UN Gazeti

Wednesday 08 October 2008

Issue No. 284

UN Observances

UN IN AFRICA

NEW UN PEACEKEEPING CHIEF HOLDS TALKS IN SOUTH SUDAN

The top United Nations peacekeeping official met today with leading officials of the regional government of Southern Sudan as part of his week-long familiarization tour of Africa’s largest country where the world body currently fields two peacekeeping missions.

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy, accompanied by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative in Sudan Ashraf Qazi, held talks with Salva Kiir, President of the Government of Southern Sudan, scene of a devastating 21-year-long civil war before a peace accord was signed in 2005.

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

SENEGAL’S RURAL POOR TO BENEFIT FROM UN-BACKED PROJECT

The United Nations agency tasked with alleviating the plight of the world’s rural poor announced plans today to provide $15 million to a project in Senegal that aims to help families living in the West African country’s “groundnut basin.”

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will give a loan of nearly $14.9 million and a grant of $270,000 to Senegal to support about 36,000 family-run farms, according to a news release issued by the Rome-based agency.

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

FORMER TOP RWANDAN MINISTER TRANSFERRED TO UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL

A former top Rwandan official facing charges of genocide was transferred yesterday from Frankfurt, Germany, to Arusha, Tanzania, to the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the 1994 mass killings in the small Great Lakes nation.

Augustin Ngirabatware, former Minister of Planning, was arrested in Germany last September and faces nine counts including genocide and crimes against humanity for murder, extermination and rape.

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

GOVERNMENT TROOPS WILL RESPECT CEASEFIRE IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN TOLD

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has assured the United Nations of its commitment to abide by the ceasefire in the eastern part of the vast African country, which has recently been the scene of some of the worst fighting in over a year between the Government and rebel groups.

During a meeting on Monday, the UN Mission in DRC, known as MONUC, was informed by Congolese authorities that the country’s armed forces (FARDC) “had been given clear instructions to maintain the ceasefire and not engage any offensive action on the ground,” according to a news release issued in Kinshasa.

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

PANEL ON ALGIERS TERRORIST BOMBING CITES DYSFUNCTIONAL UN SECURITY SYSTEM

Fellow tenor greats Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo sang alongside contemporary musicians such as Sting A dysfunctional United Nations security management system, a lack of adequate supervision and training, and significant lapses in judgement and performance all played a major role in the 2007 terrorist bombings of UN offices in Algiers, which killed 17 staff members, an independent panel reported yesterday.

It also found that the UN ‘phase system’ for grading security risks in Algeria had been “seriously compromised” through politicization due to the country’s aversion to any indication that it was not secure. And it cited a pre-occupation by UN security officials with countries like Afghanistan and Iraq for leaving Algeria off the security radar screen.

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

AT LEAST 5,000 CONGOLESE ARRIVE IN SUDAN AFTER ATTACKS BY REBELS – UN

At least 5,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have arrived in South Sudan in the past two weeks after fleeing “ferocious” attacks by the notorious Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the United Nations refugee agency reported on Monday.

Ron Redmond, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva that an estimated 150 Congolese are crossing every day into the villages of Sakure and Gangura, in the Yambio area of South Sudan.

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

SOUTH AFRICA: UN RIGHTS CHIEF URGES PROTECTION FOR FOREIGNERS AFTER BRUTAL KILLING

The top United Nations human rights official on Monday condemned the brutal killing of a Somali family in South Africa, and urged the authorities to take immediate action to protect foreigners from any further attacks.

Sahra Omar Farah, her two teenage sons – one of whom was deaf – and her 12-year-old daughter were stabbed and bludgeoned to death last Friday in a shop run by fellow Somalis in a village in the Eastern Cape, according to a news release issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

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

DARFUR: BAN OUTLINES TIMETABLE TOWARDS FULL DEPLOYMENT OF HYBRID FORCE

The “severely stretched” United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, which has struggled to find enough countries willing to supply troops and equipment, should now reach two-thirds of its full deployment by the end of this year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.

Some 85 per cent of the 26,000 troops and police officers expected when the peacekeeping mission, known as UNAMID, is at full capacity should then be in place by next March, “despite the many obstacles,” Mr. Ban told a press conference at UN Headquarters, adding that he may have to adjust the figure slightly depending on the circumstances on the ground.

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

ILLICIT DRUG TRADE THREATENING PEACEBUILDING EFFORTS IN GUINEA-BISSAU, UN WARNS

The impact of the illicit drug trade on Guinea-Bissau should not be underestimated, the top United Nations political official said on Monday, warning that the scourge threatens to undo the important progress achieved by the post-conflict nation.

“Although Guinea-Bissau has come a long way since the civil war of the late 1990s, all of the gains achieved to this point in establishing democratic governance and stability in the country will be at risk is this menace is not confronted head on,” Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe told a meeting of the Security Council.

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

UN AROUND THE WORLD

UN YEARBOOK GOES ONLINE, BRINGING THE ORGANIZATION’S WORK CLOSER TO THE PUBLIC

The Yearbook of the United Nations, the basic reference book on the work of the Organization, went online today, placing 60 years of UN activities at the disposal of the public.

The new website – unyearbook.un.org – provides free public access to the 59 volumes and over 60,000 pages of the Yearbook collection, detailing the work and achievements of the UN system over the first six decades of its existence, from 1946 through 2005.

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

HAITI FACES CHALLENGES, BUT ALSO SIGNS OF HOPE, SAYS TOP UN ENVOY

The need to overcome obstacles in Haiti in the wake of a series of devastating hurricanes and storms has propelled a political breakthrough in the Caribbean nation, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council yesterday.

Between mid-August and September, Haiti was battered by a succession of hurricanes, displacing or directly affecting 800,000 people, Hédi Annabi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Haiti, said at the open meeting.

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

ON INTERNATIONAL DAY, UN STRESSES NEED TO MAKE HOSPITALS SAFE FROM DISASTERS

United Nations officials are marking the International Day for Disaster Reduction with a call to invest more to make hospitals safe in the event of natural hazards such as earthquakes and cyclones, stressing that doing so not only saves lives but is highly cost-effective.

Hospital safety is the theme of this year’s Day, which falls on the third anniversary of the earthquake in South Asia – a disaster which destroyed 73 per cent of the health facilities in the affected area of Pakistan.

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

UN HELPS BOOST MARKET ACCESS FOR ORGANIC FARMERS IN DEVELOPING NATIONS

Organic farmers in developing countries will have greater access to world markets, thanks to two practical tools developed by the United Nations and a partner agency to help ease trade in organic agricultural products.

The new tools are the result of six years of joint efforts by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the umbrella organization for the organic sector worldwide.

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

UN TRIBUNAL UPHOLDS 35-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR LEADER OF BREAKAWAY CROATIAN SERB STATE

The United Nations war crimes tribunal set up after the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s yesterday upheld a 35-year jail sentence of a former political leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia who was convicted for his role in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague, reaffirmed the trial chamber’s decision in June last year to find Milan Martić guilty of 16 counts of crimes against humanity or war crimes.

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

ORGANIZED CRIME THREATENS PEACE EFFORTS, TOP UN POLICE OFFICIAL WARNS INTERPOL

Organized crime poses a grave threat to countries emerging from conflict that are seeking to consolidate peace, the top United Nations police official warned INTERPOL yesterday, calling for increased global cooperation to address the scourge.

Collaboration between UN Police [UNPOL] and INTERPOL in peacekeeping operations “brings the combined weight of a majority of the world’s States to bear on organized crime networks,” Police Adviser Andrew Hughes said.

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

PROTECTING NATURE-BASED ASSETS COULD BOOST RURAL POOR’S INCOME – UN

Increasing nature-based enterprises could simultaneously enhance incomes for the world’s rural poor and increase their resilience to economic, social and environmental threats, according to a new United Nations-backed report launched yesterday.

Some three quarters of the 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 a day depend on local natural resources for their livelihoods, which are now being menaced by climate change and ecosystem degradation.

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

PANEL ON ALGIERS TERRORIST BOMBING CITES DYSFUNCTIONAL UN SECURITY SYSTEM

Fellow tenor greats Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo sang alongside contemporary musicians such as Sting A dysfunctional United Nations security management system, a lack of adequate supervision and training, and significant lapses in judgement and performance all played a major role in the 2007 terrorist bombings of UN offices in Algiers, which killed 17 staff members, an independent panel reported yesterday.

It also found that the UN ‘phase system’ for grading security risks in Algeria had been “seriously compromised” through politicization due to the country’s aversion to any indication that it was not secure. And it cited a pre-occupation by UN security officials with countries like Afghanistan and Iraq for leaving Algeria off the security radar screen.

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

FINANCIAL CRISIS MUST NOT DIMINISH SUPPORT TO IMPROVE WOMEN’S LIVES, URGES BAN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the importance of continued support for the efforts of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to empower the world’s women, particularly to improve maternal health and promote gender equality, even in the midst of the economic woes countries are currently facing.

“The global financial crisis is forcing all of us to save and cut costs where we can. But our work for the women of the world must continue undiminished,” Mr. Ban stated last night at the presentation of the 2008 International Award for the Health and Dignity of Women, which is given out by Americans for UNFPA.

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

FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: UN ENVOY OFFERS NEW IDEAS ON NAME

A United Nations envoy tasked with mediating the long-running dispute between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the latter’s official name yesterday presented a new set of ideas to the two sides during talks in New York.

Matthew Nimetz, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the talks between the two countries, said he hoped that Athens and Skopje would now study the ideas carefully.

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

EXPERTS DEVISE ACTION PLAN TO EXAMINE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HEALTH – UN

Experts at a meeting convened by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday agreed on a plan of action to create guidelines on the impact of climate change on human health.

Over 80 top researchers from around the world met in a three-day event in Madrid, Spain, that wrapped up yesterday, and their new plan builds on what is already known about the health risks stemming from global warming.

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

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