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UN Radio
UN and Africa
Programme Number: 137
Week of: Sunday, 28th January, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 1st February, 2006
Topical Issue(s):
• The crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan
where militias have killed hundreds of thousands
and displaced over two million people was high
on the agenda of UN Secretary-General during
his meeting with African leaders in Addis Ababa.
This was Mr. Ban Ki-Moon’s first official
visit to Africa as the new head of the World
Organization.
• The Foreign Minister of Tanzania, Bernard
Membe says that African leaders meeting in Addis
Ababa want Sudan to allow the international
community to deploy peacekeepers in Darfur.
On Somalia, he says African leaders expect the
African troops to replace the Ethiopian troops
when they leave.
• The lead Prosecutor for the UN-backed
Special Court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp,
says that former Liberian President Charles
Taylor will stand trial for war crimes in The
Hague on June 4. Mr. Taylor is charged with
crimes against humanity committed during the
civil war in Sierra Leone.
Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor/co-producer: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Production Assistants: Charles Appel
Studio Engineer: Zach Pruwitt
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
Derrick Mbatha.
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dip and hold under)
PRESENTER:
In today’s programme, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon pays his first visit to Africa where
the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan dominates
his talks with African leaders.
CLIP 1: BAN KI-MOON
“The international community cannot just
ignore and delay, prolong the situation where
millions of people are suffering from humanitarian
difficulties.”
PRESENTER:
You will hear more from the Secretary-General
in moment. And still on the African Summit,
the Foreign Minister of Tanzania talks about
other issues discussed by the African leaders
in Addis Ababa. Also in this edition, the lead
Prosecutor for the United Nations-supported
court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp, says the
trial of former President Charles Taylor of
Liberia will start at the beginning of June.
CLIP 2: STEPHEN RAPP
“That’s now an eleven-count indictment
charging Mr. Taylor with crimes against humanity
and war crimes, specifically for murder, for
other violence, including mutilation, rape,
sexual slavery and forced marriage, and finally
the utilization of child soldiers”
You will hear more from Mr. Rapp later in the
programme.
So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and
hold under until first sentence.)
PRESENTER:
PRESENTER:
The ongoing crisis in the western Darfur region
of Sudan, where Janjaweed militias have killed
hundreds of thousands and displaced over two
million people, was high on the agenda of the
United Nations Secretary-General during his
meeting with African leaders in Addis Ababa.
This was Mr. Ban Ki-Moon’s first official
visit to Africa as the new head of the World
Organization. UN Radio’s Ransford Cline-Thomas
reports.
NARRATOR:
In his first official mission to Africa, United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, visited
three countries -- the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya. In the Congo
he met with Congolese officials including President
Joseph Kabila and addressed the National Assembly.
He also visited the eastern part of the country
where there have been some incidents of violence
despite progress being made in the rest of the
country. In Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General
addressed the African Union Summit and met with
African leaders gathered there. More importantly,
he met with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir
to discuss the peace process in South Sudan
and the ongoing crisis in the western Darfur
region where hundreds of thousands of people
have been killed and over two million displaced
in attacks by Janjaweed militias. As Mr. Ban
noted, the United Nations and Sudanese authorities
have been discussing a plan to reinforce African
Union peace-keepers in the region.
CUT 1: BAN KI-MOON
There were many commitments made by the Sudanese
government, including this deployment UN/AU
hybrid operation in Darfur. The international
community cannot just ignore and delay, prolong
the situation where millions of people are suffering
from humanitarian difficulties. Many international
humanitarian workers do not have access to the
area.
NARRATOR:
The United Nations Secretary-General reminded
reporters in Addis Ababa that the United Nations
has tried many times to resolve the Darfur crisis.
CUT 2: BAN KI-MOON
Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan had discussed
this matter on many occasions and my Special
Envoy, Mr. Jan Eliasson was in Khartoum and
in Darfur and he came out with a relatively
encouraging commitment from him. And there was
some exchange of letters and telephone calls,
including myself.
NARRATOR:
Meanwhile, Jan Eliasson, who was recently appointed
UN Special Envoy to work with his counterpart
in the African Union Envoy, Salim Ahmed Salim,
was with the Secretary-General in Addis Ababa.
He stressed the need to deal with the political
and military aspects of the crisis. Mr. Eliasson
explained to reporters what he and Mr. Salim
have been trying to achieve.
CUT 3: JAN ELIASSON
I, on my side and Salim Salim, will intensify
the political process which is in parallel,
but there are links between the two, of course.
One of them from our perspective is that we
would like to see a true cessation of hostilities
so that the level of violence goes down and
that the conditions are better for talks. We
aim to go around the, let’s say, tenth
twelfth of February to Khartoum. And then we
also aim to go to Darfur. In this regard we
are also encouraged by the government to be
in contact with the non-signatories. We will
then work with the non-signatories, try to have
more unified position on their side, come back
to the government. We will continue to press
for lowering of the level of tension.
NARRATOR:
The non-signatories are the rebel movements
in Darfur which have not signed the Darfur Peace
Agreement signed in May last year by the Sudan
Liberation Movement and the Sudanese government
to end the conflict in Darfur. The head of UN
peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno
told reporters travelling with the Secretary-General’s
party that what is going to make a difference
in Darfur is the presence of large numbers of
peacekeepers and the willingness of political
leaders to resolve the crisis. He compared the
situation in Darfur to the one in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
CUT 4: JEAN-MARIE GUEHENNO
Even a 17,000 force, even a 20,000 force, because
when you add the police it will be more like
20,000 than 17,000, if the force has to be dealing
with violence all over the place all the time,
it won’t be able to deliver because Darfur
is a very big place. You just left the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. You have seen there how
our force has been effective because there was
a political agreement and so the force could
deal vigorously, strongly with the spoilers,
and then it becomes manageable. And that’s
the situation we want to reach in Darfur.
NARRATOR:
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the head of United Nations
peacekeeping operations who has been travelling
with the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban
Ki-moon in his first mission to Africa. Reporting
for UN and Africa, I am Ransford Cline-Thomas.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
As you have just heard, in his first mission
to Africa the United Nations Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-Moon was accompanied by reporters. One
of them is UN Radio’s Carlos Araujo who
caught up with the new Foreign Minister of Tanzania,
Bernard Membe and asked him to comment on some
of the issues discussed by African leaders at
their meeting in Addis Ababa. Foreign Minister
Membe has replaced Dr. Asha Rose Migiro who
is now the new Deputy Secretary-General of the
United Nations. Here’s is Carlos.
Minister, this summit was about technology and
its role in development and also climate change,
but also you discussed a lot of political issues
like Darfur and Somalia. On Darfur, for example,
you were expecting more from President Al Bashir
in terms of accepting the hybrid force for Darfur?
MEMBE: Yes, we did expect much from the president
in doing a lot, of course, clearing the situation,
complying to the international community, demand
for the deployment of forces inside there, and
he has, to some extent, agreed that he will
do something. But much needs to be done. We
really need to marshal all the forces of the
international community, particularly the UN,
come in, and we are telling the president, and
they have told the president to clear the house,
to intervene, and to observe the human rights
records inside Darfur, and allow the international
forces, particularly the military, to enter
and to do their job that was supposed to be
done.
What about Somalia? Is the African Union expecting
the UN to participate with peacekeepers in Somalia
when the Ethiopians leave the country?
MEMBE: Yeah. When the Ethiopians leave the
country, we expect the African troops to take
over to replace the Ethiopian forces, but immediately
thereafter, that is inside six months to one
year, we expect the UN forces, what we call
Hybrid Force, to come in and do the job to assist
the African forces that will be on the ground.
One important subject here was the role of
technology and development in Africa in Tanzania.
What are you doing in terms of investing in
that area?
MEMBE: In Tanzania we will be doing a lot.
First of all, we want to invest in research,
because that is the cardinal thing that a developing
country like Tanzania has to do, because you
are talking of scientific research here, and
then you translate that scientific research
into technological development. On the side
of education we are also intending to make sure
that the secondary schools, universities get
the laboratory equipments, scientific equipments
for students to be able to go to school with
a scientific knowledge. So on the side of health
also, we wanted to make sure that we have modern
equipments for health sciences in order to develop
the health sector.
Can I ask you a last question about your predecessor,
Dr. Migiro? What can you tell us about her?
MEMBE: She is a brilliant, very articulate,
and a professional person. We expect that she
will do a wonderful job in the United Nations,
and we wish her all the best. We will miss her
here in Tanzania, and we hope the international
community will enjoy from her accumulated experience,
and boy you will see what you will have in the
UN.
PRESENTER:
That was Bernard Member, the Foreign Minister
of Tanzania.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
Some leaders in Africa have been able to abuse
their own people and get away with it. But this
is not so with Charles Taylor a one time war
lord in Liberia who was eventually elected President
of that country following a vicious conflict.
On the 4th of June, Mr. Taylor will stand before
the United Nations supported Court for Sierra
Leone to answer to allegations that he was behind
the conflict that not only killed thousands
of Sierra Leoneans, but also left many more
without limbs and others with psychological
scars inflicted by militias. The lead prosecutor
for the court, Stephen Rapp, was at United Nations
this week where briefed reporters about preparations
for Mr. Taylor’s trial in The Hague, in
the Netherlands. I asked him about the crimes
that the former President of Liberia is charged
with.
RAPP: That’s an eleven-count incitement
charging Mr. Taylor with crimes against humanity
and war crimes, specifically for murder, for
other violence to human life or outrages against
personal dignity, including mutilation, sexual
violence, including rape, sexual slavery and
forced marriage, and finally the utilization
of child soldiers.
And of course all these crimes were committed
in Sierra Leone, and Charles Taylor was the
president of Liberia. Isn’t it a challenge
to link him directly to these crimes?
RAPP: That is, of course, the fighting issue
in the case. I don’t think it’s
any longer possible for people to contest that
horrendous crimes were actually committed in
Sierra Leone by the forces there, particularly
by the Revolutionary United Front and the Armed
Forces Revolutionary Council, but the crucial
question is individual responsibility, the individual
responsibility of the six persons in those organizations
that have been charged or who are still awaiting
judgment, and of course of Mr. Taylor. Our evidence
that we intend to show and present in our case
will show that Mr. Taylor had been a long-time
associate of Mr. Sankoh and that they worked
in conjunction, that their forces intermingled,
that the tactic of using child soldiers, the
tactic of terrorizing the civilian population,
of essentially giving people the choice of either
being mutilated and murdered or support me and
our efforts was a tactic worked out and mutually
followed by them.
The question also is, why in The Hague? Why
not in Africa like the Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda? Why all the way to Europe?
RAPP: Well, in this particular case I think
we have to remember that the Freetown Court
has been a ground-breaker in the sense that
its other trials have been conducted in the
country in which the crime occurred. There was
concern in the region reflected by those involved
in the transfer of Mr. Taylor to Liberia and
then to the special court in Freetown in March
of 2006 that the trial in the region would have
a destabilizing effect, that there would be
a danger that forces could form that would seek
to interfere with the trial process or to free
Mr. Taylor or to discredit that process and
make it difficult for it to go forward, and
for that reason the presidents of Liberia and
Sierra Leone wanted that trial moved out of
the region.
Who is going to finance these proceedings?
Who’s paying for the tribunal?
RAPP: Well, the nations the world over are
paying for the tribunal through voluntary contributions.
The major contributors include the Netherlands
itself, Britain, the United States, Canada,
but there are contributions from a variety of
countries, large and small.
What message are you sending for trying a former
head of state for crimes against humanity?
RAPP: Well, the basic message, which I mentioned
today, is that no person, no matter how elevated,
no matter if that individual is a chief of state,
is above the law. And that any person, no matter
what his reputation, is entitled to a fair and
equitable trial, is entitled to test the evidence
presented by the prosecution and present a defense
and to have proof established before conviction
beyond a reasonable doubt.
PRESENTER:
That was Stephen Rapp the lead prosecutor for
the United Nations-supported Special Court for
Sierra Leone.
SIG TUNE ((Bring up briefly, dip and hold under)
PRESENTER:
And that’s all for this edition of UN
and Africa. Our Production Assistant was Charles
Appel and our sound engineer was Zach Pruitt.
And from me Derrick Mbatha, please join us for
another edition of UN and Africa next week.
Until then, bye bye.
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