UN Gazeti

Wednesday 14 May 2008

Issue No. 264

UN Observances

UN IN KENYA

KILLING OF KENYA STAFFER SECOND LOSS THIS WEEK FOR WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has spoken out against the murder of the head of its office in north-western Kenya who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, the second such killing of the agency’s staff last week.

Silence Chirara, a 37-year-old father of two who was coordinator of WFP’s logistics operation for southern Sudan, was ambushed on 7 May while driving a clearly marked UN vehicle in the town of Lokichoggio. The gunmen escaped.

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

UN IN AFRICA

UN VOICES CONCERN OVER POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED VIOLENCE IN ZIMBABWE

The United Nations yesterday expressed its concern over rising political violence in Zimbabwe, allegedly perpetrated by security forces, youth militias, war veterans and gangs of supporters of both the ruling ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The world body’s top official in the Southern African nation, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Agustino Zacarias, said the UN country team has received an increasing number of reports calling for humanitarian aid for those impacted by this violence in recent weeks.

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

SG ‘DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED’ AT CONTINUING VIOLENCE IN DARFUR

Ongoing military activities by Darfur’s rebel groups as well as reprisal actions by the Sudanese Government and its allied militia are costing lives and limiting humanitarian operations in the strife-torn region, the United Nations Secretary-General says on 12 May.

In his monthly report to the Security Council on the joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, Ban Ki-moon says he is “deeply disappointed that the parties continue to resort to violence and thus perpetuate the conflict in Darfur” that has raged since 2003.

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

AFRICA FASTEST GROWING MARKET IN COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Africa has been the fastest growing market worldwide in communication technology over the past three years and will continue to emerge as an important market for the industry, according to the head of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Speaking at the opening of a major trade fair for the African telecommunications industry on 12 May in Cairo, Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the ITU, said the African information and communication technologies industry “is an exciting place to be. Market liberalization continues and most countries have established regulatory bodies to ensure a fair, competitive and enabling environment.” The trade fair, called “ITU Telecom Africa,” was inaugurated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

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

TALKS BEGIN BETWEEN SOMALI GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION GROUP

Talks between the Somali Government and an opposition group began on 12 May, and the top United Nations envoy to the war-torn Horn of Africa nation said that he was pleased that leaders have made the well-being and safety of their people their priority.

“Many, especially the young people, told me that this is a new and important first step towards stability in their own country,” said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said after the opening ceremony for the discussion held in neighbouring Djibouti.

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

UN PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION DELEGATION KICKS OFF VISIT TO BURUNDI

A delegation from the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) – established to help countries recovering from war avoid sliding back into conflict – began a six-day mission to Burundi to assess how to help the small Central African nation rebuild.

Led by Ambassador Johan L. Løvald, Permanent Representative of Norway, the seven-member team will meet with Government authorities and representatives of regional groups including the African Union (AU) and the Conference on the Great Lakes Region, civil society, women's groups, the private sector, religious leaders and journalists.

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

SOUTHERN CHAD RELATIVELY STABLE DESPITE INFLUX OF REFUGEES

A good level of security prevails in southern Chad, despite concerns over road banditry and an influx of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR), says the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the two countries.

The refugees are arriving from the border town of Gore, where local officials met a delegation from the UN mission, known as MINURCAT, on 5 May.

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

 UN AROUND THE WORLD

‘BILLION TREE CAMPAIGN’ BLOSSOMS TO SEVEN TIMES ITS SIZE, UNEP SAYS

A grassroots campaign to plant trees around the globe has announced that it is raising its target from 1 billion trees to 7 billion trees, the United Nations announced yesterday.

The campaign, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and Prince Albert II of Monaco, also announced yesterday that in 18 months it has seen two billion trees planted, double its original target.

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

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT HOLDS TALKS WITH ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN LEADERS

General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim met yesterday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the last leg of his official visit to the Middle East, stressing the need for a comprehensive peace settlement in the region.

Mr. Kerim held talks in Jerusalem with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and senior members of the Knesset, the country’s parliament, including the Speaker, Dalia Itzik.

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

TWO SENIOR UN APPOINTMENTS OUTLINED BY SG

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday announced the details of two new appointments in senior positions in the world body in areas ranging from internal management of the Organization to economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Angela Kane of Germany, currently serving as Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Political Affairs, becomes the new Under-Secretary-General for Management, Mr. Ban’s spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

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

SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS CALL FOR MORE COHERENT APPROACH TO SECURITY SECTOR REFORM

United Nations support for security sector reform in countries attempting to rebuild after suffering through conflicts must become more coherent and streamlined if it is to be successful, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on 12 May.

Addressing a debate on the issue, Mr. Ban said that while the Organization “has rich and varied experience” in helping countries – from El Salvador and Colombia in the past to Liberia and Sierra Leone on 12 May – reform their armed forces, police and other segments of the security sector, too often the UN has “remained an ad hoc partner” to other national or international bodies in this process.

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

UNHCR SUSPENDS RETURNS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has temporarily suspended the repatriation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan through Peshawar because of concerns over security.

A spokesperson for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Nilab Mobarez, told a news conference in Kabul on 12 May that the UNHCR-assisted voluntary return operation had been suspended because of security considerations in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar.

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

WFP STEPS UP AID TO CYCLONE-STRICKEN MYANMAR

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on 11 May announced that its food aid has reached more than 27,000 people in the areas of the Irrawaddy delta hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis, which left a path of death and destruction after striking Myanmar last week.

“In an encouraging development, 28 tons of high-energy biscuits – which arrived in Yangon on 9 May and are enough to feed 95,000 with first rations – were on 10 May handed to WFP,” the agency said on its website.

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

UN, FIFA JOIN FORCES TO SCORE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 deadline for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the world body and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association have agreed to further their collaboration to enhance the role of sports in furthering peace.

The decision was reached at a meeting on 9 May at FIFA headquarters in Zurich between the football organization’s President, Joseph S. Blatter, and Wilfried Lemke, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace.

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

MARTIN LUTHER KING AN ‘UNSURPASSED ADVOCATE’ OF UN VALUES, SAYS SG

Viewing original papers written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta – the city he called home – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 8 May paid tribute to the renowned United States civil rights leader, saying the values he lived and died for are shared by the United Nations.

“Dr. King remains an unsurpassed advocate of all the UN stands for: peace, economic and social justice, and human rights,” Mr. Ban told an audience of dignitaries, students, faculty and members of the UN Association of the US in the exhibition hall of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, part of the Atlanta University Center.

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