44 Raymond Bonner, "U.N. Shift on Rwandans a Bow to ‘New Realities,’ ” New York Times, December 21, 1996, sec. 1, p. 7.
45 Annie Thomas, “Abandoned Refugee Camp Is Ghost Town,” Agence France-Presse, December 18, 1996.
46 Sokiri to SVDM, “Return of Refugees from Tanzania,” November 27, 1996.
47 SVDM, “The Humanitarian Situation in the Great Lakes,” speaking notes for statement to standing committee of executive committee, January 30, 1997, EXCOM 1 August 1994-December 1997; cited in UNHCR, State of the World’s Refugees 2000, p. 265.
48 Earlier in the year McNamara had unveiled a new agency doctrine of “imposed return” by which UNHCR would approve sending refugees back against their will “to less than optimal conditions in their home country,” provided that UNHCR could monitor conditions. He said UNHCR was forced to approve such returns because host countries no longer wanted the refugees and donors no longer wanted to pay for them. Ben Barber, “Refugees May Be Sent Home,” Washington Times, April 22, 1996, p. A14.
49 Beginning in the 1960s refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe flocked to Tanzania to benefit from its generous asylum policy. The government offered refugees land for settlement, integration into local communities, and occasionally extended citizenship. In 1983 Tanzania’s president Julius Nyerere received UNHCR’s Nansen Medal for his country’s excellent refugee record. Hania Zlotnik, “International Migration 1965-96: An Overview,” Population and Development Review 24, no. 3 (September 1998), pp. 429-68.
50 SVDM to Ogata and Akashi, “Meetings in Dar, 29-30 November 1996,” December 1, 1996, no. AHC/GL//026.
51 Ibid.
52 “Message to all Rwandese Refugees in Tanzania from the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” International Journal of Refugee Law 9 (1997), pp. 328-29.Vieira de Mello said publicly, “We believe that the conditions in Rwanda have evolved in a positive and encouraging manner, so that the refugees can return in safety and dignity.” Raymond Bonner, "U.N. Shift on Rwandans Bow to ‘New Realities,’ ” New York Times, December 21, 1996.
53 Chris Tomlinson, “400,000 Rwandans Leave Refugee Camps to Hide in Game Park,” Associated Press, December 13, 1996.
54 Karin Davies, “Confronted by Tanzanian Soldiers, Rwandan Refugees Head Back,” Associated Press, December 14, 1996.
55 Ibid.
56 Christian Parayre, “Rwandan Refugees Crossing from Tanzania at 10,000 an Hour,” Agence France-Presse, December 16, 1996.
57 Matti Huuhtanen, “Tanzania Sends More Refugees Home to Rwanda,” Associated Press, December 16, 1996.
58 Karin Davies, “Tanzania Sends Rwandan Refugees Home,”Associated Press, December 16, 1996.
59 Sokiri to Chefike and Mahiga, “Preliminary Report on the Role of the Army and Police in the Repatriation of Rwandese Refugees from Karagwe and Ngara Districts,” December 30, 1996.
60 Karin Davies, “Tanzania Police and Soldiers Herd Reluctant Refugees and Hutu Extremists Toward the Border with Rwanda,” Associated Press Worldstream, December 19, 1996.
61 Christian Parayre, “Rwandan Hutus Press Homewards Despite Fears Over Unfair Trials,” Agence France-Presse, December 28, 1996. With the returns the Rwandan population was thought to have increased by 20 percent.
62 UNHCR, note for the file, January 10, 1997 (author unknown).
63 Ibid.; Arthur C. Helton, "The State of the World’s Refugees: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action,” International Journal of Refugee Law 13, no. 1/2, p. 273.
64 Bonner, "U.N. Shift on Rwandans”; “Africa: Human Rights Developments,” Human Rights Watch World Report, 1998.
65 SVDM to Jessen-Petersen, “Meetings with Kabila and Senior AFDL Officials, Lubumbashi, 13 May 97,” May 13, 1997.
66 Mobutu had changed the name from Congo to Zaire in 1971, as a way of stamping out Western influence.
67 Judith Matloff, "Taking Zaire Easier Than Ruling the New ’Congo,’” Christian Science Monitor, May 19, 1997, p. 1.
68 UNHCR, State of the World’s Refugees 1997: A Humanitarian Agenda (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 23.
69 John Pomfret, “Rwandans Led Revolt in Congo; Defense Minister Says Arms, Troops Supplied for Anti-Mobutu Drive,” Washington Post, July 9, 1997, p. A1.
70 SVDM, speaking notes, EXCOM Standing Committee, January 30, 1997, “The Humanitarian Situation in the Great Lakes Region.”
71 SVDM, “The Evolution of UN Humanitarian Operations,” in Stuarte Gordon, ed., Aspects of Peacekeeping (London: Frank Cass, 2000), p. 121.
72 SVDM, “The Impact of the External Environment and Responsibilities of External Actors,” ICRC Conference, March 28, 1998.
73 U.S. opposition to Boutros-Ghali stemmed largely from the fact that, in a presidential election year, the Republicans had so criticized him that Clinton, who had never had an easy time with him, came out against him. Secretary of State Warren Christopher notified Boutros-Ghali in May of the U.S. intention to veto his reelection. When Boutros-Ghali asked for the reasons, Christopher refused to tell him, saying he did not want to harm their friendship. Boutros-Ghali reportedly said, “You are a lawyer. Won’t you represent my case to the president?” But Christopher answered, “I am the president’s lawyer.” Global Policy, “Secretary-General Elections 1996,” Chronology, . In mid-September 1996 Boutros-Ghali had arrived at a lunch at the UN after a vacation and declared, "It is great to be back from vacation. Frankly, I get bored on vacation. It’s much more fun to be at work here blocking reform, flying my black helicopters, imposing global taxes, demoralizing my staff.” Barbara Crossette, “With Little Fanfare and Facing Crisis, U.N. Starts a New Year,” NewYork Times, September 18, 1996, p. A9.
74 In 1999 Mark Malloch Brown, a Brit, would become the first non-American appointed to run the UN Development Program.
75 In November 2006 Margaret Chan would be appointed the head of the World Health Organization, the first Chinese to head a UN agency.
76 Thomas G.Weiss,“Civilian-Military Interactions and Ongoing UN Reforms: DHA’s Past and OCHA’s Remaining Challenges,” in Jim Whitman, ed., Peacekeeping and the UN Agencies (London: Frank Cass, 1999), p. 56.
77 See .
CHAPTER 11. “GIVING WAR A CHANCE” 1 Since 1994 the United States had made only token payments to the UN. When House Republicans blocked repayment, they foiled the effort that Bill Richardson, U.S. ambassador to the UN, was making at the UN to get U.S. dues reduced from 25 to 22 percent of the overall total. “The Congress has sent me into a battle to lower our dues scales without even a slingshot,” Richardson said. John Goshko, "U.S. Refusal to Pay Debt Alarms UN,” Washington Post, November 15, 1997, p. A1.
2 Kofi Annan, press conference at United Nations Headquarters, November 14, 1997, online at .
3 Ibid. The United States called off the planned missile strikes when the government of Iraq offered unconditional cooperation.
4 Kofi Annan, Statement to the Special Meeting of the General Assembly on Reform, July 16, 1997.
5 Prior to joining the UN, Kieran Prendergast had served as British ambassador in Turkey, British high commissioner to Kenya, and British high commissioner to Zimbabwe.
6 SVDM, “OCHA: Visions, Priorities and Needs,” Geneva, Palais des Nations, June 8, 1998.
7 Ibid.
8 UN Department of Public Information, “Episode 708,” UN World Chronicle, April 21, 1998.
9 Geir Moulson, "U.N. Official: Afghan Rivals’‘War Games’ Endanger Aid,” Associated Press Worldstream, February 26, 1998.
10 Thalif Deen, "U.N. Restricts Aid to Saving Lives,” Inter Press Service, July 22, 1998. Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.
11 “Taliban Places Restrictions on Foreign Muslim Women Working for UN,” Associated Press Worldstream, March 13, 1998.
/> 12 Luisa Ballin, “Nous posons des conditions à p’aide aux talibans” (We Are Setting Conditions for Aid to the Taliban), La Croix, March 2, 1998, p. 7.
13 Ibid.
14 Physicians for Human Rights, “Medical Group Condemns UN Agreement with Taliban,” June 1998.
15 The Clinton administration carried out the attack on Afghanistan the same day as its infamous cruise missile strike on the Al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan.
16 Farhan Haq, "U.N. Staff to Return to Afghanistan,” Inter Press Service, March 12, 1999; “No U.S., British Nationals Among UN Staff in Afghanistan,” Agence France-Presse, March 18, 1999.
17 Dennis King, “Paying the Ultimate Price: Analysis of the Death of Humanitarian Aid Workers (1997-2001),” January 2002, .There are no statistics on the number of humanitarian workers worldwide and no common reporting procedures on injuries or deaths.
18 Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Conference Report on Humanitarian Challenges in the New Millennium:Where Are We Headed?, September 29, 1998, p. 14.
19 “UN Official Condemns Attacking of Humanitarian Vehicles in Angola,” Xinhua News Agency, May 22, 1998.
20 Edward Luttwak, “Give War a Chance,” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 4 (July-August 1999).
21 SVDM, “Enough Is Enough,” Foreign Affairs 79, no. 1 (January-February 2000).
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 SVDM, “War and Politics: The Humanitarian Deceit,” 1998, unpublished.
25 Barbara Crossette,“Reports of Spying Dim Outlook for Inspections,” NewYork Times, January 8, 1999, p. A8.
26 Colum Lynch, "U.S. Used UN to Spy on Iraq, Aides Say,” Boston Globe, January 6, 1999, p. A1.
27 Javier Solana, press statement, March 23, 1999, online at .
28 SVDM, “Promoting Peace and Security: Humanitarian Activities Relevant to the Security Council,” Address to an Open Session of the Security Council, January 21, 1999.
29 Sandy Berger, Special White House Briefing on Kosovo and NATO Air Operations, March 25, 1999. Berger said: “We always prefer to operate pursuant to a UN resolution. But we’ve also always taken the position that NATO has the authority, in situations it considers to be threats to the stability and security of its area, to act by consensus, without explicit UN authority. And that is the case here as well.”
30 The Security Council authorized the Korean War in June 1950, while the Soviet Union was boycotting the Council. Later that summer, when the Soviets returned and began vetoing U.S.-sponsored resolutions on Korea, the United States introduced the Uniting for Peace resolution in the General Assembly (also known as the Acheson Plan, after then-secretary of state Dean Acheson), which held that if the Security Council permanent members could not reach consensus and failed to exercise their “primary responsibility” for maintaining international peace and security, the responsibility would pass to the General Assembly, where two-thirds of the members present would need to authorize action. Since Korea, the Uniting for Peace resolution has been used to call the General Assembly into special session ten times, not always to bypass the Soviet veto. Following the British-French invasion of Egypt in 1956, Security Council resolutions calling for cease-fires were vetoed by France and the U.K.; an emergency session held under the Uniting for Peace resolution passed a U.S. resolution, leading to the withdrawal of France and the U.K. less than a week later. See Michael Ratner and Jules Lobel, “A UN Alternative to War: ‘Uniting for Peace,’” Jurist, February 10, 2003.
31 Kofi Annan, “Statement Regarding NATO Airstrikes of Serbian Military Targets,” March 24, 1999.
32 Judith Miller, “The Secretary-General Offers Implicit Endorsement of Raids,” New York Times, March 25, 1999, p. A13.
33 Kofi Annan, “The Effectiveness of the International Rule of Law in Maintaining International Peace and Security,” May 18, 1999, .
34 Kofi Annan, “A United Nations That Will Not Stand Up for Human Rights Is a United Nations That Cannot Stand Up for Itself,” Address to the Commission on Human Rights, April 7, 1999.
35 Ivo Daalder and Michael O’Hanlon, Winning Ugly: NATO’s War to Save Kosovo (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2001), p. 140.
36 UNHCR, “Comments to British House of Commons Report on the Kosovo Humanitarian Crisis,” undated.
37 Peter Capella, “UN Agency Failed to Meet Refugee Crisis, Says Report,” Guardian, February 12, 2000, p. 17. See also David Rieff, “The Agency That Has Had a Bad War,” Guardian, June 10, 1999, p. 19.
38 Farhan Haq, "U.N. Pushes for Access to Refugees,” Inter Press Service, April 5, 1999.
39 Edith M. Lederer, “Divided Council Manages to Express Concern Over Kosovo Refugees,” Associated Press Worldstream, April 5, 1999.
40 Blaine Harden, "A Long Struggle That Led Serb Leader to Back Down,” New York Times, June 6, 1999, p. 1.
41 “Secretary General Shocked and Distressed by Bombing of Civilian Buildings in Yugoslavia, Including Chinese Embassy,” press release, May 10, 1999.
42 Nicole Winfield, "Annan Asks Yugoslavia to Accept UN Humanitarian Team,”Associated Press Worldstream, May 4, 1999.
43 “NATO Raids Go On as Hopes Rise for Negotiated End to Kosovo Conflict,” Agence France-Presse, May 7, 1999.
44 SVDM, Press Briefing, May 7, 1999.
45 Ibid.
46 CNN World Report Forum, Morning Q&A Session, May 7, 1999.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Kofi Annan, Press Conference, May 14, 1999.
CHAPTER 12. INDEPENDENCE IN ACTION 1 Slobodan Milošević, interview by CBS News, April 22, 1999, online at .
2 Ibid.
3 Slobodan Milošević, interview by Arnaud de Borchgrave, UPI, April 30, 1999.
4 William Cohen and Henry Hugh Shelton, appearing on Face the Nation, May 16, 1999.
5 Candice Hughes, “NATO Pounds Kosovo; Serbs Complain Troop Withdrawal Obstructed,” Associated Press, May 16, 1999.
6 “UN Team Arrives to Study Kosovars’ Plight,” New York Times, May 18, 1999, p. A10; “UN Team to Spend 2-3 Days in Kosovo,” Associated Press Worldstream, May 17, 1999.
7 Candice Hughes, “UN Team Tries to Steer Neutral Course in Question of Who Is Suffering More,” Associated Press Worldstream, May 20, 1999.
8 “UN Aid Team in Kosovo,” Guardian, May 21, 1999.
9 Candice Hughes, “Silent Kosovo Bears Witness to the Ethnic Conflict,” Associated Press, May 21, 1999.
10 Although the two republics were then jointly part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Montenegro did not share Serbia’s war aims. Blessed by a scenic coastline and superior economic prospects, some 55.5 percent of Montenegrins voted for independence in 2006, clearing the European Union threshold, and the country became the 192nd member of the UN on June 28, 2006.
11 “ ‘Enough Evidence of Ethnic Cleansing’ in Kosovo,” Agence France-Presse, May 24, 1999.
12 Fabrizio Hochschild to SVDM, May 26, 1999.
13 SVDM, Briefing to the Security Council on the UN Inter-Agency Needs Assessment Mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, June 2, 1999.
14 Ibid.
CHAPTER 13. VICEROY 1 SVDM, “Humanitarian Needs in Kosovo and Yugoslavia,” National Press Club, June 7, 1999.
2 Michael Dobbs, “NATO Occupies Tense Kosovo Capital; British Troops Confront Russians at Pristina Airport,” Washington Post, June 13, 1999, p. A1.
3 SVDM, “How Not to Run a Country: Lessons for the UN from Kosovo and East Timor,” 2000, unpublished.
4 Donna Bryson, “Aid Workers Follow Troops to Kosovo,” Associated Press, June 13, 1999.
5 “UN Civilian Administrator Arrives in Pristina,” Agence France-Presse, June 13, 1999.
6 Ibid.
7 SVDM, “How Not to Run a Country.”
8 UN Interim Administration in Kosovo, "Chronology,” online at .
9 SVDM, “Humanitarian Needs.”
10 Ian Johnstone, “Note on the Kosovo Mission Planning Meeting at United Nations Headquarters, New York, o
n 9 June 1999 at 5:15 p.m.,” June 12, 1999.
11 “UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Fact Sheet, June 12, 1999, online at .
12 Fabrizio Hochschild, “‘It Is Better to Leave, We Can’t Protect You’: Flight in the First Months of United Nations Transitional Administrations in Kosovo and East Timor,” Journal of Refugee Studies 17, no. 3 (September 2004), pp. 286-300.
13 Ibid.
14 Before the NATO war, ethnic Albanians constituted just 30 of the 756 judges and prosecutors in Kosovo. Report of the Secretary-General on the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, July 12, 1999, p. 14.
15 Only on July 4 did Vieira de Mello use his governing authority to issue a legal order retroactively authorizing NATO troops to detain suspects.
16 Hansjörg Strohmeyer, “Collapse and Reconstruction of a Judicial System: The United Nations Missions in Kosovo and East Timor,” American Journal of International Law 95, no.1 (January 2001), p. 53.
17 Ibid., p. 52.
18 SVDM, “How Not to Run a Country.”
19 Simon Chesterman, You, the People:The United Nations,Transitional Administration, and State-Building (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 11.
20 Colleen Barry, “Rugova Returns to Kosovo from Wartime Exile,”Associated Press, July 15, 1999.
21 Kosovo has held four elections since 1999: municipal elections in 2000 and 2003, and national assembly elections in 2001 and 2004. These elections were conducted under international supervision. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other observing groups found the elections generally fair and free.
22 Niko Price, “Competing Governments in Kosovo Raise Questions about Future,” Associated Press, July 4, 1999.
23 In a nod to Washington, Annan also announced that James “Jock” Covey, a former U.S. diplomat who had served in the White House, would serve as Kouchner’s principal deputy.
24 “UN Kosovo Mission Appeals for End to Attacks on Minorities,” July 14, 1999.
Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World Page 72