UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 146
Week of: Sunday, 1st April, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 5th April, 2007

Topical Issue(s):
" South Africa, for the first time, presided over the Security Council last month. In this first part of a conversation with UN Radio, Ambassador Dumisani Khumalo says that during South Africa's presidency of the Council, African countries were able to move their agenda forward.

" The recent intensified fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu once again brought suffering to thousands of Somalis who have been forced to flee their homes. Although the situation has been somewhat calm since Monday, UN agencies are concerned about the plight of the displaced people, some of whom have fled to the southern part of the country.

" Guinea Bissau, which has been facing a political crisis recently, is also grappling with the problem of being used as a transit point for drugs passing from Latin America to Europe. The Representative of the Secretary-General in the country, Shola Omoregie, says this is a serious problem.

RESENTER: This is United Nations Radio in New York.

Hello and welcome to UN and Africa. I'm Derrick Mbatha.

PRESENTER:

In today's programme, Ambassador Dumisani Khumalo of South Africa talks about his first experience as the president of the Security Council.
CLIP 1: DUMISANI KHUMALO
"Basically in our national interest of trying to consolidate the African agenda I think we managed to move the agenda forward."

PRESENTER:

You will hear more from Ambassador Khumalo in a moment.
Also in this programme, thousands of Somalis are forced to flee their homes as government forces, supported by Ethiopian troops battle insurgents in Mogadishu.
CLIP 2: JOSE DIAZ

"The worry remains that civilians will again bear the brunt of fighting if the ceasefire in place since Sunday does not hold."

PRESENTER:

That was Jose Diaz, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
And later in the programme, Guinea is becoming a transit point for drugs from Latin America to Europe.
So stay tuned to UN and Africa.
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South Africa Pushes the African Agenda in the Security Council

PRESENTER;

South Africa presided over the Security Council for the first time last month. The country's ambassador to the United Nations, Dumisani Khumalo, occupied the chair as President of the Council during April. So, to get a sense of what he achieved, I asked him to reflect on his performance in this important organ of the United Nations whose primary responsibility is to maintain international peace and security. In this first segment of a two-part interview, Ambassador Khumalo talks about what he thinks were the accomplishments of South Africa other African members of the Security Council during his presidency.
KHUMALO: I think one thing that we achieved in our presidency is that we got to support and endorse the peace process that is happening in Cote d'Ivoire. We also got to make sure that in DRC Congo, MONUC will stay there because this country's still very fragile. And, of course, we had other difficult issues around the world: Kosovo and Iran and other issues. But basically now our national interest of trying to consolidate the African agenda I think we managed to move the agenda forward.

DM: You say that you managed to move the African agenda forward. Could you elaborate on the African agenda in the Security Council apart from what you have just mentioned?

KHUMALO: One of the things we also did is on Somalia we managed to get the Security Council to agree that AMISOM should be deployed in Somalia. Somalia is still a very difficult country with lots of violence that's happening. In Chad and Sudan, particularly Darfur, which is also another very, very difficult issue I think we've now begun to clarify the way forward. The difficulty with the African agenda is that African issues occupy the majority of the time of the Council but most of the time the Council is really not dealing with the root causes of those issues, but when it's issues like Kosovo, they go to the root causes because it's their issues.

DM: You're saying that the Security Council is not dealing with the root causes of the problems in Africa. What do you mean by that?

KHUMALO: Well, you know, the root causes in Africa, for instance, are issues that relate to the imbalance in the global power relations, to poverty and underdevelopment, to lack of aid and peace-building support. The Security Council of course cannot give aid to the people of the Congo but they can create conditions for development to take place.

DM: But how can the Security Council create those conditions?

KHUMALO: Well, they can create those conditions by supporting peace efforts and in Congo, for instance, instead of talking about can we reduce MONUC and how many troops can we pull out, we should actually be saying to the people of the Congo, 'Now that you've voted, we want to stay with you until your democracy has grown legs and it has grown strong.'

DM: Were there any talks about reducing MONUC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

KHUMALO: Yes, they were already talking about shouldn't we reduce the troops in MONUC, it costs a lot of money, the usual thing that the big countries say. They remind us that they pay more money. In Somalia, for instance, the terrible thing is that it's made as if Somalia's problem is an African problem that Africans must fix. In Darfur, these very countries - if you read newspapers in Europe and the United States, it's like nothing is happening in Darfur. But who has troops in Darfur? It's us Africans. Who's there trying to make a better situation? It's us Africans.

DM: Talking about this situation in Darfur, you still have this stalemate with the President of Sudan, Omar el-Bashir, reluctant to allow this hybrid UN-AU force. What can the Security Council do to make sure there is some movement on this issue?

KHUMALO: It's true that the government of Sudan is very reluctant but they need an assurance, they say, that when the Security Council deploys a peacekeeping mission, it will be a peacekeeping mission. But what doesn't help is that we have some permanent members making public statements about we want regime change in Sudan and we want to stop them from flying all over. I think it's just a question of reassuring Sudan that all we are interested in is assisting the people of Sudan who are suffering. That's very, very important for us

PRESENTER:

That was Ambassador Dumisani Khumalo of South Africa. In our next edition of UN and Africa, we will talk about Zimbabwe and discuss whether African countries have any clout in the Security Council or merely tow the line of the permanent members.
STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

Fighting Causes Suffering to Thousands of Somalis

PRESENTER:

The recent intensified fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu has once again brought suffering to thousands of Somalis who have been forced to flee their homes. According to the United Nations refugee agency, 100,000 Somalis are now believed to have fled the capital since the beginning of February. Close to 50,000 of these unfortunate people fled within the last two weeks alone. The United Nations is concerned about this situation. UN Radio's Ransford Cline-Thomas reports.
NARRATOR:
The situation in Mogadishu has been somewhat calm since Monday following intense fighting over the weekend between the forces of the Transitional Federal Government and insurgents. In fact the escalation in the fighting started last week with the introduction of tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter gun-ships. This is all happening ahead of the national reconciliation conference which is being planned for the middle of this month. One United Nations official says the fighting intensified because there are people in the transitional government who feel that Mogadishu has to be secured by forcible disarmament of insurgents and militias before the reconciliation conference can be held. On the other hand, there are those who believe that there should be a political agreement before any disarmament in Mogadishu. And so, you have these two conflicting points of view. Meanwhile, civilians, of course mainly women and children are caught in the middle of this fighting. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour has expressed deep concern about the plight of civilians in Mogadishu. Her spokesperson is Jose Diaz.
CUT 1: JOSE DIAZ 1
The worry remains that civilians will again bear the brunt of fighting if the ceasefire in place since Sunday does not hold. The High Commissioner urges the parties to respect international humanitarian law and reminds them of their duty to protect the human rights of civilians at all times. This includes granting civilians safe passage and allowing humanitarian aid to reach those who have been affected.

NARRATOR:

And some of those who have been affected by this conflict are trapped in Mogadishu. The city had already been sheltering a large number of people who fled other parts of the country. Now they are being displaced and made even more vulnerable again as humanitarian assistance cannot reach them. And because of the increase in the number of displaced people around Mogadishu, the spokesman for the World Food Programme, Simon Pleuss says that, there is an urgent need for humanitarian access to an air strip called K-50. And to make matters worse, Simon Pleuss says, providing food assistance to the people who have managed to flee to the south of Mogadishu has been made difficult by the hijacking of a ship used by the United Nations food agency to deliver food to Somalia.

CUT 2: SIMON PLEUSS 3
Because of the continued hijacking of WFP vessel MV Rozen, there have been delays transporting food, although some freight is now starting to move by sea and we have now one vessel transporting food from Dar es Salaam with 2,900 metric tones which should be discharged in the coming days in southern Somalia.

NARRATOR:

According to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, most of the people who are fleeing Mogadishu to the adjacent Shabelle region in the south-west are again women and children. There are reports that rents have gone up dramatically throughout the region making it almost impossible for people to find accommodation. Some landlords have even refused to rent their houses to displaced people arriving from Mogadishu, while others are asking an equivalent to four months rent. UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond, says that almost all residents of the Shabelle region have taken in relatives or members of their own clan. Unfortunately, those with no such links have to fend for themselves.
CUT 3: RON REDMOND
People with no relatives or clan links are living under trees, on the road sides or out in the open. Without proper shelter or water, food or sanitation, many are resorting to begging for survival. Further south, Somalis arriving in the port city of Kismayo have met a hostile reception from town residents who are reportedly charging even for the use of shade under trees. In areas near Afgooye, people are queuing for more than twelve hours for water.

NARRATOR:

Ron Redmond says that available boreholes in that area are unable to meet the current demand. People are now drinking untreated water from the Shabelle River and exposing themselves to an outbreak of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Ransford Cline-Thomas.
STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

PRESENTER:
Guinea Bissau has been facing a political crisis as the three biggest parties in parliament have been putting pressure on President Bernardo Vieira to change his prime minister. Demonstrators have been taking to the streets to reinforce that demand. But, apart from its political difficulties, Guinea Bissau is facing another problem - that of being used as a transit point for drugs moving from Latin America to Europe. And only a couple of days ago, the Guinea Bissau police seized more than six hundred kilograms of cocaine worth over $50 million near the capital Bissau. Unfortunately, the traffickers escaped with the rest of the 2.5 ton-load of cocaine because the Guinea Bissau police didn't have the capacity to give chase. UN Radio's Diane Bailey discusses the problem of drug trafficking in Guinea Bissau with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Shola Omoregie, who came to New York recently to brief the Security Council on the situation in the country.
OMOREGIE: This is a serious problem. I think president Vierra himself in his New Year message has made a public appeal for support because the country is overwhelmed. They are not able to control the situation so they are calling on the international community to support them. The problem is quite serious: drug trafficking, organized crime as well and also human trafficking.

BAILEY: What is the evidence that there is trafficking in drugs? I understand that there were some drugs that washed up on shore even. But, is that the case?

OMOREGIE: I don't think we should be saying that already, but there have been cases where some people have been arrested and some drugs confiscated. Those who were arrested were within a few days released and we don't know where the drugs at the moment. The evidence is there that some people were arrested.

BAILEY: What can, for example, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime do to help in apprehending people who are using Guinea Bissau as a transit point?

OMOREGIE: I think the UNODC can do a lot. The regional representative of UNODC who is based in Dakar visited Guinea Bissau, met with the president, ministers and with us in UNOGBIS. And they are looking into how they can help the country. When he visited the president and the ministers, the top officials he met, they told him how serious the problem is and appealed to him to help. So I think UNODC is right on top of it but it is not an easy situation to handle.

BAILEY: If UNODC helps, what areas would they help in? Will they help with police presence? What kinds of things can they potentially do?

OMOREGIE: There are many areas. For example, Guinea Bissau is a country that doesn't have prisons. They have no laboratories for processing anything that is seized. Even basic things like having police dogs that can help check, they don't have. This is why the security sector reform is very important because this will also involve reforming the security sectors. So I think UNODC can also help in that area as well, and also help with training as well, training of the police and security forces.

PRESENTER:
That was the Secretary-General's Representative in Guinea Bissau, Shola Omoregie speaking with UN Radio's Diane Bailey.


PRESENTER:
And that's all for this edition of UN and Africa. Our Production Assistant was Nyi Teza and our sound engineer was Rosie Starr. And from me Derrick Mbatha, bye bye.

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