David Miliband

Georgia: one year on

Almost one year on from the Russia-Georgia conflict, there remains a lot to do to repair the damage. Thousands of displaced people are still unable to return to their homes. Russian troops still occupy positions in breach of the ceasefire agreements signed last summer.

Our support for Georgia’s rights is clear. Glenys Kinnock made this clear when she visited Tbilisi in June. I applaud the EU's decision this week to extend the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia.

I very much welcome Vice-President Biden's reaffirmation  during his recent visit to Tbilisi of US commitment to a democratic Georgia -consolidation of the progress made so far is the clearest path towards durable peace.   

There is a separate and wider debate about European security spurred by President Medvedev’s call for a “New European Security Architecture”. It is important, and can show that the post Soviet geography of Central and Eastern Europe is not a threat to Russia. The greatest risks we face are shared.

Posted at 15:24 30 July 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[20]

UNSG Visit to Burma

Ban Ki Moon deserves credit for not taking no for an answer from the Burmese authorities. He refused to postpone his visit  - a visit that he promised to make when he visited the country at the time of Cyclone Nargis to discuss political and economic reform. Ban's closing speech was clear and definitive - the regime's refusal to engage properly was reprehensible.

The easy course would have been to be put off. Now he will report to the Security Council and every member will need to decide how much they care about the refusal of the regime to accept basic international norms. The temptation is to say no visit should go ahead without pre-promising of the results. But sometimes it is worth the risk. This is one such case.

Posted at 12:35 07 July 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

Basra Corniche on a Friday afternoon

If you had told me in December 07 when I spent a morning at Basra air base, and couldn't go off base, that 14 months later I would be chatting with Basrawis out with friends and family on the Corniche by the Shatt Al Arab waterway I would not have believed you. Not everyone goes for a walk with an armed escort but the Basrawis told me the same thing one after another: Basra security has been changed fundamentally, the big issue now is unemployment, the future is about Basra being a great city again. Iraqi leadership has been key but so has British military and civilian support. Police chief Adel has been given huge support from a UK police team. He spoke with pride about his force. Clean and efficient police are the difference between a city which functions and one which doesn't.

Posted at 22:09 27 February 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

Munich Security Conference

This article from the Atlantic Press Review Blog discusses some interesting comment pieces on NATO at 60. These are issues I'm grappling with at the moment. Tomorrow I make a speech  at the Wehrkunder Security Conference in Munich. Its about how NATO and the EU can deal with both conventional security threats within its borders, and the new global threats from terrorism, climate change and nuclear proliferation.  This is a great opportunity for Europe, NATO, and the world to think clearly and deeply about our common security. I look forward to a fascinating debate with many of the world's leaders in attendance.

Posted at 20:52 05 February 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

Zimbabwe: Rhetoric and Reality

The UN Security Council re-started its engagement with Zimbabwe on Monday - not a moment too soon.  The cholera (and now anthrax) that threatens neighbouring countries is proof if any were needed after 4 million refugees that the Zimbabwe crisis is a crisis for the whole of southern Africa. The Security Council is not yet close to taking action - divisions are still too deep.  But the rhetoric of Mugabe that cholera is 'over' is gut-wrenching when you read the reports of what is actually happening in the country.  For a flavour of reality see the two FCO bloggers , Grace Mutandwa and Philip Barclay

Posted at 16:18 19 December 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[10]

UNGA Re-Cap 2: Middle East

The Security Council addressed the Middle East in special session on Friday morning.  My speech is here.    Settlements are one obstacle to a two state solution, but so are Hamas rockets.  And the unspeakable language of President Ahmadinejad about Jews in his speech to the General Assembly on Monday does nothing to help create an atmosphere of trust between Israelis and Palestinians.

Posted at 10:36 01 October 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[5]

President Zardari

The accession of President Zardari to the leadership of Pakistan is a key moment for Pakistan. His election with a 68% majority completes the transition to full democratic civilian rule for the first time in 9 years. It is vital that the Pakistan government does not suffer the fate of previous Pakistan governments.

I spoke to President Zardari yesterday and the Prime Minister is speaking to him today to emphasise Britain's commitment to work with the people in Pakistan at all levels, above all on the twin issues of the economy and security. My two visits to Pakistan revealed a country of teeming energy but also unfulfilled aspirations. The striking thing is that political, economic and security aspirations go together. Polling in the FATA shows that politics as well as security are top of the agenda.

Civilian rule needs to show itself up to the task of short term improvement as well as long term legitimacy. Britain can and will help through official channels and development aid and security support, but also through the unofficial channels of people-to-people links from our own British Pakistani community.

Posted at 14:19 08 September 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[10]

UK-Caribbean Forum

60 years after the arrival in the UK of the ship Windrush at Tilbury Docks, 800,000 Brits trace their heritage back to the Caribbean, and the ties of culture, business, tourism and sport (as well as the shared dangers of drugs and security) mean that we have a lot to work on with Caribbean governments. That is the purpose of the UK-Caribbean forum that has recently met in London, with reps of 10 Caribbean governments and ministers from across UK government.

 The truth is that the UK-Caribbean relationship is in transition.  All the participant countries in the Forum are now independent, and the British link needs to be remade – not on the basis of history or the number of diplomats we have attached but on the basis of a shared agenda for the future.  I think this falls into a number of categories: educational (we agreed to increase and guarantee the number of scholarships), multilateral (for example work in the EU on trade), and global,  for example on climate change.  It needs civil society and business as well as government to work together.  It’s a tough sell.  The Caribbean countries want to know that we recognise the special nature of our relationship with them.  We do.  But we need to bring it alive for modern times.

Posted at 16:48 23 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[0]

Mediation or pressure?

The vote at the UN yesterday on Zimbabwe was not a North/South split - after all Burkino Faso voted for the resolution. But it did reveal, in the use of the veto by Russia and China, two different ways of thinking about the exercise of responsibility in the modern world.

The argument at one level was about whether to give mediation "longer". But how much longer? And how much more suffering in the interim?

But there is a more fundamental point - or two actually. First, since when does pressure on a regime that has been flagrant in its abuse of human rights and democratic standards undermine mediation? Surely it brings home much more clearly that the world is determined to tilt the balance away from a government that has forfeited international respect? But second, the argument of China and Russia was that the Security Council had no business "interfering" in a national issue. But the crisis in Zimbabwe has gone way beyond that - not least through three million plus refugees caught up in the violence fleeing to South Africa (see above "If your neighbour's house is on fire" of 8 July).

The Russian and Chinese vetoes have shielded Robert Mugabe and 13 of his top supporters from international pressure. Their preferred route of mediation will have the chance to prove itself - too late for too many but no one will be happier than I if I wake up one day soon and find that this route has delivered a government that respects the March 29 election result.

Meanwhile the governments of western and other democracies should have no regrets about bringing into the open a vital debate. The alternative is for the threat of veto to mean we all clam up and pretend that there is no disagreement. That is not real diplomacy.

Posted at 18:19 12 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[8]

Blog 24 June: Zimbabwe: UN Action

Yesterday's UN Security Council statement represents a significant step forward in the way the world has engaged with the issue of Zimbabwe. The language is unequivocal - condemnation of the regime. It won unanimous support - including South Africa as well as China. The desire for regional leadership - from the AU and SADC - clearly expressed.

Yesterday's exchanges in the House of Commons I hope clarified the difference between recognition of a state - which is necessary for diplomatic representation - and recognition of the legitimacy of a government, which is different. We of course "recognise" Zimbabwe as a country; we do not recognise the legitimacy of Mugabe's rule, not least since even he accepts that he lost the Parliamentary and Presidential election on 29 March (even if the Opposition challenger did not get 50% of the vote in the first round).

I hope they also exposed the hollow claim that we have to choose between self defeating megaphone diplomacy and silence. In every part of the world history matters. Britain's history of global engagement includes good and bad. But while we are conscious of our history, and conscious of the way it can be misused and caricatured, that history is a reason for good judgment about what to say - not a reason to say nothing.

Posted at 09:40 26 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Iraq: it's now the politics, stupid

The attached article from the New York times paints a clear and compelling picture of the security situation in Iraq.  Things are much better. But they are not normal. Security can bring further change. But politics is key - to pass new laws that can help make possible resolution of some of the most difficult problems (eg the status of Kirkuk), that can allow for provincial elections that bring all groups into government at local level. Iraq is not on most British front pages but it remains a big commitment. Politics is key to progress.

Posted at 15:07 23 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[0]

May in Iraq

This month saw the lowest number of security incidents in Iraq in four years and the lowest level of sectarian violence since 2003.  There is something changing in a serious way

Posted at 21:46 07 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[4]

Foreign Office goes to China

The Times and FT have reported on the initiative to send our five ambassadors from permanent Security Council countries plus UN and EU ambassadors to China for two days of talks. The readouts I have had are very positive – seeing the world through Chinese eyes opens our own eyes, and the meetings with government, party and civil society figures gave a unique chance to engage on big current issues (including Tibet) but also the long term relationship between China and the rest of the world. It is rare for Foreign Office Ambassadors to get enough time to talk to each other, but to do so from a different perspective is a very welcome first.

Posted at 10:35 01 May 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

Thank you Burkina Faso

For becoming the eighth country on the UN Security Council to recognise Kosovo.

Posted at 16:16 28 April 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Kenya - Key Role for the AU

The increasingly alarming reports of brutality and killing on ethnic lines are rightly getting a lot of coverage.  Richard Dowden explained well on the Today programme on Wednesday why comparisons with Rwanda are dangerous [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today ] .  But the situation does not have to be a Rwanda for the countries of the region and the world to become concerned.  Stories of Kalenjin and Kikuyu militias roaming rural Kenya in search of reprisals are stomach-churning.

There has been remarkable unanimity around the world about how Kenya can save itself from disaster: strong political leadership that recognises the need for control of militias, the need for credible investigation of allegations of electoral fraud, and the need for compromise about political power, in the short term while constitutional repair is undertaken, and in the medium term when the electorate have a further opportunity to express their views.  Mark Malloch Brown met the key protagonists on Monday to give support to Kofi Annan's African Union mission.  This is now the difference between the success of politics and its rejection.  The AU meeting in Addis Abbaba provides the regional opportunity for pressure and engagement. But the Security Council of the UN is on standby as the world waits to see whether the country can be pulled back from the brink.

Posted at 12:24 31 January 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]