Welcome to This Week @UN: Maduro’s latest inauguration; more Security Council reform ideas; Guterres on Gaza ceasefire; why diplomats must listen. Plus: Lebanon; Haiti; Biden’s sad goodbye; UN’s 2025 priorities; Gaza aid; antisemitism.
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• Our #1 story this week (from 2016): All in Africa: The World’s 13 Highest-Mortality Countries, by Joseph Chamie
• Our #1 story this month: UN Persons of the Year for 2024: Readers’ Survey, by PassBlue
From PassBlue this week:
• As Venezuela’s Maduro Seizes a Third Presidential Term, Political Abuses Mount, by Mariana Hernández Ampudia
• Security Council Reform: When and How It Can Be Done, op-ed by Sukehiro Hasegawa, Kerstin Leitner and Georgios Kostakos
• UN Secretary-General Highlights Aid Flow in the Gaza Ceasefire Deal, by Damilola Banjo
• Young Diplomats: What Matters Most in Diplomacy? Listening to Others, by Damilola Banjo
UN-brass news: Russia’s nyet; Mideast “interim” role; Trump nasty
• Hanna Tetteh, a former Ghanaian foreign minister and ex-special envoy to the Horn of Africa, has been proposed by Secretary-General António Guterres to be his special representative to Libya and to head the UN Support Mission there (UNSMIL). But Russia has objected to the process, saying Guterres sent the proposal to the Security Council at the last minute; her candidacy is now a matter of an “internal discussion” between the Council and Guterres, says Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy permanent representative. Russia may find it challenging to continue objecting to her candidacy, given that she is an African and a woman plus leaving the post empty means Stephanie Koury, UNSMIL deputy and an American, still leads the Libyan mission.
• Sigrid Kaag, UN senior humanitarian aid coordinator for Gaza, has been named interim UN coordinator of the Mideast peace process, succeeding Tor Wennesland. A UN spokesperson says the search for a full-time replacement continues. Kaag, who is Dutch, will remain in her aid role as well, until March 25, which could be extended. Guterres first proposed Pekka Haavisto, a former foreign minister of Finland, to the Mideast coordinator post, but Israel reportedly rejected the Finn.
• Will Cindy McCain of the World Food Program and an American, stay on? She was appointed by Guterres on March 2, 2023, but fell into controversy at the agency soon after the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas for attending an award ceremony in Canada honoring the “people of Israel.” (The annual prize for “leadership in public service” was named after John McCain, her deceased husband and a Vietnam war hero.) About the same time, she was also criticized by some WFP staffers for seeming to show little compassion for Palestinian staff attacked in Gaza by Israel Defense Forces. Now, will she remain at WFP under President Trump, given that in 2015, he said of her deceased husband: “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, okay? I hate to tell you.” An email from PassBlue to a WFP spokesperson went unanswered.
• The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to hold its hearing with Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee as UN ambassador, on Jan. 21.
Top UN news:
Monday, Jan. 13
• Spokesperson’’ briefing: Guterres on Saturday congratulated Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on his Jan. 9 election, scheduling a “solidarity visit” to the country. Besides meeting with leaders in Beirut, Guterres will visit the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura, in the south.
[UPDATE: On Thursday, in Beirut, Guterres met with Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. On Friday, he told UNIFIL that its mission was the “most challenging environment for peacekeepers anywhere” due to the “continued occupation” by the Israel Defense Forces inside the UNIFIL area of operations and the conduct of military operations in Lebanese territory. In the afternoon, Guterres returned to Beirut to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and is expected to meet on Saturday with Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri]
Tuesday, Jan. 14
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than half a million people — half of them children — are internally displaced in Haiti, many of whom have been displaced numerous times, while 200,000 people were deported back to the Caribbean island last year. The dramatic rise represents a threefold increase from the 315,000 internally displaced people recorded in December 2023, while displacement in the capital of Port-au-Prince has risen 87 percent.
Wednesday, Jan. 15
• No noon briefing because of Guterres’s briefing to media on the Gaza ceasefire deal (see above story by Damilola Banjo). In the morning, Guterres outlined his priorities for 2025 to the General Assembly: tackle “runaway conflicts, rampant inequalities, the raging climate crisis and out-of-control technology.” Specifically, prioritizing conflict prevention and mediation, conflict resolution and peace-building as well as peacekeeping and the “meaningful inclusion” of women in political and peace processes. Also: accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals, reforming international financial institutions and speeding up “collective efforts” to push the goals of the Paris Agreement.
• US President Joe Biden’s farewell address to the nation, including remarks about the just-announced Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal and to warn the country of what he called an oligarchy: “the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
Thursday, Jan. 16
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Anticipating the agreement of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US and to take effect on Sunday, agencies are readying supplies to increase aid delivery across Gaza, Tom Fletcher of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said. He noted, however, the major impediments: restrictions on the entry of goods, lack of safety and security, breakdown of law and order and no fuel. Meanwhile, Israel continues to bombard Gaza.
Friday, Jan. 17
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Miguel Ángel Moratinos, head of the Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), announced the launch of the UN Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism. It recommends establishing a UN working group to track and evaluate the effect of “policies and measures to address antisemitism,” and to enhance “awareness and understanding of antisemitism among United Nations personnel.”
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on Guterres's remarks on the Gaza ceasefire deal?
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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.
