Iran rejected a repeated demand by the United Nations Security Council to suspend uranium enrichment work after the 15-nation body imposed arms and financial sanctions on Tehran. At the same time major powers, who drafted the resolution, immediately offered new talks on Saturday and renewed their offer of an economic and technological incentive package.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose new sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions by targeting Tehran’s arms exports, state-owned bank and elite Revolutionary Guards. The new measures are a follow-up to a resolution adopted on December 23 banning trade in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has refused to accept an interim United Nations plan to bolster African troops in Darfur, calling for more negotiations despite an earlier agreement in principle. He said it was still unclear whether the African Union would retain total control.
The 15-member United Nations Security Council expects to have a draft resolution next week on additional sanctions to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the council’s president said. South Africa’s UN ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, said major powers were trying to include all members in discussions.
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/ 21 February 2007
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recommended on Tuesday peacekeeping operations of up to 11 000 personnel for Chad and the Central African Republic to stanch the spillover from the Darfur conflict in Sudan. Eastern Chad is marked by ”uncertainty, vulnerability and victimisation of the local communities”, Ban said.
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/ 27 January 2007
The United Nations General Assembly condemned on Friday denials of the Holocaust in a United States-drafted resolution responding to a Tehran conference dominated by speakers questioning the extermination of six million Jews in World War II. The resolution ”condemns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust”.
The United Nations and the African Union announced on Friday a new push for peace talks in Sudan’s Darfur region to get splinter rebel groups and the government to stop fighting each other. The Khartoum government and one rebel group signed a peace agreement last April. But since then violence has escalated and at least 200 000 people have died in three years.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon started his first day on the job on Tuesday by departing from the traditional UN opposition to the death penalty, saying nations can make their own decision. Ban was greeted by a UN honour guard, went to a UN meditation chapel to honour fallen peacekeepers, spoke to reporters and held a mass meeting with UN staff.
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/ 7 December 2006
United States ambassador John Bolton, whose temporary appointment ends shortly, was back at the United Nations on Tuesday, his wit and prickly relationship with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan intact. Just hours after he made clear he would not seek a renewal on Monday, Bolton and his wife Gretchen attended a White House dinner in honor of Annan.
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/ 14 November 2006
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan intends to propose a ”hybrid” African Union-UN force for Darfur in talks with Sudanese officials and has invited major powers to take part. Sudan has been adamantly opposed to a UN force so the UN is considering alternatives to get a larger and better-funded peacekeeping operation acceptable to Khartoum.