MMUN World News and Report

Friday, February 19, 2010

Volume 4, Issue 4, Page 1MMUN News and Report

Associated PressFebruary 19, 2010 St. Louis, MO At 2 o’ clock this morning the

delegates of the Security Council were informed that 15 delegates from the World Food Programme in addition to 45 security guards were taken hostage by Somali Pirates. As the different nations came together in an emergency session to resolve this matter, the diversity of the problems clogged a majority of the time. “The legal eagles must step aside

for the larger goal, it’s time to save human lives,” said Japan while explaining the differentiation of the consequences between a military co-ordinated strike and a negotiation tactic. The United Kingdom feels that a negotiation, by definition, means that two parties must come to an understanding. As it stands,

the understanding is that the Somali Pirates have a stronghold over the Security Council. This has to do with the struggling balance between the agency and the structure. In this case, the structure is the societal

and economic factors leading to the actions of the Somali pirates, and the agency being the actions themselves.

continued on page 5

Somali Pirates Take 15 Hostages

France speaks during the crisis situation early Friday morning.

SC speaks with Somali Pirate in Crisis SituationXinhua News Agency February, 19, 2010St. Louis, MOAn unknown member of the Security Council invited the

leader of the Somali pirates responsible for the recent seizures of international ships to the United Nations in order to better understand the situation. Several members of the Securiy Council walked out of when the Somali pirate arrived.The United Kingdom stated, “It was a disgrace to the Security Council to allow the leader of the Somali pirates to speak to the council… The UK believes that the Somali Pirates, by

trying to act like they are helping the Somali people are in fact hurting the people of Somalia. Their actions undermine the sovereignty of Somalia and actually put the people in harms way instead of helping them.” Turkey stated, “We believe this is a great travesty to the United Nations that has stooped this low, it sets a horrible precedent.”The pirate invited the Security Council to consider her as

a part of the splinter group from the other Somali pirates. The pirate stated she wanted to work with the Somali government and that there would be no more hostages released at this time. The pirate seemed to be in favor of working with the transitional government of Somalia to turn her country towards a new horizon.

MMUN News and Report Volume 4, Issue 4, Page 2

EOKA Executes Hostages BBC NewsFebruary, 19, 2010St. Louis, MO Silence falls upon the Historical Security Council as a

news report is read, just a few hours after three resolu-tions are passed by consensus in response to the hos-tage situation in Cyprus. One of the three resolutions includes raising the number of UN peacekeeping troops from 6,000 to 9,000 over the next three months in order to manage the hostage situation; the other two resolu-tions include a trade embargo, and giving Greece and Turkey the right to assemble their military units. Unfortu-nately these resolutions do not have the desired results of peacekeeping.Various news agencies have reported that both Greece

and Turkish military units have mobilized. The EOKA, with knowledge of the Turkish aggression, have not only ex-ecuted the ten Turkish civilians but all one hundred hos-tages as reported to the BBC by their leader. The leader of EOKA in a communique with the BBC said that all

one hundred civilians raging in ages 12-70 can be found decapitated and with gunshot wounds in a field outside the capitol. Their leader finally said, “The EOKA will now stand at nothing to see that its goal is achieved.” As the HSC sits in disbelief over the deaths of one hun-

dred innocent Turkish Cypriot hostages, the delegates must swiftly move onto the next course of action, espe-cially with Greece and Turkish military units mobilizing just outside of Cyprus. “We don’t want to see NATO as a whole being dragged into it as they are both NATO nations. This could get messy,” said the delegate of the Netherlands. The general consensus is to use the peacekeeping

troops to build some sort of stability within Cyprus and create a buffer zone between Turkey and Greece. “We want to keep NATO from splitting up and dividing,” said the delegate from the United Kingdom. The BBC wishes to express our deepest regrets over the

loss of one hundred civilians in Cyprus, and wishes the very best to the peoples of Cyprus and the HSC as they move forward in dealing with this crisis.

Al-JazeeraFebruary, 19, 2010St. Louis, MOIn the middle of the night delegates on the Historical Se-

curity Council were called to session to respond to the news of Turkish and Grecian governments mobilizing troops along the Cyprian coast in response to EOKA’s slaughter of Turkish civilians.

At 2 am on November 12, 1965, forces are still sitting stationary. “Turkey’s government is appalled at what oc-curred at the hands of EOKA. Greece does not sanction the deaths of the 100 Turks but will not stand down until Turkey does. Both sides remain at high alert with both na-tions Navy’s stationed around the island until EOKA can be stopped,” said the AP in a press release.There are two issues at hand: keeping Turkey and

Greece from going to war in Cyprus and capturing mem-bers of the EOKA responsible for the murders that began the standoff.In another release made by the AP, EOKA released a

manifesto of demands. All Turks are required to evacuate the island of Cyprus. Ambassadors of both nations would be more comfortable with the use of U.N. Peacemaker forces to ensure that any solution found will not bias the government of Cyprus. Finding the members of EOKA

remains their top priority.Debate ensued as to what action if any to take in this

situation. However, the HSC dragged its feet in response to the Cyprus situation once before, and is currently in the process of doing so again. This delay in officially call-ing the situation in Cyprus a ‘crisis situation’ in the early hours of 12 November 1965 has cost valuable time. This may allow EOKA to plan another savage attack that could once again cause the loss of many innocent Turkish Cy-priot lives.

HSC Wakes to Turks, Greeks Mobilized Troops

USSR listens to Jordan speak during HSC Friday morning

Letter From the Editor

Volume 4, Issue 4, Page 3MMUN News and Report

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Delegates,

My name is Heather Strojek, the International Press Delegation Director for MMUN50. It has been brought to my attention that concerns were raised with some of the articles produced by the IPD. I wish to apologize now for any offense caused by our publications. Our mission at the IPD is to print what we see and

hear, to be an honest reflection of the Conference as our IPD delegates witness it. As with the rest of the simulation, IPD has specific roles assigned to each representative. If, during the course of role playing, any IPD staff has

caused injury or concern to anyone at MMUN, we apol-ogize. Going forward, we will be acutely aware of our impact on the atmosphere of the Conference and ask that you grant us your patience. We are all learning, myself included, and hope to con-

tinue to use what we’ve taken from this unfortunate sit-uation to increase the caliber of work produced in our upcoming issues. Thank you for your feedback on the matter, and I hope we meet your expectations.

Sincerely yours, Heather Strojek

Mission Resolved, Crisis Averted, Children SavedAssociate PressFebruary, 19, 2010St. Louis, MOAs stated in a pervious issue: the First Committee was

given the task of addressing the ongoing issue of mini-mizing the effects of cluster munitions on civilians and the creation of consensus to get every major player in the issue on the same page and going in the same direction. Various groups had emerged to prove their solution to

be the best. Various resolutions have been passed which deal with a broad spectrum of perspectives. There are mandates that encourage the de-mining activities in vari-ous nations such as Vietnam. Most recently, there are calls that authorize the ability for

countries to initiate educational programs to enlighten the global community and the international public about the

risk involved with cluster munitions. Say, a child looking for money scours the lands to look for parts to be sal-vaged. The child sees a mine in the ground approaches to take it to seek a profit. The end result is a child losing an arm. This is unfor-

tunate for the family of the child, and more importantly, unfortunate for the state as they have just lost a citizen to an unnecessary asset. As the 50th session comes to a mid-point, the efforts

of this first committees have resulted in a 180 degree turn, becoming an efficient well-oiled machine that have passed a magnanimous amount of changes...or at least suggestions to create said changes.

Letter to the EditorTo the Editor:

I was deeply disappointed by the article and headline “First Committee Fails on Compromises” published in the MMUN News and World Report on February 18, 2010. I believe this article is misleading because it fails to give a sense of the actual, unprecedented level of cooperation that existed in First Committee this year.

As the committee session unfolded, delegates broke down into five blocs, some of which advocated for a com-prehensive approach to the effective implementation of the Cluster Munitions Convention, while several others wanted to focus more narrowly on issues such as victim assistance or nonproliferation of cluster munitions.

While there is always some disagreement among dele-gates as to the best way to proceed on a topic, I was highly impressed by the efforts the delegates made to address the issue in a comprehensive manner by passing two qual-ity resolutions in committee session. At the end of this day, the willingness among delegates to make compromises and reach consensus allowed for highly successful out-come and a rewarding experience for all involved.

Andrew Fisher

Chair, First Committee

MMUN 50

MMUN News and Report Volume 4, Issue 4, Page 4

2nd Committee Works Towards Common GoalFox NewsFebruary 19, 2010 St. Louis, MOThursday afternoon, delegates from the second com-

mittee were hard at work hammering out amendments and proposals. Working together, the countries tackled Topic B in a professional and diplomatic manner. Topic B deals with role of the UN in promoting development in the context of globalization and interdependence. A majority of the countries had the same goals in mind:

writing a bill for reducing debt and limiting foreign aid as a tool for foreign policy. The EU proposed using themselves as a model for how

the UN could attempt to aid developing countries. Ac-cording to France, “the EU is a perfect example of how countries can work together.” Their idea is to establish a global partnership to achieve their goals. Many of the countries decided that the best course of

action would be to focus on transparency, defined as knowing where one’s money is going. It is essential to funding programs for providing aid to developing coun-tries. China said the “solution to funding these countries lies

not in raising spending or creating new organizations, but in reallocating donated money.” They believe that if the money was tracked and they

could see where it was all going, they would have all the funds they need. After all, the problem is not that there is a lack of money, but that it is not being used correctly. Iraq, with other countries, is working with China on this

resolution. They said that “by improving developing coun-tries, the global market would grow, and consequently benefit both developed and developing countries.” As is the general consensus among all delegates in the conference: “We need to come to a resolution that is go-ing to be effective not just on paper, but in real life,” said Pakistan.

WFP Discuss Preventing & Treating MalnutritionXinhua News Agency February, 19, 2010St. Louis, MO

The World Food Programme (WFP) spent the first seven hours of committee sessions debating the Enhancement of the Role of the WFP in Preventing and Treating Mal-nutrition in Emergency Situations. They were on the brink of coming to a solution with only twenty minutes left in their seven-hour time limit. When the Netherlands mo-tioned to abolish the set limit on the topic and the motion passed. There was a previous agreement made between countries that although most delegates wanted to discuss the topic of Enhancing Food Procurement Methods for the WFP. The delegates felt that with the current crisis in Haiti the topic on emergency situations should be expe-dited. The delegate from Iran said that nations who voted to abolish the limit went against their word, as diplomats and that the two draft resolutions on the floor were more than enough to address the topic at hand.The first draft resolution recommends an increase of the

Immediate Response Account, IRA cap from $500,000 to one million USD and extending the time limit for short term aid from three months to six months. The resolu-tion’s sponsors stated that the United States had more than enough money to support this action. When the US was asked about this he said that the WFP is “asking too

much” and that the IRA has over $500,000 USD one time and that these situations should be dealt with on a “case by case” basis. This draft resolution also urges nations to “consider the

building and support of permanent food distribution cen-ters for responding to emergency situations.” The US dis-agrees with this programme citing problems with national sovereignty and the ambiguity of the distribution centers. The US had questions regarding where and why these centers would be placed. There were five total resolutions all passed except for the one mentioned above.

India works diligently during WFP committee

Security Council Rumor DisprovedRadio France InternationalFebruary 19, 2010 St. Louis, MOThe rumors are not true. Security Council will not

be seizing a topic from the Fourth committee. Upon bringing up the new topic of the conflict in Pakistan, the Security Council decided the best way to have each delegation heard was to resort to the tide and true tactics we used in elementary school, sitting in a circle so everyone can be heard. The delegate of Libya opened the circle by stating, “Libya doesn’t really know what situation the committee is re-ferring to,” and added “we feel that the Pakistani government can take care of itself, and that this is western propaganda when in reality it is a civil mat-ter.” While most of the delegates stated what they

thought the problems were in Pakistan, some coun-tries went a step further to suggest that a Pakistani delegate be brought in to talk to the council about the countries stance on the Al Qaeda. While the delegates are making the rounds the delegate from China made the statement that “our love for Paki-stan is deeper than the Indian Ocean and wider than the Himalayan Mountains.” Needless to say, the delegate of China is concerned with diplomatic affairs, and is spreading the love with the rest of the delegates.

Security Council Attempts to Solve Pakistan Issue Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2010St. Louis, MO

The Security Council is working tirelessly to find a solution to the situation in Pakistan. They received an update regarding a statement made by the Taliban: “The flames of Allah’s justice will roll across Pakistan, and the city of Shkin will be the spark that lights the fire.” Shortly later a press release from the BBC re-ported, “A wave of Taliban attacks descended upon the Afghani/Pakistani border town of Shkin today as the Taliban attempted to seize the city.” Though the attack was repelled, Pakistani forces in the area suffered heavy casualties. It is feared that reinforce-ments will not be an effective long-term solution. “We will come for Shkin again and again until it is ours. The time of Allah will not be quenched,” stated the Taliban.The situation in Pakistan is one ripe with controversy from the

drug trade to the definition of terrorism. Some feel that terrorism is subjective. “Libya feels that they (the US) are state sponsored terrorists who are hypocritical… (terrorists) are called freedom fighters when they are fighting for your cause, we cannot clas-sify groups by who is a terrorist and who is not… Terrorism is a very subjective term to classify individuals by. These terms have no business in the international community,” said the delegate from Libya. The United States responded saying, “Terrorism is the word, the action is what we are fighting; we need to limit funding to these groups.” The delegate from the People’s Republic of China stated that

this is an issue that cannot reach consensus in this body and should be moved to a regional solution with bilateral and multi-lateral talks.

MMUN News and Report Volume 4, Issue 4, Page 5

Hostages, contined from page 1

Neither side can take blame completely, yet it does come down to the duty of the Security Council to hold the utmost regard for the hostages and resolve the situation immediately.In essence, the Somali pirates have shown cadence

when it came to their logic for creating this scenario in the first place. Though in no manner are the tactics of the Pirates endorsed, the issue which goes to the heart of the matter is simple: drastic measures call for the utmost attention. It is inherent that the international community takes all perspectives into consideration when judging the correlation and causation of this unfortunate crisis.

The overbearing uncertainties as to the progressive actions of the Pirates certainly have the Security Council rattled as they strive to find a feasible solution that is acceptable by consensus. When considering the necessity to save the hostages, the delegate from Viet Nam pointed out what seemed to be the incompetency of the WFP and their mismanaged abilities to perform a successful.

MMUN News and Report Volume 4, Issue 4, Page 6

Venezuela Walks Out of ECOSOC ThursdayFox NewsFebruary, 19, 2010St. Louis, MO

Emotions ran high Thursday in ECOSOC when Ven-ezuela gave a speech reminiscent of Hugo Chavez. The cause was due to the perceived actions of their fellow delegates. Venezuela vehemently accused fellow delegates of acting inappropriately and unprofession-ally. In their speech Venezuela blamed the other coun-tries for the lack of ECOSOC progress, saying, “we are extremely disappointed with the conduct of some of our fellow delegates. By straying from your country’s beliefs and your role as a delegate, you can’t contribute to the simulation and it undermines the purpose of the confer-ence. We believe that the slow progress is a product of misrepresentation by delegates.” The speech was followed by Venezuela storming out

and Pakistan following close behind. When asked about

the outburst, Venezuela replied, “The issue needed to be addressed. Certain countries have said that they are only here to win awards, and that isn’t the point of the conference.” Pakistan, a close ally of Venezuela, supported the uprising wholeheartedly saying, “People shouldn’t give up countries views in order of winning awards. It’s wrong and should be called out.” It makes one wonder, however, why the United States

didn’t step up and be the leader they claim to be? In their powerful position, the U.S. should address an issue if an issue exists. However, there was an issue bothering many commit-

tee members and Venezuela, surprisingly, took care of it. In an attempt to inspire productivity, Venezuela may have been more disruptive rather than brilliant. The topic of discussion among ECOSOC members went from speaking time and awards to Venezuela’s heated disruption. The demonstration may have made Chavez proud, but was it really necessary? Only time, and reso-lutions, will tell.

Pan African News AgencyFebruary, 19, 2010St. Louis, MOAs the turmoil continued to mount Thursday in the ECO-

SOC Committee, it seems that conflict has come to a head as Venezuela formally walked out of a committee meeting shortly after the lunch break on Thursday af-ternoon. The issue began when delegates successfully comprised two working papers just before the break and upon returning to formal debate, Venezuela was shocked to find that their working paper had been merged with the other without their knowledge. In addition, Venezuela was no longer allowed to sub-

mit input on the “stolen” working paper. Sources say the merge happened between the delegates of Venezuela, Cape Verde, Republic of Korea, United States, and Su-dan.According to several ECOSOC delegates, the Dias had

recommended that the State delegates merge to create one concrete resolution. Certain delegates believe that the documents should have remained separate given that they came from States that would not normally have diplomatic relations or interests and that merging the two documents would be considered highly unlikely.The delegate from Pakistan stated, “I can understand

focusing on consensus as means of positive negotiation;

however, the delegates of ECOSOC should not give up personal beliefs or sacrifice the validity of the information that they present.” Pakistan then went on to express the concern that certain delegates are focusing on winning awards over debating pertinent issues.The delegate from France recollects that at one point

during the debate, the delegate from Estonia stated, “By other delegates acting out of character, I was forced to act out of character as well.” In a sense, what originally started as a diplomatic conference has now become a competition.Sources suggest that Sudan was the mastermind be-

hind stealing Venezuela’s glory. In response to these alle-gations, the delegate from Sudan expressed that, “To say the working document was stolen is not very diplomatic and Venezuela merely wanted to express their discontent [of not having ideas heard].” He then went on to deny responsibility for the “stolen”

document and feels that the situation could have been “handled more efficiently and expressed to the entire body. In addition, Venezuela could have approached Su-dan individually to resolve the dispute.”

Venezuelan Working Paper Merged with Another