It's been a bad month in Sudan, with much discouraging news emerging from the country just weeks before it is scheduled to split into two separate states.  However, today U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice announced that the northern and southern governments have just signed an agreement which would hopefully alleviate the escalating crisis in the disputed region of Abyei on the North-South border and lead to the withdrawal of the Sudanese Armed Forces from that region.

Abyei has been a source of contention between northern and southern forces in recent weeks.  In late May, forces from the north of the country captured a key town in Abyei.  The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) swiftly called for the northern forces to pull out.  Sudanese President Bashir-perhaps best known in the international community for being charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), though he has yet to be arrested-claimed that the South attacked Northern Sudanese troops who were part of a UN peacekeeping convoy on May 19^th while they were withdrawing from the region, and the North had responded in self-defense.  The South disputed this assertion.

John Danforth, a former U.S. Ambassador to the UN (2004-05), and a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri (1976-94) just published an excellent article in USA Today laying out why it is in the United States' interest to stay engaged in the UN.

He says that while Congress has been debating whether to limit contribution to the UN, the real debate is:

"how we can best influence the institution to accelerate the adoption of reforms while not shutting down the organization's work, decreasing U.S. influence, and costing American taxpayers more money."

His bottom line is this:

"Cutting or limiting our funding, particularly at a time when the world is facing a number of global challenges, can only handicap U.S. diplomacy and give our adversaries a stronger hand."

I hope his former colleagues on the Hill are listening to this Republican icon from the "Show Me" state.  Click here to send a message to your representatives supporting U.N. funding.

This coming Sunday, May 29th, is the "International Day of UN Peacekeepers." The day presents an opportunity to reflect on the noble work of previous and current UN Peacekeepers and allows us to remember those peacekeepers who gave their lives trying to protect civilians, strengthen governments, and stem violent conflict. The efforts of these brave men and women do not go unnoticed.

The day also affords us the opportunity to realize the enormous impact that UN Peacekeepers have throughout the world. Although some have questioned the effectiveness of such operations, peacekeepers are injected into the most volatile situations, and success is necessarily ever changing. Yet, UN Peacekeepers have had immense success in seemingly unsolvable situations.

Across the globe right now, peacekeepers are deployed in 15 peacekeeping operations. For example, UN Peacekeepers are in the Sudan helping to enforce a comprehensive peace agreement signed by the Sudanese government - and they are there to react when unexpected events occur such as Omar Hassan al-Bashir's aggressive grab of the Abyei region. Also, in Haiti, UN Peacekeepers are deployed to strengthen governing institutions and provide stability to a nation recently rattled by a devastating earthquake. There is no doubt that these peacekeeping operations are imperative to ensuring pacifism throughout the world.

On March 17th the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing UN members "to take all necessary measures... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack" in Libya. I was giving a speech in the United Arab Emirates at the time and had a ring side seat to the very positive Arab response to the "no fly zone".

I wonder what they are thinking now that a peaceful protest movement has morphed into a civil war. Thousands of civilians have been killed, about 300,000 displaced, and according to the UN, 750,000 have fled the country. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces have pounded the city of Misurata while NATO warplanes continue to strike targets in the capital city of Tripoli. But lost amidst this flame and fury is the simple concept that the Libyan population should be protected.

When governments are willing to use tanks, helicopters, artillery and automatic weapons to brutally silence peaceful dissent - as is in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain - the ability to deploy overwhelming ground forces could be the only means to actually protect civilians while driving repressive dictators to step down. Unfortunately, such a force does not exist. Today no nation or coalition today has the capability, desire or credibility to successfully put boots on the ground in Libya. There is even less political will to respond to the atrocities underway in Syria.