UN Gazeti
Wednesday 16 April 2008
Issue No. 260
UN Observances
23 April |
World Book and Copyright Day |
3 May |
World Press Freedom Day |
UN IN KENYA
RELIEF AGENCIES APPEAL FOR FUNDS AS NEW GOVERNMENT NAMED
Relief agencies are seeking US$189 million for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and others affected by the post-election violence that rocked Kenya in January and February, as well as drought-affected areas.
The Kenya Emergency Humanitarian Response Plan appeal is a revised version of the one launched in January for $141.9 million by the UN agencies, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) and NGOs.
For more information, visit: http://www.irinnews.org
SG WELCOMES AGREEMENT ON KENYA’S COALITION GOVERNMENT
SG Ki-moon on Monday welcomed the agreement on a grand coalition Government in Kenya formed by both major parties following months of post-election violence in which 1,000 people were killed and more than 300,000 others forced to flee their homes.
“The Secretary-General encourages both parties to urgently address” issues related to finding a solution to the root causes of the crisis, a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news/
UN IN AFRICA
UN STAFF AMONG FEW SURVIVORS OF DEADLY PLANE CRASH IN EASTERN DR CONGO
Three United Nations staff members are among only a handful of survivors from yesterday’s plane crash in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has killed dozens of people, the UN peacekeeping mission to the country reports.
The mission, known as MONUC, said a Hewa Bora Airlines plane crashed soon after take-off at about 2:45 p.m. from the airport at Goma, close to the border with Rwanda. The Kinshasa-bound flight was carrying an estimated 80 passengers and six crew members.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
EASTERN DR CONGO WILL REMAIN FOCUS OF MISSION’S RESOURCES
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has made solid progress in trying to stabilize the volatile east of the country, but the continued presence of armed rebels and militias means the region will remain the overwhelming focus of its operations for some time, its chief told reporters yesterday.
Alan Doss, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to the DRC and the head of the mission, known as MONUC, said as much as 90 to 92 per cent of the total number of blue helmets are deployed across the east of the vast country, which is trying to rebuild after years of misrule and civil war.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN DISTRIBUTES AID TO REFUGEES LEFT HOMELESS AFTER CAMP BLAZE IN CHAD
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided temporary housing and relief supplies to more than 2,000 Darfurians who were left homeless after a fire swept through part of the Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad last week.
The agency has distributed mats, blankets, kitchen sets and jerry cans to some 2,130 refugees from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, who are currently being housed in three schools at the camp until family tents arrive in the coming days.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AID NEEDED TO FIGHT DRUG SMUGGLING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Smuggling routes in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa that were traditionally used for cigarettes, arms and illegal migrants are now becoming highways for cocaine, heroin and hashish, with kidnapping and banditry rife, the United Nations chief crime fighter warned yesterday.
“Policing such terrain is a challenge for any country, made even greater when resources are limited,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa told Western and Central African ministers at a session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, calling for increased technical assistance.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN-AU MISSION IN DARFUR TO PROBE MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS ABOUT STAFF MEMBER
The United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force in Sudan’s war-wracked Darfur region said yesterday that it has opened an investigation into allegations by local authorities that one of its staff has engaged in misconduct.
The officer, serving with the mission (known as UNAMID) in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, was detained by authorities on Sunday before being handed over to the mission, as per the status-of-forces agreement signed by the Sudanese Government and UNAMID.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN MISSION WELCOMES UNVEILING OF PRESIDENTIAL POLL DATE IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) today welcomed the announcement that the country’s much delayed presidential elections will now be held on 30 November this year.
The publication of the poll date “is one of the greatest achievements in the Ivorian peace process since the outbreak of the crisis more than four years ago,” UNOCI said in a press release issued in Abidjan.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
PROGRESS IN KEY AREAS WILL IMPACT UN DRAWDOWN IN LIBERIA, SAYS TOP OFFICIAL
Challenges related to security, rule of law and economic development must be addressed if Liberia is to solidify the progress made so far and the United Nations is to successfully draw down its presence there, the world body’s top official in the West African nation said on Monday.
“The hope and tranquillity we see on Monday is tempered by a tenuous and fragile peace,” Ellen Margrethe Løj, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Liberia, told a meeting of the Security Council on Monday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
LACK OF FUNDING COULD PUT HALF A MILLION IN CHAD AT RISK, WARN UN AID OFFICIALS
United Nations humanitarian officials have repeated their appeal for funds to support nearly half a million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Chad, noting that less than 20 per cent of the $290 million requested last December has been provided.
Only $51 million has been received so far for the 2008 Humanitarian Appeal for Chad, which covers 70 projects proposed by eight UN agencies and 14 non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNICEF TEAMS UP WITH V-DAY CAMPAIGN TO STOP RAPE IN DR CONGO
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the global movement to end violence against women and girls known as V-Day have launched a new partnership to end rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and ensure justice for the victims of this heinous crime.
The new partnership was announced by UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and playwright and V-Day founder Eve Ensler on Saturday during V-Day’s tenth anniversary celebrations in the United States city of New Orleans.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
INOCULATIONS IN MALI GET BOOSTER FROM BRAZILIAN VACCINE, UN AGENCY SAYS
A campaign to vaccinate 5.7 million people across southern Mali will begin tomorrow thanks to the first-ever ‘South-South’ dose supply from South America’s only manufacturer of yellow fever vaccine, the United Nations health agency said on 11 April 2008.
Three million doses are coming from the Brazilian company Bio Manguinhos while the other three million doses will be provided by Sanofi Pasteur – one of the other manufacturers of yellow fever vaccine pre-qualified by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
ROADBLOCKS LEAVE HUNDREDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES STRANDED IN PAKISTAN – UN
Hundreds of Afghan refugees set to leave Peshawar in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to return to their homeland have been left stranded after local tribal disputes shut down a key road between the two countries, the United Nations refugee agency reported yesterday.
Over 360 Afghan families that had been processed for repatriation from Peshawar on Monday were unable to leave due to the roadblock along the Peshawar-Torkham highway.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN-BACKED EFFORT TO REMOVE DANGEROUS NUCLEAR FUEL FROM SERBIA MOVES AHEAD
A global effort to remove dangerous spent fuel and decommission a Soviet-designed nuclear reactor in Serbia has cleared another major funding hurdle as part of a United Nations-backed initiative to close down potential sources of terrorism and proliferation.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday that together with the Serbian Government it recently signed a $8.63 million framework agreement with the European Commission (EC) to help fund decommissioning the reactor at Vinca reactor on the outskirts of Belgrade, the capital.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
WORKPLACE ATTITUDES TO HIV/AIDS VASTLY IMPROVED, REPORTS UN LABOUR AGENCY
Effective HIV policies have led to more supportive attitudes at the workplace towards co-workers living with the virus, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) says in a new report.
Prepared by the ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS in the world of work, “Saving lives, Protecting jobs” tracks changes in attitudes related to HIV and presents a series of good practices and data collected from workplaces, ministries of labour and employers’ and workers’ organizations.
For more information please contact http://www.un.org/news
EGYPTIAN ACTOR APPEALS FOR FUNDS TO HELP UN FEED IRAQI REFUGEES IN SYRIA
Egyptian actor Mahmoud Yassin, an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), has appealed for urgent funds for the agency’s operation in Syria which aims to feed some 360,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of this year.
The operation is facing a funding shortfall of 45 per cent, with WFP having received only $24 million out of the $44 million needed.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS UN OPERATION IN GEORGIA FOR FURTHER SIX MONTHS
The Security Council yesterday extended until 15 October the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), established in 1993 to verify compliance with a cessation of hostilities and separation of forces accord following the armed conflict between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.
In unanimously adopting the resolution extending UNOMIG, the 15-member body called on both sides to consolidate and build on recent improvements in the overall security situation along the ceasefire line, and underlined the need for “a period of sustained stability” along the line and in the Kodori Valley.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AGENCIES CALL ON ISRAEL TO IMMEDIATELY RESUME FULL FUEL SHIPMENTS TO GAZA
United Nations humanitarian and development agencies yesterday called on Israel to immediately resume the distribution of sufficient fuel to the Gaza Strip to allow Palestinians there to go about their normal daily lives.
“The current situation is a threat to the health and well-being of the population of the Gaza Strip, 56 per cent of whom are children,” a joint statement signed by eight UN bodies said. “The work of the United Nations organizations in Gaza has been severely hampered affecting schools, health facilities, and food distribution.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
FOOD PRODUCTION MUST BENEFIT WORLD’S POOR, URGE UN-BACKED SCIENTISTS
A United Nations-backed group of over 400 scientists are calling for a radical change to the way the world grows food to better serve the poor and hungry and to protect the planet’s resources.
Modern agriculture has brought significant increases in food production, but its benefits have been uneven and have come at a high cost to small-scale farmers, workers, rural communities and the environment, according to a new report by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG URGES IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM STEPS TO FIGHT ESCALATING FOOD CRISIS
SG Ki-moon on Monday called for both immediate and long-term measures to tackle the growing global food crisis, warning that it could not only push millions of people deeper into poverty but also have larger political and security implications.
“The rapidly escalating crisis of food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions,” he told a joint meeting in New York of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
CHORUS OF CONDEMNATION AT MURDER OF UN POLICE OFFICER IN HAITI
SG Ki-moon, the Security Council and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti have joined together to strongly condemn Saturday’s execution-style killing of a Nigerian police officer serving with the operation in the impoverished Caribbean country.
The plainclothes officer, a 36-year-old father, was with three other members of his formed police unit (FPU) near the cathedral in the Bel-Air district of the capital, Port-au-Prince, when he was dragged from his car and shot dead by unidentified gunmen, according to the mission, known as MINUSTAH.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN BACKS CONFERENCE TO PREVENT RECURRENCE OF CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN KURDISTAN
A United Nations-backed international conference is under way in Iraq’s Kurdistan region to draw up measures to prevent a recurrence of last year’s cholera outbreak, which saw more than 30,000 people fall ill with acute watery diarrhoea.
“Last year’s crisis demonstrated how crucial it is to embark on concerted efforts to urgently improve the delivery of basic services to the population in order that another outbreak of cholera does not occur again this year,” UN Development Programme (UNDP) country director Paolo Lembo told the gathering of the disease, which is spread by drinking contaminated water and in extreme cases can be fatal.
EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CLUBS TEAM UP WITH UN TO SCORE AGAINST WORLD HUNGER
The Association of the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) on Monday mustered its more than 900 member clubs to support the United Nations in its fight against hunger in the latest case of international sports teaming up with the Organization to advance humanitarian causes.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf signed a cooperation agreement in Lisbon with David Richards, EPFL President and Chairman of England’s Premier League, to promote a series of initiatives to sensitize the public on issues related to food security, including fund-raising.
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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