Wednesday, November 9, 2016

UN In Full Panic


Disbelief, questions at United Nations

 after Trump victory


By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS
The election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president was met with disbelief
 and despondency on Wednesday among some United Nations officials and
 diplomats amid uncertainty surrounding his foreign policy and likely
 engagement with the world body.
Trump, a Republican, has described the 71-year-old United Nations as weak
 and incompetent and threatened to pull out of a global deal to combat climate
 change - a cornerstone of the legacy of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who steps
 down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms as secretary-general.
"The United Nations is not a friend of democracy, it's not a friend to freedom,
 it's not a friend even to the United States of America," Trump said during a
 speech in March to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The United States is a veto-wielding member of the 15-member U.N. Security
 Council and the largest financial contributor to the United Nations. Washington
owes about $1.1 billion, the United Nations said. Republicans have long been
reluctant to pay dues, accusing the world body of waste and bias.
Ban said on Wednesday he hoped that the Trump administration would "strengthen
 the bonds of international cooperation."
"People everywhere look to the United States to use its remarkable power to help
 lift humanity up and to work for the common good," Ban told reporters.
Topping the United Nations agenda are conflicts in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan
, Iraq and elsewhere, and a refugee and migrant crisis that saw a record 65.3 million
 people uprooted worldwide last year.
"More than ever, we need an America that is committed to world affairs,
 including at the United Nations," French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said.
A senior Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
 Trump's foreign policy had so far "not been very coherent" and his victory did
 not bode well for the future effectiveness of the council.
"The assumption is that (a Trump administration) will be less engaged with U.N.
than (President Barack) Obama's administration, which was more committed to
working for collective solutions than previous U.S. administrations," the
diplomat said.
Several U.N. diplomats noted a lack clarity from Trump on foreign policy.
"We have not really heard a very clear indication of where he is going," Iraq's
 U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told reporters on Wednesday, adding
 that he believed the United Nations would remain relevant.
"If there is any change in the policy we will then determine
 later on what we’re going to do with that," he said. "Others
 were saying this is similar to Brexit, but this is what the
Americans selected."
Yemen's U.N. Ambassador Khaled Alyemany said he hoped
 the "new president will contribute positively to resolve the
crises in the Middle East," acknowledging that Trump had
not laid out a foreign policy plan for people to see.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein,
 last month warned that the world would be in danger if Trump was elected president. Zeid would continue to call out any Trump policies or practices that undermine or violate
human rights, his spokesman said.
A western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up how Trump's
 victory could impact the United Nations: "I think there will be a long hangover."
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)

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