UN Gazeti
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Issue No. 238
UN Observances
UN IN KENYA
360 DEGREES FOR SECURITY SUPERVISORS IN NAIROBI
Security and Safety Services supervisors and senior managers at the UN Office at Nairobi took part in a training programme called "360 Degrees Peoples Management Training" last week.
The training programme focused on managerial and leadership skills.
For more information, visit: http://iseek.unon.un.org
UN IN AFRICA
EBOLA CLAIMS 160 LIVES IN DRC
At least 160 people have died in an outbreak of the highly lethal haemorrhagic Ebola virus in the centre of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday, announcing that it is rushing medical and supplies to the region to try to contain the disease.
Laboratory analysis conducted in Gabon and the United States on samples taken from cases in the outbreak have confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus, which causes death in 50 to 90 per cent of cases.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
THOUSANDS OF CONGOLESE REFUGEES ON UGANDAN SIDE OF BORDER
Some 25,000 to 30,000 Congolese refugees remain on the Ugandan side of the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after fleeing last week’s escalation in fighting among the Congolese army, renegade troops and rebels, the United Nations refugee agency reported yesterday.
“They are staying close to the border, keen to go back as soon as the situation improves,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva, noting that the situation in the DRC’s strife-torn North Kivu province has somewhat calmed since last Friday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
POVERTY PERSISTS DESPITE RECENT ECONOMIC GROWTH IN AFRICA
The recent economic growth among Africa’s poorest countries has been confined mainly to those nations with rich mineral resources and has not yet translated to a substantial reduction in poverty, the United Nations envoy for those nations said yesterday as he pledged to spearhead efforts to better distribute the emerging wealth.
Cheikh Sidi Diarra, who was appointed in July as the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, told his first press conference at UN Headquarters in New York that extreme poverty remains stubbornly high in the world’s most vulnerable nations.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNICEF ENVOY ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO FIGHTS FOR CHILDREN AT HOME
The singer and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo is touring her home country of Benin this week to raise awareness about the rights of children, spotlighting the importance of education and protection from exploitation and trafficking.
During her four-day trip, which began on Monday, 10th of September, Ms. Kidjo will take part in the launch of Benin’s girls’ education campaign, visit schools and meet with both women’s groups and child victims of human trafficking.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN HUMANITARIAN CHIEF CALLS FOR INCREASED PEACE EFFORTS IN EASTERN DRC
Increased dialogue and negotiation, and not a military solution, are crucial in protecting civilians from the violent clashes wracking the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes told the Security Council yesterday.
“We need strong, urgent and concerted political and diplomatic action, by the DRC Government, by the concerned governments of the region and by the international community as a whole,” he said in an address to the 15-member body.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
S.G. VOWS TO MAINTAIN DARFUR FOCUS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in New York on the 10th of September following an intensive, week-long visit to Sudan, Chad and Libya, vowed to maintain his focus on ending the conflict in Darfur and said the region’s leaders agree that next month’s peace talks to try to resolve the crisis there must serve as “a final phase for a final settlement.”
Mr. Ban told reporters at United Nations Headquarters that he had been encouraged by the results of his many meetings during his trip, including those with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, Chadian President Idriss Déby and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
S.G. WELCOMES PEACEFUL RUN-OFF ELECTIONS IN SIERRA LEONE
This weekend’s presidential run-off election in Sierra Leone was generally orderly and peaceful despite the violence and tensions preceding the polls, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday, 10th September, urging the country’s people to resolve any future disputes through legal channels.
Sierra Leoneans cast their ballots on 8th September in the second-round of presidential elections between Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People’s Congress and incumbent Vice-President Solomon Berewa of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, who are vying to succeed President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BENIN MINISTER APPOINTED HEAD OF UNCCD
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Luc Gnacadja, a former environment minister from Benin, as the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
“My objective is to make the Convention a forum for dialogue between the North and the South on how to use this instrument as a tool for poverty eradication and sustainable development for over 1 billion people suffering from the scourges of desertification and land degradation,” Mr. Gnacadja said in a recent statement.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
S.G. ARRIVES IN CHAD TO PRESS FOR PROTECTION OF REFUGEES
Aiming to press for an international presence to help protect refugees and displaced persons in Chad, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived on the 7th of September in the capital, N’djamena, where he held talks with the country’s President.
Mr. Ban began his day with a briefing on the humanitarian situation, in particular in eastern Chad, which is home to thousands of displaced persons as well as refugees fleeing the crisis in the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan, spokesperson Michele Montas told the press in New York.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
REPORTS OF CLASHES IN DARFUR ALARMS UN MISSION
Grave reports have emerged of fresh fighting between Sudanese Government armed forces and Darfur rebel groups in the south of the war-torn region, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported yesterday, raising alarm about the timing of attacks, which came on the heels of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to the country.
UNMIS said the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) – which is operating in Darfur until the hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force (UNAMID) takes over next year – reported that fierce fighting took place on Monday afternoon in the town of Haskanita in South Darfur state.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
UNHCR SAYS, IRAQIS PREVENTED FROM ENTERING SYRIA BY NEW VISA RULES
Many Iraqis fleeing violence in their home country have found their entry into Syria cut off because of new visa restrictions which went into effect on Monday, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
With the exception of certain professional categories – for commerce, science, transport and education – Iraqi refugees must apply for visas at the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad’s Al Mansour district, the scene of frequent sectarian violence. UNHCR has been told by Iraqis that travelling to the district to apply for visa poses great danger to them.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
TOP UN ENVOY IN AFGHANISTAN CALLS FOR TOTAL CESSATION OF VIOLENCE TO MARK PEACE DAY
The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan yesterday appealed for a total cessation of violence across the country on 21 September, marked around the world as International Day of Peace, and for days of tranquillity ahead of that date to allow for vital humanitarian initiatives to be carried out.
“In Afghanistan, we all know about conflict and insecurity,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Tom Koenigs told a news briefing in Kabul, the capital, where he was joined by representatives of almost every UN agency working in the country. “But what we have seen in these past weeks is that Afghanistan wants peace.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT INAUGURATES BAHRAINI EXHIBITION AT UN HEADQUARTERS
The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, has inaugurated a week-long exhibition at UN Headquarters in New York on development in Bahrain, to mark the award the UN-Habitat award the country’s prime minister, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The exhibition, organized by the Mission of Bahrain to the UN and dubbed “Bahrain: Making policy a reality, meeting the millennium challenges,” features the Middle Eastern country’s efforts to preserve the environment through responsible urban planning.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
FORMER HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER TO LEAD PANEL ON UNDP WORK IN DPR KOREA
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) yesterday announced the members of a panel, to be led by the former Prime Minister of Hungary, that will look into the agency’s activities in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The new panel will complement the work of the UN Board of Auditors, which since January, at the request of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has been examining UN activities in DPRK following media allegations that funds used by UN agencies to help in humanitarian efforts in the country were being channelled improperly to the Government in Pyongyang, including to its nuclear programme.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN-BACKED CONFERENCE ADOPTS GLOBAL PLAN TO SAFEGUARD GENETIC DIVERSITY OF LIVESTOCK
Delegates from 109 countries at a United Nations-backed conference have adopted the first internationally agreed framework, including financing for developing states, to halt the erosion of the genetic diversity of livestock, seen as crucial in mitigating the effects of global warming and protecting the world’s food supply.
“This is a milestone in international efforts to promote the wise management of the world’s animal genetic resources for food and agriculture,” UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Consumer Protection José María Sumpsi told the closing session of the first International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources in Interlaken, Switzerland.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
IAEA HELPS PROTECT AGAINST NUCLEAR TERRORISM AT BEIJING OLYMPICS
The United Nations atomic watchdog agency is providing expertise to support the security of major public events against the threat of nuclear terrorism, including ongoing preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
“The Agency’s nuclear security work has clearly improved overall nuclear security,” UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on his latest report on nuclear security and protection against nuclear terrorism.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNICEF AND FIFA KICK OFF ‘GOALS FOR GIRLS!’ CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE RIGHTS
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) have kicked off a new “Goals for Girls!” campaign which aims to promote education, gender equality and women’s rights through sport.
Launched on 7 September in conjunction with the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007, Goals for Girls! will use the competition as a platform to explain how educating girls not only helps eliminate gender discrimination but also contributes to addressing many of the most serious problems their communities face.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES PROGRESS AFTER ELECTIONS IN TIMOR-LESTE
Welcoming the formation of a new Government in Timor-Leste after recent legislative elections, the Security Council, on Monday, urged the small South-East Asian country’s political groups to resolve any differences or disputes through only peaceful channels.
Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said in a statement that the people of Timor-Leste, which the United Nations helped shepherd to independence in 2002, deserved credit “for demonstrating their strong commitment to peace and democracy” by successfully staging the polls.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
MARKING DAY TO PREVENT SUICIDE, UN STRESSES THAT PEOPLE OF ALL AGES CAN BE AT RISK
With one person taking their own life every 30 seconds, the United Nations was marking World Suicide Prevention Day on Monday by appealing for bolstered efforts to stem suicide rates among people of all ages.
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), 3,000 people kill themselves every day, and for every person who commits suicide, 20 or more may attempt it.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN TO SEND MISSION TO GUATEMALA TO SET UP BODY TO PROBE ILLEGAL ARMED GROUPS
A United Nations political mission will leave for Guatemala later this month to begin the preparations for establishing an independent body to investigate the presence and activities of illegal armed groups in the Central American country.
The announcement of the mission follows a meeting on 6 September at UN Headquarters in New York between Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe and a senior Guatemalan delegation led by Vice-President Eduardo Stein to discuss next steps toward setting up the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).
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
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