Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, visits the White House today for the first time in two years with some unusually forthright marching orders from John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN.
"Your upcoming meeting with President [George W.] Bush on 13 February would be an ideal venue for you to raise your views concerning Darfur and to outline possible solutions," Mr Bolton wrote last week, referring to the conflict-torn region of Sudan. Mr Bolton stridently added that the US had offered a cell of military planners to help transform the overwhelmed African Union mission in Darfur into a fully-fledged UN mission, but that they were "prepared to arrive no later than February 13 ... We must move quickly".
