(January 14, 2005) The United Nations’ failings and need for reform are clear, but its accusers are part of the system they condemn.
Other News Sources
Will debt relief work?
(January 13, 2005) The decision by the Paris Club of 19 creditor nations to offer a freeze on interest payments to Tsunami-affected nations could raise more questions than it answers.
Annan accountable for oil-for-food programme: US
(January 13, 2005) The Bush administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the UN oil-for-food scandal, on Tuesday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the programme.
‘Beyond the moratorium’ is ‘beyond the Paris Club’
(January 12, 2005) What needs to be done and what can be done about Indonesia’s foreign debt.
World Bank job
(January 11, 2005) South Asia’s tsunami death toll is a reminder of how many people remain poor and exposed to nature’s whims. What then has become of the half a trillion dollars in aid that a World Bank created to assist the poor has spent since 1946?
UN oil-for-food audits find laxity, no fraud
(January 11, 2005) Audit reports released by a U.N.-sanctioned commission into the multibillion-dollar oil-for-food program in Iraq showed lax oversight, understaffing and widespread inefficiencies throughout the system, but no evidence of fraud or corruption.
Waving off debt
(January 10, 2005) As we reach out to those struggling to recover from a natural disaster, our country has an important opportunity to address one of the core issues contributing to the impoverishment of the tsunami-stricken nations: huge foreign debts.
U.S. Foreign Relations Committee given cause to return to development banks examination
(January 10, 2005) A presentation to the U.S. Senate by political economist Jeffrey Winters suggests passive corruption poses three major challenges for the World Bank.
Gulf War victims overpaid by $5 billion‚ UN auditors
(January 9, 2005) The United Nations may have overpaid up to $5 billion to individuals, companies and Gulf states for losses in Iraq’s 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait, auditors’ documents showed on Sunday.
Tsunami debt deal to be announced
(January 7, 2005) Chancellor Gordon Brown has said he hopes to announce a deal soon to suspend debt interest repayments by tsunami-hit nations.
G-7 support tsunami debt freeze; campaigners push for debt cancellation
(January 7, 2005) The Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized nations have agreed to an immediate moratorium on debt interest repayments by countries hit in the Boxing Day tsunami disaster.
G7 finmins agree to freeze tsunami debt repayments
(January 7, 2005) Group of Seven finance ministers have struck an agreement to suspend tsunami-afflicted nations’ debt repayments, they said in a statement on Friday.
G7 agree to tsunami debt relief
(January 7, 2005) UK’s Gordon Brown gets industrialised countries to agree to freeze repayments.
World Bank president’s ‘mixed legacy’
(January 7, 2005) World Bank President James Wolfensohn’s recent announcement that he was unlikely to stay in his post as head of one of the world’s most powerful financial institutions, cast his decade-long legacy into the spotlight this week.
Tsunami summit picks UN as leader and offers debt relief
(January 6, 2005) The UN was picked by the nations that suffered from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean as the leader of the relief operations.


