Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave strong backing to the UN on Saturday and accused Sudan's government of obstructing deployment of a UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force to help end the five-year conflict in Darfur.
Rudd also called for the newly expanded UN political mission in Afghanistan to "become fully effective and fully operational as soon as possible" in order to improve civilian and military coordination and confront the increasing violence in the country.
After an hour-long meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Rudd announced that Australia will seek a seat on the UN Security Council for 2013 to 2014 and intends to "run like fury."
Australia last served a two-year term on the UN's most powerful body in 1986 and "I think 30 years is a fair enough old wait between drinks," he said.
He said he expected a difficult race because there are already two candidates for the Western seat -- Finland and Luxembourg -- and there will likely be more.
While many people criticize the UN, Rudd said, "I believe it's important to see the cup as being half full rather than being half empty and for people of good will to support the activities of the United Nations around the world."
As for the secretary-general, Rudd said, "he seems to me to be a fine bloke, a decent fella."
Rudd flew to New York from Washington where he met on Friday with US President George W. Bush. The two leaders played down signs that Rudd has distanced his government from some of the pro-US policies of his immediate predecessor, John Howard. Rudd calls the president "George" and Bush describes Rudd to reporters as a "fine lad" and a "straightforward fella."
Rudd stressed on Saturday that "there are three pillars of Australia's foreign policy, our alliance with the United States, our membership in the United Nations, and our policy of comprehensive engagement in Asia -- and we're prosecuting all three."
He thanked the US administration for arranging more than half a dozen high-level meetings, including with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox.
The Australian leader reserved his sharpest criticism for the Sudanese government, which has demanded that the 26,000-strong AU-UN force for Darfur be comprised almost entirely of African contingents. While there are Chinese engineers, Khartoum has refused to approve troops from Nepal and Thailand.
"I indicated to the secretary-general our concern and frustration, together with that of other states about the continued obstruction being provided by the government of Sudan," he said.
"The government of Sudan generally has not welcomed any more substantial military commitments than that from Western powers. I regard that as unfortunate, but that is the reality," he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of