gowan

"The US lobbying against the European-Ukrainian resolution was very crude. US officials were reportedly threatening to cut aid to non-compliant states. This has left a nasty taste among many UN members," Mr Gowan said.

Richard Gowan, UN Director of the Crisis Group, said after three years of deepening animosity between Russia and the US at the UN, the sight of the two powers coordinating to embarrass Europe was pretty stunning.

In a tribute, Mr Todd's daughter, Nadine Gowan, told the BBC her father was sailing to the Caribbean via the Canary Islands when the tragedy occurred.

At a time when U.N. mediation and peacekeeping efforts “are often adrift,” Griffiths has tried to alleviate crises the U.N. can’t resolve, said Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group’s U.N. director.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, his colleague Daniel Forti and African legal scholar Solomon Dersso presented an assessment of U.N. peace operations to a U.N. police retreat in February which concluded they are “in a period of change with no clear end in sight.”