Greetings from Global Policy Forum and welcome to the New Year!

As the Security Council begins another year, Colombia, Ireland, Mauritius, Norway and Singapore join as non-permanent members, while Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Namibia and the Netherlands leave after completing their 2-year terms. New sanctions committee chairpersons are elected security/membship/mem01.htm#scsc , and Norway takes over that hot seat on the Iraq sanctions committee. Singapore, in its first month ever in the Security Council, takes over the presidency, and decides to hold eight public meetings; Russia, holder of the previous presidency, held only one. On its excellent web site, Singapore publishes a very interesting look at different types of Security Council meetings security/informal/index.htm#singapore , which demonstrates both the surprising variety of Council meeting types, and the SC's emphasis on consultations "away from the glare of the public".

In Sierra Leone security/issues/slindex.htm , the UK says that its troops will stay until the war is won, and the head of UNAMSIL meets with the leader of the RUF, who promises to open roads into rebel-held territory. Will it happen? Also, the Security Council gives us a better idea of how a war crimes court for Sierra Leone might look. It seems that only top leaders might be tried: "persons who bear the greatest responsibility" for war crimes. Children accused of offenses could go before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Elsewhere in Africa, the Security Council condemns Rwanda and Uganda for their fresh offensives in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. The generally stable political situation deteriorates somewhat in Ethiopia and Eritrea, as the governments argue over troop withdrawal. But the UN still hopes for a peacekeeping success story in the Horn of Africa, and indeed, until now, all had been going well. Finally, might the UN go back into Somalia? Kofi Annan thinks so. Stay tuned.

UN dues finance/index.htm proved a hotly-contested subject during the waning days of December, as US ambassador Richard Holbrooke twisted arms to get a last-minute deal reducing the US share of the regular budget to 22 percent from 25 percent just a few hours before the General Assembly completed its business before the year-end recess. We are still learning details of the complex deal, which allowed the richest country a special break. As a result of the deal, the US has promised that it will repay some - though far from all - of the arrears it owes. Then, with the coming of the New Year, there were fewer candidates in the usual race among states to be first to pay annual UN dues. Sweden, a perennial early-payer, was not in the running this time. The winners for 2001 were Bangladesh, Gabon, Grenada and Libya.

We are happy to announce a new GPF publication - "Making Corporations Accountable" by Jim Paul and Jason Garred socecon/ffd/2000papr.htm . The paper, which grew out of a GPF roundtable on corporate accountability in November, considers voluntary codes as well as laws and regulations. It shows the great diversity of approaches to corporate accountability and the enormous difficulties in making them work at the global level, in the face of powerful corporate resistance.

We again invite you to make a donation to GPF in support of our work in 2001. We greatly appreciate those generous subscribers who made donations in December. But we still have a long way to go to meet our budget. A contribution of any size will be gratefully received, however, if you send greater than $30 to support our work, you will receive a special GPF folder packet and membership privileges.You can make your contribution by sending a dollar-denominated check, drawn on a US bank, made out to Global Policy Forum. Send to us at 777 UN Plaza, Suite 7G, New York, NY 10017, USA. Or you can send your contribution by Visa or Master Card through our secure server right on the GPF web site at https://swww.igc.apc.org/globalpolicy/COMMERCE/credcrd.htm. Your contribution will be tax-deductible in the United States. Your gift is urgently needed if we are to continue providing you with the information you want and if we are to meet the challenges - and the opportunities -- of 2001.

Now the new links for this week…..

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