Tag: Un

GENEVA - UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Saturday warned Syria that a violent crackdown on reformist protests risked plunging the country into a downward spiral of violence. The High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Syria "to draw lessons from recent events across the Middle East and North Africa which clearly demonstrate that violent repression of peaceful protest not only does not resolve the grievances of people taking to the streets, it risks creating a downward spiral of

ROME - More than 6 million people in North Korea urgently need food aid because of substantial falls in domestic production, food imports and international aid, the United Nations said on Friday.
In a report released after a joint mission to the reclusive communist state, where a famine in the 1990s killed an estimated 1 million people, three UN agencies said North Korea's public distribution system would run out of food at the beginning of the lean season that runs between May

GENEVA - Pakistan's government has pushed food prices too high for its impoverished population and malnutrition is rising despite crop recovery after dire floods, a UN relief official said.
Food crops especially wheat in the southern plains hit by last year's floods were recovering fast with the prospect of decent yields in coming weeks, said World Food Programme (WFP) director in Pakistan, Wolfgang Herbinger.
"The crop outlook is not bad but the food security situation

GENEVA - Both Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have failed to make credible progress in investigating claims of war crimes committed during the 2008 conflict in Gaza, a UN committee said on Monday.
In a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council, Mary McGowan Davis, who heads the committee, acknowledged that Israel has dedicated "significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza." However, only a fraction of these

SANAA - Abdullah Alsaidi, Yemen's ambassador to the United Nations, has resigned in protest over violence against demonstrators, a Yemeni Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.
"Mr. Alsaidi has sent his resignation to the president's office and the Foreign Ministry," the official said.
The resignation came after two prominent members of Yemen's ruling party also resigned in protest against the killing of dozens of anti-government protesters during a rally on Friday.

LONDON - Oil rose above $116 a barrel on Friday after the United Nations authorised Western-led attacks in OPEC member Libya and tension stayed high across the oil-producing Middle East. Efforts to subdue inflation in China, the world's second biggest oil user after the United States, only briefly wiped out gains. Brent was up $1.19 at $116.09 a barrel by 1202 GMT, after earlier climbing above $117. U.S. crude for April gained $1.67 to $103.09.
Oil markets reached their highest

BENGHAZI - Libya on Thursday warned it could target all Mediterranean air and sea traffic in the case of foreign military intervention, as world powers edged towards tough measures aimed at shutting down Moamer Gaddafi's military machine.
"Any military operation against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean to danger," the official Jana news agency quoted Libya's defence ministry spokesman as saying. "And any civilian or military moving traffic will

TOBRUK - Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi said his forces would fight a "decisive battle" on Thursday, as Washington added its voice to efforts at the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone. Gaddafi's latest comments came after his forces pressed rebels in the west and threatened their eastern bastion of Benghazi, despite calls from UN chief Ban Ki-moon for an immediate ceasefire. "The battle starts today (Wednesday) at Misrata and tomorrow, that will be the decisive battle,"

MANAMA - The United Nations on Thursday warned of "shocking and illegal" abuses in Bahrain after a bloody crackdown on Shia-led protesters which has alarmed the United States and infuriated the Shiite world. Political dissidents were rounded up at gunpoint in midnight raids and police armed with shot-guns stood outside Manama's main hospital, amid reports the authorities were beating doctors and denying treatment to the wounded. UN rights chief Navi Pillay said any takeover by the

LONDON/PARIS - Britain on Thursday hailed a "change in the position" of the United States on Libya and urged immediate action to stop Moamer Gaddafi's forces, piling on pressure for a UN vote on a no-fly zone. "There has been a significant change in the position of the White House," Alistair Burt, a British Foreign Office minister with special responsibility for the Middle East, told BBC radio. "We obviously appreciate that the United States does realise the urgency of the situation."

GENEVA - Israel has complained to the United Nations for allowing the US premiere of a controversial film on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the UN headquarters.
A red-carpet showing of 'Miral' by award winning American-Jewish director Julian Schnabel was held at the UN General Assembly hall on Monday.
The film is based on an autobiographical novel by Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal that traces the Arab-Israeli conflict after 1948 from a Palestinian perspective. The

CAIRO - The Arab League on Saturday said it had called on the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone in Libya, in a decision that will provide the regional support NATO has said is needed for any military action.
Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi have said a no-fly zone to ground Libyan warplanes and to prevent the moving of troops by helicopter is vital if its forces are to succeed.
"The Arab League has officially requested the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly

GENEVA - The office of the UN human rights chief on Friday urged Saudi Arabia to exercise restraint and allow free assembly, as protests were planned in the kingdom to press for democratic reform. "We are concerned about what may happen later today in Saudi Arabia, where the situation is very tense," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. "As in other similar situations in the Middle East, we're calling for restraint on the part of the

KABUL - Last year was the deadliest yet for civilians in the Afghan war with a 15 percent jump in the death toll, the UN said in a report on Wednesday which laid bare the conflict's impact on ordinary people. The 2,777 deaths underscore the level of violence in the country as foreign troops prepare to start handing control of security to Afghan forces in some areas from July ahead of a full transition due by 2014.
Insurgents were responsible for 75 percent of all civilian

NEW YORK - Moamer Gaddafi regime has demanded that the UN Security Council suspend sanctions taken against the Libyan leader over his crackdown on opposition protests. Only "a modicum" of force has been used against opposition demonstrators and the government was "taken aback" by the sanctions, Libyan Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council on Friday. The regime called for the travel ban and assets freeze ordered against Kadhafi and his entourage

KARACHI - The state and the government of Pakistan are panicking amidst immense pressure from the UN and human rights organisations to resolve the issues of the people of Balochistan and the recent statements issued by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should be seen in this light, Baloch groups told Pakistan Today on Wednesday.
"This is all they can do. They go around spreading lies and misleading the people of the country through the media. Then people wonder why the people of

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations on Tuesday suspended Libya from its main human rights body over Moamer Kadhafi's crackdown on protests amid warnings of new Security Council action against the regime. With growing western calls for a no-fly zone over Libya, Britain's UN envoy said the council would take "whatever measures we consider necessary to respond to events on the ground."
The 192-member assembly passed a suspension resolution by consensus, without a vote, after UN