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This week at the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly is sponsoring  a three-day "High Level Meeting" on AIDS aimed at assessing progress over the past five years. More than a dozen heads of state and some 100 ministers are scheduled to participate. First Lady Laura Bush is heading the U.S. delegation and is expected to attend sessions on Friday, when a political declaration is expected to be adopted. Also attending the  meeting are more than 1,000 representatives of civil society and the private sector. During the conference, a report on efforts by member states to combat the epidemic will be presented and governments will consider recommendations on how to scale-up HIV prevention, treatment and care in order to possibly attain universal access to treatment by 2010.

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This week at the United Nations

The Security Council is awaiting the outcome of several key meetings regarding Darfur and Iran that are taking place outside of U.N. headquarters this week before contemplating its next moves. 

Last Tuesday, the council unanimously approved a resolution giving Sudan one week to open its doors to a U.N. military assessment team wanting to plan a peacekeeping operation for Darfur. Khartoum had ignored an earlier U.N. request for access to the troubled region for several months and the hope was that a Security Council demand would force the government to say yes to the mission.  But, so far, that has not happened. To help press the case, recently-retired U.N. troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, is expected to hold talks in Khartoum on Wednesday and Thursday with Sudan's president and other top officials. Brahimi, who recently served as U.N. envoy for Afghanistan and Iraq, is accompanied by U.N. peacekeeping official, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia. They hope to convince Khartoum of the need to cooperate with the U.N. planning mission and to agree to such a U.N. force.  The African Union, of which Sudan is a member, gave its blessing last week to a transition from an African force in Darfur to a U.N. operation.

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This week at the U.N.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to deal with several important international issues this week, including the future of Darfur and pressing Syria to recognize Lebanon's independence (after decades of occupation).

Today, the U.S. is expected to push for a vote on a draft resolution that would set a one-week deadline for Sudan to permit a joint African Union-U.N. military assessment team to visit Darfur. The aim is to evaluate requirements for a transition from an African peacekeeping mission to a larger, better-equipped U.N. force. So far, Khartoum has refused entry and has not agreed to such an operation.

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Busy week at the U.N.

Iran and U.N. reform promise to be the most divisive issues members will face this week and in the weeks ahead. How to deal with the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region and a future U.N. role there is also likely to occupy a lot of diplomatic energy.

Iran's nuclear program
Tehran's rejection last Friday of the Security Council's March 29 statement calling for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment efforts has returned the issue to the Security Council and diplomatic efforts have moved into high gear. However, much of the maneuvering and negotiations are likely to take place in private here in New York as well as in capitals around the globe. The five veto-wielding Security Council members -- the US, Britain, France, Russia and China -- are expected to take the lead in coming up with a next step toward Iran. On Tuesday, May 2, for example, senior officials representing the P5 plus Germany are scheduled to meet in Paris for a face-to-face meeting on the issue. Following that, the council is likely to formally take up the issue for the first time, according to western officials.

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This week at the U.N.

It appears that decision time is getting closer for the United Nations on a number of important international issues this week, including a U.S. push for the U.N. Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against four Sudanese nationals accused of human rights violations in Darfur. Washington could force a vote on the issue in the coming days, according to U.S. officials.

Last Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton circulated a draft resolution that would authorize travel and financial sanctions against a Sudanese military commander, two rebel commanders and one Janjaweed  chief. So far, China -- which is a major trading partner and importer of Sudanese oil -- and Russia have opposed such sanctions, maintaining they could hurt the prospects of peace talks underway in Abuja, Nigeria (which are to conclude by April 30). A vote on the draft resolution, which most council members support, would force China and Russia to take a public stand on the matter by blocking the sanctions or allowing them to go through. However, if a vote takes place this week, the U.S. is also expected to simultaneously press for a council statement that would express support for the peace talks, in an effort to address Chinese and Russian concerns and possibly avert a veto.

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This week at the United Nations

Iran is on the minds of many in the UN Security Council this week. UN Diplomats are awaiting a report by IAEA Chief Mohamed Elbaradei due by the end of next week and  engaging in private discussions and strategy sessions in New York and around the world.  However, Iran is largely a major issue for next week's official UN agenda. 

This week, the Security Council has a busy formal agenda of closed-door consultations and open briefings on a range of issues. Meetings will cover other Middle East issues, such as violence between Israelis and Palestinians and the missing Kuwaiti prisoners of war from the 1991 Gulf War, African conflicts in Darfur and the Ivory Coast, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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This week at the U.N.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is still abroad in Spain and then he's off to the Netherlands where, among other things, he will take part in the 60th anniversary commemoration of the U.N.'s International Court of Justice in The Hague. Meanwhile, here at the U.N. in New York, diplomats and UN staff enjoy a short week (The U.N. takes Good Friday as a holiday). 

African issues dominate this week: Council members are still trying to hammer out an agreement on how to authorize the transfer of the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor to the Netherlands from Sierra Leone for security reasons. Thorny legal questions and issues aimed at ensuring that he not be able to challenge his arrest and trial in The Hague need to be resolved before council action.  In addition, further funding and security have to be agreed upon. (Already, some $14 million is needed for the Special Court in Sierra Leone and last Friday Annan renewed an urgent appeal to member states for voluntary contributions.)

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This week at the United Nations

Newly-appointed Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown makes his debut as the U.N.'s second highest-ranking official this week. Formerly Secretary General Kofi Annan's chief of staff and head of the U.N. Development Program, Malloch Brown, from Great Britain, is expected to hit the ground running. A top priority is expected to be pushing forward U.N. reform efforts.

This month the U.N. Security Council is headed by China and diplomats do not expect Beijing to play an activist role in launching new thematic initiatives, as some governments have done while serving in the very visible post.

Issues to watch on the council's agenda this week include:

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Iran still the focus at the U.N.

Again this week, the U.N. Security Council will focus on how to react to the International Atomic Energy Agency's report of Iran's failure to meet demands that it halt uranium enrichment and make clear that its nuclear program is not geared toward possibly creating an atomic bomb. But according to a knowledgeable western diplomat here, ongoing efforts to reach a successful agreement are not likely to bear fruit until later in the week, at the earliest. And, so far, diplomats have not given up on securing a so-called presidential statement, which requires consensus among all 15 members. (If unanimity becomes impossible, however, the option remains of seeking a "resolution," which would be voted upon and force nations to take a public stand, including casting a veto.)

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This week at the U.N.

What to do about Iran's disputed nuclear program is the big question of the week at the United Nations, although the Security Council has a full plate of other issues as well, ranging from dealing with Darfur to mission in Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia.

It's almost two weeks now since the IAEA board of governors referred Iran to the Security Council and today senior diplomats from the P-5 nations plus Germany are meeting in New York, outside the U.N. framework, to try to resolve a deadlock over future strategy. All apparently agree that Iran should not develop nuclear weapons, but major differences still abound over how to achieve that goal.

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