UN Gazeti
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Issue No. 261
UN Observances
23 April |
World Book and Copyright Day |
3 May |
World Press Freedom Day |
UN IN KENYA
KENYA FACING FOOD SHORTAGE BECAUSE OF RISING PRICES – UN AID OFFICIALS
Worries over a possible food shortage in Kenya – where tensions are still running high despite the recent announcement of a new power-sharing Government – are on the rise due to surging food prices worldwide, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on 18th April 2008.
Further complicating the situation in the East African nation is the fungi that have reportedly destroyed 5,600 hectares of rice in Central Province, where between 10 and 20 percent of the country’s annual production is harvested.
For more information, visit: http://www.irinnews.org
UN IN AFRICA
ONUS ON ETHIOPIA, ERITREA TO RESOLVE DISPUTE, SAYS TOP UN PEACEKEEPING OFFICIAL
Ethiopia and Eritrea are primarily responsible for settling their border dispute and must follow up on the commitments they made in an accord in 2000, the top United Nations peacekeeping official stressed yesterday.
Given Eritrea’s announcement yesterday that it no longer supports the UN peacekeeping presence, known as UNMEE, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno told reporters following a closed Security Council meeting on the situation between the Horn of Africa neighbours that “now we are reaching the end of what peacekeeping can achieve.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BAN KI-MOON PLEDGES CONTINUED UN SUPPORT FOR LIBERIA’S POST-CONFLICT RECOVERY
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday pledged the continued assistance of the United Nations to Liberia, which he said has made great strides in recovering from a brutal decade-long civil war, but still faces daunting challenges in areas such as security, rule of law and development, as he wrapped up a visit to the West African nation.
“I have come to Liberia to see at first hand the remarkable achievements your country has made in recovering from a devastating conflict. And I have come to reassure the Liberian people of my steadfast commitment to peace, stability and prosperity in your nation,” Mr. Ban said in an address to a joint session of the Liberian legislature in the capital, Monrovia.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
START OF SUDANESE CENSUS WELCOMED BY UN PEACEKEEPING MISSION
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has welcomed yesterday’s start of the African country’s historic nationwide census, which aims to count all Sudanese people and households in preparation for elections scheduled for next year.
UNMIS commended the two parties to the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) – the Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) – ending the long-running north-south civil war for ensuring that the census can take place.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AT FIVE-YEAR MARK, DARFUR CRISIS IS ONLY WORSENING – UN AID CHIEF
Five years after fighting first erupted in Darfur between Sudanese Government forces and rebel groups, the world has still not found a durable solution to the suffering of millions of people in the region, the United Nations humanitarian chief told the Security Council yesterday, warning the situation will only deteriorate unless urgent measures are taken.
John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told a Council meeting that he was saddened and angry to inform them that the situation inside Darfur had only worsened in the past 12 months, despite the efforts of the international community.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
TRADE AND INVESTMENT KEYS TO SPURRING AFRICA’S GROWTH, SAYS BAN KI-MOON
Increased trade and investment, particularly in agriculture, are crucial if Africa is to achieve the kind of growth needed to meeting its development targets, as well as to address the current global food crisis, which threatens to undo the gains made so far, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.
“We face a development emergency,” Mr. Ban told the high-level segment of the twelfth UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), taking place in Accra, Ghana.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
DR CONGO AND RWANDA ASSESS PROGRESS IN DEALING WITH ARMED GROUPS – UN
Representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda met in New York in United Nations-chaired talks to review progress in dealing with armed groups.
The Central African neighbours signed the Joint Nairobi Communiqué, under which the two nations agreed to work together against threats to peace and stability in the region.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BAN KI-MOON SOUNDS ALARM ON VIOLENCE IN SOMALI CAPITAL
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday voiced deep concern over this weekend’s heavy fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, and deplored the substantial number of civilian deaths and injuries that have been suffered.
In a statement, Mr. Ban “urges parties to the conflict in Mogadishu to refrain from the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force that endangers the lives of civilians, particularly in heavily populated civilian areas, and reminds them that any targeting of non-combatants is a violation of international law.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH ZIMBABWEAN OPPOSITION LEADER OVER ELECTION CRISIS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has held talks on Monday with Zimbabwean opposition leader and presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai over the protracted post-election crisis in the Southern African country.
Mr. Ban and Mr. Tsvangirai met for half an hour in Accra, Ghana, at the request of the opposition figure, the Secretary-General told journalists after the tête-à-tête.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ON NEXT LEG OF WEST AFRICAN TOUR, BAN KI-MOON RECEIVES KEYS TO LIBERIAN CAPITAL
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday received the keys to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, as he arrived in the West African country for the second leg of a four-nation regional tour.
Mr. Ban was greeted by Vice-President Joseph N. Boakai and an honour guard, comprising personnel from the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), after touching down in Monrovia.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
DARFUR: UN, AFRICAN UNION ENVOYS HOLD FRESH TALKS WITH LEADERS OF REBEL GROUPS
19 April 2008 – The United Nations and African Union envoys spearheading efforts to devise a durable political settlement to the five-year conflict in Darfur have held several days of talks in the Sudanese region with representatives of the groups and movements that have not signed previous peace accords.
Jan Eliasson of the UN and Salim Ahmed Salim of the AU met with Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), in a rebel-controlled area of West Darfur yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS ‘SILENT TSUNAMI’ THREATENING OVER 100 MILLION PEOPLE, WARNS UN
The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday called for urgent action to tackle the “silent tsunami” of rising food prices which threatens to push more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger.
“This is the new face of hunger – the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, after addressing a British parliamentary hearing in London.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ACTRESS, UN OFFICIALS URGE SUPPORT FOR CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Academy-Award winning actress and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman and senior world body officials yesterday issued a call for greater support for an online petition aimed at eliminating violence against women.
“Every voice counts, and every amount counts,” Ms. Kidman told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, urging people to add their names to the campaign and donors to step up funding for the cause. “Let survivors of violence around the world know that they can count on us.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AFGHAN VICTIMS OF PAST ABUSES FIND VOICE IN NEW UN-BACKED PLAY
A new United Nations-supported theatre show that premiered in Kabul yesterday highlights the need to deal with the impunity of past human rights abuses spanning nearly three decades of conflict in Afghanistan and provides an opportunity for victims to have their voices heard.
Named after an anonymous Afghan prisoner known as ‘AH-5787,’ the show illustrates how many Afghans continue to carry the pain of the country’s strife-filled past and how victims struggle to find a way to deal with incidents of violence.
For more information please contact http://www.un.org/news
UN’S TOP POLITICAL OFFICIAL URGES NEIGHBOURS TO SUPPORT IRAQ
The United Nations political chief yesterday urged further dialogue and stronger support by Iraq’s neighbours for stabilizing the strife-torn country, including through the opening of embassies in Baghdad.
“The support of neighbouring countries is essential for the stability of Iraq,” Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe told a ministerial meeting of Iraq and its neighbours in Kuwait yesterday, the third meeting of its kind since last year focusing on issues such as energy, refugees and border security.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN HONOURS SEVEN LEADERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) yesterday acknowledged seven luminaries in the fight against global warming as this year’s Champions of the Earth.
The recipients of the award, which is in its fourth year, include Prince Albert II of Monaco and Balgis Osman-Elasha, a Sudanese climate researcher who has effectively piloted climate-proofing strategies in some of the most affected areas in the world.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AS CANCER CASES RISE IN ALBANIA, UN AGENCIES JOIN FORCES TO HELP FIGHT DISEASE
The United Nations nuclear watchdog and the world body’s health agency are teaming up to try to slow the spread of cancer in Albania, where the number of diagnosed cases has surged in the past two decades.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have helped Albanian authorities draft a national cancer control programme to serve the small country’s population of 3.6 million people, IAEA said in a news report issued yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AGENCY APPEALS FOR $3 MILLION TO AID YEMENIS DISPLACED BY CONFLICT
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is seeking nearly $3 million to assist some 77,000 people affected by a local conflict which erupted between a rebel group and government forces in northern Yemen in 2004.
According to the agency, about half of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) returned to their homes in the Sa'adah Governorate after a ceasefire was signed in August 2007. However, renewed fighting has led to new displacements, and despite a peace agreement signed in January 2008, the situation remains volatile.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GAZA: UN AND PARTNERS SET TO MEET ON CRITICAL HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
The Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO) yesterday reported that the world body and international agencies operating in the Gaza Strip were expected to hold an emergency gathering to review the increasingly dire humanitarian situation there.
If fuel is not allowed in by tomorrow, Gaza’s power plant will be forced to halt operations and there will be electricity cuts in most areas lasting as long as eight hours per day, UNSCO said ahead of the scheduled meeting.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
POOREST COUNTRIES HAVE YET TO BENEFIT FROM TRADE LIBERALIZATION – UN OFFICIAL
Landlocked and least developed countries (LDCs) have been further marginalized as a result of trade liberalization, which has led to increased growth in many parts of the world, a senior United Nations official has said.
Addressing the 12th UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), taking place in Accra, Ghana, Cheick Sidi Diarra lamented the fact that many of these countries h
ave experienced a further loss of their market share as a result of trade liberalization.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN MEETING EXPLORES HOW TO BOOST ECONOMIES OF LANDLOCKED DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Experts from Asia and Europe have gathered at a United Nations-backed meeting which opened yesterday in Bangkok to discuss progress made in efforts to link landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) in the Asia-Pacific region to sea ports.
The two-day talks will centre around assessing developments since the adoption of the UN’s Almaty Programme of Action in 2003, which is the first global action plan negotiated at the ministerial level that provides a framework for cooperation between landlocked and the transit access developing countries, promising reductions in red tape and transportation costs and time.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
THOUSANDS GATHER AS ANNUAL INDIGENOUS FORUM KICKS OFF AT UN HEADQUARTERS
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meets at “a historic crossroads,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the opening session on Monday as some 3,300 participants from around the world converged on UN Headquarters in New York for the two-week event.
Last year’s adoption by world leaders of the landmark UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples means this year’s Permanent Forum – established in 2000 – is taking on a new role, Mr. Ban said in a video message.
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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