June 16, 2007
The UNSC at the AUPSC
A day of untangling acronyms and taking pictures of men in dark suits.
The United Nations Security Council came to visit the African Union's Peace and Security Council this morning, at the beginning of a tour of Africa. Next stop Khartoum. (Here's one of the photos that didn't come out so well, showing the UN representatives from the UK, the US and Russia.)
U.N. Security Council ambassadors begin Africa tour - ReutersThe Darfur crisis was top of the agenda in closed-door talks at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa days after Khartoum agreed to allow a joint AU-UN force of at least 20,000 troops and police, but said command and control should be left to the AU.
"The meeting debated the issue of Darfur at length," Britain's Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters later.
"There was a clear understanding between the two sides of the desirability to move forward speedily on the hybrid force and the full implementation of the heavy-support package."
The new joint force is not expected to be deployed until next year, and the "heavy support package" is an interim arrangement of about 3,000 military personnel from the United Nations to shore up the beleaguered AU force of 7,000 in Darfur.
"We discussed how best to encourage the speediest progress on the political side between the government and the rebels," Jones said. "We also discussed the necessity for a ceasefire and an end to violence in Darfur."
Posted by aheavens at June 16, 2007 3:02 PM
Comments
Andrew its a good pic, thank you.
Next Time,though, if I may suggest, when you attend such dead serious VIP events, please try and get a photo with local staff serving tea or meals or something. The contrast so stark.. The men in suits invariably fat whilst the conference services staff always very thin. And the food..the food..I would love to see a photo album of food tables laid for conferences about poverty war. THe spread at the ECA VIP lounge! Nice. I can only imagine the photo of what will be served in DRC! Cordon Bleu! Ooo la la!! No wonder they are fat!! I'm prolly saying this cause I have not eaten all day and thinking about food but I think
my suggested photos from such VIP events would be ..er..Heavenly.
Posted by: alemayehu at June 18, 2007 4:29 PM