January 2010 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used today's fifth anniversary of the peace pact that ended more than 20 years of civil war in Sudan to urge the parties to redouble their efforts towards reconciliation and the successful completion of remaining benchmarks.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) separatists in the south and the national Government in the north, brought an end to one of Africa's bloodiest civil wars, in which at least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the country's borders.
“During the past five years, considerable progress has been made in the implementation of the CPA and the strengthening of the relationship between the two parties to the agreement,” Mr. Ban noted in a statement issued by his spokesperson.
“However, the final year of the CPA will be an extremely challenging one, especially as the parties prepare for elections and the exercise of the right of self-determination for Southern Sudan,” he added.
He went on to state that these challenges require the parties urgently to establish the necessary legal, political and institutional framework for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections, referenda and popular consultations. It is also important that they engage now in substantive discussions on post-referendum arrangements, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.
“More fundamentally, the parties must work towards reconciliation,” the statement added.
“The people of Sudan have witnessed the horrible consequences of war and have waited more than 20 years for the benefits of peace. If the CPA is to deliver this peace, it will require a substantially increased commitment by the parties, with the support of the international community.”
In a report issued last October, Mr. Ban stated that the key to implementing the CPA is the relationship between its signatories. “The Agreement must be implemented in spirit as well as the letter if the immense work undertaken is to be sustainable,” he stressed, calling on the sides to boost their cooperation.
Today's statement declared that support for the successful implementation of the CPA is one of the UN's top priorities for this year, and that the world body will work closely with all actors to help the parties meet the final benchmarks of the peace agreement.
The 10,000-strong UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has been in place since 2005 to help the parties implement the accord.
The Mission today voiced concern over the escalating violence in Southern Sudan over the past couple of weeks, in which more than 150 people have reportedly been killed and many more injured and displaced.
UNMIS chief Ashraf Qazi commended the actions taken so far by the Government of Southern Sudan, and urged it to investigate the incidents and to redouble its efforts to help de-escalate the rising wave of violence in the region.
For its part, the Mission has dispatched a long range military patrol to help defuse tensions and reduce chances of reprisal attacks at the site of the clashes, as well as to prepare for the arrival of humanitarian assessment teams.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Africa
In 2001, a summit of African leaders adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as the continent’s overall plan for long-term economic, social and political development. The chief executive officer of the Secretariat of NEPAD is Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, a former prime minister of Niger, who actively took up his post in April. In this exclusive interview with Africa Renewal, Mr. Mayaki discusses NEPAD’s progress so far — and the challenges that lie ahead for the African Union’s development programme.
You attended the September 2009 meeting of the Group of 20 (G-20) in Pittsburg, which was called to further respond to the global economic crisis. Were any of Africa’s specific concerns addressed?
One of Africa’s priorities is agriculture. That priority is widely accepted by the international community, because agriculture is seen as the main entry point for poverty reduction. For quite a long time, that was not the case. But given that the majority of African populations live in rural areas and their main activity is agriculture, most experts and non-experts have come to the conclusion that if we want to boost their revenues, we should go for agricultural development. That was reaffirmed in Pittsburg. One of the conclusions there was to give a mandate to the World Bank to establish a multidonor trust fund specifically dedicated to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which was conceived by NEPAD and adopted by the African Union. Pittsburg also reaffirmed the commitment of the Group of Eight (G-8) meeting at L’Aquila [Italy, in July], establishing a mechanism for financing agriculture. In L’Aquila, the targeted volume of resources was $20 bn. So the commitments are there. Now the challenge is to channel the resources for the implementation of CAADP.
Before the current economic crisis, Africa was hit by a sharp rise in food prices. There were protests, and considerable suffering. Was that a wake-up call for African governments, to put more of their own resources into agriculture and the food sector?
African heads of state had already decided to fix a target of 10 per cent of public resource allocation to the sector. To tell the truth, that target has not been very well attained. Most countries which are close to the target have quite good political stability and have been managed well by democratically elected governments. Generally, a sound agricultural policy is produced by good government systems and politically stable institutions.
When we look at the food riots which took place in the last two years, what do the police reports say? They say that most of the people who participated in these riots were under 20, unemployed, from rural areas and did not belong to any political party or trade union. This youth — and 50 per cent of our population is under 20 — is the key factor which will determine the future of our economies, our political institutions and our government systems. The issue is very simple: Either African governments tackle that youth employment issue through agriculture and rural development, and stabilize their institutions. Or they don’t, and then they will be sitting on a political bomb.
NEPAD argues that good political governance is vital for Africa’s development more generally. And one of the means developed by NEPAD to improve governance is the African Peer Review Mechanism. How is the APRM doing?
The APRM is quite an original approach. It is based on the voluntary participation of governments that decide to open themselves to a review by their peers. Transparency is a key element for the credibility of the exercise. You see more and more countries deciding to volunteer. Institutionally, the APRM has a secretariat that is different from the NEPAD Secretariat, and is constituted by a panel of independent personalities. The challenge is: How do we use the conclusions and recommendations of the review exercises? Normally, the countries are the ones who are supposed to implement the recommendations. But we know that they need support in terms of capacity. It is the main constraint to implementation. I think we could work on capacity development issues, and gather the resources and partners to tackle that dimension.
Would it be correct to say that when you talk about countries’ capacities for implementing the peer review recommendations, it’s not just the capacities of governments, but also of civil society, parliaments, the media and so on?
Absolutely. You can have the best public institutions, but if you don’t have sound citizenship, then your probability of developing in a democratic way is very limited. The roles of civil society organizations and the private sector are key for building the overall institutions.
Building up Africa’s physical infrastructure — roads, power systems, harbours, communications networks — is one of NEPAD’s priorities. But infrastructure is a very expensive undertaking. How has the current world financial crisis affected NEPAD’s plans for attracting more investment for infrastructure?
The financial crisis has transformed itself into an economic crisis. It has had an impact on resource allocation to the African continent. Given that infrastructure projects need quite important amounts of resources, we’ll evidently face challenges in that sector.
But I think it is an opportunity also to better mobilize our domestic resources. Some countries have been good at it, some of us, not really. Africa has domestic resources which are now going to Europe, the US and so on. I’ll just give two figures. The food import bill of Africa is around $40 bn. If we had sound agriculture policies and invested just some of that amount, we could even be exporting food. Capital flight out of Africa is around $30 bn. Out of that $30 bn, almost $20 bn is the consequence of corruption. So we must look more thoroughly at mobilizing the domestic resources that we do have.
We often hear arguments in Africa by civil society groups, academics and others that NEPAD is a fine-sounding plan, but we don’t see much evidence of it on the ground. Why does NEPAD seem to be moving so slowly?
NEPAD, as a programme, is still very relevant to the development challenges that the continent is facing. It is a comprehensive programme, based on two main values. One is the value of ownership, that we have to design by ourselves our own development programmes. The second dimension is to foster economic integration as a way of developing at a faster pace. These two dimensions inspire the sectoral priorities that are being designed. We worked closely with the African Union Commission to create the CAADP. In science and technology, we have created networks of excellence throughout the continent. In our information and technology department, we have launched the e-schools initiative, which is working quite well. We have supported the department of social affairs of the African Union Commission with our advice on health polices. So a lot has been done.
Between the birth of NEPAD in 2001 and now, I would say this has been an experimental process. And like all experimental processes, you have had ups and downs. Certainly, we have not communicated sufficiently on the ups, and we let other people communicate on the downs. But from that good experimental process, let us build a new NEPAD. We are going to be transforming into the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, with the main objective of facilitating implementation of key projects derived from the continental policies designed by the African Union Commission.
The international community has supported NEPAD since its inception. But when the integration decision was taken [to bring NEPAD more closely into the structures of the African Union], there was a certain period of uncertainty on what was exactly going to happen, structurally and functionally. So it was understandable that the international community would wait to see what was going to happen. Now that support has to be reinvigorated. The integration is good for two reasons. The first one is that it will erase the overlaps which were existing before, and the contradictions. And second, it will send a positive signal to the international community on how to deal with each of us, the African Union Commission and the NEPAD agency.
As for the African countries, it is our job to demonstrate to them what we can do. We have to tell them what our role is, what the roadmap on which we want to work is and how we cooperate with the regional economic communities. And then they will see what we are able to deliver. The challenge we face as an institution is a crucial one. Now we have really to deliver very concretely on the ground. It’s on the basis of our delivery that we have to be judged.
Early on, NEPAD was identified with several of its more prominent advocates, who worked closely with the G-8 donor countries. But some of those presidents are no longer in office. With NEPAD now being integrated more closely into the African Union, do you see a new stage of trying to build broader political responsibility for NEPAD within Africa?
The push given by those leaders was absolutely essential. Otherwise NEPAD would not have been seen as important as it is. Now we are in a phase of opening up to broader ownership, so it becomes owned by the 53 countries of the African Union. This means we have to communicate on that, we have to be present more widely and we have to deliver very concretely in all the regions.
There seems to be an interesting parallel process under way with Africa’s international partners. NEPAD initially focused on interacting with the G-8. But now the main international economic forum will be the G-20, a wider group that includes some of the emerging economies, China, India, Brazil and so on. What’s the significance of that for Africa?
We can sense what is going to happen, but we don’t really know what is going to happen. Effectively, the shift from the G-8 to the G-20 is the result of the increasing weight of the emerging economies, which have a direct impact on any global decisions. The existence of the G-20 is a positive structural adaptation to a new reality. In that new reality, Africa clearly has to think in a very wise and intelligent manner. Our role should not be minimized within that new process. And we should try to use the members that we have within the G-20 to really speak in the name of Africa.
NEPAD is present, with the African Union, at the meetings of the G-20. We make sure that the messages which are conveyed are in coherence with NEPAD. What we are seeing on the African side is a more coherent and single African voice. As you know, in Copenhagen [the international climate change conference] Africa will have a single voice, a unique coordinator of the African Group, a unique negotiation strategy. In the times to come, Africa will function more and more with such a single voice.
— Africa Renewal
You attended the September 2009 meeting of the Group of 20 (G-20) in Pittsburg, which was called to further respond to the global economic crisis. Were any of Africa’s specific concerns addressed?
One of Africa’s priorities is agriculture. That priority is widely accepted by the international community, because agriculture is seen as the main entry point for poverty reduction. For quite a long time, that was not the case. But given that the majority of African populations live in rural areas and their main activity is agriculture, most experts and non-experts have come to the conclusion that if we want to boost their revenues, we should go for agricultural development. That was reaffirmed in Pittsburg. One of the conclusions there was to give a mandate to the World Bank to establish a multidonor trust fund specifically dedicated to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which was conceived by NEPAD and adopted by the African Union. Pittsburg also reaffirmed the commitment of the Group of Eight (G-8) meeting at L’Aquila [Italy, in July], establishing a mechanism for financing agriculture. In L’Aquila, the targeted volume of resources was $20 bn. So the commitments are there. Now the challenge is to channel the resources for the implementation of CAADP.
Before the current economic crisis, Africa was hit by a sharp rise in food prices. There were protests, and considerable suffering. Was that a wake-up call for African governments, to put more of their own resources into agriculture and the food sector?
African heads of state had already decided to fix a target of 10 per cent of public resource allocation to the sector. To tell the truth, that target has not been very well attained. Most countries which are close to the target have quite good political stability and have been managed well by democratically elected governments. Generally, a sound agricultural policy is produced by good government systems and politically stable institutions.
When we look at the food riots which took place in the last two years, what do the police reports say? They say that most of the people who participated in these riots were under 20, unemployed, from rural areas and did not belong to any political party or trade union. This youth — and 50 per cent of our population is under 20 — is the key factor which will determine the future of our economies, our political institutions and our government systems. The issue is very simple: Either African governments tackle that youth employment issue through agriculture and rural development, and stabilize their institutions. Or they don’t, and then they will be sitting on a political bomb.
NEPAD argues that good political governance is vital for Africa’s development more generally. And one of the means developed by NEPAD to improve governance is the African Peer Review Mechanism. How is the APRM doing?
The APRM is quite an original approach. It is based on the voluntary participation of governments that decide to open themselves to a review by their peers. Transparency is a key element for the credibility of the exercise. You see more and more countries deciding to volunteer. Institutionally, the APRM has a secretariat that is different from the NEPAD Secretariat, and is constituted by a panel of independent personalities. The challenge is: How do we use the conclusions and recommendations of the review exercises? Normally, the countries are the ones who are supposed to implement the recommendations. But we know that they need support in terms of capacity. It is the main constraint to implementation. I think we could work on capacity development issues, and gather the resources and partners to tackle that dimension.
Would it be correct to say that when you talk about countries’ capacities for implementing the peer review recommendations, it’s not just the capacities of governments, but also of civil society, parliaments, the media and so on?
Absolutely. You can have the best public institutions, but if you don’t have sound citizenship, then your probability of developing in a democratic way is very limited. The roles of civil society organizations and the private sector are key for building the overall institutions.
Building up Africa’s physical infrastructure — roads, power systems, harbours, communications networks — is one of NEPAD’s priorities. But infrastructure is a very expensive undertaking. How has the current world financial crisis affected NEPAD’s plans for attracting more investment for infrastructure?
The financial crisis has transformed itself into an economic crisis. It has had an impact on resource allocation to the African continent. Given that infrastructure projects need quite important amounts of resources, we’ll evidently face challenges in that sector.
But I think it is an opportunity also to better mobilize our domestic resources. Some countries have been good at it, some of us, not really. Africa has domestic resources which are now going to Europe, the US and so on. I’ll just give two figures. The food import bill of Africa is around $40 bn. If we had sound agriculture policies and invested just some of that amount, we could even be exporting food. Capital flight out of Africa is around $30 bn. Out of that $30 bn, almost $20 bn is the consequence of corruption. So we must look more thoroughly at mobilizing the domestic resources that we do have.
We often hear arguments in Africa by civil society groups, academics and others that NEPAD is a fine-sounding plan, but we don’t see much evidence of it on the ground. Why does NEPAD seem to be moving so slowly?
NEPAD, as a programme, is still very relevant to the development challenges that the continent is facing. It is a comprehensive programme, based on two main values. One is the value of ownership, that we have to design by ourselves our own development programmes. The second dimension is to foster economic integration as a way of developing at a faster pace. These two dimensions inspire the sectoral priorities that are being designed. We worked closely with the African Union Commission to create the CAADP. In science and technology, we have created networks of excellence throughout the continent. In our information and technology department, we have launched the e-schools initiative, which is working quite well. We have supported the department of social affairs of the African Union Commission with our advice on health polices. So a lot has been done.
Between the birth of NEPAD in 2001 and now, I would say this has been an experimental process. And like all experimental processes, you have had ups and downs. Certainly, we have not communicated sufficiently on the ups, and we let other people communicate on the downs. But from that good experimental process, let us build a new NEPAD. We are going to be transforming into the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, with the main objective of facilitating implementation of key projects derived from the continental policies designed by the African Union Commission.
The international community has supported NEPAD since its inception. But when the integration decision was taken [to bring NEPAD more closely into the structures of the African Union], there was a certain period of uncertainty on what was exactly going to happen, structurally and functionally. So it was understandable that the international community would wait to see what was going to happen. Now that support has to be reinvigorated. The integration is good for two reasons. The first one is that it will erase the overlaps which were existing before, and the contradictions. And second, it will send a positive signal to the international community on how to deal with each of us, the African Union Commission and the NEPAD agency.
As for the African countries, it is our job to demonstrate to them what we can do. We have to tell them what our role is, what the roadmap on which we want to work is and how we cooperate with the regional economic communities. And then they will see what we are able to deliver. The challenge we face as an institution is a crucial one. Now we have really to deliver very concretely on the ground. It’s on the basis of our delivery that we have to be judged.
Early on, NEPAD was identified with several of its more prominent advocates, who worked closely with the G-8 donor countries. But some of those presidents are no longer in office. With NEPAD now being integrated more closely into the African Union, do you see a new stage of trying to build broader political responsibility for NEPAD within Africa?
The push given by those leaders was absolutely essential. Otherwise NEPAD would not have been seen as important as it is. Now we are in a phase of opening up to broader ownership, so it becomes owned by the 53 countries of the African Union. This means we have to communicate on that, we have to be present more widely and we have to deliver very concretely in all the regions.
There seems to be an interesting parallel process under way with Africa’s international partners. NEPAD initially focused on interacting with the G-8. But now the main international economic forum will be the G-20, a wider group that includes some of the emerging economies, China, India, Brazil and so on. What’s the significance of that for Africa?
We can sense what is going to happen, but we don’t really know what is going to happen. Effectively, the shift from the G-8 to the G-20 is the result of the increasing weight of the emerging economies, which have a direct impact on any global decisions. The existence of the G-20 is a positive structural adaptation to a new reality. In that new reality, Africa clearly has to think in a very wise and intelligent manner. Our role should not be minimized within that new process. And we should try to use the members that we have within the G-20 to really speak in the name of Africa.
NEPAD is present, with the African Union, at the meetings of the G-20. We make sure that the messages which are conveyed are in coherence with NEPAD. What we are seeing on the African side is a more coherent and single African voice. As you know, in Copenhagen [the international climate change conference] Africa will have a single voice, a unique coordinator of the African Group, a unique negotiation strategy. In the times to come, Africa will function more and more with such a single voice.
— Africa Renewal
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
AFGHANISTAN: 2009 worst year for children - rights watchdog
KABUL, 6 January 2010 (IRIN) - Armed conflict killed hundreds of children and adversely affected many others in 2009 - the deadliest year for Afghan children since 2001 - an Afghan human rights group has said. About 1,050 children died in suicide attacks, roadside blasts, air strikes and in the cross-fire between Taliban insurgents and pro-government Afghan and foreign forces from January to December 2009, the Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) a Kabul-based rights group, said in a statement on 6 January. "At least three children were killed in war-related incidents every day in 2009, and many others suffered in diverse but mostly unreported ways," Ajmal Samadi, ARM's director, was quoted in the statement as saying. Security incidents increased 65 percent in the last quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to a report of the UN Secretary-General entitled The Situation in Afghanistan and its Implications for International Peace and Security. A sharp rise in the civilian casualties of war in 2009 has also been reported: The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 784 conflict-related civilian casualties between August and October 2009 - 12 percent up on the same period in 2008. "Both male and female children have been the increasing victims of war and criminality in Afghanistan but the government has not done enough to alleviate their hardship and to reduce their deprivation," Hamida Barmaki, a child rights officer at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), told IRIN. ARM said it recorded at least 2,080 cases of grave violations of child rights in 2009. These included the recruitment of children as suicide bombers and foot soldiers, murder, rape, forced labour, and the denial of essential services by warring parties and criminal groups. Insurgent attacks on schools, aid workers and facilities also deprived thousands of children - boys and girls - of access to education and healthcare, it said.
ARM has reported sexual abuse and the recruitment of children by police and private security forces, and has accused the Afghan government of doing little to stop unlawful practices. Kunar incident It has called the killing of eight teenager students in the eastern province of Kunar on 26 December "an appalling act of crime against civilian people" by foreign forces and their Afghan supporters. On 30 December NATO said in a statement that its soldiers returned fire and killed nine individuals in Kunar Province who possessed "assault rifles, ammunition and ammonium nitrate used in bomb-making". An Afghan government-appointed fact-finding team, however, said all nine victims were civilians - eight of them students and none with links to armed groups. Child rights groups have asked the Afghan government and its international supporters to enhance and expand efforts to minimize the impact of war on children, and provide support servicers for war-affected children. "Critical juncture" "We are now at a critical juncture. The situation cannot continue as is if we are to succeed in Afghanistan," said the UN report. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "change in mindset" in the international community and in the government of President Hamid Karzai in order to reverse the prospects of failure in the country. "Unity of effort and greater attention to key priorities are now a sine qua non," the report said. ad/cb[END]
ARM has reported sexual abuse and the recruitment of children by police and private security forces, and has accused the Afghan government of doing little to stop unlawful practices. Kunar incident It has called the killing of eight teenager students in the eastern province of Kunar on 26 December "an appalling act of crime against civilian people" by foreign forces and their Afghan supporters. On 30 December NATO said in a statement that its soldiers returned fire and killed nine individuals in Kunar Province who possessed "assault rifles, ammunition and ammonium nitrate used in bomb-making". An Afghan government-appointed fact-finding team, however, said all nine victims were civilians - eight of them students and none with links to armed groups. Child rights groups have asked the Afghan government and its international supporters to enhance and expand efforts to minimize the impact of war on children, and provide support servicers for war-affected children. "Critical juncture" "We are now at a critical juncture. The situation cannot continue as is if we are to succeed in Afghanistan," said the UN report. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "change in mindset" in the international community and in the government of President Hamid Karzai in order to reverse the prospects of failure in the country. "Unity of effort and greater attention to key priorities are now a sine qua non," the report said. ad/cb[END]
Monday, October 5, 2009
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF NON-VIOLENCE
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
--
MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF NON-VIOLENCE
2 October 2009
Mahatma Gandhi, whose legacy this annual observance celebrates, once observed that “non-violence, to be worth anything, has to work in the face of hostile forces.” In today’s world, we face many hostile forces -- multiple and persistent crises that demand a response from leaders and grassroots alike.
Gandhi understood that a powerful idea could change the world. He knew that individuals, working alone and together, could realize what others might dismiss as impossible dreams.
Inspired by Gandhi’s life of non-violence, the United Nations today works to end violence.
We strive, for example, to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction. Our recent WMD campaign – we must disarm – sought to raise awareness about the high cost of weapons of mass destruction. Recent initiatives and meetings, including last week’s Security Council summit on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, have improved prospects for reductions in global arsenals. We must sustain this momentum, and press for success at next year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference and beyond.
The call to non-violence need not apply only to the use of deadly weapons. The United Nations and its grassroots partners have long campaigned to stop the human assault on our planet. Greenhouse gas emissions have been part of this onslaught, and now threaten catastrophic climate change. I urge activists everywhere to turn up the heat on world leaders to seal a deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
The appalling violence inflicted on women and girls throughout the world must also be at the centre of our concerns. An estimated 150 million women and girls are victimized each year. Rape is increasingly widespread as a weapon of war. Victims of sexual coercion are more likely to suffer sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. I urge all partners to join my UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, which aims to raise awareness and funds to fight this problem in all parts of the world – since no country is immune.
On this International Day, let us celebrate – and embody – the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi by heeding his call for a movement of non-violence. Let us end violence in all its manifestations, and strengthen our collective work for a safer, greener and more peaceful world.
--
MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF NON-VIOLENCE
2 October 2009
Mahatma Gandhi, whose legacy this annual observance celebrates, once observed that “non-violence, to be worth anything, has to work in the face of hostile forces.” In today’s world, we face many hostile forces -- multiple and persistent crises that demand a response from leaders and grassroots alike.
Gandhi understood that a powerful idea could change the world. He knew that individuals, working alone and together, could realize what others might dismiss as impossible dreams.
Inspired by Gandhi’s life of non-violence, the United Nations today works to end violence.
We strive, for example, to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction. Our recent WMD campaign – we must disarm – sought to raise awareness about the high cost of weapons of mass destruction. Recent initiatives and meetings, including last week’s Security Council summit on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, have improved prospects for reductions in global arsenals. We must sustain this momentum, and press for success at next year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference and beyond.
The call to non-violence need not apply only to the use of deadly weapons. The United Nations and its grassroots partners have long campaigned to stop the human assault on our planet. Greenhouse gas emissions have been part of this onslaught, and now threaten catastrophic climate change. I urge activists everywhere to turn up the heat on world leaders to seal a deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
The appalling violence inflicted on women and girls throughout the world must also be at the centre of our concerns. An estimated 150 million women and girls are victimized each year. Rape is increasingly widespread as a weapon of war. Victims of sexual coercion are more likely to suffer sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. I urge all partners to join my UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, which aims to raise awareness and funds to fight this problem in all parts of the world – since no country is immune.
On this International Day, let us celebrate – and embody – the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi by heeding his call for a movement of non-violence. Let us end violence in all its manifestations, and strengthen our collective work for a safer, greener and more peaceful world.
Monday, September 14, 2009
UGANDA: Security forces struggle as LRA attacks escalate
YAMBIO, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - Attacks attributed to Ugandan-led rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed at least 188 civilians and displaced 68,000 in Southern Sudan since January 2009, with 137 abductions also reported, according to the UN. "Many innocent people are losing their lives every week, and the United Nations is very concerned about the killing, abduction, maiming and displacement of innocent civilians," said Ameerah Haq, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan. In Sudan, Western Equatoria State has been hardest hit by the recent upsurge in attacks blamed on the LRA, which have also taken place in several regions in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). "During the last six weeks alone, 11 incidents of LRA attacks have been reported, seven of them in the first week of September," Haq told reporters on 11 September during a visit to Yambio, the state capital of Western Equatoria. In Nairobi, Justin Labeja, the head of the LRA's peace negotiating team, questioned the authorship of the attacks. "It is very unfair because nobody can come up with clear concrete evidence. Who can say this is the LRA of [leader Joseph] Kony who is doing this?" he said. What the "real LRA" is any more is hard to pin down. When it emerged in northern Uganda in the late 1980s the LRA was made up almost exclusively of people from the region's Acholi community, fighting perceived marginalization. The LRA now includes nationals from Sudan, the DRC and CAR - many as a result of recruitment-by-abduction. In Southern Sudan "LRA" has been used as a catch-all label for any armed group which attacks civilians. However, those displaced by the latest attacks reported tactics which bore the hallmarks of the LRA, including grotesque killings and targeting church congregations.
Hard task Combating the small groups of guerrillas - experienced in jungle warfare and able to slip across international frontiers with apparent ease - has become a hard task. "There is not much coming from the [Sudanese] state, they are not able to provide the security that they [people] need," said the UN's Haq. "While the humanitarian community is providing food and other non-food items, the food itself is becoming a magnet for LRA attacks. The answer to that is really how we can provide security around a perimeter." Extra troops from the south's military, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), have been sent to the region, according to spokesman Maj-Gen Kuol Diem Kuol. "We are working hard and doing all we can to ensure the safety of civilians in the region," he explained. The main military force are Ugandan troops, whose soldiers have established camps in Sudan to try and hunt down the now mobile LRA units in Southern Sudan, DRC and CAR. The UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has just 200 blue helmets based in the sprawling region of Western Equatoria. UN stretched Officials said the force has been stretched by a string of recent violent inter-ethnic clashes elsewhere in Southern Sudan. Its mandate, one official added, needed to be beefed up by the UN Security Council to allow active military engagement against the LRA. "We need an integrated approach to really provide security to these people, [and] that will require the support of the UN and UNMIS," said Jemma Nunu Kumba, the governor of Western Equatoria. "UNMIS needs to get involved just like MONUC [the UN peacekeeping mission] in Congo [DRC], to be able to repulse the rebels when they are attacking the civilians," he added. Those displaced by the LRA say more effort is needed, not simply to hunt the rebels, but to provide security that would allow people to return to their homes.
"The LRA have killed our people, and they took two of my children," said Karina Zeferino, who fled after attacks in August on her hometown of Ezo, close to Sudan's border with CAR. She trekked the 155km to Yambio town with her remaining young daughter. After the attacks, peacekeepers airlifted UN staff and aid workers from Ezo by helicopter, shutting down international humanitarian work in that area. "People are suffering, but we cannot go home because the LRA will attack again," added Zeferino, holding her child tightly to her side. "There is no help for us there, so that is why we have come to Yambio, but it is hard here too." "The LRA will remain a problem and we will be unable to go home until pressure is really put on them by all sides," said Gaaniko Bate, a leader of the ever-growing Makpandu camp in Southern Sudan, which hosts some 2,530 refugees from DRC. "These people will not be easily stopped," he added.
Hard task Combating the small groups of guerrillas - experienced in jungle warfare and able to slip across international frontiers with apparent ease - has become a hard task. "There is not much coming from the [Sudanese] state, they are not able to provide the security that they [people] need," said the UN's Haq. "While the humanitarian community is providing food and other non-food items, the food itself is becoming a magnet for LRA attacks. The answer to that is really how we can provide security around a perimeter." Extra troops from the south's military, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), have been sent to the region, according to spokesman Maj-Gen Kuol Diem Kuol. "We are working hard and doing all we can to ensure the safety of civilians in the region," he explained. The main military force are Ugandan troops, whose soldiers have established camps in Sudan to try and hunt down the now mobile LRA units in Southern Sudan, DRC and CAR. The UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has just 200 blue helmets based in the sprawling region of Western Equatoria. UN stretched Officials said the force has been stretched by a string of recent violent inter-ethnic clashes elsewhere in Southern Sudan. Its mandate, one official added, needed to be beefed up by the UN Security Council to allow active military engagement against the LRA. "We need an integrated approach to really provide security to these people, [and] that will require the support of the UN and UNMIS," said Jemma Nunu Kumba, the governor of Western Equatoria. "UNMIS needs to get involved just like MONUC [the UN peacekeeping mission] in Congo [DRC], to be able to repulse the rebels when they are attacking the civilians," he added. Those displaced by the LRA say more effort is needed, not simply to hunt the rebels, but to provide security that would allow people to return to their homes.
"The LRA have killed our people, and they took two of my children," said Karina Zeferino, who fled after attacks in August on her hometown of Ezo, close to Sudan's border with CAR. She trekked the 155km to Yambio town with her remaining young daughter. After the attacks, peacekeepers airlifted UN staff and aid workers from Ezo by helicopter, shutting down international humanitarian work in that area. "People are suffering, but we cannot go home because the LRA will attack again," added Zeferino, holding her child tightly to her side. "There is no help for us there, so that is why we have come to Yambio, but it is hard here too." "The LRA will remain a problem and we will be unable to go home until pressure is really put on them by all sides," said Gaaniko Bate, a leader of the ever-growing Makpandu camp in Southern Sudan, which hosts some 2,530 refugees from DRC. "These people will not be easily stopped," he added.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
SOMALIA: Puntland warns of looming crisis as drought bites
NAIROBI, 10 September 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people affected by a severe drought in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are in desperate need of assistance, with officials describing the situation as "very critical". "We are at a critical stage and if help does not come within weeks the situation could develop into a catastrophe," Abdullahi Abdirahman Ahmed, head of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency of Puntland (HADMA), told IRIN. He said a recent assessment by his agency showed that almost all of Puntland was affected by the drought. "We saw livestock, including camels, dying by the roadside. Others were being abandoned by their owners because they were too weak," he said. He said the authorities had started water trucking to the worst-affected parts of the region. "The government effort can only cover about 30 percent of those who need help," he said, adding that Puntland did not have the capacity to mount the kind of operation needed. "The resources are simply not there." Ahmed said HADMA had informed the agencies of the severity of the situation. "This is not a situation like any we have seen and so I hope that agencies don't treat it as business as usual." Livestock dying Haji Muse Ghelle, the governor of Bari region, one of the worst-affected areas, told IRIN some 30 percent of livestock in his region had died and the remaining animals were in very poor condition. He said the Gu (long) rains had failed, leaving the barkads (water catchments) in the area dry. "Eighty percent of water comes from barkads and they are almost dry." Hundreds of families were moving from their villages in search of water and food, he said. Ghelle, who toured parts of his region from 25 August to 4 September, said he had found villages "totally abandoned. They are moving wherever they think they can find water and food."
He said both people and the remaining livestock were weak and "could not last long without help". The priority should be to save the lives of the people and what is left of the livestock, the economic mainstay of the area. "On my tour we did not see people dying but what we saw was close to it." Said Waberi Mohamed, the district commissioner of Qandala, in Bari region, one of the hardest-hit areas, said some 13 settlements in the district, with 1,000 families (about 6,000 people), had been abandoned. He said the district was entirely dependent on barkads, which had run dry. "We are facing one of the worst water shortages I have ever seen," he said. Ahmed of HADMA said many nomadic families were moving to towns in search of assistance. He said the first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their livestock. "If something major is not done to intervene within the next few weeks, we will be facing a serious crisis," he warned. ah/mw[END]
He said both people and the remaining livestock were weak and "could not last long without help". The priority should be to save the lives of the people and what is left of the livestock, the economic mainstay of the area. "On my tour we did not see people dying but what we saw was close to it." Said Waberi Mohamed, the district commissioner of Qandala, in Bari region, one of the hardest-hit areas, said some 13 settlements in the district, with 1,000 families (about 6,000 people), had been abandoned. He said the district was entirely dependent on barkads, which had run dry. "We are facing one of the worst water shortages I have ever seen," he said. Ahmed of HADMA said many nomadic families were moving to towns in search of assistance. He said the first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their livestock. "If something major is not done to intervene within the next few weeks, we will be facing a serious crisis," he warned. ah/mw[END]
Monday, September 7, 2009
SOMALIA: Record number of displaced at 1.5 million
NAIROBI, 7 September 2009 (IRIN) - The number of conflict- and drought-displaced Somalis has reached 1.55 million, despite a drop in the past two months in the rate of displacement from the capital, Mogadishu, according to the UN. Roberta Russo, a spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, told IRIN on 7 September that hundreds of families were still fleeing the city, despite a significant drop since the beginning of July, with almost 95,000 leaving all areas "in the last two months"; 77,000 of whom were from Mogadishu. The UN estimates that up to 3.8 million Somalis, almost half the population, urgently need humanitarian aid. "The displaced people are among the most affected by the crisis," Russo said. The displaced, most of whom are women and children, are living in desperate conditions, she said. The main reason for their flight is insecurity, although drought and the lack of livelihoods are also cited as causes, Russo added. Ali Sheikh Yassin, the deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization, told IRIN that people were continuing to flee Mogadishu, "because the insecurity is increasing, not decreasing. As we speak, people are leaving and I am sure many more will join them. There is nothing to stay for. No peace and no hope for peace." He said indications were that the violence - pitting government forces and African Union peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) against two insurgent groups, Al-Shabab and Hisbul-Islami - would get worse. "All sides are preparing for what they think is a final battle but nothing is ever final in Somalia," Yassin said. He said the main losers in any such encounter would be civilians. "Neither side cares what happens to them so the displacement will probably go much higher in the next few months."
According to Jowahir Ilmi, head of Somali Women Concern (SWC), a local NGO, the displaced from Mogadishu are still going to the Afgoye [30km south of Mogadishu] area. "Every day we are registering new arrivals. Unfortunately, even the month of Ramadan has not led to a truce." The fighting has been going on in Mogadishu since Ethiopian troops withdrew from the country in December 2008, leading to thousands of deaths and injuries as well as the displacement of hundreds of thousands from Mogadishu and parts of southern and central Somalia. Yassin said the fighting was spreading beyond Mogadishu. "In the past we had displaced from Mogadishu only but almost every town in parts of central Somalia is being touched by the violence," he said. "From Jowhar [south central] to Harardhere [to the northeast] people are being displaced by violence." He said the current drought was another factor. More and more drought-displaced pastoralists were heading into towns in search of help after losing all their livestock, he said. "The only problem this time is the town's people are as badly off as they are, so cannot help them," Yassin added. He urged donor agencies to reach out to the displaced in remote and often inaccessible areas. Many of the humanitarian agencies, however, lacked access to those who need their help. "Access is still very limited due to insecurity in the areas hosting the majority of the displaced," said Russo.
According to Jowahir Ilmi, head of Somali Women Concern (SWC), a local NGO, the displaced from Mogadishu are still going to the Afgoye [30km south of Mogadishu] area. "Every day we are registering new arrivals. Unfortunately, even the month of Ramadan has not led to a truce." The fighting has been going on in Mogadishu since Ethiopian troops withdrew from the country in December 2008, leading to thousands of deaths and injuries as well as the displacement of hundreds of thousands from Mogadishu and parts of southern and central Somalia. Yassin said the fighting was spreading beyond Mogadishu. "In the past we had displaced from Mogadishu only but almost every town in parts of central Somalia is being touched by the violence," he said. "From Jowhar [south central] to Harardhere [to the northeast] people are being displaced by violence." He said the current drought was another factor. More and more drought-displaced pastoralists were heading into towns in search of help after losing all their livestock, he said. "The only problem this time is the town's people are as badly off as they are, so cannot help them," Yassin added. He urged donor agencies to reach out to the displaced in remote and often inaccessible areas. Many of the humanitarian agencies, however, lacked access to those who need their help. "Access is still very limited due to insecurity in the areas hosting the majority of the displaced," said Russo.
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