UN Gazeti
Wednesday 12 March 2008
Issue No. 258
UN Observances
| 02 February 2008 |
International Mother Language Day |
22 March 2008 |
World Water Day |
23 March 2008 |
World Meteorological Day |
UN IN KENYA
ACHIM STEINER SAY EARLY RECOVERY OF NATURE TOURISM CRUCIAL IN KENYA
Nature tourism in Kenya, which plummeted some 90 per cent during the recent post-election violence, can play a key role in restoring the east African country’s stability, economy and biodiversity, the United Nations environment chief said on 6th 2008.
“Tourism, based in the main around Kenya’s fabled wildlife and natural landscapes, has historically been a centre-piece of the economy and for job creation,” Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), said on his departure to Berlin, Germany, which this week is hosting one of the world’s biggest tourism fairs.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news/
UN IN AFRICA
TOP UN OFFICIAL URGES PRESSURE ON DARFUR COMBATANTS TO LAY DOWN ARMS
Recent fierce fighting in Sudan’s devastated Darfur region makes it clear that the international effort to protect the population is at dire risk unless the parties are pressured to negotiate a peace, at top United Nations peacekeeping official said yesterday.
“With the Government intent on military action and the rebels either fighting or fragmenting, it is difficult to see an opening for political negotiations,” Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said as he briefed the Security Council on UNAMID, the hybrid African Union-UN force in Darfur.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BAN KI-MOON FULFILS PLEDGE OF $10,000 TO ASSIST SURVIVORS IN RWANDA
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday fulfilled his promise to provide a donation of $10,000 for survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Mr. Ban handed a check in that amount, from the Secretary-General’s Trust Fund for Special Projects, to Rwandan Ambassador Joseph Nsengimana in New York.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AND PARTNERS PINPOINT UNMET HUMANITARIAN NEEDS IN LIBERIA
The United Nations system in Liberia, along with the Government and humanitarian partners, yesterday issued a list of basic needs in health care, clean drinking water, sanitation, and food security that are not being met in the West African country.
“The delivery of basic services is vital for Liberia’s continued stability and development,” noted Jordan Ryan, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, which is recovering from a devastating 15-year civil war.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT JOINS CASES OF TWO CONGOLESE REBEL LEADERS
The pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has ruled that it will join the cases of two rebel leaders facing charges for crimes allegedly committed by their militia groups in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2003.
Judges at the ICC, which is based in The Hague, determined yesterday that Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui will have their trials held together, starting later this year.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AGENCIES BEGIN RELIEF EFFORTS FOLLOWING DEADLY CYCLONE IN MOZAMBIQUE
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are spearheading the world body’s relief efforts in northern and central Mozambique, where Cyclone Jokwe struck the coast at the weekend with winds of up to 200 kilometres per hour.
At least seven people are reported killed and thousands left homeless after their houses were partially or totally destroyed, while many towns and villages have no electricity because of damage to power line infrastructure.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
OVER 700 BLUE HELMETS RELOCATED OUT OF ERITREA
More than 700 peacekeepers have been temporarily relocated to their home countries from Eritrea, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) reported.
A total of 397 Jordanian blue helmets and 305 Indian troops have returned to their respective countries, and the Mission notes that more flights out of Asmara are scheduled for next week to fly remaining UN personnel in Eritrea home.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GRENADE ATTACKS AGAINST BURUNDIAN LAWMAKERS ALARM SECRETARY-GENERAL
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern at the simultaneous grenade attacks at the weekend in Bujumbura, the Burundian capital, on the homes of four parliamentarians.
Mr. Ban “calls on national authorities to continue to give this serious incident the attention it deserves and to bring the perpetrators to justice without delay,” his spokesperson said in a statement released yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ATTACK BY LIBERIAN CONTRACTORS CONDEMNED BY UN MISSION
The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has condemned yesterday’s early morning attack on its personnel and vehicles close to its logistics headquarters in the capital, Monrovia, that forced at least three staff to seek medical attention.
Between 16 and 20 individuals, believed to be former individual contractors with the mission angry over a change to its maintenance contract, burned two jeeps and damaged a third vehicle at Star Base on Bushrod Island, Monrovia, about 6:30 a.m., UNMIL said in a statement.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG SAY URGENT ACTION CRUCIAL FOR AFRICA TO MEET ITS DEVELOPMENT TARGETS
10 March 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged scaled-up action – including raising agricultural productivity across Africa – so that the continent can meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015.
This year could be “the year of opportunity for the ‘Bottom Billion,’” Mr. Ban told reporters after chairing the second meeting of the so-called MDG Africa Steering Group in New York. “Tremendous gains are possible if the international community translates commitment to deliverables.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
SG DEPLORES DOUBLE SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN PAKISTAN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his shock and sadness at learning of this morning’s twin suicide bombings in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore that have killed more than two dozen people and injured scores of others.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban “strongly condemns these indiscriminate acts of terrorism and expresses condolences to the families of the victims.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
PEACEKEEPING GROWS YET INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT UNEVEN
The international community’s often faltering support for United Nations peacekeeping operations was making it difficult to maintain gains in key conflict areas, even though the UN has greatly boosted its operations in this field, top officials of the Organization have warned.
“A serious failure in one of our missions would be enough to put at risk the credibility of the whole of peacekeeping, which we have worked so hard to restore over the past few years,” Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
WAR CRIMES TRIAL OF FORMER TOP CROATIAN GENERALS BEGINS AT UN TRIBUNAL
The trial of three former senior Croatian generals accused of murdering, persecuting and displacing ethnic Serbs during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s got under way at a United Nations war crimes tribunal yesterday.
Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac have pleaded not guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to ‘Operation Storm,’ a 1995 military offensive in the Krajina region of Croatia.
For more information please contact http://www.un.org/news
SG NAMES TOP OFFICIAL FOR LEBANON TRIBUNAL
A veteran of numerous international court proceedings has been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the Registrar of the tribunal being set up to try those responsible for political killings in Lebanon, particularly the 2005 attack that killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Robin Vincent of the United Kingdom will start his duties on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon at a date yet to be determined, but “the appointment of the Registrar reflects the steady progress being accomplished in establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/n
LANDMARK UNICEF RESEARCH SHOWS INJURIES A FATAL PROBLEM FOR ASIAN CHILDREN
Injuries resulting from drowning, suffocation and road accidents are among the leading killers of Asian children, according to groundbreaking research by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is appealing for scaled-up injury prevention initiatives.
The survey, conducted jointly with the Alliance for Safe Children (TASC) over the past seven years, highlights that the risk of death from injuries rises after infancy as children become more independent and as the danger from infectious and non-communicable diseases drops.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG SAY ANY WEAKNESS IN UN’S DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURE REFLECTS GLOBALLY
The entire international system’s efforts to boost development are weakened if the United Nations’ machinery in this area is not backed by appropriate resources, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned yesterday.
In an informal briefing to the General Assembly on proposals to reform the world body’s development work, Mr. Ban warned that in spite of increased mandates, the UN’s resources to deliver on them has decreased.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN MISSION MUST CONTINUE CONTROL OVER KOSOVO, SERBIA TELLS SECURITY COUNCIL
The situation on the ground in Kosovo has deteriorated since its Provisional Institutions of Self-Government declared independence last month, Serbia’s Foreign Minister told the Security Council yesterday, calling for Belgrade and Pristina to meet again to try to work out a different resolution to their dispute over Kosovo’s status.
Vuk Jeremic told a Council meeting that the “unilateral, illegal and illegitimate declaration of independence” had brought dangerous consequences to both the region and to global affairs, including “a direct assault on the innate operating logic of the international system.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE INTERNET ACCESS IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has launched a new database to promote the development of telecentres – community centres where people in the poorest and most remote areas, from farmers to students, gain access to computers and the Internet.
The Telecentre Online Database, covering over 12,000 telecentres in 16 countries, seeks to support research and information exchange for those involved with these e-centres. It also provides statistical data and information on individual countries and specific projects, with information accessible by a keyword search.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AS HALF A MILLION FACE HUNGER, AID TO TAJIKISTAN UNDERFUNDED
More than half a million Tajiks could soon face food shortages as a severe winter turns to flooding and an appeal for $25 million remains only one-quarter funded, a United Nations spokesperson said yesterday.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), long-awaited warmer temperatures have replaced snow with intense rains and avalanches, mudflows and floods threaten much of the country.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN RUSHES AID TO 60,000 FLOOD-BELEAGUERED ECUADORIANS
United Nations agencies are rushing food, medicines and other assistance to Ecuador to assist tens of thousands of people in need after heavy rains have inundated much of the South American country.
Some 3,000 families, or around 13,000 people, have been forced from their homes by the two weeks of flooding, some of the country’s worst in two decades, and are residing in over 300 shelters.
PARTNERSHIP IN SLASHING HIV/AIDS TO BE FOCUS OF UN-BACKED MEETING
Major actors in the worldwide struggle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic will share experiences of how partnerships can expand the reach of their programmes at a meeting co-sponsored by the United Nations this June in Uganda, where the infection rate has been slowed and around half those infected reached by treatment.
“Sharing best practices and lessons learned in implementing programmes is an essential part of informing future AIDS programming,” Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS said of the meeting, entitled: “Scaling Up Through Partnerships: Overcoming Obstacles to Implementation.”
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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