UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Briefs Security Council on Trip to Africa
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has briefed the Security
Council on his first mission to Africa.
The crises in the Darfur region of Sudan and in Somalia
dominated his briefing of the press following his meeting
with members of the Security Council."I
think it was a very useful and necessary trip for me, as
I place African challenges on the top of my agenda."
The Secretary-General said that he and members of the Security
Council discussed the situation in the Darfur region of
Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
Cote d'Ivoire. On Darfur, he recalled that the United Nations
has been discussing with Sudanese officials a plan to deploy
a hybrid United Nations/ African Union force to protect
thousands of people who have been displaced by militias.
Thomas Lubango Dyilo is to Stand
Trial for War Crimes in DR Congo
Preparations are under way for the trial of Thomas Lubanga
Dyilo at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
He is accused of recruiting and using children as soldiers
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UN Radio's Walter
Mulondi talks about the man whom he met and interviewed
in the Congo.
UN-HABITAT Chief Anna Tibaijuka
Says Housing Is Key to Fighting Poverty
The head of UN-HABITAT says
that the Millennium Development Goals 
of
improving the lives of poor
people in urban areas cannot be met without addressing
their housing needs. She was commenting on the UN Secretary-General's
decision to make his first stop in Kenya at the Kibera slum
in Nairobi.
"If people have nowhere to sleep, then all this
talk about girl's education and health is just a joke. Even
if you vaccinated children there they will still die from
water borne diseases for lack of toilets."
Transcript
PREVIOUS
EDITION
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Ban Ki-moon
visits African countries as new head of the United Nations
Secretary-General Ban in his first official trip to Africa
visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and
Kenya. In Addis Ababa, he addressed the African Union Summit.
High on his agenda was the crisis in the Darfur region of
Sudan which he discussed with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
"There were many commitments made by the Sudanese government,
including this deployment UN/AU hybrid operation in Darfur.
The international community cannot just ignore and delay,
prolong the situation where millions of people are suffering
from humanitarian difficulties. Many international humanitarian
workers do not have access to the area."
Tanzanian Foreign Minister says
Peacekeepers are Needed in Sudan and Somalia
Bernard Membe,
Tanzania's new foreign minister, who has replaced Dr. Asha
Rose Migiro, the recently appointed Deputy Secretary-General
of the United Nations, comments on a range of issues discussed
at the African Union Summit. Among those issues:
African leaders want Sudan to allow the international community
to deploy peacekeepers in Sudan; and on Somalia, Minister
Membe says that African leaders expect African troops to
replace the departing Ethiopian forces.
UN-backed Sierra Leone Court
is ready to try Charles Taylor in June
Stephen Rapp, the lead prosecutor in the UN-backed Special
Court for Sierra Leone says the former Liberian President
Charles Taylor will stand trial in The Hague on June 4,
for crimes committed during the conflict in Sierra Leone.
"There's an eleven-count indictment charging Mr. Taylor
with crimes against humanity and war crimes, specifically
for murder, for other violence, including mutilation, rape,
sexual slavery and forced marriage, and finally the utilization
of child soldiers."
PILOT EDITION Real Audio
Tenth anniversary of the Rwandan
genocide: Why did the genocide happen? Why was the
UN unable to prevent the killings or stop the massacres?
What lessons have been learned? Transcript
