Friday, June 6, 2008
U.N. experts rap U.S. "cruelty" to child prisoners
United Nations experts on child rights criticized the United States on Friday over detention of juveniles at Guantanamo, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and voiced concern that some may have suffered cruel treatment.
They also called for an end to recruitment of under-18s into the U.S. armed forces and for a halt to enlistment campaigns aimed specifically at young people from minority groups and poor or single-parent families.
The strictures were issued in a report from the 18-member Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors performance under U.N. pacts, including two signed by Washington on children and armed conflict and on child prostitution.
On under-18s -- defined by the U.N. as children -- held in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Committee said it was "concerned over reports indicating the use of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment."
The 18 experts, nominated by governments but expected to be independent of them, said they had similar reports on abuse of young prisoners held for several years at the U.S. naval base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay. (Reuters)
U.S. walking away from U.N. rights forum: diplomats
The United States has quietly informed Western allies of its intention to walk away from the U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
The U.S. delegation has observer status, with the right to speak, in the 47-member state forum, which meets in Geneva, and has never stood for election to the Council since it was set up two years ago.
Diplomatic sources and rights activists said that U.S. officials had informed the European Union on Friday morning of its intention to halt its involvement in the Council.
"They said they were going to disengage totally," said one representative of a rights watchdog group.
In a Council debate on Friday on the situation in Myanmar, the United States failed to take the floor on a topic on which until now it has always been vocal, a possible sign that it had little further interest in the body.
The Council replaced the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
But it is seen by critics as having fallen under control of a bloc of Islamic and African countries, which have a majority when backed by their frequent allies Russia, China and Cuba.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva, home to the U.N. European headquarters. (Reuters)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Almost half of South now cleared of cluster bombs
Almost half the areas in South Lebanon contaminated with cluster bombs dropped by Israel in 2006 have been cleared, a UN official said on Wednesday. "Forty-three percent of the areas affected by cluster bombs dropped during the July 2006 war have been cleared," said Dalya Farran, spokeswoman for UN Mine Action Coordination Center for South Lebanon.
"Efforts are under way to clean 49 percent of the contaminated areas," she told AFP, adding that work had yet to begin in 8 percent of the affected areas.
She said 970 contaminated sites had been found in an area that spanned some 39 million square meters.
Since the war's end in August 2006, cluster bombs have caused "256 civilian casualties between deaths and injuries," added Farran.
She said that there have also been 51 casualties from the Lebanese Army and international forces in the area.
Farran added that Israel had to make known "the number of bombs that were dropped as well as their locations." (AFP)
Labels: Israel, Lebanon, U.N., Weapons Ban
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Developing states back U.N. probe of Iran bomb claims
Developing nations joined the West on Wednesday in throwing their weight behind the U.N. nuclear watchdog's attempt to get Iran to clarify intelligence alleging that it secretly researched ways of making atom bombs.
It was a rare sign of convergence on the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors after an inspector report on Iran that was tougher than previous ones and a call by the IAEA chief for "full disclosure" by Tehran.
The May 26 report said Iran seemed to be withholding information needed to explain intelligence reports that it illicitly melded programs to process uranium, test high explosives and modify a missile cone in a way that would accommodate a nuclear warhead.
Iran has rejected the intelligence, which comes from about 10 nations, as forged or related solely to conventional military hardware, but not furnished evidence to bolster its denials.
It is accelerating uranium enrichment that it says will be only for electricity, not bombs, but is under U.N. sanctions for hiding the work in the past, continuing to curb IAEA inspections and refusing to halt enrichment in exchange for trade benefits. (Reuters)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
UN Security Council extends mandate of Hariri probe
The UN Security Council on Monday voted unanimously to extend for another six months the mandate of the UN panel probing the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Resolution 1815, drafted by France, renewed the mandate, which extends from June 15, until December 31, 2008.
But the council also stated its readiness to terminate the mandate of the panel headed by Daniel Bellemare earlier "if the commission reports that it has completed the implementation of its mandate."
The resolution said it took note of a May letter by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora urging the council to back Bellemare's request for a six-month extension of the mandate.
After the adoption, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the UN who chairs the council this month, stressed the importance of concluding the probe.
"The Commission has a clear mandate. It is moving forward, it certainly has the support of the Security Council and our support, it's very important that there is accountability for what happened in Lebanon," he told reporters.
He stressed that this was "not only important for the sake of Lebanon, but also more broadly because political assassination is an instrument. It's a threat to international peace and security."(AFP)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Syria to let in U.N. nuclear investigators: ElBaradei
The U.N. atomic watchdog chief said on Monday Syria would let in top inspectors to examine allegations of a secret nuclear reactor, and demanded "full disclosure" by Iran over reports of covert atom bomb research.
The International Atomic Energy Agency added Syria to a growing list of nuclear proliferation worries after Washington in April turned over intelligence suggesting Damascus built a nuclear reactor at a site bombed by Israel last September.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced the June 22-24 trip by top aides to Syria after months of what Western diplomats said was Syrian stonewalling on IAEA requests for access.
The trip was expected to include inspector visits to the remote al-Kabir site targeted by Israel "and other places", a senior diplomat familiar with the matter told Reuters. Other diplomats said 2-3 sites beyond al-Kabir were under scrutiny.
Syria has said the accusations against it are "ridiculous", while Iran has dismissed as bogus the intelligence indicating it combined programs to process uranium, test high explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear bomb. (Reuters)
Mugabe and Ahmadinejad left out of U.N. summit dinner
The Italian and U.N. hosts of a U.N. crisis summit on rising food prices on Monday left the presidents of Zimbabwe and Iran off the guest list of a ceremonial dinner for the leaders attending the meeting.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is able to take part in the conference only because an EU travel ban on him does not apply to U.N. forums.
And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on his first visit to Western Europe as Iranian president, made sure of a frosty welcome by offending Israel on the eve of his departure.
Neither was named on the list of guests for the official dinner being given on Tuesday by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the heads of state attending the June 3-5 summit, Italian media reported.
Western ministers said Mugabe was responsible for the food shortages faced by millions in Zimbabwe's shattered economy.
"We will not allow the millions of people who can no longer afford a normal meal to be held hostage by Mugabe," said Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders. (Reuters)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Iraq 'stepping back from abyss'
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has praised progress in Iraq at a UN forum in Sweden on the situation in the country.
Mr Ban said Iraq was "stepping back from the abyss that we feared most" but warned the situation "remains fragile".
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called for debt cancellation, mainly from Arab nations.
Nearly 100 countries are taking part in the forum, which is aimed at supporting Iraq's efforts to restore stability and rebuild a functioning economy.
Correspondents say progress in these areas remains fragile.
The UN called the conference to review a five-year package it brokered last year, called the International Compact with Iraq.
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki called on neighbouring countries to Iraq's forgive debts and waive compensation payments for wars fought under Saddam Hussein.
Ban Ki-Moon has praised international efforts in supporting the rebuilding of Iraq
"Iraq is not a poor country. It possesses tremendous human and material resources, but the debts of Iraq... which we inherited from the dictator, hamper the reconstruction process," he said. (BBC)
Report: U.S. urges UN to find secret nuclear facilities in Syria
The United States is pressing United Nations inspectors to broaden the scope of a search in Syria to include possible secret nuclear facilities, The Washington Post reported in Thursday editions, citing U.S. government officials and Western diplomats.
At least three sites have been identified by U.S. officials and passed along to UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the newspaper reported.
U.S. government officials declined to describe the specific sites that have drawn interest or to discuss how they were identified, it said.
Citing unnamed sources, the Post said U.S. officials want to know if the suspected sites may have been support facilities for the alleged Al Kibar reactor destroyed in an Israel Air Force strike last September.
Syria maintains the facility targeted by the IAF was a disused military building in its eastern desert that had no nuclear link. It has yet to accept a request from the IAEA to visit the site.
Israel is believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal. (Haaretz)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tutu investigates Gaza shelling
South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu is on a UN fact-finding mission to Gaza, focusing on the deaths of Palestinians caused by Israeli fire.
He met relatives of 19 civilians killed in the Israeli shelling of two houses in Beit Hanoun in 2006.
Mr Tutu's team will report its findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, a body shunned by Israel.
In the latest violence, Hamas said two of its men were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza.
The army said it had conducted two air strikes targeting militants firing mortar shells.
The former archbishop of Cape Town called Israel's blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory illegal, and urged Palestinian militants to halt cross-border rocket attacks.
Israel says the Beit Hanoun deaths in November 2006 were a mistake during action to target areas used by Palestinian militants. (BBC)
Labels: Israel, Palestine, U.N.
Iran warns UN nuclear watchdog
Iran's newly elected parliamentary speaker has warned his country may revise its co-operation with the UN's nuclear watchdog after the agency released a report critical of Tehran's nuclear drive.
Ali Larijani used his first speech as speaker on Wednesday to condemn the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report as a "deception".
He said the report "spoke in an ambiguous way".
"Parliament will not allow that such deceptions and if they [the IAEA] continue along this path [then] the new parliament will intervene in the case and set a new line for co-operation with the IAEA," Larijani said.
The report, issued on Monday, expressed "serious concern" that Iran might be withholding information needed to establish whether it tried to make nuclear weapons.
"If they want more sincere co-operation with Iran, they need to have more balanced reports and not look to create a media frenzy," Larijani said.
Washington and its allies had responded to the IAEA report saying it underlined concerns about the aims of the Iranian nuclear programme. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
More action needed to combat civilian deaths: U.N.
Much more needs to be done to prevent the killing and displacement of civilians in places such as Darfur, Somalia, Israel and Columbia, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said on Tuesday.
Civilians continue to account for the majority of casualties in armed conflict, often in flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, Holmes told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on civilians in armed conflict.
In the first five months of this year, more than half a million people have been displaced by conflict, with 337,000 civilians fleeing Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia and Sudan, he said.
Holmes called for the creation of a Security Council expert group on the protection of civilians, which he said would be an informal forum bringing together all council member states.
"A more consistent approach to integrating the protection of civilians into all relevant aspects of the Council's work could make a very real difference to the lives of millions trapped in the chaos and horror of war," he said.
Ambassadors from council and other U.N. member states gave speeches expressing support for Holmes' statement. (Reuters)
Labels: Human Rights, U.N.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
UN nuclear watchdog says Iran hiding weapons studies
The UN atomic watchdog has expressed serious concern that Iran is still hiding information about alleged studies into making nuclear warheads and defying UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report released late Monday that Iran must provide "substantive" information if it is to convince the international community that its nuclear drive is peaceful.
The alleged studies suggest Iran may have been trying to develop a nuclear warhead, convert uranium and test high explosives and a missile re-entry vehicle, said the report.
The report, to be discussed by the IAEA's board of governors at a June 2-6 meeting, said intelligence from a number of sources suggest Iran has conducted the studies. Iran has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as "baseless" and the intelligence as "forged".
The IAEA demanded that Iran, which already faces UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, disprove the allegations.
"Substantive explanations are required from Iran to support its statements on the alleged studies and on other information with a possible military dimension," the report insisted. (AP)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
Monday, May 26, 2008
U.S., Iran and Arab neighbors to meet on Iraq
The United States will prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to the Iraqi government at a conference in Sweden this week as a way of countering the growing influence of non-Arab Iran in Iraq.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will chair the conference on Thursday, aimed at assessing progress in implementing a plan adopted at a meeting in Egypt last year to help Iraq rebuild after five years of war.
Analysts are watching for any contacts between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, who will be attending the meeting, though U.S. officials say none are scheduled in Stockholm.
"If we don't get it right in Iraq, if we leave Iraq prematurely, then we're going to empower Iran," Rice said on Friday in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo.
"We're getting exactly what we had hoped: the emergence of a functioning government in Iraq that is making strides towards democracy and reconciliation, that is providing better security for its people, that is beginning to be integrated again into the region," she added. (Reuters)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Saudis give $500M to UN food agency
Saudi Arabia made an unprecedented contribution of $500 million to the UN World Food Program to respond to rising prices, meaning the agency won't have to cut rations to the world's needy, the United Nations announced Friday.
The contribution by the world's top oil-producing nation was by far the largest response to the UN food agency's emergency appeal for $755 million to cover increased costs that threatened crucial aid to millions of needy people.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon "warmly welcomes the offer of the landmark contribution," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
"The secretary general notes that this contribution of an unprecedented size and generosity comes not a moment too soon, given the needs of millions of people dependent on food rations," she said.
The Saudi contribution means the agency, which operates the world's largest humanitarian program, will now have the money to carry on its activities without making cuts, Okabe said.
Josette Sheeran, the agency's executive director, said donations actually topped the appeal target—reaching $960 million from 32 countries. The WFP will have $205 million for other urgent needs. (AP)
Labels: Food, Saudi Arabia, U.N.
UN: No. of roadblocks in W. Bank up 7 percent from last Sept.
The United Nations said in a report Friday that the number of Israeli obstacles in the West Bank has increased by 7 percent since last September, despite an Israeli pledge to ease Palestinian movement in the area as part of fledgling peace talks.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem
said the overall number of obstacles increased from 566 on September 4, 2007 to 607 on April 29, 2008. The shift included the construction of 144 new closures and the removal of 103 in the same time period.
The UN agency, OCHA, added that the army removed an additional seven closure obstacles so far in May. It said its findings amounted to a slight deterioration in overall access in the reported period.
The report came out shortly after visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner criticized Israel's network of roadblocks and checkpoints, which are seen as a key impediment to the recovery of the Palestinian economy.
"The restrictions on access and mobility are still significant," Kouchner said at a Palestinian investment conference in Bethlehem. "They have not yet been alleviated as they should have. Israel should and Israel can exert more efforts in this regard without endangering its security."
Israel says it cannot move faster in easing restrictions because Palestinian militants still pose a threat. (Haaretz)
Labels: Israel, Palestine, Settlements, U.N.
Iran and Syria to attend Iraq meeting in Sweden: U.N.
Iran's foreign minister and Syria's ambassador to Sweden are among the officials expected to attend next week's ministerial meeting of the Iraq Compact Annual Review, U.N. officials said on Friday.
The talks in Stockholm will focus on assessing progress in implementing a peace and development plan to help rebuild the Iraq more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
U.N. officials told Reuters that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is among participants who have confirmed that they will attend. Syria, which is sending its envoy to Sweden, will be represented at a much lower level.
Washington accuses Iran of arming and training insurgents in Iraq in an attempt to destabilize the government. It says Syria allows arms and militants to cross its border into Iraq, fueling the anti-U.S. insurgency.
Tehran and Damascus deny the U.S. accusations. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Iraq, Syria, U.N.
Syria hesitant to let IAEA inspect alleged nuke site hit by IAF
Syria has yet to accept a request from the UN nuclear watchdog to visit a site where Washington says Damascus covertly built an atomic reactor, and has demanded more details about the proposed trip, diplomats said.
The head of the UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on May 7 that he hoped to be able to shed light "in the next few weeks" on whether a Syrian facility, bombed by Israel last year, was an undeclared nuclear reactor.
Syria, an ally of Iran whose secretive nuclear program is under UN sanctions and IAEA investigation, has rejected as fabricated U.S. intelligence pointing to an almost completed graphite reactor erected with North Korean help.
Damascus, whose only declared nuclear facility is an old research reactor under IAEA inspection, has said Israel's target was only a disused military building in its eastern desert that had no nuclear link.
At the start of May, the IAEA wrote to Syria asking to see the targeted area. Syrian atomic energy chief Ibrahim Othman visited Vienna on May 9 for talks with the agency's chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomats familiar with the matter said.
Those talks did not produce any agreement on the timing and nature of a trip by senior inspectors, they added. (Haaretz)
Labels: IAEA, Israel, Syria, U.N.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Blair jet faced Israeli warplanes
Israeli fighter aircraft were scrambled to intercept a jet carrying former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after its crew failed to identify themselves.
Aircrew used the radio to explain who they were after the two warplanes adopted an attack position, prompting them to peel off and return to base.
Mr Blair was en route to Israel from a World Economic Forum meeting at Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt on Wednesday.
He is the Middle East envoy for the Quartet of major powers.
Mr Blair has been in the role for the last 11 months.
A spokesman for the former prime minister said: "Mr Blair was one of a number of delegates on a flight back from the World Economic Forum in Sharm El Sheikh.
"We were not aware of any problem at the time, and have not been notified of any issue with the flight."
Israel's air defence system is one of the strictest in the world and warplanes are often scrambled for false alarms. (BBC)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
UN members set for elections to dubious Human Rights Council
Sparks are set to fly Wednesday when 15 seats on the controversial United Nations Human Rights Council come up for election, with European nations vying for influence and non-governmental organizations warning (NGOs) that some candidates are unfit to take part. All of the United Nations' 192 members have a say in Wednesday's vote at the UN General Assembly in New York, where candidate nations need an absolute majority, or 97 votes, to be elected.
The 47-member, Geneva-based Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace the Human Rights Commission, which was widely discredited because governments with records of abuse stifled concrete action.
The United States opposed its creation, saying the new body's rules would still not guarantee its effectiveness, and has refused to take part - in part because its continuing unpopularity among the General Assembly members almost ensures that it could be elected to the panel.
Two years on, the council is under fire for failing to act on human rights violations in places like Sudan's Darfur region while at the same time focusing on criticizing Israel for its abuse of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
This year, only 19 countries are contesting the 15 seats up for grabs across the geographical areas. Critics say this demonstrates the weakness of the system, as the lack of competition clears the way for unqualified nations.
In reality, the allocation of seats in the African and Latin American groups is usually decided long before votes are cast. AFP)
Labels: U.N.
Diplomats say UN probe of Iran nukes a failure
Iran has stymied the latest U.N. attempt to investigate allegations that it tried to make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Tuesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will acknowledge it was unable to follow up on the allegations in a report to be presented as early as Friday to its 35-nation board, two diplomats told The Associated Press.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei expressed optimism a month ago when he announced that Iran agreed to review intelligence collected by the U.N. agency, just a few weeks after Tehran had declared the books closed on any attempt to look into its alleged nuclear arms programs.
"By the end of May we will be in a position to get the explanation and clarification from Iran" about the allegations, ElBaradei said then, describing Tehran's apparent change of heart as a "positive step."
But the diplomats said Iran had again rejected the evidence presented by agency officials as bogus and refused to hold further discussions or allow U.N. experts to check into the charges.(AP)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Pope encourages conference on cluster bomb ban
Pope Benedict on Sunday said he hoped a Dublin conference on cluster bombs will outlaw the deadly weapons by agreeing on a strong international convention.
"I hope that, thanks to the responsibility of all the participants, a strong and credible international instrument can be achieved," he said after his noon prayer during a visit to the northwestern Italian city of Genoa.
Representatives of more than 100 nations gather in Dublin on Monday to finalize an anti-cluster munitions treaty.
Cluster munitions open in mid-air and scatter as many as several hundred "bomblets" over wide areas. They often fail to explode, creating virtual mine fields that can kill or injure anyone who comes across them.
The U.N. Development Program says cluster munitions have caused more than 13,000 confirmed injuries and deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon.
The world's top producers, users and stockpilers of cluster bombs -- the United States, Israel, China, Russia, India and Pakistan -- will skip the conference. But diplomats at the United Nations say Washington is encouraging allies to adopt positions that could lead to a watered-down treaty. (Reuters)
Labels: U.N., Vatican, Weapons Ban
Iraq's Slow Refugee Funding Has Ripple Effect
Despite U.S. pressure over the past month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has yet to provide significant financial support for the nearly 2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and Lebanon, according to administration and congressional sources, even as the United Nations has told donors that it may scale back its assistance to the effort because of insufficient funds.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees -- whose programs for Iraqi refugees and displaced people are projected to cost over $800 million this year, according to the State Department -- informed a meeting of donor nations last week that it may need to slash support for Iraqis in Syria and Jordan because the agency has received only 60 percent of the funds it needs to help Iraqi refugees the rest of this year.
Last month, State Department officials told Congress that many countries have held back funds for refugees because the Iraqi government has delivered only $15 million to Syria, where there are about 1 million refugees, and $2 million to Lebanon, where there are 200,000; and it has pledged $8 million to Jordan, where there are some 500,000. Ambassador James B. Foley, the State Department coordinator for Iraq refugees, said at the time that the United States would press the Maliki government to increase its support.
"They are going to have to find a way to say yes," said a senior State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. The official added that Ryan C. Crocker, the ambassador to Iraq, is providing the Iraqi government with data on the types of assistance needed. "We by no means consider this over," the official said. "We are determined to get a yes, and high-level discussions continue." (Washington Post)
Labels: Iraq, Jordan, Refugees, Syria, U.N., U.S.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
MoD lobbies to keep 'smart' cluster bombs
The British government is deeply divided over its policy on cluster bombs on the eve of international negotiations about a ban, the Guardian has learned.
The split sets the Ministry of Defence, which wants to retain two types of cluster munitions in the British armoury, against Downing Street and the Foreign Office, which want to honour Gordon Brown's pledge last year "to work internationally for a ban" on those weapons that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.
An international conference on cluster munitions - shells or rockets which contain several smaller bombs - begins on Monday in Dublin. Officials said it was unlikely British divisions would be resolved by then. Instead, they hope the position taken by European allies could throw up a workable compromise.
Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, told the Guardian: "There is an internal discussion going on in the UK as we try to maximize our offer for the [Dublin] negotiation." However, the former UN deputy secretary-general admitted being "uncomfortable" about a compromise that would leave some cluster bombs in the UK arsenal.
"The source of my discomfort is that I'm used to being able to get on my UN high horse and beat up countries about having clean, clear positions on this," said Malloch-Brown. "I'm now caught in the fact if you are a national government there are real issues you have to work through to get the best position you can."(Guardian)
Labels: U.K., U.N., Weapons Ban
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Thousands displaced by fighting in Afghan south: U.N
Thousands of people have fled their homes as a result of fighting between U.S.-led forces and Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan this month, a U.N. official said on Tuesday.
In the latest incident in Garmsir district in the southern province of Helmand, coalition forces killed around a dozen militants on Monday in a joint air and ground operation, the U.S. army said on Tuesday.
"The information that I have...is that some 1,200 families have become displaced from that district (Garmsir) because of the recent fighting," said Mohammad Nader Farhad, a spokesman for the U.N. agency for refugees in Afghanistan, citing government estimates.
Of the 1,200 families, 900 have ended up in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, while the rest have gone to Registan district, Farhad said. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Refugees, Taliban, U.N., U.S.
US misses Iran opportunity
With mounting tensions in the Middle East greeting President George W Bush's trip this week to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Washington could seize the opportunity for direct dialogue with Tehran, both on the subject of Iraq's security and on Iran's controversial nuclear program. Yet, the White House seems more interested in locking horns with Tehran's rulers than in exploring confidence-building steps necessary for detente between the countries.
In Iraq, in light of Iran's successful mediation between the Iraqi government and Shi'ite militias in embattled Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called on Iran and the US to "resume talks on seeking a solution to Iraq's security problems". And Tehran, which suspended talks in reaction to the US's "indiscriminate attacks on civilians" - per the words of an Iranian Foreign Ministry official - is now poised to set aside its reservations and engage in a fourth round of dialogue with Washington, assuming the White House is ready for it.
Unfortunately, the US's decision not to send a delegate, along with other representatives from the "Iran Six" nations (ie, the United Nations' Security Council permanent members plus Germany) to Tehran this week to formally present their latest "incentive package" with respect to Iran's nuclear program, is a bad decision. It is tantamount to missing a golden opportunity to commence direct nuclear talks with Tehran, albeit through a multilateral "package diplomacy". (In addition the the US, the other permanent UN members are Russia, China, France and Britain.) (Asia Times)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N., U.S.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Spread of Nuclear Capability Is Feared
At least 40 developing countries from the Persian Gulf region to Latin America have recently approached U.N. officials here to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend that concerned proliferation experts say could provide the building blocks of nuclear arsenals in some of those nations.
At least half a dozen countries have also said in the past four years that they are specifically planning to conduct enrichment or reprocessing of nuclear fuel, a prospect that could dramatically expand the global supply of plutonium and enriched uranium, according to U.S. and international nuclear officials and arms-control experts.
Much of the new interest is driven by economic considerations, particularly the soaring cost of fossil fuels. But for some Middle Eastern states with ready access to huge stocks of oil or natural gas, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the investment in nuclear power appears to be linked partly to concerns about a future regional arms race stoked in part by Iran's alleged interest in such an arsenal, the officials said. (Washington Post)
Labels: Nuclear Power, U.N.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Report: Iran, IAEA to resume nuclear program talks on Monday
Iran and the UN nuclear agency watchdog will resume talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program in the Iranian capital on Monday, an Iranian official was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, did not give details, but the two sides held two rounds of discussions in Tehran last month on intelligence allegations the Islamic Republic researched how to make nuclear bombs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in April Tehran had agreed on steps to clarify the intelligence reports by the end this month. Up to now Iran has denied the information, but has not backed up its position with evidence.
The intelligence came variously from a laptop computer given to Washington by an Iranian defector in 2004, from some other Western countries and the IAEA's own inquiries.
Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the Vienna-based UN agency, said this week's talks would last around three days, state radio reported.
Unlike the previous two rounds, the IAEA delegation would not be headed by its top investigator, Olli Heinonen, who in a presentation in Vienna in February indicated links in Iran between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead. (Haaretz)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
IRAN: Can P5+1 Offer Break the Nuclear Stalemate?
The P5+1 -- the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany -- will present Tehran with a secret incentive package in the next few days to convince Iran to suspend its enrichment programme and enter negotiations.
There is little doubt that Tehran will reject the offer since it crosses its red line -- suspension of enrichment -- but the question is why such an offer is being made at this time, even though reinvigorating talks is in and of itself much needed.
The nuclear offer coincides with an escalation of rhetoric between Washington and Tehran over allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq. Following several stark comments by high-ranking U.S. military officials, the new buzz in the beltway is that Iran "is killing American soldiers" -- a clear casus belli if proven true.
From Senate staffers to think tank pundits, fear of a military confrontation between Iran and the U.S. is quickly rising once more.
General David Petreus, the new head of CENTCOM, is reportedly preparing a presentation of evidence showcasing Iran's direct involvement in the violence in Iraq. Well aware of their lack of credibility, George W. Bush administration officials are keeping a low profile and letting military officials take the rhetorical lead against Tehran. (IPS)
Labels: Germany, Iran, Nuclear Power, Security Council, U.N.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Aid groups: Embattled Baghdad district faces shortages as fighting widens
Entire sections of Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district have been left nearly abandoned by civilians fleeing a U.S.-led showdown with Shiite militias and seeking aid after facing shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian groups said Wednesday.
The reports by the agencies, including the U.N. children's fund, add to the individual accounts by civilians pouring out of the Sadr City area as clashes intensify.
U.S. forces have increased air power and armored patrols in the attempt to cripple Shiite militia influence in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Baghdad base for the Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The battles started in late March after the Iraqi government opened a crackdown on militias and armed gangs in the southern city of Basra, including some groups Washington says have links to Iran.
Claire Hajaj, a UNICEF spokeswoman based in Jordan, said up to 150,000 people - including 75,000 children - were isolated in sections of Sadr City "cordoned off by military forces." (AP)
Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.N., U.S.
IAEA chief hopes to shed light on alleged Syrian reactor soon
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday he hoped his agency would be able to shed light in the next few weeks on whether a Syrian facility bombed by Israel last September was an undeclared atomic reactor.
The United States released intelligence last month that it said showed Syria built a reactor with North Korean help before Israeli warplanes destroyed it. Damascus has denied the accusations.
Mohammed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said his agency was in contact with Syria to verify the U.S. intelligence and recalled Damascus's obligation to report any nuclear activities to the agency.
"I hope that in the next few weeks we will be able to shed some light on the nature of the facility that was destroyed," he told reporters after talks with EU officials in Brussels.
"Syria has an obligation to notify the agency if they are, if they were, building any nuclear reactors," he said. Damascus has not granted UN inspectors access to the area despite several requests since September, diplomats say.
The U.S. material included photos and other information the CIA said prove the facility's potential for nuclear weapons purposes. (Haaretz)
Labels: IAEA, Syria, U.N., U.S.
LEBANON: Al-Qaeda on a Slippery Base
Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, announced in an audiotape broadcast Apr. 21 that Islamic groups would play a pivotal role in the war against Jews, and encouraged militants to expel invading 'Crusaders' masquerading as peacekeepers, referring to UNIFIL troops deployed in South Lebanon.
"There have been three attacks on UN troops in the south since the deployment in 2006," says Andrea Tenenti from the press office of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
In June 2007, six peacekeepers from the Spanish contingent were killed in a car bombing in South Lebanon, an attack that was celebrated by Zawahiri. An assault on Tanzanian soldiers came along the Litani river in July of the same year, and a roadside bomb exploded near a UN vehicle before a Lebanese army checkpoint at the entrance of the ancient Phoenician city of Sidon, wounding two peacekeepers in January 2008.
Although no specific group has been formally accused of the crimes, the attacks have been attributed to Islamic fundamentalists, various movements of which have been around in Lebanon since the 1980s.
According to a report by the Saban Centre at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, Islamist militancy in Lebanon merged with Salafism -- a movement built on the belief that Islam's purest form was practised during the time of the prophet Muhammad -- when local and foreign Salafist jihadist leaders penetrated the generally non-violent Lebanese Islamic community. (IPS)
Labels: Al Qaeda, Lebanon, U.N.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Unicef warns of Iraqis 'at risk'
It is increasingly hard for Iraqi aid workers to help tens of thousands of people caught up in fighting in Baghdad, according to Unicef.
The Sadr City area of the capital has seen the worst clashes between government forces and Shia militia.
The UN children's agency says over 150,000 people there are having difficulty accessing clean water, food and other essential services.
The Iraqi government says almost 1,000 people have died in recent fighting.
Most of those have been civilians, and aid agencies say around 60% of them are women and children.
For seven weeks now Iraqi forces, backed up by US troops, have been trying to disarm Shia militiamen, but they have faced stiff resistance.
Unicef is warning that tens of thousands of people are at risk because they cannot freely move within their communities, cut off from clean water and food supplies by snipers or by roads laced with improvised explosive devices. (BBC)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Dead teacher was a Gaza bomb-maker
The UN refugee organisation in Gaza reaffirmed yesterday its "zero tolerance policy" towards political and militant activities by staff after reports that a Palestinian teacher assassinated in an Israeli air attack was a rocket-maker.
Reuters quoted unnamed Palestinian militants and Israeli intelligence sources as saying that Awad al-Qiq, 33, acting headmaster at the UNRWA-run Rafah Boys' Preparatory School was by night secretly a rocket builder for Islamic Jihad.
A handwritten note outside the school posted on the metal gate at the entrance to the school declared that the teacher, killed in an air strike last week, was "the chief leader of the engineering unit", who would now find "paradise".
Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which employs more than 9,000 local staff in Gaza, said that the agency was regularly instructed not to engage in political or militant activities of any kind. It has summarily sacked employees found to be in breach of the instruction. (Independent)
Labels: Israel, Palestine, U.N.
UN gets last-minute Gaza fuel offer
The UN agency that provides food for Palestinian refugees says it can continue to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip for another 20 days having announced that it was once again on the verge of having to suspend deliveries.
The statement from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on Monday said a delivery of fuel would allow them to continue.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza has caused low supplies of fuel and basic goods for the 1.5 million inhabitants.
John Ging, the agency director, said: "Thankfully this afternoon there is a supply of fuel coming in for us, so we won't now have to stop our operations for the second time in 10 days.
"The amounts that are coming in will keep us going for about 20 days."
Ging said that a special concession was made to lift the blockade by Israel for the UN, as with one power plant in Gaza, but that otherwise no one else in Gaza was receiving fuel.
"That's a real problem. It's affecting every aspect of human life here in Gaza."
He added that the situation was deteriorating every day, with waste, water supply and transport problems endemic.
"Now the estimate is that 60,000 litres [of raw sewage] per day is being pumped into the sea simply because there is no fuel to run the plant that's needed to treat that sewage," he told Al Jazeera. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Israel, Palestine, U.N.
Iran to reject incentives that violate atomic rights
Iran will not agree to any package of incentives offered by world powers that violate Iran's nuclear rights, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"Incentives that in anyway violate our interests and our rights will not be supported by us," spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference broadcast and translated on Iran's Press TV when asked about a plan by six world powers to offer a new package to Iran.
Tehran says uranium enrichment is a national right. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, Security Council, U.N.
Betrayed: The Iraqis who risked all for Britain
Sami Faleh Mohammed was one of thousands of exiled Iraqis who after the invasion of Iraq decided to give his country another chance.
In September 2004 he led his wife and three children from the safety of Jordan to Basra, where he found work as a translator for the British Army. Two years later he was dead, murdered by members of the Shia militias who have targeted Iraqis who risk their own lives to help the British try to bring stability to the region.
His case is now one of 12 test claims being brought in the High Court by Iraqi translators and other workers who believe they have been betrayed by Britain. Many more are still in hiding, under sentence of death after being branded "collaborators and spies" by the militias.
On Friday Sami's widow, Suhad Jassim Mohammed, began legal action against the UK government to hold Britain to account over her husband's death. She claims the British Army owed Sami, a trusted worker, a duty of care but failed to honour that duty. As the case is publicly played out in the UK courts, the tragedy of Sami Mohammed will have a resonance for millions of other Iraqis who had likewise invested hope in Britain's intervention in Iraq. For many, that hope has already turned to despair. (Independent)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Iran says will not bow to Western pressure
Iran will not give up its rights in the face of Western pressure, its supreme leader said on Sunday, two days after major powers said they would make a new offer to convince Tehran to halt its nuclear plans.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not explicitly mention Iran's nuclear activities, which Western powers suspect are aimed at making bombs, but Iranian officials have repeatedly ruled out halting the program which they say is a national right.
State television said Khamenei cited "some recent threats by arrogant powers", a reference to the Islamic Republic's Western foes. The United States has recently repeated it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but will not rule out military action.
"We will not allow the arrogant ones to step on the right of this nation," he said in a speech in the southern province of Fars. "Threatening the Iranian nation will not make it retreat."
"This nation has chosen its path towards perfection, honor, complete independence ... and no threat can persuade (it) to stop its path," Khamenei, Iran's top authority, told the crowd.(Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, Security Council, U.N.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Corruption Eats Into Food Rations
Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption.
Iraqis survived the sanctions after the first Gulf War (1990) with the support of rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The aid was set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme.
The sanctions were devastating nevertheless. Former UN programme head Hans von Sponeck said in 2001 that the sanctions amounted to "a tightening of the rope around the neck of the average Iraqi citizen." Von Sponeck said the sanctions were causing the death of 150 Iraqi children a day.
Denis Halliday, former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq who quit his post in protest against the sanctions, told IPS they had proved "genocidal" for Iraqis.
During more than five years of U.S.-occupation, the situation has become even worse. The rationing system has been crumbling under poor management and corruption.
From the beginning of this year, the rations delivered were reduced from 10 items to five.
"We used the PDS as counter-propaganda against Saddam Hussein's regime before the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in 2003," Fadhil Jawad of the Dawa Party led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told IPS in Baghdad. "But then we found it necessary to maintain basic support for Iraqi people under occupation. We blamed Saddam for feeding Iraqis like animals with simple rations of food -- that we fail to provide now." (Inter Press Service)
Russia says Iranian enrichment freeze is sole demand
Russia on Saturday said that world powers concerned about Iran's nuclear programme were asking Tehran only to suspend uranium enrichment during a period of talks.
Following a meeting on Iran in London of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said no mention had been made of new sanctions and that Tehran must be made to see the advantages of cooperation.
"Our first conditions are the freezing, suspension of uranium enrichment. The approach of the six (powers) is that Iran should suspend enrichment only for the period in which talks continue," Lavrov told the Interfax and ITAR-TASS news agencies.
"There wasn't anything about new sanctions although our American colleagues take the view that pressure on Iran must be maintained.
"It's necessary to explain to Iran the advantages it would receive from agreeing to start talks, on the basis of one condition -- the freezing of uranium enrichment," Lavrov said. (AFP)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, Russia, Security Council, U.N.
New nuclear incentives for Iran
Six key world powers have agreed on a new package of incentives to be offered