UN Gazeti
Wednesday 27 August 2008
Issue No. 278
UN Observances
| 8 September |
International Literacy Day |
| 16 September |
International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer |
| 1 October |
World Habitat Day |
UN IN AFRICA
UN MISSION IN DARFUR CONDEMNS ‘EXCESSIVE’ USE OF FORCE AT DISPLACED CAMP
The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) yesterday strongly condemned what it called the “excessive, disproportionate use of lethal forces” by Sudanese security forces against civilians during a raid inside a displaced persons’ camp in Darfur yesterday.
An estimated 64 people were killed and 117 others wounded as a result of yesterday’s exchange of gunfire inside the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South Darfur state, according to information provided to UNAMID staff who later visited the site.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECURITY COUNCIL URGES BURUNDI’S GOVERNMENT AND REBELS TO COMPLY WITH TRUCE
The Security Council yesterday welcomed the recent agreement by Government forces and rebels in Burundi to try to dismantle any roadblocks to the revised ceasefire agreement they signed in June.
In a statement to the press, Ambassador Jan Grauls of Belgium, which holds the Council presidency this month, called on the Government and the Palipehutu-FNL rebel group “to demonstrate flexibility in overcoming the obstacles” to the accord, known as the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN HUMANITARIAN CHIEF TO VISIT DROUGHT-RAVAGED ETHIOPIA
The United Nations relief chief will travel to Ethiopia next week to assess the situation in the Horn of Africa country first-hand, where millions of people need humanitarian aid because of a devastating drought and the soaring prices of many basic foods.
John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, is slated to arrive in Ethiopia next Monday and hold talks with Government officials, relief groups and individuals affected by the drought and food crisis.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN IFAD HELPS STRENGTHEN NIGERIA’S MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS
The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is providing a $27 million loan to fortify microfinance institutions in Nigeria in hope of creating a sustainable rural financial system in the West African nation.
The seven-year initiative, co-financed with the Ford Foundation, will create ties between microfinance institutions and formal financial mechanisms in one dozen Nigerian states.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN TRAINS FIRST BATCH OF MEMBERS OF JOINT POLICE UNIT IN DISPUTED SUDANESE TOWN
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have completed the first 10-day training session of members of the new joint integrated police unit in Abyei, a town at the centre of an area still contested after the end of the north-south civil war.
The new unit comprises 63 members of the Sudanese Government police and 105 members from the South Sudan police service and is tasked with restoring the rule of law and ensuring Abyei’s security so that the thousands of residents who fled the town after deadly fighting in May can safely return.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ENVOYS URGE CÔTE D’IVOIRE TO PRESS AHEAD WITH ELECTORAL PREPARATIONS
Senior United Nations officials in West Africa have stressed the importance of starting the identification and registration processes for the upcoming presidential polls in Côte d’Ivoire as soon as possible, voicing concern over delays in the preparations.
The chiefs of UN peacekeeping missions in West Africa, in a two-day meeting in Guinea-Bissau that ended yesterday, also welcomed the significant progress made in implementing the Ouagadougou Agreement, the 2007 political accord that aims to reconcile Côte d’Ivoire’s Government and the rebel Forces Nouvelles.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
LIBERIA DEATH PENALTY VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW, SAYS UN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY
The United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed deep concern yesterday at new death penalty legislation authorized by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, contravening an international treaty on civil and political rights.
The Committee – in charge of monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) – observed that Liberia is party to the Second Optional Protocol to that pact aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GENOCIDE TRIAL OF FORMER TOP RWANDAN ARMY OFFICER BEGINS AT UN TRIBUNAL
Prosecutors at the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan genocide have opened the trial of a former senior military officer alleged to have been one of the key architects of the mass killings.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ephrem Setako, 55, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of genocide, or alternatively complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity (murder and extermination), and violations of the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AGENCIES JOIN FORCES TO COMBAT ENVIRONMENTALLY-RELATED DISEASES IN AFRICA
A United Nations-sponsored conference that aims to tackle the environmental causes of diseases that claimed almost 2.5 million African lives each year begins in Gabon yesterday.
In 2002 alone millions of Africans died because of unsafe water, pollution, poor sanitation, inadequate waste disposal, insufficient disease control measures and exposure to chemicals.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
RESOLVING GEORGIAN CRISIS MAY BE HARDER AFTER RUSSIAN RECOGNITION MOVE
The question of recognition of States is a matter for sovereign States to decide, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday after Russia announced that it had recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two separatist regions in Georgia.
But he cautioned that “yesterday’s developments may have wider implications for security and stability in the Caucasus,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AT LEAST 90 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED IN RECENT MILITARY OPERATIONS, SAYS UN
An investigation by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has found that some 90 civilians, including 60 children, were among those killed during military operations in the strife-torn nation’s western Herat province last week.
A team of human rights officers from UNAMA went to Herat’s Shindand district to investigate reports that large numbers of civilian casualties were sustained during operations conducted by foreign and Afghan military personnel around midnight on 21 August.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ENVOY HOLDS TALKS WITH INDONESIAN OFFICIALS IN MYANMAR
The United Nations envoy to Myanmar held talks yesterday in Jakarta with senior Indonesian officials as part of his continuing consultations with regional leaders on the Asian country.
Ibrahim Gambari, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Myanmar, arrived in the Indonesian capital earlier yesterday and then met with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda. This visit follows consultations in Thailand and a six-day visit to Myanmar itself.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SLASHING FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES COULD CURB GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Challenging the widely-held view that fossil fuel subsidies benefit the poor, a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for cutting back on such mechanisms to curb on greenhouse gas emissions and propel economic growth.
The publication argues that many of these subsidies benefit wealthier portions of society and divert national funds from policies to help the poor.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG LAUDS CHINA FOR ‘SPECTACULAR’ OLYMPIC GAMES IN BEIJING
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday congratulated the people and Government of China for their staging of the Olympic Games, which concluded yesterday in Beijing after two weeks of competition across 28 sports.
“China can be proud of hosting a spectacular Olympiad, which brought together athletes and people from all over the world in celebration of the Olympic spirit, cooperation and goodwill,” Mr. Ban said in a statement released by his spokesperson.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN WARNS OF IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SOUTH ASIA
Climate change could have a particularly severe impact on South Asia, where a large proportion of the region’s population depends on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods, a United Nations-sponsored conference heard on Monday.
A six-day workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, starting on Monday, is examining the effects of global warming on the predominantly agricultural region, with over two-thirds of its 1.52 billion-strong population living in rural areas.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
FIVE SENIOR UN OFFICIALS SWORN IN BY SECRETARY-GENERAL
Five high-ranking United Nations officials took their oaths of office on Monday at a swearing-in ceremony in New York before heading to Turin for a two-day retreat for senior managers at the end of the week.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon swore in the new Under-Secretary-Generals for Legal Affairs, Patricia O’Brien, and for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, at the ceremony, held at UN Headquarters in New York.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT HOLDS TALKS WITH REPUBLIC OF KOREA’S PRIME MINISTER
United Nations reform, climate change and food security have topped the agenda during official talks on Monday in Seoul between General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim and Han Seung-soo, the Republic of Korea’s Prime Minister.
In his talks with Mr. Han, Mr. Kerim stressed the “need for more of the UN, and not less” in dealing with major global challenges such as climate change and the current crisis over soaring food prices in many parts of the world.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN OFFICE STARTS NEW SEASON OF DISARMAMENT EDUCATION FOR YOUNG DIPLOMATS
Young diplomats from 25 United Nations Member States on Monday embarked on a nine-week programme studying disarmament issues in Geneva on the 30th anniversary of the programme’s existence.
The UN Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament was launched by the General Assembly in 1978 with the aim of promoting expertise in more Member States, particularly in developing countries.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN PEACEKEEPING CHIEFS IN WEST AFRICA KICK OFF TWO-DAY SUMMIT
The heads of United Nations peacekeeping missions in West Africa on Monday start a two-day meeting in Guinea-Bissau aimed at reviewing regional and national challenges to the success of their mandates.
During the two days of discussion, the Special Representatives – from UN Missions in Liberia (UNMIL) and Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), the UN Office in West Africa (UNOWA) and the UN Office for the Consolidation and Peace in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) – will examine the latest developments in the sub-region since their June meeting in Dakar.
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/ |
