Kerry Visits U.N. to Discuss World Crises

Source: New York Times

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.

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, which he said had been “beleaguered by targeted, egregious violence.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/world/middleeast/kerry-visits-un-to-discuss-world-crises.html