UN Gazeti

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Issue No. 216

UN Observances

UN IN KENYA

UNEP:  “PLAY FOR THE PLANET” MOMBASA 2007-04-10

Every year the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) holds the Play for the Planet event which brings together schools and staff members of the UN to interact in sports and to promote environmental awareness. This year the event took place in Mombasa on 7 April and was held in a cooperation of UNEP, Mavuno Foundation and Global Development of Peaceful Environments (GDPE). Sports plays an important role in promoting environmental awareness.

UNEPs ’ Play for the Planet event started with a tree-planting exercise at the North Coast of Mombasa where 4,500 trees were planted by UNEP and partners supporting the event which included Safaricom, Bank of Africa, Mavuno and GDPE. The tree-planting exercise was in support of UNEPs’ Billion tree campaign “Plant for the Planet” which intends to plant about 1 Billion trees worldwide by the end of 2007. 

There after UNEP and its partners participated in a clean-up exercise at the public beach in Mombasa’s North Coast.  The public was invited to participate in the environmental activities and many people joined.

For more information, please contact Bianca Lichtenberg, email address: b.lichtenberg@web.de

UN IN AFRICA

WFP WELCOMES RELEASE OF HIJACKED SHIP

Calling on authorities to take action to curb piracy in Somali waters, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) hailed the release of a hijacked ship used for carrying food aid which had been hijacked in February off the coast of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the northeast of the African country.

The MV Rozen and its 12-member crew, comprising six Kenyans and six Sri Lankans, had completed its contract with WFP on 22 February when it dropped off 1,800 metric tons of food from Mombasa in Kenya to Bossaso in Somalia when it was hijacked on 25 February.
“WFP welcomes the release after 40 days of the MV Rozen,” said the agency’s Somalia Country Director Peter Goossens, thanking elders in Puntland for their mediation efforts in securing the ship’s release last week.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UNHCR: HUMANITARIAN SITUATION CHAD WORSENS

Following last month’s brutal attacks in south-eastern Chad, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday that the humanitarian situation is far worse than it had initially estimated, with between 200 and 400 killed and thousands displaced during the offensive possibly carried out by Janjaweed militias from Sudan’s neighbouring Darfur region.
“Because most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found – often in common graves owing to their numbers – we may never know their exact number,” UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said at a press briefing in Geneva.

“Many who survived the initial attack – particularly those most vulnerable such as the elderly and young children – died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing,” he added.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN TEAMS UP WITH FIFA AHEAD OF SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP

Ahead of the soccer World Cup in South Africa in 2010, the United Nations tourism agency is teaming up with FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) to help promote development, including eliminating poverty and supporting sustainable tourism, across the African continent by using the sport as the driving force.

“The World Cup constitutes an opportunity that the countries of the region can seize in order to obtain the maximum socio-economic, promotional and cultural benefits. It should also contribute to strengthening the image of Africa”, said UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli.

Aware of the fact that Africa can benefit from this major event, the heads of FIFA, the UNWTO and the UNWTO ST-EP Foundation (Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty) are preparing a partnership to assist African countries within the framework of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UNWTO said in a press release.

 For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

REFUGEES CONTINUE TO DROWN IN BID TO REACH YEMEN

At least 34 people fleeing Somalia across the Gulf of Aden drowned after being forced overboard by their smugglers in deep waters off the coast of Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said yesterday, citing its own information as well as reports from survivors and Yemeni officials.

The latest deaths add to the mounting toll seen in the region during the annual smuggling operations, which the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly warned are run by unscrupulous individuals known for beating, robbing and drowning the Somalis and Ethiopians fleeing civil conflict or drought for Yemen.

The latest incident occurred early on Friday 6th April when three smuggling boats approached the Yemeni coast near Bir Ali following a two-day voyage from the Bosaso region of Somalia.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN SENDS DISASTER ASSESSMENT TEAM TO MADAGASCAR

The United Nations humanitarian arm has dispatched a five-member disaster assessment and coordination team to Madagascar, where relief operations are under way after the sixth cyclone of the season struck the island nation last week.

The team from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will support the UN country team already in Madagascar and the African country’s authorities as they determine what emergency supplies and facilities are needed to avert further deaths and diseases.

Madagascar has been battered by six cyclone or tropical storms since December, with tropical storm Jaya striking last week, causing flooding and forcing many inhabitants to seek shelter at higher ground.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

REMEMBERING RWANDA, SG CALLS FOR ‘GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP AGAINST GENOCIDE’

Thirteen years after some 800,000 Rwandans were murdered by their compatriots in an orchestrated criminal campaign, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called for “a global partnership against genocide” and pledged to strengthen United Nations mechanisms to ensure that such an event never happens again.

The post of UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide – currently held by Juan E. Méndez of Argentina – will be upgraded to a full-time position, Mr. Ban said in a message marking the anniversary of the start of the genocide.

The UN Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention will also be boosted, the Secretary-General said, adding that Africa has taken its own steps as well, such as the proposed Pact on Security, Stability and Development for the Great Lakes Region, which contains measures on genocide prevention and punishment.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

MALNUTRITION CHALLENGES CHILD SURVIVAL IN NIGER

With malnutrition responsible for more than half of all deaths of children under five in Niger – a country where 20 per cent never reach their fifth birthday – the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is warning that recent gains in lowering mortality rates could be lost without consistent funding for aid efforts.

A new survey shows that malnutrition rates among children in Niger have improved significantly over the last year, the agency said, while cautioning that without consistent support for the strategy of managing and preventing malnutrition the situation could deteriorate again.

“The results show that malnutrition can be controlled and prevented with high-impact interventions,” said UNICEF Representative in Niger Akhil Iyer. “The survey brought to light the urgent need for consistent funding and support for a bold strategy for the long term control of malnutrition in children.”

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN AROUND THE WORLD

UN MISSION TO SUPPORT LOCAL ELECTIONS IN HAITI

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has announced plans to provide security and logistical support to the Caribbean country’s Provisional Electoral Commission when it holds local mayoral and municipal elections later this month.

About 300,000 voters are expected to cast their ballots on 29 April, voting for 73 delegate seats across 10 districts, MINUSTAH spokesperson Sophie Boutaud de la Combe told journalists on Thursday 5th April at the weekly press briefing in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

Ms. Boutaud de la Combe urged all eligible Haitians to vote in the polls, which follow successfully staged legislative and local elections last year.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN HEALTH AGENCY HAILS MOVE TO CUT PRICE OF KEY HIV/AIDS DRUG

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today welcomed the decision of Abbott Laboratories to reduce the price of a drug which has proved particularly effective as a “second-line” antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The price of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r, marketed as Kaletra/Aluvia) has been lowered by Abbott in some low and middle-income countries, where many HIV/AIDS drugs are unaffordable and demand for this medicine is growing.

Worldwide the number of people being treated with ART keeps growing in low and middle-income countries. This has caused a rise in the number of people in those nations who have developed resistance to so-called “first-line” treatments, thus boosting demand for second-line ART.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

WORLD HERITAGE SITES AT SERIOUS RISK FROM CLIMATE CHANGE

Some of the world’s most renowned natural and cultural sites, from the Great Barrier Reef to Kilimanjaro National Park to the city of Venice, are at serious threat from climate change, according to a report released yesterday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, increased risks of flooding and reduced marine and land biodiversity could all have potentially disastrous effects on the 830 sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the report said.

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura called for “an integrated approach to issues of environmental preservation and sustainable development,” warning that climate change will constitute an enormous challenge over the next century.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

COLOMBIA: UNHRC VOICES CONCERN FOR CIVILIANS

As thousands have fled their homes in the Nariño region in southern Colombia to escape fighting between the Government and rebel forces, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday called for the protection of civilians and urged authorities to provide assistance to those affected.

In the past two weeks, over 6,000 people have taken refuge in El Charco and La Tola, two small towns north of Nariño, according to UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond.

Local officials have opened schools and other public buildings to shelter the newly displaced, but despite the efforts of authorities, the church and international organizations, there is a shortage of clear water and basic health supplies. In El Charco, only one out of every 30 people who arrived in the town last week has a mattress to sleep on.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

AFGHANISTAN: SG URGES STEPPED-UP EFFORTS TO BOOST STABILITY

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called for stepped-up efforts to promote stability in Afghanistan after a series of attacks there this month resulted in the killing of six de-miners, six Canadian troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), nine civilians and a local journalist.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban added his voice to that of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has already condemned the attacks, and he offered his condolences to the bereaved families.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns such acts of violence and calls upon the Government of Afghanistan and the international community, including the ISAF, to redouble their efforts to ensure stability, combat impunity and ensure an environment of respect for human rights,” the statement said.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

SOLOMON ISLANDS: UN CONTINUES TO PROVIDE AID

After a deadly tsunami struck the Solomon Islands one week ago, the United Nations continues to provide aid and technical assistance in the wake of the natural disaster which has displaced at least 5,500 people in the South Pacific nation, the world body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

According to Government figures, 35 people have died after last week’s tsunami which was caused by an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, whose epicentre was 345 kilometres northwest of the country’s capital.

Approximately 1,500 people who were forced to flee their homes are now residing in 12 camps around the town of Gizo.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

For more information on the United Nations and its activities, please visit the main U.N website at www.un.org or the U.N Kenya website at www.un-kenya.org