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UN Radio
UN and Africa
Programme Number: 140
Week of: Sunday, 18th February, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 22th February, 2007
Topical Issue(s):
• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says
he is still waiting for a reply from Sudanese
President Omar Al-Bashir to his letter in which
he is proposing the deployment of a hybrid UN/AU
peacekeeping force to Darfur. Mr. Ban tells
UN Radio that the continuing human rights violations
in Darfur are unacceptable.
• The Security Council has authorized
the African Union to establish a mission to
help stabilize the situation in Somalia. In
a resolution unanimously adopted late on Tuesday,
the Council decided that the mission will support
dialogue and reconciliation in Somalia which
has not had a functioning government for over
a decade.
• Ishmael Beah was forced to become a
child soldier during the civil war in Sierra
Leone at the age of twelve. In this part I of
a conversation with UN Radio, he describes how
he became a child soldier and recalls some of
the things he and his fellow child soldiers
did during the war.
Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor/co-producer: Bissera Kostova
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.
*** SIG TUNE ***: (Bring Sig Tune up briefly,
dip and hold under)
PRESENTER:
In today’s programme, the United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is still waiting
for a reply from the president of Sudan to his
proposal for the deployment of a joint-United
Nations/African Union peacekeeping force to
Darfur.
CLIP 1: BAN KI-MOON
“The continuing deteriorating situation
in Darfur, particularly in the human rights
violations and abuses and killings of civilians,
is just unacceptable. The International community
must take the immediate measures on this matter.”
PRESENTER:
You will hear more from the Secretary-General
in a moment.
Also in this edition, the Security Council authorizes
the African Union to establish a mission to
help stabilize Somalia.
And, a former child soldier talks about his
experience during the civil war in Sierra Leone
in the ninenteen-nineties. (1990’s)
CLIP 2: ISHMAEL BEAH
“Sometimes you went to villages where
civilians were a little reluctant to give up
whatever food they had. Then they get annihilated.
If the lieutenant says this village is sympathizer
to the rebels, then you know, that was, basically
no one there would survive”
You will hear more from Ishmael Beah later
in the programme.
So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and
hold under until first sentence.)
UN Secretary-General Says Continuing Crisis
in Darfur Is Unacceptable
PRESENTER:
The humanitarian crisis continues in the western
Darfur region of Sudan where hundreds of thousands
of people are reported to have died and more
than two million displaced. Efforts continue
to get the Sudanese government to agree to the
deployment of a joint-United Nations African/
Union peacekeeping force to protect the displaced
people of that region. As part of those efforts,
the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
wrote to President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan last
month outlining his plan for the deployment
of the force. So far, the Sudanese president
has not responded to the letter. So, when UN
Radio’s Carlos Araujo interviewed the
Secretary-General on various global issues,
the crisis in Darfur was one of the most pressing
matters to be addressed. Here is Carlos.
ARAUJO: You are still waiting for a reply to
your letter on the hybrid force. Sudan has blocked
the visit by the UN human rights team to Darfur.
Don’t you think it should be clear by
now that Sudan doesn’t want to be part
of the solution on Darfur?
Ki-moon: I have received a report from my Special
Envoy Mr. Jan Elliasson, after having met President
Bashir in Khartoum. President Bashir had promised
that he would send his reply as soon as possible.
I am awaiting that response. If and when Sudanese
government agrees to my phased troop plan, then
that would pave a way to eventual introduction
and deployment of AU/UN hybrid forces. At the
same time, I am disappointed that the Sudanese
government has refused to grant visas to fact-finding
mission of the Human Rights Council. I sincerely
hope that the Sudanese government would adhere
to cessation agreement and to allow humanitarian
assistance be delivered to many people who are
suffering from humanitarian needs. And we sincerely
again hope and urge the Sudanese government
to be fully cooperative on this matter.
ARAUJO: But what about if President Bashir
rejects the idea of the hybrid force? Does the
United Nations have a plan B?
Ki-moon: Nobody is talking or thinking about
a so-called plan B. President Bashir clearly
told me that he is committed and he will be
ready to accept this hybrid forces. I have laid
out the conditions and details on force generation,
command and control and funding for phase two
plan heavy support package. And with this implementation,
I will be able to deploy the hybrid forces.
This is an agreement between the Untied Nations,
the African Union and the Sudanese government.
ARAUJO: The Darfur crisis has been going on
for more than four years. Thousands of people
have died. Some people have called the crisis
genocide. Do you think the international community
has failed so far the people of Darfur?
Ki-moon: It’s a tragic and very sad that
such massive human suffering and sacrifice have
happened. It is just unacceptable. The continuing
deteriorating situation in Darfur, particularly
in the human rights violations and abuses and
killings of civilians, is just unacceptable.
The International community must take the immediate
measures on this matter. That is what I have
been doing as a top priority issue in close
coordination with African Union Commission and
African Union leaders on this matter.
PRESENTER:
That was United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon speaking with UN Radio’s Carlos
Araujo.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
Security Council Authorizes African Mission
to Stabilize Somalia
The Security Council this week authorized the
African Union to deploy a peacekeeping force
to help stabilize Somalia which has not had
a functioning government for more than a decade.
The decision was taken late on Tuesday, the
same day that thousands of residents of the
capital Mogadishu were forced to flee in the
face of fierce gun battles and mortar attacks.
UN Radio’s Bissera Kostova reports.
NARR: The UN Security Council unanimously adopted
a resolution aimed at securing peace in Somalia.
Nearly two months ago, the transitional government
of Somalia, with the help of Ethiopian troops
took over Mogadishu, from the Islamist forces
who were driven out of the capital. But today
the government forces continue to battle insurgents.
The UN’s envoy to Somalia, Francois Lonseny
Fall says the government needs support because
it has no national army.
Fall 1: If we want to have a functioning state
in Somalia it will be very, very important to
empower the government and to empower the government,
we need first to protect them and then to form
national forces in Somalia and to allow the
government to be functioning. The resolution
is going in that direction.
NARR: The resolution calls for an African Union
mission, to be known as AMISOM, to be formed
as soon as possible. For the next six months
it will assist with re-establishing and training
all-inclusive Somali security forces. Further,
the mission will help foster the necessary security
conditions for the provision of humanitarian
assistance desperately needed in Somalia, which
has been suffering from both conflict and natural
disasters. The UK representative to the UN,
Sir Emyr Jones Parry spoke after the vote in
the Council.
Parry: Our common objective is to promote reconciliation,
peace and security in a country that has known
little but conflict and instability for so long.
We urge the international community to provide
additional humanitarian relief and development
assistance to Somalia.
NARR: South Africa’s UN Ambassador Dumisani
Khumalo expressed hope that the resolution will
demonstrate to the people of Somalia that the
international community does indeed care about
their situation.
Khumalo: The deployment of the African Union
is a start and we hope that this signals that
the international community, through the Security
Council, will in the coming months also be able
to help the Somali people rebuild their country.
NARR: The resolution also urges States to provide
personnel, equipment, services and financial
resources for the successful deployment of AMISOM.
The UN representative of France, Jean Marc De
La Sablière said it was important that
the Council send this signal of support to the
African Union and to Somalia.
DeLaSablière: It is impossible to impose
peace in Somalia, so peace should be coming
from the Somalis themselves. So, in voting this
resolution, I think the Security Council has
assisted the African Union and given a chance
to the Somali people to make the right choice.
NARR: UN Envoy Lonseny Fall said security remains
the greatest concern in Somalia and he stressed
that it can only be achieved through dialogue,
not force.
Fall 2: There’s, I can say, almost a
daily mortar attacks in Mogadishu against the
transitional federal troops and this is creating
a lot of problems in Mogadishu. The best thing
is – we are encouraging the government
to enter into a genuine dialogue, in an inclusive
dialogue for reconciliation. The security cannot
be solved in Somalia by the arms. If we want
to solve this security concern, we need to sit
and build the Somalis for genuine reconciliation
and we are happy to say that the President has
already accepted to organize very soon a national
reconciliation congress.
NARR: Mr. Fall expects this forum to include
all parties that are interested in securing
peace in Somalia and reject extremism. Reporting
for UN Radio, I’m Bissera Kostova.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
Ishmael Beah was thirteen years old when he
was forced to join the Sierra Leone army to
fight against vicious rebel fighters of the
Revolutionary United Front who took up arms
against the government. During those dark years
in the history of Sierra Leone, thousands of
civilians were killed, raped and mutilated.
The Sierra Leonean boy survived the ordeal,
and now in his mid-twenties, is a prominent
advocate against the recruitment and use of
child soldiers. He has even written a book about
his experience, entitled A Long Way Gone, Memoirs
of a Boy Soldier. So when he recently came to
New York as a guest of the United Nations Children’s
Fund, I caught up with him to talk about his
experiences. In today’s programme you
will hear the first of a two part conversation
with Ishmael. I asked him how he became a child
soldier in Sierra Leone.
BEAH: Well, the war in Sierra Leone started
in 1991 and by 1993 I started running away from
it when I was twelve. And then somewhere along
the line I lost my family was killed, immediate
family, mother and father and two brothers and
I ended up running to find safety among the
Sierra Leone army and then I was pressed into
the war. And I was in it until I was over fifteen.
MBATHA: Who killed your parents or relatives
rather?
BEAH: The RUF, which is the Revolutionary United
Front, which is the rebel group that started
the war. But actually a little facts that, I
guess a lot of people try to avoid, is that
both sides were using children in war. But I
think a lot of emphasis is always placed in
just the RUF using them. The Sierra Leone army
was doing that as well, but sometimes people
don’t want to discuss that. And also the
same rhetoric was being fed in each side. The
Sierra Leone army was saying the RUF is responsible
for everything and even in my case they were.
But then the RUF would use the same rhetoric
and say the soldiers were responsible for it
because the soldiers were doing the same things
that the RUF was doing. The only difference
was that the soldiers were not mutilating people
as the RUF was doing because that was the signature
of the RUF. But all the other atrocities, both
sides were committing the same thing.
MBATHA: So you are saying that both Revolutionary
United Front and the Sierra Leonean army were
using child soldiers.
BEAH: Yes. That is a well known fact that they
were both using children in war. And, you know,
actually the practices were the same. There
is a term in Sierra Leone they call Sobels,
which is soldiers who behave like rebels. Actually,
you know, this was happening for a while and
no one believed it until actually in 1997 when
the army and the RUF connived in overthrowing
the democratic government. This is when it became
apparent to everyone that people had been behaving
like rebels and carrying out the same things.
MBATHA: Yes. How were treated in the army as
child soldiers by your officers?
BEAH: Well, first of all, you know how to shoot
the AK 47 and then you had the army shots and
a little green T-shirt or whatever else you
could find and you were not treated as full
time soldier which is that at that time no one
could ask for salary. So it was not like la
salary-based thing. Firstly you were part of
a little squad that went out to fight, find
ammunition, arms and food wherever it was. And
so you carried out whatever the Lieutenant or
the commander in charge said you had to do,
you went and did.
MBATHA: So most of your missions were to go
out there and get some material for the army?
BEAH: Yes. The missions were several folds.
One was to go out and attack rebel bases and
what that did for you is that you get more arms
and ammunition through that and also you get
food and whatever else they had, drugs, or whatever
else they had. And also sometimes you went to
civilian villages and try to get food from them
also and to get recruits.
MBATHA: And what did you do to the civilians?
BEAH; Well it depended on what village we went
to. If we went to a village that was occupied
by the RUF, then, you know, you shoot people
in cross fire. Civilians would die. Sometimes
you went to villages where perhaps civilians
were a little reluctant to give up whatever
food they had. Then they get annihilated. It
depended, if the lieutenant says this village
is a sympathizer to the rebels, then you know,
that was, basically no one there would survive
and things of that sort. So it depended on what
the situation was. If you ran across somebody
on the path who doesn’t seem to look OK
and the lieutenant would say maybe they are
spy or this, then that was it. So it depended
on what was happening at a given time.
PRESENTER:
That was Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier
in Sierra Leone. In the part two of our conversation
with the young Sierra Leonean, he will talk
about how, as child soldiers they were given
drugs and how he eventually escaped the traumatic
life of a child soldier.
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 Prewitt.
And from me Derrick Mbatha, please join us for
another edition of UN and Africa next week.
Until then, bye bye.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***
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