UN Gazeti

Wednesday 30 May 2007

Issue No. 222

UN Observances

UN IN KENYA

COMESA SUMMIT AT UN HEADQUARTERS
The United Nations Office in Nairobi last week hosted more than 10 heads of state and deputies attending the 12th Summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The host, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya called on the trading bloc to explore ways of harmonizing their projects and activities with other regional economic communities to harmonize projects and Programmes under these regional organizations.

“As we collectively position ourselves towards deepening our regional integration, it is imperative that we also intensify our dialogue with other regional economic communities, notably the Southern Africa Development Community and the East African Community,” President Kibaki said.

For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org/

UN IN AFRICA

WFP DRIVER KILLED IN AMBUSH

The United Nations World Food Programme said yesterday that gunmen ambushed a WFP convoy in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda, killing a WFP driver and forcing the agency to suspend temporarily its operations in support of half a million drought-affected people in the region.

Richard Achuka, 41, was shot in the neck and shoulder and died yesterday when the gunmen attacked a convoy of four WFP trucks in Kotido District as they returned from delivering food to schools and other sites in neighbouring Kaabong District. Achuka was driving the lead truck in the convoy, which was escorted by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.

The attackers fled as the escorting soldiers and three other trucks arrived at the ambush site.

“WFP condemns this vicious attack on a clearly marked WFP humanitarian convoy in the strongest terms and demands that the killers be pursued and brought to justice,” said WFP Country Director Tesema Negash, who visited the site of the ambush today. “WFP has no choice but to temporarily suspend our activities in Karamoja until security is improved.”

For more information please contact Lydia.wamala@wfp.org

DARFUR: SG CONDEMNS ATTACK ON BLUE HELMETS

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday strongly condemned the recent killing of a United Nations officer in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

He also deplored the armed hijacking of a UN convoy yesterday, during which three vehicles were stolen and the passengers robbed.

“It is unacceptable that those working to bring stability and life-saving humanitarian assistance to Darfur continue to be targeted,” his spokesperson said in a statement. “All parties must urgently adhere to the ceasefire and support the activities of the United Nations and the African Union (AU) in this beleaguered region of Sudan.”

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

SIERRA LEONE: UN HELPING POLITICAL PARTIES BECOME MEDIA-SAVVY

Representatives of registered political parties in Sierra Leone are honing their communications skills yesterday at a media workshop organized by the United Nations in the capital city Freetown.
Members of eight parties will be helped “to effectively communicate their messages through the news media, and to encourage qualified political dialogue,” according to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), which is organizing the event with the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The workshop will be facilitated by Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, a Ghanaian journalist for the BBC World Service and a representative of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ).

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

DR CONGO: UN CONDEMNS RECENT MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS

The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) on Monday spoke out against a recent massacre in the country’s troubled east, calling on the authorities to find and punish those responsible.

In a news release, MONUC confirmed that on the night of 26 May, a group of 10 to 12 militiamen, purported to be with “FDLR/Rastas,” attacked the villages of Nyabuluze and Muhungu in the South Kivu Province, killing 18 civilians, among them women and children, and wounding 27. A dozen and a half people were also abducted in the same incident.

The mission said it “strongly and unequivocally condemns this horrible massacre of innocent civilians,” noting that the victims were all killed or wounded in their sleep by attackers who “chose machetes, bayonets, knives and clubs over firearms to kill silently and avoid detection.”

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

INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS OF MISTREATMENT SAYS SG

The United Nations Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has requested an investigation into the treatment of all militia held by its Ituri Brigade Battalions in February 2005 following allegations of mistreatment.

The request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), William Lacy Swing, came in response to a letter of complaint received last month from a former captured combatant of the Front Nationaliste et Intégrationiste militia (FNI) alleging mistreatment while in detention at the Bangladesh Battalion for four days in late February 2005, and demanding compensation.

“Upon instructions from the Mission Force Commander, MONUC Military Police (MP) investigated these allegations and submitted its draft report on 19 May,” the mission said in a news release, stressing that “all allegations of this nature are taken very seriously.”

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

UN APPROVES STRUCTURE OF UN/AU FORCE IN DARFUR

The Security Council on Friday 25th May called for the immediate implementation of a joint report of the United Nations and the African Union (AU) that sets out the mandate and structure for the planned hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping mission for the violence-wracked Darfur region of Sudan.

“The Security Council notes that agreement between the African Union and the United Nations on this joint report is an important development in the comprehensive approach to the peace process in Darfur,” the 15-member body declared in a statement read out by its May President, Zalmay Khalilzad of the United States.

The new mission will be the final phase in a three-step process in which the UN is supporting and enhancing the existing but under-resourced AU peacekeeping mission to Darfur, known as AMIS. Most of the troops in the hybrid force will be African.

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

UN AROUND THE WORLD

SECRETARY-GENERAL SOLEMNLY HONOURS FALLEN UN PEACEKEEPERS

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday paid tribute to the memory of the more than 100 United Nations personnel who lost their lives in the cause of peace during 2006 and pledged to safeguard the security of those now working in operations across the world.

At a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the world body’s Headquarters in New York held in connection with the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, Mr. Ban pointed out that UN operations are a model of burden-sharing among countries “but we must never forget that the brunt of this burden is borne by individuals.”

After observing a moment of silence along with dozens of UN uniformed and civilian personnel who have worked on missions in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, Mr. Ban noted that a number of those present had lost colleagues and friends.

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

FORMAL DISCIPLINE STANDARDS FOR PEACEKEEPERS NEEDED, SAYS UN OFFICIAL

Troop-contributing countries must accept the introduction of formal discipline standards for United Nations peacekeepers or risk jeopardizing the world body’s entire recent campaign to improve the actions of its personnel in the field, the UN’s top peacekeeping official said yesterday.

Discussions are about to resume with UN Member States on a proposed memorandum of understanding setting out standards for the estimated 100,000 peacekeepers operating in 18 separate missions around the world, Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guéhenno told a press conference in response to questions from journalists.

The standards, which would be contained in a memorandum of understanding, are being proposed as part of the Secretariat’s response to a series of scandals in recent years over the behaviour – most notoriously involving sexual exploitation and abuse – by some UN peacekeepers.

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

INDEPENDENT UN TEAM HEADS TO LEBANON TO ASSESS BORDER SECURITY

A five-member United Nations team is heading to Lebanon next week to assess the monitoring of the country’s border with Syria.

The team, comprised of experts in border security, police, customs and military issues, is scheduled to arrive in Beirut on Monday and then spend two to three weeks in the country, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters yesterday.

Known as the Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team, it will hold consultations with Lebanese officials and bilateral partners already assisting Lebanon on border monitoring, review existing border security arrangements and travel to the border region.

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

SG HEADS TO BERLIN FOR TOP-LEVEL QUARTET MEETING ON MIDDLE EAST

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is on his way to Berlin to attend today’s high-level meeting of the Middle East Quartet, the international diplomatic grouping trying to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

The talks in the German capital will take place at a time of mounting concern at the situation in the region after a wave of deadly violence involving intra-Palestinian clashes, Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli military operations.

“The Quartet meeting comes at a timely juncture to review recent developments in Gaza and in Israel,” Mr. Ban spokesperson Michele Montas told journalists yesterday. “The Secretary-General hopes that this meeting will also be an opportunity to discuss the way ahead for a definition of a political horizon in the Middle East peace process.”

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

RISING DEATH TOLL PROMPTS UN WARNING ON PROTECTING AFGHAN CIVILIANS

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is stepping up its efforts to better protect civilians amid the recent wave of fighting involving the Taliban, other terrorist groups and Government forces that has led to the deaths of hundreds of people and injuries to thousands more.

UNAMA plans to hold a national conference in August that will bring together the Government, Afghan forces, the international military presence and Afghan civil society to examine ways to ensure the safety and welfare of all communities, the Mission said in a press release issued on Monday in the capital, Kabul.

In recent weeks UNAMA staff have held consultations with local communities in conflict-affected areas of Afghanistan, including the cities of Jalalabad, Assadabad, Gardez, Herat and Kandahar.

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

30,000 RETURNEES IN SRI LANKA DOING WELL DESPITE LACK OF PREPARATION – UN

Some 30,000 displaced Sri Lankan civilians who fled heavy fighting in February between Government and rebel troops have returned home and are doing well despite receiving little advance information about local conditions, the United Nations refugee agency said yesterday.
“We will continue to support the Government in assisting displaced people to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity,” Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday in Geneva.

The villagers, who left West Batticaloa in the eastern part of the island as the Government fought to dislodge the forces of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are the first of approximately 90,000 people the Government plans to resettle with the help of UNHCR over the coming months.

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