad
and all but assured him a swift confirmation. There were skeptical
questions about the war in Iraq, but not one lawmaker seemed to blame
Khalilzad for any of the administration's missteps.
"While we
disagreed in many cases on policies that you have to
implement, I think you did a very skilled and able job of carrying out
those policies," Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told Khalilzad. "We look
forward to working with you at the United Nations."
The Afghan-born
Khalilzad is a gregarious, glad-handing diplomat who
speaks several languages. He is a favorite at the White House, where he
is known as "Zal," and a confidant of Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, who has known him since they worked in the administration of
Bush's father.
In Iraq,
Khalilzad won trust among Sunni leaders and drew them into
greater political participation. But he has been unable to counter the
backlash among Shiite politicians and leaders or the sectarian violence
that has undermined the country's political successes.
He noted delays
and uneven progress toward a unified Iraqi government,
but reaffirmed the administration's opposition to outside deadlines for
U.S. military involvement.
Iraqis "are
facing very, very big and difficult issues," he said. "And
their sense of time is not the same as ours, really. We tend to be very
impatient."
Bolton was
disliked by many top diplomats at the U.N., who complained
that he was abrasive and uncooperative even as he scored points for
U.S. interests.
"I'll focus
sharply on the interests of the United States," Khalilzad
told the senators. "At the same time, I'm ready to engage, to listen
and to work with others in a cooperative spirit."
Bolton also was
a chief spokesman for the administration view, since
softened, that diplomatic overtures to adversaries such as Iran, North
Korea or Syria amounted to rewards for bad behavior.
Khalilzad noted
that he shook hands with Iranian and Syrian diplomats
last weekend and began discussions about those border nations'
involvement in Iraq. The U.S. accuses Iran and Syria of undermining the
Baghdad government or aiding terrorism and violence.
"I believe that
a combination of pressure with regard to issues of
concern with an openness to engage with the intent to change behavior,
to effect behavior, is the right mix," Khalilzad said.
South
Korean diplomat appointed next U.N. secretary-general
Norwalk
HOUR
October 14, 2006
UNITED NATIONS
— The U.N. General Assembly appointed South Korean
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as the next U.N. secretary-general Friday,
and the veteran diplomat who grew up during a war that divided his
country pledged to make peace with North Korea a top priority.
The assembly's
action on Ban capped the remarkable rise of a man who
was little known outside Asia before launching his campaign to succeed
Kofi Annan. It also marked a milestone for South Korea, which only
joined the United Nations in 1991 and still has U.N. troops on the
tense border with the North.
Ban has been in
the forefront of South Korea's nuclear negotiations
with Pyongyang and has said he plans to travel to North Korea as
secretary-general, something Annan never did. He said last month he
would use the authority of the U.N. position to promote peace and
reconciliation on the Korean peninsula "and a peaceful resolution of
the North Korean nuclear issue."
Ban told a
press conference soon after his selection that he hopes the
Security Council "quickly adopts a clear and strong resolution" to show
North Korea that the international community is united against its
claimed nuclear test.
In a speech to
hundreds of diplomats and U.N. staff Friday, Ban laid
out his vision for the United Nations whose reputation has been
tarnished by corruption scandals and whose outdated practices still
need major reform to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
"My tenure will
be marked by ceaseless efforts to build bridges and
close divides," he said. "Leadership of harmony not division, by
example not instruction, has served me well so far. I intend to stay
the course as secretary-general."
During a nearly
40-year career as a diplomat, Ban said, "I have been
elated by the successes of the U.N. in making life better for countless
people. I have also been pained by scenes of its failures. In too many
places could I feel the dismay over inaction of the U.N., or action
that was too little or came too late."
"I am
determined to dispel the disillusionment," he said.
Ban, 62, will
become the eighth secretary-general in the U.N.'s 60-year
history on Jan. 1 when Annan's second five-year term expires. He was
one of seven candidates vying to be the U.N. chief and topped all four
informal polls in the Security Council.
He said he was
proud to be the second Asian chosen to serve as
secretary-general. The last secretary-general from the continent was
Burma's U Thant, who served from 1961-71.
By tradition,
the post of secretary-general rotates among the regions
of the world and most countries agreed that this time it was Asia's
turn.
Hundreds of
diplomats and U.N. staff in the chamber broke into loud
applause when assembly president Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa asked
the 192-nation world body to adopt the resolution appointing Ban by
acclamation. She then banged the gavel and said, "It is so decided."
Annan hailed
Ban as "a future secretary-general who is exceptionally
attuned to the sensitivities of countries and constituencies in every
continent" and said he would be "a man with a truly global mind at the
helm of the world's only universal organization."
Annan recalled
that the first U.N. secretary-general, Trygvie Lie, told
his successor, Dag Hammarskjold, "You are about to take over the most
impossible job on Earth."
"While that may
be true," Annan said, "I would say: This is also the
best possible job on Earth."
He said he had
only one piece of advice for his successor when he takes
over — "try to make full use of the unparalleled resource you will find
in the staff of the organization. Their commitment is the U.N.'s
greatest asset."
U.S. Ambassador
John Bolton said Ban is "the right person to lead the
United Nations at this decisive movement in its history, particularly
as the U.N. struggles to fulfill the terms of the reform agenda that
world leaders agreed to last fall."
Ban has been
South Korea's foreign minister for more than 2 1/2 years
and served as national security adviser to two presidents — jobs that
focused on relations with North Korea. During his diplomatic career, he
was posted in India, Austria, Washington and at the United Nations.
Ban received a
degree in international relations from Seoul National
University in 1970, and earned a master's degree in public
administration from Harvard University in 1985.
An early
influence for him came from a White House visit with President
John F. Kennedy as part of a program organized by the American Red
Cross when he was an 18-year-old student. His visit is captured in a
black-and-white photo that shows Ban smiling among students from other
countries as the president spoke.
Ban on Friday
harkened back to his childhood, saying the United Nations
stood by South Korea in its impoverished postwar days.
"It has been a
long journey from my youth in war-torn and desperate
Korea to this rostrum and these awesome responsibilities," he said. "I
could make this journey because the U.N. was with my people in our
darkest days. It gave us hope and sustenance, security and dignity. It
showed us a better way."
He said he
hopes to head a United Nations like the one he remembered
from his boyhood.
"I am an
optimist, and I am full of hope about the future of our global
organization. Let us work together for a U.N. that can deliver more and
better."
S.
Korean Diplomat Is Nominated To Head U.N.
DAY
By Nick
Wadhams, Associated Writer
Published on
10/10/2006
United Nations
— The U.N. Security Council on Monday formally nominated
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to succeed Kofi Annan as
United Nations secretary-general, all but assuring that the quiet
diplomat will become the eighth chief in the world body's 61-year
history.
What would have
been an event of major significance — Ban will become
one of the world's best-known and most influential diplomats over his
five-year term — was overshadowed by North Korea's claim that it had
conducted a nuclear test.
“This should be
a moment of joy. But instead, I stand here with a very
heavy heart,” Ban said at a news conference in Seoul. “Despite the
concerted warning from the international community, North Korea has
gone ahead with a nuclear test.”
Ban, who
participated in six-party talks with the North in 2005, vowed
to help resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis after he becomes
secretary-general. He must be approved by the 192-nation General
Assembly, which has never rejected a Security Council nomination.
Japan's U.N.
Ambassador Kenzo Oshima asked the General Assembly to act
promptly to give final approval to Ban so he can have a sufficient
transition before taking over as U.N. chief on Jan. 1, after Annan's
second five-year term ends.
“I think the
fact that the candidate is currently foreign minister of
the Republic of Korea is an asset in dealing with the situation in the
Korean peninsula that we are now facing,” he said.
Some diplomats
speculated that North Korea may have conducted the test
when it did partly to signal its disapproval for Ban. The North has not
publicly commented on his bid but has accused him of blindly following
the U.S. line by urging the North to resume negotiations and give up
the atomic weapons program.
Normally the
15-member council would vote on a nomination, but
Britain's Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry suggested in Monday's meeting
that Ban be approved by acclamation, done when there are no dissenting
votes. The idea was greeted with applause from the other ambassadors,
diplomats who attended the meeting said.
Unlike in
previous years, Ban's selection was marked by an absence of
rancor or political infighting. He was the front-runner in all four
informal polls the Security Council conducted, never getting fewer than
13 votes in favor of his candidacy.
The final straw
poll last week revealed that he had the support of all
five veto-wielding members of the council, and the remaining five
candidates quickly left the race.
U.S. State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement that
Ban “is the right choice to lead the United Nations at this pivotal
time in its history.” U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called Ban's
selection “a very significant event.”
“It's really
quite an appropriate juxtaposition that today 61 years
after the temporary division of the Korean peninsula at the end of
World War II, we're electing the foreign minister of South Korea as
secretary-general of this organization and meeting as well to consider
the testing by the North Koreans of a nuclear device,” Bolton said.
Ban's selection
now will give him more than two months to prepare to
lead an organization that has deployed 92,000 peacekeepers around the
world and has an annual operating budget of $5 billion. Fighting
hunger, assisting refugees and slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS are all
programs that fall under the secretary-general's purview.
Annan “warmly
welcomes” the decision to nominate Ban, whom he has the
“highest respect for,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Annan,
who won the Nobel Peace Prize as secretary-general in 2001, urged the
General Assembly to make a decision on Ban as soon as possible.
Ban has been
South Korea's foreign minister for more than 21/2 years
and served as national security adviser to two presidents — jobs that
focused on relations with the North. He has served as a diplomat for
nearly 40 years, including previous stints at the U.N. and in
Washington.
He had courted
Security Council nations aggressively during his
campaign and given numerous speeches to make himself better known and
counter the impression that he was too quiet or humble to inherit the
job.
Yet the actual
selection process was mostly conducted behind closed
doors, adhering to a tradition that has drawn criticism from some
members of the General Assembly and non-governmental organizations that
believe the job is too important to be awarded in such secrecy.
Nonetheless,
diplomats said they believed Ban was the right man to lead
the organization that many believe is in desperate need of reform. Its
procurement department has been saddled by allegations of corruption
and mismanagement, while many world leaders believe its most powerful
organ, the Security Council, must be revamped to reflect the realities
of 2006 and not 1945, when it was created.
“We think that
he has all those qualities that are necessary for a
secretary-general that are probably hard to differentiate and count on
your hands,” Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. “This is the
person who, with our support, can tackle this difficult work.”
Iraq: Security Council adopts adjustments
to UN's Oil-for-Food programme
28
March – The Security Council today
unanimously approved a resolution adjusting the suspended Oil-for-Food
programme to give United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan more
authority
to administer the operation for the next 45 days.
The
programme, which allows Baghdad
to use part of its oil revenues for food and medicine and is the sole
source
of sustenance for 60 per cent of the country's 27.1 million people, was
temporarily halted on 17 March after the Secretary-General ordered the
withdrawal of all UN personnel from Iraq. Today's resolution
authorizes
the Secretary-General to carry out a variety of tasks, such as
reassessing
the contracts that have been approved, and covers technical issues such
as providing alternative
locations for the delivery of supplies.
Mr. Annan was also given the power to negotiate new contracts for
essential
medical items.
The
resolution, which is subject to
further renewal after 45 days, also expresses the Council's readiness
"as
a second step" to authorize the Secretary-General to perform additional
functions with the necessary coordination as soon as the situation
permits,
as activities on the programme in Iraq resume. Ambassador Gunter
Pleuger of Germany, which chairs the Council committee that oversees
the
Oil-for-Food programme, expressed satisfaction that the Council had
been
able to adopt the resolution
unanimously.
Speaking
to reporters shortly after
the Council vote, Ambassador Pleuger said it was a "good day" for the
long-suffering
people of Iraq, but it was perhaps an equally good day for Council
members,
who had, after days of complicated negotiations, "found the way back to
their unity of purpose," ensuring that people in desperate need
received the necessary humanitarian
assistance.
The
resolution not only made clear
the wartime responsibility of occupying powers, it also made an appeal
to the international community and global humanitarian agencies to do
what
they can to relieve the plight of Iraqi people, Mr. Pleuger said. Now
that
the war had broken out - and even when hostilities ended - the people
of
Iraq would need that help more than ever, he added.
Ambassador
Pleuger also confirmed,
in response to a reporter's question, that the new resolution did not
give
the Secretary-General any power over future oil sales to fund new
activities.
He added, however, that the new text had a timeline of 45 days, which
was
an "ambitious goal" to get what humanitarian goods that were already in
the pipeline to the people of Iraq.
