UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 125
Week of: Sunday, 5th November, 2006
Recording Date: Thursday, 9th November, 2006
Topical Issue(s):

• A new United Nations report says that Africa’s vulnerability to climate change is more acute than previously thought. Melchiade Bukuru of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification says the problem in Africa is lack of capacity to deal with negative impact of climate change.

• The Security Council has given parties to the conflict in Cote d’Ivoire one year to hold elections and end the political impasse in the country. The ambassadors of Cote d’Ivoire and France give their views on what the decision of the Council entails.

• The International Criminal Court has held a pre-trial hearing for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, accused of recruiting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Court’s legal advisor Phakiso Mochochoko says the trial will send a clear message that this crime will not go unpunished.

Editor / Presenter: Diane Bailey/Geraldine Adams
Producer: Derrick Mbatha
Production Assistant: Charles Appel
Studio Engineer: Sally O’Brien
Duration: 15’00”

RESENTER: 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 Diane Bailey.

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

PRESENTER:

In today’s programme a new United Nations report warns of the negative impact of climate change in Africa.
CLIP 1: MELCHIADE BUKURU

“Africa will need to put in place adaptation plans because if you cannot stop the climate change you’ve got to develop your capacity to cope with those changes.”

PRESENTER:

That was Melchiade Bukuru of the United Nations Convention to Combat Deserts and Desertification. Also in this programme, the Security Council has given Cote d’Ivoire one more year to break the political impasse in the divided country. And later in this edition we will tell you about the pre-trial hearing for a man accused of recruiting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Phakiso Mochochoko is the senior legal advisor at the International Criminal Court.
CLIP 2: PHAKISO MOCHOCHOKO
“These are very serious crimes. All the crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the court and all the crimes that are included in the Statute are very serious crimes. They are what are called crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.”

PRESENTER:

You will hear more from Mr. Mochochoko.

So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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

PRESENTER:

Imagine African cities like Cape Town, in South Africa, Lagos in Nigeria or Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania sub-merged in water. What about staple food such as maize, millet and sorghum being in short supply? This is what a new United Nations report on climate change says might happen on the continent in fifty years as a result of global warming. The report was issued on the eve of a global conference on climate change which is taking place Nairobi, Kenya. Diane Bailey discussed Africa’s vulnerability to climate change with Melchiade Bukuru, the head of the New York office of the UN Convention to Combat Deserts and Desertification.
BUKURU: It was known before that the climate change has an impact on all the continents including on Africa, but the difference between that impact on the rest of the world and Africa is that Africa is probably the weakest part of the world in terms of capacities to cope with the changes brought about by the climate change.

BAILEY: What are some of the things Africa would need to be able to better deal with the effects of climate change?

BUKURU: Africa will need to put in place adaptation plans because if you cannot stop the climate change you’ve got to develop your capacity to cope with those changes. Africa will need to rely also on the know-how which is already known or possessed by other parts of the world. Africa will need to curb the CO2 emissions. Of course Africa is not the biggest producer of the greenhouse gases but Africa will have to play its own role and Africa will need definitely to strengthen its capacities to monitor, to cope with climate change.

BAILEY: Can you give me some examples of the impact of climate change on Africa?

BUKURU: The impact is on the land. Land is really being depleted by drought, by rain, by erosion, and we knew even before the report that the shift in season’s schemes, that is a problem in Africa because in Africa the farmers are used to sow seeds at a certain period of the year. Now that moment is no longer there, so late rains, early rains, so the change in the patterns of the seasons is having a serious negative impact on the production of food. So the consequence to that is famine, the consequence to that is forced migrations. So that is really a problem.

BAILEY: How aware is the average citizen in Africa of the impact of climate, the average person, especially the farmer who is dealing with this issue?

BUKURU: Sometime the farmer thinks that the climate change is act of God. Sometimes also they don’t take it seriously because they think it is a natural occurrence. For them the most urgent thing is to grow food for tomorrow for the family. So if you tell them that in fifty years we will have a sea rise they don’t care that much because they think that it is an issue which is of concern to people who are already satisfied. I hope the meeting which is taking place in Africa will bring back the issue at the centre of concerns.

BAILEY: Is climate change inevitable or can we somehow avoid some of the negative impact?

BUKURU: You know, Diane, climate change is a natural occurrence. It has always happened. Remember the Ice Age. The difference between then and now is that we as humans, through our unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, we have spoiled the life of the planet. We have pushed the planet to its limits.

PRESENTER:

Melchiade Bukuru, who heads the New York office of the UN Convention to Combat Deserts and Desertification, says the time has come for human beings to take bold action to control the damage they have caused to the environment.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:

The Security Council has given the parties in Cote d’Ivoire one more year to resolve their conflict by holding free and fair elections by the end of October next year. The Council did so by adopting a resolution extending the mandates of President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny for another year. The transitional government of Cote d’Ivoire was supposed to have organized elections by October this year but hasn’t. UN Radio’s Ransford Cline-Thomas has more.
NARRATOR:
Since the crisis broke out with an armed rebellion in 2002, leaving Cote d’Ivoire split in two, several attempts to reunite the country have failed. The Forces Nouvelles continue to control the north while the south is under government control. Specific steps to resolve the crisis include the disarming of militias, the registration of voters, the restoration of state authority throughout the country and the holding of elections. To give the Ivorian parties the last chance to do these things, the Security Council recently decided to extend the mandate of President Gbagbo and Prime Minister Banny for one year. The Council says this is the final extension of the mandate. But, one question remains: what will happen if the parties in Cote d’Ivoire fail to hold elections as required in the Security Council resolution? Ambassador Phillipe Djangone Bi is the representative of Cote d’Ivoire to the United Nations.
CUT 1: Phillipe Djangone Bi
In the constitution of Cote d’Ivoire, there is a provision saying very clearly that as long as elections cannot be organized because of war, for instance, as is the case now, the president remains in power until new elections are held.

NARRATOR:
Another issue which has been unclear is that of the powers of the Prime Minister and the President during the transitional period. Ambassador Djangone Bi explains it this way.
CUT 2: Phillipe Djangone Bi
The powers will not be transferred to the Prime Minister. The powers needed to do the job will be granted to the Prime Minister by the President of the Republic. The resolution does not say that you get the executive powers from the President to give it to the Prime Minister and the president will remain like a sort of honorary president. No no no. He keeps his executive powers but grants those necessary for the Prime Minister to do his job.

NARRATOR:
Meanwhile, Ambassador Jean Marc de LaSabliere of France, the sponsor of the Security Council resolution, says the latest resolution empowers the Prime Minister to move the peace process forward.
CUT 3: Jean Marc de LaSabliere
What has happened in the past is that the Prime Minister was not empowered enough to push all the roadmap for these elections to take place. So we have stated very clearly that it will not be any more possible to use any legal means to put obstacles now to the peace process.

NARRATOR:

And according to Ambassador de LaSabliere, the Security Council resolution was based on the decision of the African Union.
CUT 4: Jean Marc de LaSabliere
Taking stock of the situation, the African Union decided that empowering the Prime Minister was the key and this is what came from Addis Ababa. The African members in the Council told us could you be more precise on some specifics and we have been a little more precise.

Ambassador de LaSabliere has pointed out that the resolution also encourages the United Nations High Representative for the Election to settle and arbitrate differences that may arise in the preparation for the elections. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Ransford Cline-Thomas.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:

The International Criminal Court is this week deciding whether to go ahead with the trial of a former militia leader, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, accused of recruiting child soldiers during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If he is put on trial, it will be the first time that a person is charged with committing this crime under international law. Mr. Lubanga Dyilo was arrested by Congolese authorities in March last year and transferred to the International Criminal Court early this year. UN Radio’s Derrick Mbatha discussed this case with the Chief legal advisor at the International Criminal Court, Phakiso Mochochoko, who explained what happened next.
MOCHOCHOKO: The prosecutor, if I may just recall, received the referral by the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to look at the situation of the commission of crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the court that were committed in the DRC. The prosecutor has done these investigations and these investigations firstly have revealed that Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo is one of the people accused of these crimes. The prosecutor had then, after collecting initial evidence, approached the pre-trial chamber of the ICC and asked for the arrest of Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo. Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo was arrested and now the confirmation of charges hearing is intended for the prosecutor to present the evidence that he has against Mr. Dyalo in order to ensure that he now goes forward to face the prosecution.

MBATHA: And where is Mr. Dyalo right now?

MOCHOCHOKO: Currently Mr. Dyalo is held in the ICC Detention Centre in The Hague. He is under the custody of the ICC.

MBATHA: And from what you know, is there sufficient evidence that warranted his arrest?

MOCHOCHOKO: The confirmation of charges hearing is intended to exactly determine this. The prosecutor has gone a long way in collecting evidence. If the judges are satisfied that the evidence is enough for Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo to answer a case, then they will confirm the charges against him and then the matter will proceed to trial.

MBATHA: And if he indeed does go to trial, where will that be, at The Hague?

MOCHOCHOKO: The trial will be at The Hague itself. And what is going to happen is that the presidency of the court will now set up a trial chamber which is going to look now into the actual trial. This trial chamber is not going to be made up of the same judges who are now in the pre-trial. It is going to be a completely separate team of judges, three judges who are going to go into the trial and now actually look at the actual evidence to ensure that Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo receives a fair trial.

MBATHA: Why is it so? Why is it going to be looked at by a different panel of judges?

MOCHOCHOKO: This is to avoid any semblance of partiality. The pre-trial judges are only looking at the sufficiency of evidence where there is enough evidence to confirm the charges against Mr. Dyalo. The other judges themselves now are going to go into the actual evidence where witnesses statements are going to be heard, where all the materials are going to be presented and it will be for the trial judges to make up their minds on the basis of the actual hearing itself to determine whether, in fact, the crimes have been committed. This is a mechanism that has been designed specifically in the case of the ICC where the accused person is indeed presumed innocent until proven guilty.

MBATHA: Yes, Mr. Mochochoko you are a legal expert. How serious are these charges or allegations?

MOCHOCHOKO: These are very serious crimes. The charges against Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo are that he conscripted children as soldiers during the war that went on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations itself has pronounced itself on the issue of the recruitment of children and therefore it is quite a serious crime and if the charges are indeed proved against Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyalo, this will be the first time that in the international criminal justice system somebody has been convicted of this crime and this will send a clear message to the would be perpetrators of this crime or to would be people who want to recruit children in the future to make sure that they will now know that if they do so they are going to be held personally responsible and accountable for such actions.

PRESENTER:

That was Phakiso Mochochoko, the Chief Legal Advisor of the International Criminal Court. The judges have up to sixty days to decide whether to put Thomas Lubanga Dyilo on trial.
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 Charles Appel and our sound engineer was Sally O’Brien.
And now from me Geraldine Adams, bye for now.

*** CLOSING MUSIC ***