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Thalif Deen
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Caught between development and peacekeeping
Alpha Oumar Konare, chairperson of the African Union Commission, says it is "scandalous" to spend $2-billion annually on the upkeep of a proposed 26Â 000-strong joint AU-United…
Big powers give nuclear-terrorism treaty a miss
A long-awaited international convention against nuclear terrorism will come into force next week, nine years after it was originally proposed by Russia and 10 months after it was…
Security Council meeting on climate challenged
The legitimacy of a much-ballyhooed Security Council meeting on climate change has been challenged by developing nations that argue that the threat to the global environment is…
Rape, gender violence plague post-war Liberia
When the West African state of Liberia was torn apart by 14 years of civil war, the victims of the brutal insurgency included mostly women and children who were subject to rape…
“Torture trade” flourishes despite regulations
The torture of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and the wilful abuse and humiliation of terror suspects in the United States detention facility in…
UN fraud cases fizzle out
When the United Nations launched a probe into ”misconduct and mismanagement” in UN procurement last January, it moved against eight staffers who were temporarily suspended…
Annan scores UN’s successes and failures
Less than six weeks before he steps down as Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has come up with a political scorecard on the successes and failures of the UN’s…
Newly transparent UN enters the future
As the United Nations continues to battle waste, mismanagement and corruption, an outgoing senior official has proposed that all high-level UN staffers should not only disclose…
The dangerous lives of international aid workers
The United Nations says that international aid work is one of the world’s most hazardous professions, in which humanitarian workers are constantly threatened with — or victims of…
Child soldiers multiply in troubled DRC
The United Nations, which is fielding more than 19 800 peacekeeping troops in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is virtually fighting a losing battle to contain…
Recruiters of child soldiers targeted for prosecution
The United Nations has long campaigned against recruiters of child soldiers, urging their prosecution as war criminals. But the first break came only last week when the…
‘Grave concern’ after Eritrea grounds UN helicopters
The United Nations has reacted angrily to a decision by the Eritrean government to restrict all UN helicopter flights monitoring a fragile ceasefire in the politically volatile…
UN skirts sanctions
After nearly six months of political dilly-dallying, the United Nations Security Council has taken the first ”major” step to protect children in armed conflicts — but has stopped…
Annan ‘bows to US pressure’
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan’s radical blueprint to restructure the world body has received mixed reviews from diplomats, human rights activists and NGOs.…
Africa wary of punitive sanctions on member states
As the 15-member United Nations Security Council keeps dragging its feet over a proposed military and economic embargo aimed at punishing Sudan for mass killings in Darfur, the…