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UN Radio
UN and Africa
Programme Number: 111
Week of: Sunday, 30th July, 2006
Recording Date: Thursday, 4th August, 2006
Topical Issue(s):
•tay tuned to UN and Africa.
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PRESENTER:
• DR CONGO: Collection and Counting of
ballots are proving as crucial as Sunday’s
historic elections in the DR Congo, with some
candidates already alleging massive fraud. We
speak to the UN’s most senior official
on the ground in Kinshasa.
• SOMALIA: A number of key UN agencies
and organisations undertake an important humanitarian
assessment mission to Somalia – the first
such assessment in about 6 years. We find out
about their initial findings and with the majority
of the ministers in the transitional government
resigning we ask what this means for the international
community’s political engagements in Somalia.
• SIERRA LEONE – WATER AND ELECTRICITY
SHORTAGE: Sierra Leoneans, especially those
in the capital Freetown are having to endure
severe disruptions in water and electricity
supply. We challenge the Minister for Information
and Broadcasting, Professor Septimus Kaikai
about what his government is doing about these
crises.
Editor / Presenter: Ben Dotsei Malor
Producer: Derrick Mbatha
Production Assistant: Chuck Appel
Studio Engineer: Julio Martinich
Duration: 15’00”
PRESENTER: Hello. This is United Nations Radio
from New York.
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PRESENTER:
Greetings, I’m Ben Dotsei Malor. Welcome
to UN and Africa.
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PRESENTER:
People in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
wait anxiously as the votes are counted. But
already there are allegations of electoral fraud.
And what about the politicians who are counting
their chickens before they are hatched?
CLIP/TEASER: KEMAL SAIKI
“What we have are only partial results,
they are not representative of what happened
election day. So it's far too little to derive
any conclusions, or make any extrapolation as
to the sign of the vote.”
PRESENTER:
UN Spokesman in the DR Congo, Kemal Saiki.
Also coming up, severe disruptions in the water
and electricity supplies in Sierra Leone –
we ask Information and Broadcasting Minister
Professor SEPTIMUS KAIKAI why people think his
government is not doing anything about these
problems.
CLIP/TEASER: SIERRA LEONE PROF KAIKAI
“There is a statement, don't confuse me
with the facts, my mind is made up. If your
mind is made up about something, it doesn't
matter how many times people tell you that this
is what we are doing, you simply refuse to hear
it.”
PRESENTER:
Plus, for the first time in a long while, UN
agencies undertake an important humanitarian
assessment mission to Mogadishu and found the
place without guns. What is happening? We hear
from senior UN official, Eric LaRoche, who led
the mission.
We have all that coming up in this edition
of UN and Africa.
Stay tuned.
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DR CONGO – ELECTIONS UPDATE
PRESENTER:
In the DR Congo, the process of collecting
and counting ballot papers is proving as crucial
as Sunday’s historic elections itself.
The DR Congo is one of the largest countries
in the whole WORLD, and organising these elections
successfully has been a real logistical challenge,
because of the lack of roads and adequate communication.
But so far elections observers have described
the conduct of the polls as a qualified success.
Final official results are expected to be released
from the 20th of August until the end of the
month, but some leading candidates have already
started making allegations of massive fraud,
with some declaring victory based on just a
few unofficial results. We called up the UN
Spokesman in the DR Congo KEMAL SAIKI and asked
him first about those allegations of electoral
fraud?
INTERVIEW WITH UN SPOKESMAN KEMAL SAIKI
“INTV DRC Transcript
Well the day of the vote the electoral independent
commission did say that the results won’t
be coming in final results as least before the
20th of August and Monuc said that there is
an electoral vote according to which only the
independent electoral commission has the authority
to release to publish results. What we have
results our officially posted outside the polling
station there are fifty thousand of them so
what we have are only partial results they are
not representative of what happen on that Election
Day. So it’s far too little to derive
any conclusion or to make any extrapolation
as to the sign of the vote and this is what
Monuc said that to urge everybody to leave the
Independent Electoral Commission do it work
and wait for the official results to be released
by it.
BM: Could you tell us how serious how destabilizing
these rumors and these allegation are alleging
massive fraud in the elections?
We have yet to wait to see what ..of course
it creates trouble in the mind of the people
and of the workers. You do have candidates,
several of them claiming victory. You do have
others also that are crying foul and denouncing
what they call fraud. And then you have the
overwhelming majority of the international observers
who are saying that so far they haven’t
seen any cause to worry about massive frauds
so it goes back again to giving the possibility
to the Independent Electoral Commission to come
out with its official results and any irregularities
or complaints can be addressed through the court
system as for the electoral law.
BM: How is the collection and the counting
of the ballot papers proceeding right now in
the DR Congo?
Well it is proceeding rather well of course
as in order the usual constraints the constraints
we have when the elections were organized are
the same that we have now. We have fifty thousand
voting stations you have 64 liaison offices
and centers. You have the counting goes like
this as soon the polling station has closed
down the counting starts immediately not only
in front of the electoral workers, the international
observers, the media the witnesses of the community
as well as the witnesses and representatives
of the candidates and political parties. It
is an open and public process. The results are
collated,they are tallied and once everybody
has agreed upon they are posted up outside the
province station they are signed and certified.
And they have to be you know tallied, collated,
consolidated, cross checked, which is a lengthy
process and beside that the ballots have to
be carried physically from the fifty thousand
polling stations to the voting counting centers
which also implies transportation logistics
and so on and so forth.
BM: Finally what would you say about the mood
in the DR Congo now as people wait for the results
to come out officially?
Oh well as you can imagine in all this process
people are be impatient from the beginning but
it was know that this process the complexity
of the process the vastness of the country the
lack of communication would make it rather protracted
we knew that from the beginning. Of course there
is a bit of tension because people are waiting
for the results. And this is why it is not helpful
when candidates are coming out and claiming
victory of the basis of just very fragmentary
and partial results and everybody should wait
and the leave the Independent Electoral Commission
to do its work. ”
PRESENTER:
That was Kemal Saiki, the spokesman for the
UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, speaking on the line from Kinshasa.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
SIERRA LEONE – WATER AND ELECTRICITY SHORTAGE
PRESENTER:
People living in Sierra Leone, especially in
the capital, Freetown, have been enduring some
severe disruptions in electricity and water
supplies lately, leaving some to wonder what
their government has been doing about these
problem. During my recent visit to Sierra Leone
I met the Minister for Information and Broadcasting,
Professor Septimus Kaikai and asked him what
exactly his government was doing, first about
the electricity shortage?
INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR SEPTIMUS KAIKAI.
“Professor KaiKai Transcript-
PK- Well, we are taking it very seriously.
It is serious enough for us because we believe
that for us to develop as a country there has
to be adequate and sufficient power generation
so that people who are industrialists are able
to do what they need to do. To that extent we
believe it is extremely important indeed, very,
very significant, so what we’ve done,
we’ve been talking to all the stakeholders,
the players, the donor partners, the World Bank,
the African Development bank, Islamic development,
whomever, who is able to listen to us, transits
with us to help us to solve this problem. It’s
an age old problem; this machine is over 30
years old. These are things we inherited as
a government; our difficulties are to resolve
specifically what we are trying to do. I hear
several unions of Africa met in Freetown saying
‘why haven’t they, the government,
your government, Professor Kaikai’s government,
why haven’t you done something about this?
Why didn’t you foresee the crucial nature
of this power crisis? To deal with it, to have
a spin off effect by now would be very proactive.
This is something we’ve been working on
since 1996, but you know there was internal
rector for about a year. We put policies into
place, 1997 there was a problem, which took
some time, instead of talking to donor partners
and international organizations, to assist us.
As a matter of fact, the major aspect of this,
which is boomloom land (??), was about to be
studied in full operation when this whole thing
got stalled. We’ve been doing everything
we possible can to restart boomloom land, and
put it in operation, which we’re working
on.
BM- Is that a hydro electric power project?
PK- Yes that’s a hydroelectric power
project. Exactly. But besides that, we’re
also talking about other issues, we talked to
the South Africans. They have given us equipments,
the S-club for example. They put their new machines
there. They’re trying to make sure that
we have adequate electricity in our area, and
to move around in the province. The boomloom
land is in the province of Makeni. We have a
dam in Kenema, the Eastern province, which is
also refurbishing and we believe that….
BM- That work is going on now?
PK- That work is going on now. It was already
there. But we’re enhancing the capacity
of that hydro electric dam. And that will make
it possible for us not only provide electricity
for Kenema, but to take it back to the damaged
areas. So, these are our proactive things.
BM- How come on the ground here, and I’ve
been genuinely sierra unions, they’re
not necessarily opponents of the government.
But they don’t seem to be aware what the
government of President Kabai is doing about
this power crisis. They don’t seem to
know.
PK- Well, let me said to you what I have often
said. There’s a statement, don’t
confuse me with the facts. My mind is made up.
If your mind is made up about something, it
doesn’t matter how many times people tell
you, that this is what we’re doing, you
simply refuse to hear it and to some extent,
to some of a dispute to what you are talking
about, its necessary for our opponents of our
government. Maybe they have fallen into that
particular trap.
BM: Tell me about some things you are doing
visibly, should be evident to ever Sierra Linen
at home and abroad.
PK- Lets take education. When we came into
office, most of the infrastructure for education,
those things were destroyed, completely destroyed.
We have rehabilitated almost 1,000 schools.
We have either rehabilitated or constructed
over 8,000 schools. Almost every single children
in this country, now we have 149 children, we
boast a school, a primary school. When I was
going to school, people had to travel 7-10 miles
to go from their village to the area where there
was a school. That is no longer the case at
all. Now we’re paying attention to some
technology and basic education. Because it’s
not just that you learn history, its not that
you just learn political science, its not just
when you learn politics and things like that.
What it is, is for example, people competing
for technology. These are things that are pushing
now that will make it possible for this country
to withstand whatever the requirements of the
21st century will be as time goes on. We go
beyond that. We’re giving scholarships
to kids. We give free primary education from
class one to class six. We talk about education
of the gird tribe. Now the gird tribe does very
well on the NPSA exam, and go on to secondary
one to three, which aren’t paid a penny
in two areas, that is in the north and the east,
because that’s where the gird tribe dedication
opportunities where a little bit alike in, one,
to bring them up, so they will be apart of our
society.
BM- Talking about the flood situation. I can
see there is a water problem here, even where
I’m staying. First, when we opened the
tap, it was all yellow water, people are concerned
in terms of the implications for health, why
is your government unable to tell people about
what you are doing about the water crisis currently,
in Freetown in particular?
PK- We have told them.
BM- You remind us. Maybe the people need reminding;
maybe some repetition can have effect.
PK- To settle this, several days ago, I was
on the radio talking about it. Two Saturdays
ago there was a press release on the minister
of energy and power, talking about the water
shortage in the country, what people needed
to do. The minister of health and sanitation
has been on the air, tell the people to boil
the water before you consume it. :Boil the water
before you drink it boil the water. All sorts
of things we’re saying to people but we’re
going beyond that even the conservation society
is out there telling people you know deforestation
your cutting down these trees you’re creating
problems so stop doing this. Because if the
water level which used to be 29 is down to 9
there is reason for it so assist us to solve
this problem. All of the assistance we will
need. No we have a short term plan for solving
the water problem we also have a long term plan.
As a matter of fact president is talking about
writing the project to solve this for the for
long time basis once and for all. But you know
that the whole world is experiencing water problem.
Ben Malor: No, I don’t believe the whole
world. I live in New York. I live in New Jersey.
Probably, not a fair comparison. You lived in
the United States Professor KaiKai.
Professor KaiKai: Over thirty years.
BM: So if you tell people in Washington D.C.
that everyone is having problems. You people
in DC people in New York people in London. They
won’t take it.
PK: Even people in London they are rationing
water there right now. You know in Washington
DC there are days when they tell people don’t
wash your cars because there is water problem.
In New York City the same thing happens.
BM: But it seems to be more acute. The problem
seems to be more acute in Freetown.
PK: We have experienced this for the very first
time.
BM: This is the first time?
PK: This is the first time we’re experiencing
this. It’s not a perennial problem with
us. This is the very first time we’re
experiencing this.
BM: So what is the solution now?
PK: When we rationed the water. Well the water
level has gone up by almost 10, 10 inches now.
So, at some point in time we are going to say
we are not going to ration water anymore, but
we’re watching the situation to see what
happens. But besides that we have identified
some other spots where we will be able to put
up dams but those are long term measures now.
But we as the people of this country we have
to stop this massive cutting down of trees.
We need to also start playing our own role.
We need to stop wasting water. For example people
see these pipes on the street and they take
the razor blade and cut them because they want
to have water. But when they leave they don’t
go and join them back and the water keeps pouring
out it’s wasting.
BM: So there is a lot of leakage and wastage?
PK: Precisely, and we need to address all of
these things. So these are the things that we
need to work on and that’s what we will
be telling them as a government.
BM: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was just
here. I was with him. What effect, what impact
what significance do you as a member of the
Sierra Leonean government attach to the Secretary-General’s
visit for a start?
PK: Oh significant. It was most significant.
You know what was interesting is that Mr. Kofi
Annan came paid growing tribute to the things
that we are doing as a government in terms of
rehabilitation, in terms of education, in terms
of health, in terms of road construction. All
of these things that I said I would make reference
to.
BM: But I remember he did mention a lot has
to be done and particularly in the lead up to
elections. Youth and employment Mr. Annan specifically
mentioned I was with him at the press conference.
PK: He did. He said that. These are the challenges
that we are facing nowadays. It’s a post-conflict
country. There are challenges that people face.
We are coming out of war. We are trying to address
the situation. We are making sure that we’re
providing free education as an avenue for solving
poverty, as an avenue for dealing with the kinds
of problems that we are dealing with at the
present time. And we are encouraging all of
our youth to take advantage of these opportunities
to make sure that their lives are much better
in the future. You know the level of unemployment
among the youth is over 60 percent is a major
cri- it’s a major problem for us. No society
can afford to have that level of unemployment
among the youth in a country and that is why
we take it very seriously
BM: When we talk about investment many people
will think about the fact that Sierra Leone
actually does have a good diamonds industry
so what is happening to the diamonds incoming.
What is the government using the diamond revenue
for?
PK: That’s a very interesting question
you have asked because when we took over we
were getting about10 million dollars a year
from our diamond exports. Last year we got almost
146 million. A certain percentage of that is
sent back to those communities where the licenses
are taken.
BM: Like in Kono.
PK: Like in Kono we have the community development
fund. So if you say a hundred people take license
from Kono a certain percentage of money is sent
back to that chiefdom and they can send it back
to their communities for whatever they want
to do. To set up a school, set up a health center,
construct a road, whatever the case may be.
So the impact is there. That is the biggest
thing we have been able to accomplish, and that’s
novelty for us in this country. When Mr. Annan
left almost all the newspapers write growing
stories about what the government has done.
Same things that we talk about. But it’s
like we are saying a prophet has honor except
in his own country. So when we say it they don’t
listen too much. But when someone else comes
and says the same things, it becomes headline
news. If we were able to get people to believe
that these are the things we have done they
thank you to him they thank you to him. But
as usual is the glass half empty or half full?
For us it is half full. To the negatives it
is half empty.
BM: As Sierra Leoneans the few, the sample
that I have met. Are they lying when they say
nothing has changed?
PK: Well you should have been here in 1996,
in 1997, in 1998 when we came back people can
leave Freetown now and travel to the provinces
at 12 o’clock at night at one o’clock
in the morning they were not able to do that
in 1996 or 95 or 94, or 93. They couldn’t.
We have been able to bring peace to this country.
We have brought about the major rehabilitation
of major roadblocks, You can leave here and
go to Makeni now. IN about 3 hours tired road.
BM: What was it before?
PK: It was a challenge to go to Makeni. And
in so doing we have reduced the cost of transportation
to them. We have reduced the cost of food to
them. Because when the roads were not very good
the trucks were going to through all kinds of
rigmarole to get to the major markets breakdowns
and so on. And they spent money because they
had to charge more. By making the roads so very
good. It has removed that cost for them. It’s
cheaper now to go to Makeni. It’s cheaper
now to go to Masiaka. It’s cheaper now
to go Port Loko. Goods are coming in now at
a cheaper rate. So that’s much better
for all of us.
”
Sierra Leone’s minister for Information
and Broadcasting, professor Septimus Kaikai.
And over the next few weeks, we’ll be
having various reports compiled during my recent
visit to Freetown.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
SOMALIA – UN HUMANITARIAN ASSESSMENT MISSION
PRESENTER:
For the first time in a good number of years,
a UN-led humanitarian assessment team has visited,
Mogadishu, the war-raged capital of Somalia,
to obtain security guarantees and also identify
ways of helping the hundreds of thousands of
Somalis who are in desperate need of international
assistance. The situation in Mogadishu and much
of Somalia has been volatile recently with militants
of the Union of Islamic Courts defeating an
alliance of US-backed militias, to take control
of the capital. The man who led the mission
to Mogadishu is the UN Humanitarian Coordinator
for Somalia, ERIC LAROCHE. He’s now back
to his operational base in Nairobi, Kenya. On
the line there I asked him for the most significant
observation they made in Mogadishu?
INTERVIEW WITH ERIC LAROCHE OF UNDP
“SOMALIA ERIC LAROCHE EDITED
EL: Both of these meetings, I am concerned
and I’ve made that very clear, is to be
good relationship to get to know each other,
to discuss difficult issues, and to look at
the wards and look at particularly how we are
going to implement UN programs, and particularly
the UN instrument programs. The issue for us
is to have access and to have access in all
security. We could be well a target in Mokodesho
to such an extent that inside stuff as we said
in Mokodesho, not even among the NGOs or International
NGOs. We are looking at when or wait to change
our security to be able to spend more then one
day, and to be able to deliver everything as
you can imagine. Having said that, that doesn’t
mean we’ll bypass the federal government,
not at all, we want to work with them in fact,
with the government. Without the Somalia government,
that would be major chaos. I think it’s
very important that you have a government, that
we support the government, that we make sure
that they… uhh… Traditionally, in
transition we will not fall down because that
would just be the end of everything.
BM: So, now, you have done the humanitarian
assessment, what next?
EL: Now, we know the leads, we know roughly
how many people are being assisted in poverty,
and working on the internally displaced people.
There are, just to remind you, 250,000 people
at are living and feeding under foot and living
in miserable conditions. We have also decided
with the semi corps that we would launch a back-to-school
program in September, to make sure that all
the children and going to get to go back to
school. We have also decided to have to rehabilitate
and to equip again to six hospitals and number
two, to work on our own cities, and ensuring
that we will be able to be more and more often
in Mogadishu as an international staff working
for humanitarian resources. ”
Eric LaRoche, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator
and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia,
speaking from Nairobi, Kenya.
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PRESENTER:
And that’s if for this edition of UN and
Africa.
I’m Ben Dotsei Malor with Derrick Mbatha,
Chuck Appel, and Julio Martinich in New York.
We thank you for listening. Join us again next
week.
Good bye.
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