UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 121
Week of: Sunday,8th October, 2006
Recording Date: Thursday, 12th October, 2006
Topical Issue(s):

" As the crisis continues the troubled western Darfur region of Sudan, where armed militias attack civilians and kill civilians, the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner has urged the government of Sudan to order an independent investigation into these attacks. Spokesman Jose Diaz says there were massive attacks and possibly hundreds of people killed.

" The Top UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Jan Egeland, says pushing for a UN Nations force in Darfur should not be left to Western Countries. He also expresses optimism about resolving the long-standing conflict in Northern Uganda.

" Democratic elections are increasingly becoming a way of changing governments on the African continent. The UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy, General Abdulsalami Abubakar has reported on the elections in the Gambia where he says there is need to support democracy.

Editor / Presenter: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Producer: Derrick Mbatha
Production Assistant: Florence Poblete-Enriquez
Studio Engineer: Pete Kurisko
Duration: 15'00"

PRESENTER:
This is United Nations Radio in New York.

*** SIG TUNE *** (Please, play briefly, dip upon wave, and hold under narr.)

PRESENTER:
Hello and welcome to UN and Africa, I'm Ransford Cline-Thomas.

*** SIG TUNE ***: (Bring Sig Tune up briefly, dip and hold under)

PRESENTER:
In this edition, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for an investigation into recent attacks on civilians in the South Darfur region of Sudan.

CLIP 1: JOSE DIAZ
"Whatever the cause of the conflict, the fact is that it deals with massive and grave violations of human rights occurring on a daily basis. Things are, according to all accounts getting worse even since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May." (0'13")

PRESENTER:
That was Jose Diaz the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Also in this programme, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland is urging all countries of the world to push for the deployment of United Nations force in Darfur.
"This global UN force which we need to provide security and safety for the civilian population for humanitarian work should be put by ASEAN governments, by African governments, by Arab governments, by Islamic countries. Everybody should be concerned." (0'13")

PRESENTER:
And later in the programme, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Gambia, General Abdulsalami Abubakar says there is hope that if assisted, democracy will thrive in the Gambia.
So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.

*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and hold under until first sentence.)

PRESENTER:
As the stalemate continues over the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan, internally displaced people continue to suffer at the hands of armed militias. The latest reports from human rights monitors in the troubled region indicate that since August, 10,000 people have been displaced by these attacks. This has prompted the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to call on the government of Sudan to order an independent investigation into the recent militia attacks that may have killed hundreds of civilians in Darfur. On the line to Geneva I spoke with Jose Diaz, the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who told me that there are various theories about the reasons behind these attacks.
4'13"

DIAZ: One of the theories is that the attackers, the militias to attacked the villages were seeking to empty them of their inhabitants so that in case an international force came in that force would then sort of freeze the situation, there would be a status quo where these areas were empty of its inhabitants then other people could be put in their place. But that's one theory. What we know is that there were massive attacks and possibly hundreds of civilians were killed in these attacks.

C-THOMAS: In fact your report says that the attacks were actually targeted against tribes of what you describe as African origin. Any particular reasons why this particular group because this to me would smell of ethnic cleansing?

DIAZ: Yes the tribe the attackers are described are members of the Habbania tribe, which is called an Arabic tribe and the people who were attacked belonged to groups described as being of African origin. This is not the first time that these villages have been attacked the same group, by the same people from the Habbania tribe. We had reports in April that there were attacks also conducted by the Habbania tribe on civilians in this same area.

C-THOMAS: Now these attacks, in my view, certainly would not have just happened or occurred out of the blue, there must be some root cause to all of this. Have you been able to put your finger on that?

DIAZ: Well the conflict in Darfur is a very complex one and its origin doesn't date from yesterday. There are questions of dispute over land over territory for grazing, the conflict between pastoralists and nomads and it has taken on an ethnic character where you have people generally described as being of Arab origin pitted against people described as of African origin. I think whatever the cause of the conflict, the fact is that it deals with massive and grave violations of human rights occurring on a daily basis. Things are, according to all accounts getting worse even since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May and the people who are suffering the most are civilians. We have over two million displaced, a figure of over 200,000 people killed and no sign of any immediate improvement.

C-THOMAS: Jose, you have already stated that you conducted interviews with survivors of the attacks. Do you know for sure that these are real victims, legitimate survivors and certainly not impostors who want to exploit the situation?

DIAZ: Well the human rights officers who conducted the interviews know the area that they work in and the people that they interviewed were people who came from the area that were affected. These are people who were fleeing, they were displaced persons. It was testimony that was corroborated by other evidence and other accounts that were cross-checked. Si we are pretty confident that the accounts eye witness accounts that we got and that the evidence from different sources is accurate and that these people were victims of these attacks and that large number of people might have been killed.

C-THOMAS: Now you have also urged the Government of National Unity of Sudan to launch an independent inquiry to investigate the events. What sort of response, if any, have you received so far from the government?

DIAZ: As far as we know here in Geneva we don't have an official response to that specific call. This kind of request is one that we make whenever we have these kinds of reports of people being engaged with apparent support from the authorities in human rights abuses. And the minimum that the authorities can do is to launch an investigation into what happened and bring those responsible to account.

C-THOMAS: And while we await some firm action on the part of the government what now is the status of the delivery of aid, medical assistance, reunification of families and the return of the displaced population.

DIAZ: The humanitarian agencies of the United Nations and other international governmental and non-governmental organizations are working on that aspect of the problem delivering aid to the affected populations especially the people who are displaced internally in Darfur. But we continue to get reports of this delivery of aid being hampered by deliberate attacks on aid workers and aid convoys. So that situation is still quite delicate.

PRESENTER:
That was Jose Diaz, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights speaking there on the line from Geneva.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME

PRESENTER:
And still on the ongoing crisis in Darfur, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Jan Egeland has urged Sudan's trading partners to put pressure on the country's government to accept an international force in Darfur. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva this week, Mr. Egeland also spoke about efforts to consolidate peace in Northern Uganda as talks between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army, the LRA, continue in southern Sudan. Yvette Morris reports.
2'34"

NARRATOR:
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator said it would take a heart of stone not to understand the plight of the women and children of Darfur who are suffering disproportionately. In some areas masses of people have no food.

CUT 1: JAN EGELAND
It is now around the quarter of a million people we have no access to and that is down from the 450,000 in July. But what is worrying is that 140,000 people have now gone without food aid for four consecutive months and there are not many other sources of food in the desert after so much war.

NARRATOR:
Mr. Egeland urged the international pressure on Khartoum to accept United Nations troops. He said it was time to make the government of Sudan understand that the UN forced was not a western project but a global one in solidarity with Sudan and the people of Darfur.

CUT 2: JAN EGELAND
What we need is a wider global diplomatic effort. This global UN force which we need to provide security and safety for the civilian population for humanitarian work should be put by ASEAN governments, by African governments, by Arab governments, by Islamic countries. Everybody should be concerned over the dramatic increase in abuse of the civilian population, in rape of women that we can document.

NARRATOR:
Mr. Egeland expressed optimism about the situation in Northern Uganda where current peace talks were making progress in dealing with what has been one of the world's most neglected emergencies in which 150,000 children had been kidnapped. He nevertheless described the ongoing peace talks as an extremely fragile process.

CUT 3: JAN EGELAND
The next few weeks will be absolutely crucial for whether or not we can bring to an end one of our generation's worst wars. Few other places on earth has so much suffering been inflicted on a civilian population. Eighty per cent of the Ocholi people were displaced in Northern Uganda. I am hopeful that we can now see an end to it all, but then we have to be creative, we have to be courageous, we have to be flexible in assisting this African -led peace process.

NARRATOR:
Jan Egeland, United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. Yvette Morris, UN Radio Geneva.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME

PRESENTER:
African countries are increasingly embracing democratic elections as a preferred way of transferring power from one rule to another. Although the continent still has a long way to go to ensure that the practice of elections becomes the rule rather than the exception, many countries now conduct elections regularly. The United Nations is closely watching this situation and is encouraging and helping African countries to entrench the culture of democratic elections. One such country is the Gambia which held presidential elections which were won by President Yahya Jammeh last month. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Gambia, General Abdulsalami Abubakar has briefed the Security Council on the elections. UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha discussed the elections with General Abubakar who says he was impressed by the how they were conducted.
3'49"
ABUBAKAR: People stayed in their queues and it was peaceful. Of course, in any elections there are one or two incidences. One of the incidences that we noticed was the security people who came to vote in uniform. But this is perfectly legal, as allowed by their constitution.

MBATHA: Why would that create some concern? Is it because the uniform maybe can have some effect on civilians?

ABUBAKAR: Well the opposition is accusing the presence of people in uniform form some intimidation on the voters. That's their concern. But it is allowed by their constitution and electoral laws.

MBATHA: And how was the overall turnout?

ABUBAKAR: Well the turnout for the 2006 presidential election is a little bit disappointing, considering the turnout. You had only fifty-eight per cent of the registered voters compared to the 2001 election where 89 per cent people came to vote. So there is a little bit of voter apathy this time around.

MBATHA: What role did the media play in the run-up elections in the Gambia?

ABUBAKAR: Well I was not in the Gambia before the elections so I can't say much. But we have received a report from the UN in-country people saying that yes the Gambian Radio and television services gave airtime both to the ruling party and to the opposition political parties. However, there is a rider to that that more attention is given to the activities of the president during news reporting fully.

MBATHA: I understand also there was an innovative way of voting where people used marbles. Can you tell me about that?

ABUBAKAR: Exactly. I found it is very very interesting method, especially for an illiterate society. This is a rig proof election. There is no way you can rig election using that marble. It is ingenious and I wish other people could borrow a leaf from that. People come in. They are given a marble. They go into the polling booth. They cast their vote into the drums for the various candidates. And once they drop the marble into the drum, it rings a bell to let people know yes the voter inside has cast the vote.

MBATHA: How is it differentiated?

ABUBAKAR: For each candidate there is a colour and the picture of the candidate is attached on the drum. So for this election there were three drums. One was coloured in green, one in yellow one red, I think. And the pictures of the contestants is attached to each drum.

As a final question, are you optimistic that democracy will thrive in the Gambia?

ABUBAKAR: From what I saw in the Gambia, I must say I am impressed and I believe Gambia has hope because talking after the election with all the opposition and ruling party, everybody is talking about maintenance of peace in the Gambia. Also, talking to the citizens of the Gambia, really all of them, they cherish the peace and everyone of them is talking, 'look, we are the same people. We don't have any problem. We must maintain peace because peace is essential for the maintenance of the tourism in the Gambia. I believe my interaction with the politicians give me some hope that really democracy, if assisted in the Gambia it will thrive.

PRESENTER:
That General Abulsalami Abubakar the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Gambia.

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 Pete Kurisko.
And from me Ransford Cline-Thomas, bye for now.

*** CLOSING MUSIC ***
(Bring music up and play till the end.)