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UN Radio
Programme Number: 117
Week of: Sunday, 10thd September, 2006
Recording Date: Thursday, 14th September, 2006
Topical Issue(s):
" In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the
main rivals have met for the first since their supporters
clashed last month. The meeting follows the announcement
of the provisional results of parliamentary elections
held in July. The head of the UN Mission William Swing
is encouraged by the developments in the country despite
some difficulties.
" As the Sudanese government continues to refuse
to accept deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls on the Security Council
to take urgent action to put an end to the suffering
of the Sudanese people in the region.
" A former mayor of a Commune in Rwanda is acquitted
of charges of instigating and supporting the massacre
of Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Mandiaye
Niange of the UN tribunal says the acquittal shows that
the court is impartial.
Editor / Presenter: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Producer: Derrick Mbatha
Production Assistant: Beng Poblete-Enriquez
Studio Engineer: Louis Bastion
Duration: 15'00"
PRESENTER: This is United Nations Radio from New York.
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and hold under narr.)
PRESENTER:
Hello and welcome to UN and Africa, I'm Ransford Cline-Thomas.
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hold under)
PRESENTER:
Provisional Results of Parliamentary Elections Are
Finally Announced in the DRC
The provisional results of the parliamentary elections
which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
in July have finally been announced. But with more than
two hundred political parties and independent candidates
participating in the process, a lot of questions are
being asked. Can there be a working parliament capable
of carrying out its work of passing laws or is there
going to be a fragmented institution incapable of making
decisions?
CLIP 1: WILLIAM SWING
"It looks like the possibilities people having
both a clear cut majority and a strong opposition, both
those possibilities seem to exist in the figures as
we know them now. That's a good thing, which would provide
for both a stable government and an opposition which
could exercise its role of control and checks and balances."
That was William Swing, the head of the United Nations
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. You
will hear more from him in a moment. Also in this programme,
the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan calls
on the Security Council to take urgent action to stop
the worsening situation in the Darfur region of Sudan,
where renewed fighting is once again threatening the
lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
CLIP 1: KOFI ANNAN
"Can the international community, having not done
enough for the people of Rwanda in their time of need,
just watch as this tragedy deepens. Having finally agreed
just one year ago that there is responsibility to protect,
can we contemplate failing yet another test?"
PRESENTER:
And later in the programme, a former mayor in Rwanda
is acquitted of instigating people to commit genocide.
We will hear from Mandiaye Niange of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
So stay tuned to UN and Africa.
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until first sentence.)
PRESENTER:
The two main rivals in the presidential run-off elections
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Joseph
Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba met on Wednesday
for the first time since their supporters clashed in
the capital Kinshasa three weeks ago. The meeting followed
intense diplomatic efforts involving South African president
Thabo Mbeki and the European Union foreign policy chief
Javier Solana who visited the two men to persuade them
to settle their differences. This week's positive developments
followed the announcement last Friday of provisional
results of the parliamentary elections which took place
in July. Neither of the two main political coalitions
led Mr. Kabila and Mr. Bemba won a clear majority. Over
two hundred political parties and independent candidates
participated in the elections which raised fears that
they might result in an unwieldy parliament. However,
that did not happen as the top United Nations envoy
in the country, William Swing, told me on the line from
Kinshasa.
SWING: It looks like the possibilities people having
both a clear cut majority and a strong opposition both
those possibilities seem to exist in the figures as
we know them now. That's a good thing, which would provide
both for a stable government and an opposition which
could exercise its role of control and checks and balances.
And the proportional representation system that they've
chosen has meant that almost all of the political forces
in the election will be represented in some form and
some capacity in the parliament.
RANDY: And from your vantage point, is it good or bad
for the Democratic Republic of the Congo not to have
a party with a clear majority in parliament, given the
fact that this country has not had a democratic system
in more then 40 years?
SWING: Well, I think it opens up lots of possibilities
in the coming days, for coalition building between parties
and this seems to me that we will know more in the next
period but what we don't have is the fear of when you
had something like 278 different political parties,
could this ever be manageable? That has not happened.
In fact, you already have several fairly large alliances
that seem to be emerging in the midst of all this. But
we'll have to await the outcome, it looks quite positive.
RANDY: And how about the Congolese people themselves?
How have they reacted to the announcement of the results
of the parliamentary election?
SWING: We have not had a lot of feedback on the public
reaction. I think the significant thing for those who
have come in from overseas is the calm and the discipline
that the Congolese people have shown throughout all
this even amidst some of the difficulties we had on
the 20th to 22nd of August, they remained very calm
and very disciplined. And, of course, we do have upcoming
on the 29th of October; the second round of presidential
as well as the presidential assembly elections, which
I think the people are very interested in because these
are getting down to the local level and they will have
a significant responsibility for selecting the Senators,
the upper house, and for selecting governors and deputy
governors.
RANDY: What is expected to happen next in the whole
Congolese peace process and what role is the United
Nations going to play? I understand that there are some
diplomatic activities going on with the visit of the
South African President Thabo Mbeki, the European Union
Foreign Policy Advisor Javier Solana. What can you tell
us about that?
SWING: I think everybody is working on sort of three
particular objectives. One would be to put in place
what I would only call confidence building measures
to restore confidence on the part of the candidates
and the people that this election can be held in calm
circumstances. Secondly, to try to appeal further that
all of the institutions of the transition, the government,
the parliament and its various institutions continue
to function in this period of elections till the very
end of the transition which would be the inauguration
of a new elected president. And then thirdly to make
certain that the preparations for the second electoral
round go forward with as little delay as possible.
PRESENTER:
That was William Swing, the Special Representative of
the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
The Secretary-Calls for Urgent Action to Stop Suffering
in Darfur
PRESENTER:
The Security Council once again met this week to discuss
the worsening situation in the western Darfur region
of Sudan where various factions have resumed fighting.
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan strongly urged
the Council to pay close attention to this situation
and to take urgent action to bring an end to the suffering
of millions of the people of Darfur. Gerry Adams reports.
NARRATOR:
Mr. Annan made it clear to the Council that the tragedy
in Darfur has reached a critical moment and that the
latest clashes have brought even greater misery to a
population that has already endured far too much. He
said that the deployment of thousands of Sudan Armed
Forces troops to the area is in clear violation of the
Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May between the Sudanese
government and the Sudan Liberation Movement, the largest
rebel group led by Mini Menawi. What is even worse,
he said, the area has been subjected to renewed aerial
bombing.
CUT 1: KOFI ANNAN
Once again, people have been displaced. The total number
of displaced now stands at 1.9 million. Nearly three
million people in Darfur depend on international aid
for food, shelter and medical treatment. The fighting
has made it much much harder for humanitarian workers
to reach them. In July insecurity prevented the World
Food Programme from delivering food to 470,000 people
in desperate need.
NARRATOR:
The Secretary-General said that what is happening in
Darfur defied several Security Council resolutions and
violated commitments the government made not to deploy
additional troops to the region.
CUT 2: KOFI ANNAN
Such action is, legally and morally unacceptable. Evidently
those who have ordered this action still believe that
there can be a military solution to the crisis in Darfur.
Yet surely all parties should have understood by now,
after so much death and destruction, that only a political
agreement, in which all stakeholders are fully engaged,
can bring real peace to the region.
NARRATOR:
For his part the representative of Sudan, Yassin Abelsalam,
told the Security Council that his government is committed
to dialogue but there are obstacles that make the Darfur
Peace Agreement difficult to implement. He said that
Sudan has complained to the Security Council about this
but until now, after two months, the Security Council
has not taken a stand.
CUT 3: YASSIN ABDELSALAM
(Arabic with English translation)
The Sudanese government has presented a comprehensive
detailed plan to deal with the situation in Darfur on
the basis of the Darfur Peace Agreement. This plan includes
very clear guidelines that have been well established
in order to ensure that all of the different elements
are covered, the political, the security, the humanitarian
and the social aspects.
NARRATOR:
But the real sticking point between the Sudanese government
and the United Nations is the government's refusal to
allow the United Nations to take over from the African
Union Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur. In fact, at the
end of August the Security Council adopted a resolution
expanding the mandate of the UN Mission in Sudan to
include its deployment to Darfur. The issue of Darfur
featured again during the Secretary-Generals press conference
on Wednesday. He said that the situation in the region
was desperate as the government continued to refuse
to agree to the deployment of UN peacekeepers. Mr. Annan
noted that the continued presence of the African forces
is itself not certain. And he warned that if the African
Union forces were to leave and the United Nations was
unable to put in a follow on force, then the international
community would be heading for a disaster. He delivered
the same message to the Security Council during its
meeting earlier this week.
CUT 4: KOFI ANNAN
Can the international community, having not done enough
for the people of Rwanda in their time of need, just
watch as this tragedy deepens. Having finally agreed
just one year ago that there is responsibility to protect,
can we contemplate failing yet another test? This is
no time for the middle ground of half-measures or further
debate.
NARRATOR:
The Secretary-General Kofi Annan said his voice alone
would not convince the Sudanese government. He called
on other leaders in Africa and beyond who are in a position
to influence the government to bring pressure to bear
on the government without delay. Reporting for UN Radio,
I am Gerry Adams.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
UN Tribunal Acquits Former Rwandan Mayor
PRESENTER:
Two judgments by the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda, sitting in the town of Arusha in Tanzania,
earlier this week served as a reminder of the 1994 genocide
in Rwanda when Hutu extremists killed hundreds of thousands
of Tutsis. In one case the tribunal found Tharcisse
Muvunyi the former commander of the Rwandan military
school guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
So he was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
But in another case the court acquitted Jean Mpambara,
the former mayor of Rukara Commune of all charges brought
against him, as Mandiaye Niange, a senior lawyer at
the court explained to UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha on
the line from Arusha.
NIANGE: Mr. Mpambara was charged with genocide and extermination
for his alleged involvement in attacks at three different
locations in his Commune.
MBATHA: What was he alleged to have actually done during
the genocide in 1994?
NIANGE: There were no allegations that he personally
perpetrated any of those crimes. But, of course, as
an official authority, he had authority to prevent some
of the attackers but he did not use that authority in
many instances. So the prosecution case was that he
was even in league with attackers. So that was the allegation
of the prosecution. But, of course witnesses brought
by the prosecution were not found to be credible and
on the other side, the defendant brought some witnesses.
And the peculiarity in this case was that there were
key witnesses who were not even Rwandan. For example,
there was a major attack in a parish. The priest himself
who was called by the defense and he testified and he
was found to be very reliable and he gave an account
in favour of the accused showing that the accused even
took all necessary action to prevent the attacks.
MBATHA: And I understand he was arrested in 2001.
NIANGE: Yes, the 20 of June 2001.
MBATHA: And he had been in custody all these years?
NIANGE: Yes.
MBATHA: Now how important is this judgment?
NIANGE: I think it is further testimony to the impartiality
of the tribunal. And although everybody acknowledge
today that what has happened in Rwanda, of course was
terrible. At any rate, the tribunal has always taken
that view, that despite the gravity of what has happened,
we will only find someone guilty if his personal involvement
has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
PRESENTER:
That was Mandiaye Niange of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda.
SIG TUNE ((Bring up briefly, dip and hold under)
PRESENTER:
And that's all for this edition of UN and Africa. Our
producer was Derrick Mbatha, Production Assistant was
Beng Poblete-Enriquez and our sound engineer was Louis
Bastion
And from me Ransford Cline-Thomas, bye for now.
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(Bring music up and play till the end.)
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