UN Insider

Photo: President Joseph Kabila Kabange of the Democratic Republic of the Congo addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2018. UN Photo/Cia Pak

UN Intervention In The Congo Appears To Be Successful

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The general election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been postponed yet again – to December 30. Will this country, the largest and potentially the richest in Africa, ever escape from its continuous dictatorship, and its propensity to civil war? It’s not so long ago that Susan Rice, then the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was talking about the Congo as the site of “Africa’s First World War”.

Has the UN at long last really pacified this country that has been continuously in a state of unrest since the Belgian colonisers, after effectively looting the country, fled in 1960, turning the country over to a hastily improvised African government?

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 December 2018

Photo: Kazakh Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Umarov (2nd from right on the right of the table), discusses with NGOs at the Kazakh UN Mission the Central Asian country's achievements as non-permanent Security Council member for 2017-2018. Credit: Kazakh Mission to the UN in New Yok.

Kazakhstan Ends Successful Security Council Membership

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As Kazakhstan ends its two-year tenure as non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo has "appreciated the leadership" the Central Asian country "has brought to the world stage on regional security and development issues, particularly with respect to Afghanistan."

He also expressed "appreciation to the Government of Kazakhstan for deploying its first peacekeeping force to assist the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon." In press remarks on the occasion of the country's 27 years of independence on December 16, Pompeo said: "Kazakhstan has assumed a key role on the global stage as a partner in ensuring peace and stability, and in promoting economic development and connectivity in Central Asia and beyond."

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 24 December 2018

Photo: Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev (left) and President Reagan (right) signing the INF Treaty in the East Room of the White House in December 1987. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Rejects Resolution Calling for Russian-U.S. Compliance with Nuclear Treaty

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a tug of war between two nuclear giants, the UN General Assembly has rejected a resolution calling for U.S.-Russian compliance with and strengthening of the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. And this within months of President Donald Trump's October announcement to "terminate" the 1987 Treaty "in response to Russian violations of the agreement".

By a recorded vote of 46 against to 43 in favour, with 78 abstentions, the General Assembly rejected the draft resolution titled 'Preservation of and compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty' (document A/73/L.70), which would have also called on the U.S. and Russia to resume a constructive dialogue on strategic issues premised on openness, mutual confidence and real opportunities for cooperation.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 24 December 2018

Photo: UN Secretary-General Guterres speaking about 'The Importance of Multilateralism in a Time of Unprecedented Challenge' at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar on 16 December 2018. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), attended the lecture. Credit: Hamad bin Khalifa University, Doha.

Multilateralism Works – With All Its Problems, With All Of Its Difficulties

By António Guterres

The author is UN Secretary-General. Following are extensive extracts from his public lecture at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar on 16 December 2018, which attracted more than 375 guests, including students, faculty and diplomats.

DOHA (IDN-INPS) – We live in a world where, more and more, we have challenges that are global, more and more we have problems that no country can solve by itself, but at the same time a world where many people do not believe that international organizations can be helpful. They believe that their own countries should be doing it by themselves.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 23 December 2018

Photo credit: UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Africa Poverty Clock Launched on UNECA's 60th Anniversary

By Devendra Kamarajan

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at its 60th anniversary celebrations in Addis Ababa has launched the Africa Poverty Clock, a customized version of the world poverty clock developed by World Data Lab, aimed at monitoring progress against extreme poverty, an aspiration of the United Nations' first Sustainable Development Goal – SDG1. The Clock provides real-time poverty estimates till 2030 for the majority of countries around the world.

Speaking at the launch, the ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe said that many African countries have achieved remarkable progress over the last six decades.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 December 2018

Photo: Bamboo becomes insect-resistant when soaked in a chemical solution for 12 -14 days. Credit: IOM/Abdullah Mashrif.

Providing New Bamboo Shelters in Bangladesh Refugee Camps

By UN Migration

COX'S BAZAR (IDN-INPS) – Work has begun on one of the largest bamboo treatment plants ever installed in an emergency response, as IOM experts tackle a tiny insect that is devastating structures in the world’s biggest refugee settlement.

An infestation of "boring beetles" means the bamboo in almost every shelter in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar – home to around 240,000 families – needs to be replaced. With just over four months to go until the beginning of the next monsoon season, the race is on to provide families living in the worst-affected shelters with new, more-durable bamboo.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 December 2018

Photo: Ashraf El Nour, Director of IOM Office to UN New York addressing the UN Security Council Meeting on the "Maintenance of international peace and security: Trafficking of persons in conflict situations" on 21 November 2017.

Migration Is a Great Opportunity to Africa and Host Countries

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Contrary to the widespread view coloured by the too-common images of young African migrants crossing the Mediterranean, migration in Africa is dominated by Africans moving within Africa, says Ashraf El Nour, the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office to the UN in New York.

They migrate mostly to neighbouring countries, or within the same region. Africa's share of global migration, which on the whole stood at 258 million in 2017, are 36 million people of which 19 million moved within the continent and 17 million outside Africa, El Nour told Africa Renewal's Zipporah Musau.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 December 2018

Photo: Kim Jong Un visits with scientists at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang. Source: Korean Central Television, September 29, 2018.

New Report Warns of the Perils of Scientific Collaborations with North Korea

Partner Countries Include China, USA, Australia and Germany

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – Direct collaboration between North Korean and foreign scientists including those from China, Australia, the United States, Germany, and Romania, is playing "an expanding role" in the regime’s pursuit of technological advancement, a new study has found.

Published on December 19, this study comes two months after Foreign Policy (FP) carried an article by Colum Lynch on September 20, 2018 with the headline, North Korea Evades Sanctions – But a feud between Russia and the U.S. has kept the document from being published.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 December 2018

Photo: World’s first drone-delivered vaccine in Vanuatu. The vaccine delivery covered almost 40 kilometres of rugged mountainous terrain from Dillon’s Bay on the west side of the island to the east landing in remote Cook’s Bay. UNICEF/Pacific

One Short Drone Flight Is A 'Big Leap' For Global Health

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | PORT VILA (IDN) – One month old Joy Nowai has become the world’s first child to be given a vaccine delivered commercially by drone in a remote island in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on December 18.

The vaccine delivery through the state-of-the-art craft covered almost 40 kilometres of rugged mountainous terrain from Dillon’s Bay on the west side of the island to the east landing in remote Cook’s Bay, where 13 children and five pregnant women were vaccinated by Miriam Nampil, a registered nurse.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 19 December 2018

Photo: Tadamichi Yamamoto, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, briefing the Security Council. Credit: unama.unmissions.org

Possibility of Peace in Afghanistan Was Never More Real Than It's Now – UN Envoy

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The possibility of a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan has never been more real in the past 17 years than it is now, according to the United Nations top envoy in Afghanistan.

Tadamichi Yamamoto told the Security Council on December 17 he is encouraged by several recent developments, including the appointment of a team to negotiate with the Taliban, the announcement of a peace advisory board representing a broad set of Afghan politicians and recent initiatives by key international partners.