A Private Window on the World
Keith Hindell’s talk to TRUNA, 15 October 2016
Keith was in New York as the BBC's Correspondent at the UN from 1980 until the summer of 1984. In his talk, Keith gave a flavour of what it was like. He emphasised how indispensable the UN was then and remains today as a forum for states to contain and resolve conflicts.
Keith had a studio that overlooked the Security Council chamber. His day began at 9, when BBC Foreign News in London held a conference call with its North American correspondents. On busy days, such as during the Falklands war, he would send a dozen pieces to London in one form or another. On such a day, he left the UN building after 11pm.
In Keith’s time, some of the most contentious issues were the Iraq-Iran war, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Angola, and apartheid in South Africa. And, from Britain's point of view, the Argentine occupation of the Falklands in 1982.
During this time, none of the major conflicts was resolved satisfactorily. The UN rarely has the will or the means to bring about an instant peace but it can have persistence and tenacity, so that some of these seemingly hopeless conflicts are, with the UN's help, eventually brought to a close. Cambodia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Angola, Namibia all achieved reasonable solutions in the end with the support of the UN.