UN report clears Annan, but criticizes role in Oil-for-Food scandal News
UN report clears Annan, but criticizes role in Oil-for-Food scandal

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Oil-for-Food Program [official website] has cleared UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of wrongdoing in the scandal, although it remained critical of his actions. The committee was looking into the employment of Annan's son Kojo by a Swiss company that was awarded a contract in the oil-for-food program in Iraq. Annan had been accused of ignoring the conflict of interest with his son’s company, Cotecna [corporate website], but the report cleared him of any wrongdoing. The interim report is expected to be officially released at Noon ET today, with a press conference on the report scheduled for 3:30 PM ET at the UN. Watch a live webcast of the briefing. JURIST will have additional coverage as more information becomes available. The UN has a press release on the report release. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.