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UN Radio
UN and Africa
Programme Number: 150
Week of: Sunday, 29th April, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 3rd May, 2007
Topical Issue(s):
• UN Radio
• Liberians celebrate the lifting of the
diamond embargo imposed in 2001 to stop them
from fuelling conflicts in West Africa. The
Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Eugene
Shannon says that diamonds today will be diamonds
for development and not for conflict.
• The Security Council has called on
Morocco and the POLISARIO Front to resume negotiations
to resolve their dispute over Western Sahara.
Morocco wants the territory to have greater
autonomy under its jurisdiction but POLISARIO
wants independence.
• Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila
of Botswana has left the UN after serving in
various capacities for almost thirty years.
In this first part of our conversation with
Ambassador Legwaila, he looks back at the Cold
War era and the struggles for freedom in Africa.
Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor/co-producer: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Production Assistants: Charles Appel
Studio Engineer: Zach Prewitt
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, Liberians celebrate
the lifting of the embargo on their country’s
diamond.
CLIP 1: EUGENE SHANNON
“Diamonds today will be diamond for development
and not diamond for conflict. Let us celebrate
and say the sanctions have been lifted.”
PRESENTER:
That was Eugene Shannon, Liberia’s Minister
of Lands, Mines and Energy. You will hear more
from him in a moment.
Also in this edition of UN and Africa the Security
Council calls on Morocco and the POLISARIO Front
to resume negotiations on the future status
of Western Sahara.
And later in the programme, Ambassador Legwaila
Joseph Legwaila of Botswana leaves the United
Nations after almost thirty years of service.
CLIP 2: LEGWAILA JOSEPH LEGWAILA
“I may sound conservative twenty-nine
years later, but I can tell you when I came
here I was full of fire.”
PRESENTER:
You will hear more from Ambassador Legwaila
later in the programme.
So stay tuned to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and
hold under until first sentence)
Liberians Celebrate Lifting of Ban on Diamonds
PRESENTER:
Liberians are very happy that the Security
Council has finally lifted the ban on their
country’s diamonds. The sanctions were
imposed on Liberia in 2001when it became clear
that the West African country was using the
precious stones to fuel conflicts in West Africa.
The Security Council has determined that Liberia
has taken adequate measures to control the movement
of its diamonds. One of our colleagues at the
UN Mission in Liberia, UNMIL Radio got the reaction
of some of the Liberians in Monrovia to the
lifting of the embargo.
VOX POPS
“To my own belief, it’s very good.
I am very proud of it. I am very happy over
it”
“I feel very great about that. I hope
this time it will take a different turn that
will benefit the Liberian people,”
“I am happy. I am feeling very fine that
a decision has been made. I appreciate that”
“I feel alright”
“Now it is legal and it will create more
job facility and Liberians will have more jobs
to do”
PRESENTER;
Eva Flomo of UNMIL Radio also got the reaction
of the Liberian Minister of Lands, Mines and
Energy, Eugene Shannon to the lifting of the
embargo on Liberian diamonds.
FLOMO: Mr. Minister, it seems that a lot of
people are very very happy. People are celebrating.
Why are we celebrating Sir?
SHANNON: Well, they have reasons to celebrate.
This is a country that has been in this extractive
industry and its dependence has been on the
mineral sector, particularly iron ore, diamonds
and gold. And all of a sudden you have sanctions
placed on one of those mineral commodities,
the diamonds and that the revenue that should
be accrued from the diamonds are not coming
in. The sanctions have been lifted and so there
is need for jubilation because then now they
can go back into that industry and begin to
mine diamonds and accrue revenue that will be
beneficial for them, recognizing the fact that
diamonds today will be diamonds for development
and not diamonds for conflict. Of course, we
have our many challenges before us, but for
now let us celebrate and say ‘yes the
sanctions have been lifted. We will make sure
that there is a monitoring mechanism and all
the things, the certification etc. will be put
in place so that at least we don’t go
back into conflict.
FLOMO: What really does it mean? Does it mean
more jobs then?
SHANNON: Yes it means more jobs. You have probably
almost 500,000 people who have been in that
diamond sector. They can now go back, mine,
get the resources, and of course help themselves,
send their children to school, have food to
eat, and, of course, have something in their
pockets to be able to transport themselves back
and forth.
FLOMO: Sir, how prepared is Liberia to actually
embrace and deal with this lifting?
SHANNON: To the greatest extent we are prepared
because the last years when we had sanctions
above us we have been putting into place the
mechanisms that were given to us, the conditions
that we had to fulfill. Number one, we had to
train more mining agents in the field so that
they may be able to regulate, to at least make
sure that they can reduce illicit movements
of diamond trade. Approximately 75 people have
been trained and are out in the field. We also
have placed external diamond houses out in the
field so that our diamonds that are found in
the field can be registered, authenticated because
it is sent to the GDO, the government diamond
office for pricing etc. and of course certificating
before the leave the country. We also have inter-ministerial
body that is being expanded to include some
of our partners, and that put some checks and
balances on the system. We ask the public to
assist us. We are now having capacity building
in villages, in the towns, among district commissioners,
administrators, etc. so we can all work together
in a collective fashion to make sure that we
control the illicit movement of diamonds in
this country.
FLOMO: Are you saying all of these centres
that are supposed to be established, for example,
as required by the Kimberly processes are in
place?
SHANNON: Yes, almost everything that has been
asked. The data base has been put in place that
we can now record all our findings. The properties
of the diamonds they sell, the prices etc. is
put into a log system and is reported quarterly
a year. The reports are sent back to Geneva
and UN and, of course one is kept here in Liberia.
PRESENTER:
That was Eugene Shannon, the Minister of Lands,
Mines and Energy of Liberia talking to Eva Flomo
of UNMIL Radio, in Monrovia.
STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC
Security Council Calls for Negotiations on
Western Sahara
PRESENTER:
A solution to the issue of Western Sahara continues
to be elusive as the Kingdom of Morocco and
POLISARIO Front fail to reach an agreement once
and for all on the future status of the territory.
Morocco wants the territory be an autonomous
region under its jurisdiction, but POLISARIO
Front wants independence and sees Morocco as
an occupying power. So, the Security Council
has once again renewed the mandate of the United
Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western
Sahara, MINURSO, for another six months, to
continue to help the two parties find a solution
to the problem. Ransford Cline-Thomas has more.
NARRATOR:
The Security Council has been renewing the mandate
of MINURSO since the mission was established
in 1991. The current dispute over Western Sahara
goes way back to 1975 when Moroccan King Hassan
II ordered a march of over 300,000 Moroccans
into the phosphate-rich territory, which had
been a colony and later a province of Spain.
The move by Morocco came after the International
Court of Justice had rejected territorial claims
by both Morocco and Mauritania and instead recognized
the right to self-determination of the Saharawis.
The two countries partitioned Western Sahara
under an agreement they reached with Spain in
1975, but the POLISARIO Front, established in
1973 would not have any of that. So it declared
the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic in February
1976. After a coup in 1978, a new government
in Mauritania renounced all territorial claims
to Western Sahara but Morocco moved to occupy
the whole of Western Sahara. The POLISARIO Front
waged a guerrilla war against Moroccan forces
until the signing of a ceasefire in 1991. The
United Nations then established the UN Mission
for the Referendum, MINURSO, to give the people
of Western Sahara a chance to decide on the
future of their territory. Since then, United
Nations special envoys have made many attempts
to organize such as referendum to no avail.
One key sticking point has been an identification
process to decide who is eligible to vote, given
the fact that many Moroccans settled in the
territory in 1975. And it is against this backdrop
that the Security Council has been renewing
the mandates of MINURSO as it did recently.
But this time, according to the President of
the Security Council in April, Ambassador Emyr
Jones Parry of the United Kingdom, it was more
than just renewing the mandate of the mission.
CUT 1: EMYR JONES-PARRY
It was hard fought to make sure we came up with
language which is to encourage now negotiations
between the parties. And we look forward to
talks taking place.
NARRATOR:
In its resolution, allowing MINURSO to continue
its mission, the Security Council took note
of two separate proposals that Morocco and the
POLISARIO Front had presented to the Secretary-General.
On the Moroccan proposal, the Council said it
welcomed serious and credible Moroccan efforts
to move the peace process forward towards resolution.
Ambassador El Mostafa Sahel of Morocco sees
this as an approval of its proposal.
CUT 2: El MOSTAFA SAHEL
The Security Council recognizes therefore,
the relevance of the Moroccan initiative as
is also consolidate formally the wide international
support which was clearly expressed in favour
of Moroccan autonomy initiative.
NARRATOR:
While Morocco’s plan is about Western
Sahara becoming an autonomous territory within
Morocco, the representative of the POLISARIO
Front, Ahmed Boukhari, sees the issue as essentially
that of self determination for the people of
Western Sahara.
CUT 3: AHMED BOUKHARI
We are not dealing with an internal problem
of Morocco. Western Sahara is not a province
of Morocco and there is no way out other than
organizing a free and fair referendum on self
determination.
NARRATOR:
Morocco and the POLISARIO Front may still seem
to be poles apart on a political solution for
Western Sahara, but they both agree that they
should resume negotiations to resolve their
differences. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Ransford
Cline-Thomas.
STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC
Veteran African Diplomat Looks Back At Freedom
Struggles at UN
PRESENTER:
After serving at the United Nations for almost
thirty years, Ambassador Legwaila, Joseph Legwaila
of Botswana has left the organization. He began
his career as the Permanent Representative of
his country in 1980 and has since, served in
many capacities, the last one being Special
Adviser of the Secretary-General on Africa.
I caught up with him before he left for his
country and had a long discussion about his
experience at the United Nations. In this first
part of our conversation, Ambassador Legwaila
looks back to the time when he began his career
at the United Nations.
LEGWAILA: I studied the United Nations and my
wish and aspiration had always been to work
for the United Nations when I finished university.
So I was very luck that at the beginning of
1980, the first president of the Republic of
Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama appointed me Ambassador
and Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
MBATHA: What was Africa’s agenda when
you started to be the Permanent Representative
of Botswana to the UN?
LEGWAILA: Well the United Nations was very
interesting back in 1980 because we were engaged
in a torrid struggle against colonialism and
imperialism. We were engaged in a struggle for
the liberation of Southern Africa: Zimbabwe,
Namibia, South Africa.
MBATHA: And was the African group at the UN
able to push its position in promoting the liberation
of these countries?
LEGWAILA: Well, we did a sterling job, I can
tell you, because the African group then was
very very active and united against the common
enemy, the common enemy being colonialism and
imperialism, being apartheid in South Africa.
We used to convene meetings of the Security
Council almost any time we felt like, simply
to make sure that we kept the Security Council
busy. We knew most of the time when we asked
for a meeting of the Security Council that we
are not going to get anything more than a resolution
without teeth. But, at least, it was our determination
to continuously embarrass members of the Security
Council, especially those who were vetoing sanctions
against South Africa.
MBATHA: And at that time, of course, there
was this division between the East and the West
and the Cold War. How did that affect your struggles
here at the United Nations, if it did?
LEGWAILA: Well it affected our struggle both
positively and negatively. Positively in the
sense that we had the support of one of the
super powers, the Soviet Union. There was also
another power, China, who was also one of our
intimate friends who helped us in pursuing our
liberation struggle. The only problem, of course,
was that because this was the Cold War era,
there was also some negativeness in the whole
thing in the sense that even the Soviet Union
and China were not in agreement. Each power
supported a section of the liberation movements.
But otherwise on the whole, I think looking
back to that era, we can only be thankful that
China and the Soviet Union supported us.
MBATHA: And you personally played a prominent
role in these struggles. Can you tell me a little
bit about that?
LEGWAILA: Well, I may sound conservative, twenty
nine years later, but I can tell you when I
came here I was full of fire. I fought for the
liberation of my continent. I participated,
I was very lucky in the sense that occasionally
I was asked to go and do some work on the continent.
I was in Namibia in 1989 to help implement Security
Council resolution 435 which culminated in the
independence of Namibia. And then I went to
South Africa in 1992 to help deal with the problem
of violence prior to the holding of the elections
and the onset of freedom in South Africa.
PRESENTER
That was Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila,
the former representative of Botswana to the
United Nations and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General
on Africa. You will hear more from Ambassador
Legwaila in our next editions of UN and Africa.
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 Pruwitt.
I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye bye.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***
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