UN News

A report by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which outlines the work of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), recommends extending the mission until February 2008, citing "significant challenges." More

The UN has some terrific multimedia resources up on new SG Ban Ki-moon. You can watch a video of Ban's address to the General Assembly (audio and text also available), which he gave after taking the oath of office. There's also video coverage of the press conference and swearing-in ceremony available. If you'd rather listen than watch, you can also check out UN Radio's report on the appointment or this segment from NPR. For more info on Ban Ki-moon's career and accomplishments, click here.

Newly-inaugurated Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced his first two appointments yesterday: Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar--who was a special adviser to Kofi Annan--as his chief of staff, and Haitian journalist Michele Montas as his spokeswoman. More appointments are expected in the coming days. More.

Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean diplomat, became the United Nations' eighth secretary-general yesterday. At his swearing-in ceremony last month, Ban said, "I will do everything in my power to ensure that our United Nations can live up to its name, and be truly united; so that we can live up to the hopes that so many people around the world place in this institution, which is unique in the annals of human history." More

"In his farewell news conference as the world's top diplomat, United Secretary-General Kofi Annan today cited the failure to stop the Iraq war as the worst moment of his 10 years in office and made a fervent appeal that the Organization not be judged by the oil-for-food scandal but by its myriad humanitarian and development actions." More

Washington Post: "South Korea's Ban Ki-moon formally takes the reins of the United Nations Thursday as the institution grapples with internal reforms, volatility in the Middle East and international standoffs over the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran. Ban, who is being sworn-in before the General Assembly in a ceremony also honoring outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will not officially start his new job until Jan. 1, when he will become the eighth secretary-general of the 192-nation world body."

Washington Post: "Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, a conservative political scientist who became the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, died at her home outside Washington late Thursday, colleagues announced today. She was 80."

"President Bush has accepted the resignation of U.N. Ambassador John Bolton when his recess appointment expires." LINK

"Ban Ki-moon, who will fill Kofi Annan's shoes at the helm of the United Nations, has been described in the media as "uncharismatic" and a "career diplomat". But a former colleague believes such criticism could not be further from the truth." More