This Week @UN: De-mining blows in Laos; Trump’s UN loyalty Qs; Mexico’s Trump resistance; Congo on Rwanda.
Plus: Gaza; South Sudan; child deaths; US envoy pulled; Myanmar.
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Our #1 story of this week & month: Mexico’s President Unites the Nation Against Trump, While Facing Other Crises at Home, by Mariana Hernández Ampudia
PassBlue this week:
• Laos Grows Up, but US Aid Cuts Are Hurting Its De-Mining Work, by Ilgin Yorulmaz
• The Trump Officials Who Sent Loyalty Questions to UN Geneva Agencies, by Stéphane Bussard
• Mexico’s President Unites the Nation Against Trump, While Facing Other Crises at Home, by Mariana Hernández Ampudia
• Congo Wants Stiffer Sanctions on Rwanda, Envoy Tells UN Security Council, by Damilola Banjo
Top UN news:
Monday, March 24
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General António Guterres is “reducing the United Nations’ footprint” in Gaza after Israel’s “devastating” strikes that killed hundred of civilians, including one UN staffer last week, and its block on all humanitarian aid into Gaza since the beginning of March. Dujarric confirmed that about 30 international staff members would be withdrawn from the enclave as a temporary measure. Additionally, 100,000 to 120,000 Gazans are living in areas newly placed under evacuation orders, including 27,000 people sheltering at nearly four dozen displacement sites. UN partners working in water, sanitation and hygiene projects report that more than 100 water wells and over three dozen water reservoirs are now inaccessible.
• Nicholas Haysom, UN special representative of the secretary-general and head of the peacekeeping mission to South Sudan (UNMISS), said that the country was “teetering on the edge of a relapse into civil war” after UNMISS received reports of “further mobilization of White Army and SSPDF forces in Upper Nile,” including forcibly-recruited children, and the government’s deployment of foreign forces. As elections near, political competition has intensified, threatening a “real attempt to mobilize people on the basis of ethnicity,” Haysom said: “We remain convinced that there is only one way out of the cycle of conflict and that is to return to the Revitalized Peace Agreement, in letter and spirit.”
[Update, March 27: UN entities expressed “alarm” at the house arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar. March 28: Guterres urged South Sudanese leaders “to end the politics of confrontation, to release detained military and civilian officials now and fully restore the Government of National Unity.”]
Tuesday, March 25
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The UN Interagency Group for Mortality Estimation (UN-IGME) warned that funding cuts by major donor are putting “decades of progress in child survival […] at risk,” forcing “healthcare worker shortages, clinic closures, vaccination programme disruptions, and a lack of essential supplies,” especially in countries stricken by humanitarian crises, debt and higher child death rates. These have been more than halved since 2000, but “progress has slowed, and too many children are still being lost to preventable causes.”
Wednesday, March 26
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Guterres welcomes the reported agreement among Ukraine, Russia and the US to restore freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to “ensure the protection of civilian vessels and port infrastructure.” Dujarric said Guterres “has not been involved in any negotiations” but noted the agreement’s “crucial contribution to the global food security and supply chains.” Separately, Dujarric sent a note to reporters saying the UN “has been working consistently, especially following the letters the Secretary-General sent to Presidents Zelenskyy, Putin and Erdogan on 7 February 2024 putting forward a proposal for safe and free navigation in the Black Sea.”
Thursday, March 27
• Spokesperson’s briefing: When asked by a reporter about contacts between Guterres and the Trump administration, Dujarric said there have been “different levels” of communications, but the secretary-general has yet to speak with US President Trump. [Update, March 28: Dujarric would not comment on Trump’s withdrawal on March 27 of Elise Stefanik as his nominee for UN envoy, except to say it was “purely an internal United States process.”] Politico reported on March 29 that David Friedman, Ellie Cohanim and possibly Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) are contenders, while Richard Grenell and Morgan Ortagus aren’t interested.
Friday, March 28
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Guterres offered his “condolences” to people affected by the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked Southeast Asia, saying the UN is mobilizing teams and support for Myanmar, the quake’s epicenter, after the country’s junta leaders called for international aid. Tom Fletcher, UN emergency relief chief, released an initial $5 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The death toll has already risen to 1,000, per AP.
Separately, Justice for Myanmar, a civil society group, is calling for an investigation into Julie Bishop, UN special envoy for Myanmar, for apparent conflict of interest activities linked to China.
• James Swan of the US is named special representative for Somalia and head of the UN Transitional Assistance Mission there (UNTMIS), promoted from his “acting” role.
ICYMI:
• UN status report on human rights in Haiti
• “Men Continue to Dominate”: Inter-Parliamentary Union report
• UN Staff Union’s resolution ensuring participation in the UN80 reform initiative
• #IfYouWereinCharge: latest episode in a new podcast series with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, founder of International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), conversing about major global events with “activists, imaginers and doers”
• UN General Assembly committee agrees to appoint a Secretary-General special envoy on combating Islamophobia
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on Elise Stefanik's withdrawal as UN envoy-designate?
Arthur Bassas is a researcher and writer who graduated from St. Andrews in Scotland, majoring in international relations and terrorism. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and speaks English and French.
Any UN staff member who has seen or heard the toxic Ms. Stefanik in action knows that her absence from the UN will be a major relief. The UN has dodged a bullet.