Last month a meeting of would-be donors to discuss ways of giving the Congolese a "peace dividend" was plunged into darkness by a power cut, despite being held in Kinshasa's plushest hotel.
There is much the UN Security Council will never be able to do, no matter who occupies its plushest seats.
Scenes like this take place often, from the fairest green patches of Riverside Park to the plushest red velvet-draped lobbies of the Claremont buildings.
