Funding for Pakistan relief efforts is finally starting to roll in ahead of a meeting at the UN General Assembly today. The latest figures released by the UN show that the flash appeal is only $40 million of its $460 million target. That is a big improvement from yesterday, when the fund was only about 50% filled.
NZARA, Sudan—As if southern Sudan doesn’t already have its proverbial hands full in terms of the wide array of security threats facing the Afghanistan-sized territory, enter the Lord’s Resistance Army. In fact, the brutal militia is not new to Sudan; during Sudan’s long civil war, the LRA found safe haven in Khartoum-controlled areas of the South, including in what is now the southern capital, Juba.
Seven years ago today, an al Qaeda affiliate blew up the UN headquarters in Iraq, killing the diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello and 23 others. This was the single deadliest attack on UN civilian staff in the field and for the past two years August 19th has been honored as World Humanitarian Day.
MONUC: in response to a deadly attack this morning which killed three UN Peacekeepers serving with MONUSCO in the DRC, the SG has called on the Government of the DRC to launch in immediate investigation. The attack comes on the eve of World Humanitarian Day (Aug 19), which is also the seven year anniversary of the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, which claimed the lives of 22 UN staff in 2003. Ambassador Rice issued this
The finance minister of Afghanistan handed over a $1 million check to the Pakistani Ambassador yesterday. For the record, that makes Afghanistan a larger donor to Pakistan flood relief efforts than France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, and Estonia (among others). Not to judge, but is $917,431 for flood relief all that France can really afford right now? Colum Lynch reports that the United States is ready to support a "commission of inquiry" into alleged crimes against humanity in Burma. The move, he says, comes as the Obama administration recognizes that a policy of engagement is not working. Al Jazeera captures a great quote that speaks to some of the frustrations felt by the first responders to Pakistan's massive floods: "We cannot spend pledges. We cannot buy purification tablets, we cannot support Pakistan with pledges," Daniel Toole, the South Asia regional director for the UN's children fund, Unicef, said on Tuesday. "I urge the international community to urgently change pledges into cheques." Secretary Clinton gave a big speech at Johns Hopkins University on the Obama administration's Global Health Initiative yesterday. The GHI, as it is known, is a six year, $63 billion plan to improve public health in the developing world. The program builds on some George W. Bush administration successes, like PEPFAR and the President's Malaria Initiative, to support partner country efforts at building capacity in their public health sectors. When the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed by South Sudanese rebels and the central government, there were hopes that it could transform the political landscape of Khartoum. The CPA, as it is known, brought southern leaders into the central government in Khartoum and mandated the country’s first national elections in twenty years.