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| Kerry Visits U.N. to Discuss World Crises | Kerry Visits U.N. to Discuss World Crises |
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| Secretary of State John Kerry made his first official visit to the United Nations on Thursday to discuss three of the world’s most intractable crises: turmoil in Africa’s Great Lakes region, the Syrian war and what he called “the granddaddy of them all,” the Israel-Palestinian conflict. | Secretary of State John Kerry made his first official visit to the United Nations on Thursday to discuss three of the world’s most intractable crises: turmoil in Africa’s Great Lakes region, the Syrian war and what he called “the granddaddy of them all,” the Israel-Palestinian conflict. |
| Appearing briefly at a welcoming ceremony with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that was streamed on the United Nations Web site, Mr. Kerry thanked Mr. Ban for his organization’s work, particularly in dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of people into neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. | Appearing briefly at a welcoming ceremony with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that was streamed on the United Nations Web site, Mr. Kerry thanked Mr. Ban for his organization’s work, particularly in dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of people into neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. |
| Mr. Kerry, who toured the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan last week, spoke of the “enormous levels of suffering” among Syria’s civilian population and said there was “no military solution” to that conflict, now in its third year. He reiterated his joint commitment with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, to convene a Syria peace conference in Geneva. | Mr. Kerry, who toured the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan last week, spoke of the “enormous levels of suffering” among Syria’s civilian population and said there was “no military solution” to that conflict, now in its third year. He reiterated his joint commitment with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, to convene a Syria peace conference in Geneva. |
| Leading a delegation that included a former Senate colleague, Russ Feingold, whom he appointed as his special envoy to the Great Lakes region last month, Mr. Kerry’s main order of business at the United Nations on Thursday was to lead a special Security Council meeting on the protracted conflicts in the area, in Central Africa, which he said had been “beleaguered by targeted, egregious violence.” | |
| The Great Lakes region includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the mineral-rich eastern section of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area of recurrent fighting, atrocities and absence of government authority. Millions of Congolese have been killed since the 1990s in chronic mayhem and pillaging carried out by armed groups vying for control of the area’s abundant resources including diamonds, copper and uranium. | |
| In March, the Security Council authorized a new “intervention brigade” of United Nations peacekeepers in Congo, for the first time authorizing offensive military action to pacify the region. But it remains troubled. | |
| A Rwanda-backed rebel group known as M23 has been fighting Congolese government forces in eastern Congo, and rights groups have accused M23 of executions, rapes and forcible recruitment of child soldiers. On Tuesday, the United States publicly called on Rwanda, an American ally, to end support for M23. | |
| Mr. Kerry did not single out Rwanda by name in his remarks at the Security Council meeting. “All parties must immediately end their support for armed rebel groups,” he said, adding, “we must end the era of impunity.” | |
| The 15-member council, which includes Rwanda, issued a statement that called on “all countries of the region neither to tolerate nor provide assistance or support of any kind to armed groups.” | |
| Mr. Kerry’s main preoccupation in recent weeks has been to broker a resumption of peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, which could start next week in Washington. In his remarks with Mr. Ban on Thursday, Mr. Kerry did not specify a date for those talks. But he called the Middle East challenge “the granddaddy of them all, I guess, the question of the possibility of peace between Palestinians and Israelis.” | Mr. Kerry’s main preoccupation in recent weeks has been to broker a resumption of peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, which could start next week in Washington. In his remarks with Mr. Ban on Thursday, Mr. Kerry did not specify a date for those talks. But he called the Middle East challenge “the granddaddy of them all, I guess, the question of the possibility of peace between Palestinians and Israelis.” |
| He commended President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying they had “made a courageous decision to try to return to final status talks.” Mr. Kerry also said he hoped such talks “will be able to happen as procedures are put in place by both countries in order to empower that.” | He commended President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying they had “made a courageous decision to try to return to final status talks.” Mr. Kerry also said he hoped such talks “will be able to happen as procedures are put in place by both countries in order to empower that.” |
| Later in the day, after heading the Security Council meeting on the Great Lakes, Mr. Kerry planned to meet with a visiting delegation of the Syrian opposition coalition at the United States Mission to the United Nations. |