UN Human Rights Mission Says
Gross Violations Continue in Darfur
A
team recently sent by the UN Human Rights Council to
assess the human rights situation in Darfur reports
gross violations in that region of Sudan.The team leader,
Nobel prize winner Jody Williams, says there is need
for political will to stop the suffering of the people
of Darfur. "The international community has
not demonstrated unified political will to pressure
Khartoum to protect the people of Darfur. And since
it can't do it itself, it should accept the UN forces
that it said it would accept and allow them to deploy
in Darfur to protect the people."
Ban Ki-moon Condemns Violence
Against Opposition Leaders in Zimbabwe
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Louise Arbour have criticised the violent
suppresion of last Sunday's prayer rally in Harare.
The Secretary-General condemned the beating up in custody
of the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change,
Morgan Tsvangirai, and supporters of the opposition."
Such actions violate the basic democratic rights of
citizens to engage in peaceful assembly."
UN
Envoy Says Insecurity Remains Major Problem in Mogadishu
The UN Special Representative
for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall says the security
situation in the Somali capital of Mogadisu remains
a serious problem. Mr. Fall stresses the need for Somali
authorities to address this issue by engaging in a dialogue
with all the stakeholders in Somalia to promote reconcilation.
Transcript
PREVIOUS
EDITION
Real Audio Listen and Download MP3
Security Council Awaits Sudan's
Response to Proposed Force for Darfur
Members of the Security
Council are still awaiting a response from Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir to a letter sent by UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon outlining a proposed UN/AU hybrid force
for Darfur. UN Special Envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson,
says relief workers on the ground are facing problems
of access and insecurity. "I was Emergency
Relief Coordinator in the past and I know the humanitarian
workers and I sense the deep fatigue, deep sense of
frustration in that community."
Nigerian Authorities Fight
Corruption
Nigeria has been for many years
notorious for coups d'etat and
corruption. But in the last seven years, according to
Nasir el-Rufai, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory
of Nigeria, the country has been putting its house in
order."Nigeria has been run by military governments
on and off more or less since 1966, when the First Republic
was overthrown and, though the earlier military regimes
were clean and tried to do a good job, subsequent regimes
more or less institutionalized corruption as state policy."Mr.
el-Rufai says Nigerians are working around the clock
to ensure that the upcoming elections in April will
be free, fair and transparent.
UN Relief Officials Say It
Is Time
to Return to Somalia
Recent developments in Somalia,
including the defeat of the Islamists and the holding
of a reconciliation conference, have prompted the United
Nations humanitarian officials to call for a resumption
of humanitarian work in the country. The new Under-Secretary-General
for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, says the critical
situation in southern and central Somalia is one of
the priority areas where he'd like to be more actively
involved.
Transcript
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
