UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 160
Week of: Sunday, 8th July, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 12th July, 2007
Topical Issue(s):

" The issue of migration was once again under the spotlight this week, as the Global Forum on Migration and Development met in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday. In Africa people, mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia continue to risk their lives as they try to cross the dangerous Gulf of Aden, in search of a better life.

" Monday 9 July, marked International Gun Destruction Day to focus attention on the problem of small arms and light weapons in many regions of the world. Ambassador Zachary Muburi Muita of Kenya tells UN Radio that small arms, which have devastating effects on the African continent, have been omitted from negotiations on the elimination of weapons.

" After nearly two decades of civil war the new government of Liberia is looking for every available international support to rehabilitate the country's war ravaged infrastructure. One such infrastructure is the postal service. Maigua reports from Geneva.

RESENTER: This is United Nations Radio in New York.

PRESENTER:

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

*

PRESENTER:

In today's programme, North Africans continue to die as they try to cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen.
CLIP 1: Jennifer Pagonis
"Most of those who lost their lives after paying about 50 dollars to make the voyage were forced by smugglers to disembark off shore while still on deep water and drowned swimming to shore." (0'10")

PRESENTER:

You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, small arms remain a serious problem on the African continent.

CLIP 2: Zachary Muburi-Muita
"For Kenya the small arms is a very serious issue indeed. Small arms have found their way across the porous border into our country, and this has really changed the way of life from what it used to be" (0'11")

And later in the programme, the Universal Postal Union helps rebuild the postal services infrastructure in Liberia.

So stay tuned to UN and Africa.

North Africans Continue to Die As They Try To Cross to Yemen

PRESENTER:

The issue of migration was once again under the spotlight this week, as the Global Forum on Migration and Development began in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday. The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon addressed the meeting and pointed out that migration continues to increase, driven by the age-old pursuit of a better life and other phenomena such as climate change. UN Radio's Geraldine Adams reports.
NARRATOR:
It is common knowledge that people have always moved from one place to another for various reasons. Some have been forced by conflicts to leave their homes, others have moved in search of greener pastures, in the literal and figurative senses of the word. This is how the Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon describes the importance of migration.
CUT 1: Ban ki-Moon
International migration is an issue of vital importance in the 21st century. It is also a very difficult and complex one to understand fully. So much is at stake: the rights of migrants, countless billions in potential investments for development; the cohesion of our societies, the health of our economies. We must work together to analyze the best way forward.

NARRATOR:

For many North Africans, the situation is so desperate that they are prepared to risk their lives and embark on dangerous voyages at sea to escape poverty. Many of them try to make it across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen. The spokesperson for the United Nations refugee agency, Jennifer Pagonis, says that although the numbers of boats and people arriving in Yemen have gone down this year, more people have died trying to cross the gulf.

CUT 2: Jennifer Pagonis
For the first six months of the year we recorded the arrival of 77 smuggling boats carrying 8,600 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants mainly Somalis and Ethiopians. And during that period, 367 people died while 118 remain missing. For the same period last year, a total of 107 boats arrived with 11,700 people on board. Two hundred and sixty died and sixty six were recorded missing.

NARRATOR:

Crossing that Gulf makes the migrants vulnerable to unscrupulous and heartless smugglers whose only aim is to make quick money.
CUT 3: Jennifer Pagonis

Most of those who lost their lives after paying about 50 dollars to make the voyage were forced by smugglers to disembark off shore while still on deep water and drowned swimming to shore. There are other horrible incidents of people being forced overboard with their hands tied behind the back and people mutilated and then being attacked by sharks. Many of the bodies of these people have washed up along the shore and have been buried by Yemenis and local fishermen.

NARRATOR:

Ms Pagonis says that at the moment the sailing season has been temporarily halted because the seas are too rough to make the voyage which is usually done between September and June. In addition to the Ethiopian and Somali migrants, there are people from other nationalities who try to make the dangerous voyage by boat. The spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, Jemini Pandya says that her agency is helping other Africans who have tried to reach other countries by boat.
CUT 4: Jemini Pandya
IOM is assisting fifteen Malians who were rescued at sea and were part of a group that was rescued at sea in mid-June. They are going back home from Libya. We have also just helped a group of 63 stranded Gambians also rescued at sea by the Moroccan Royal Navy. In both cases the migrants had been at sea for about two weeks with no fuel, food water.

NARRATOR:
Ms. Pandya says that in these countries and around the world in general, requests for assistance to stranded migrants are continuing to rise. However, she is concerned that funds for such operations are decreasing.
CUT 5: Jemini Pandya
We are basically calling on donors to provide us with more assistance so that we can continue to provide such basic humanitarian assistance to a group of people who are, by and large overlooked in the whole of the kind of migration focus at the moment. And earlier a colleague was talking about the number of deaths in the Mediterranean in the Gulf of Aden. You can't do anything about them but you can actually do something about people who are actually still alive and who have left with no papers and no money.

NARRATOR:

Jemini Pandya points out that since her agency opened an office in Morocco in January this year, it has helped more than six hundred irregular migrants go home safely. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Geraldine Adams.

STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

Small Arms Pose A Serious Threat to Stability in Africa

PRESENTER:
This week United Nations agencies around the world held events to mark International Gun Destruction Day, on the 9th of July to focus attention on the problem of small arms and light weapons. On the African continent, small arms and light weapons have caused untold suffering to scores of people caught in civil conflicts. Apart from the symbolic events of destroying guns once a year, the General Assembly is working on an international treaty on small arms and light weapons. I recently discussed the problem of small arms with Ambassador Zachary Muburi-Muita of Kenya, who stressed the need for an international agreement to control these weapons, which are small but have caused huge problems on the African continent.
The need for the treaty targeting small arms is because up till now the small and light weapons somehow have been omitted from the negotiations when it comes to weapons. So the larger weapons are well catered for, but the small arms and light weapons have somehow been left out and yet, especially in Africa we see the devastating effects caused by the small arms and light weapons.

WHY IS THIS ISSUE OF SMALL ARMS BEING NEGLECTED IN YOUR VIEW?

The possibility of that is that in some sections of the world their effect has not been felt as much. If you talk of the first world, for instance, the effect of small arms and light weapons has not felt as much, but since the collapse of the Soviet Union, we've seen in our part of the world that the intrastate conflict has gained in momentum and what that has meant is that communities have gone at each other using the small arms. This would be pastoralist communities, which previously herded their cattle or defended their livestock with spears and arrows, but in this intervening period, they have now substituted their spear for Kalashnikov. We also find that in the urban areas, a lot of muggings and thuggery whereas previously only traditional weapons were used in this whenever it occurred. Increasingly small arms are so prevalent in the urban areas and therefore it's wide and devastating effect on society across board is what is necessitating this action.

AND WHERE ARE THESE ARMS COMING FROM?

These actions are coming from without the region. There is no country that is a manufacturer of these weapons and that's why this whole idea is targeting especially the manufacturers and those that are trading in this illicit trade. We are going out of our way to assure the countries across the board that the legitimate trade for countries to defend themselves is not targeted here, but it is the illicit trading and supply and manufacturing. So, what is intended is that every manufacturer is then monitored, so that supply ends up only in legal hands.

NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN COUNTRY, KENYA, IS THIS PROBLEM OF SMALL ARMS A SERIOUS ISSUE OF CONCERN?

For Kenya, the small arms is a very serious issue indeed. Unfortunately, Kenya has been surrounded by countries that have encountered serious challenges as far as governance is concerned. We have Somalia, which is a failed state and we have had Ethiopia that has groups that have taken arms against the state. Of course of southern Sudan there was a conflict that had been going on for most of the time that that country has been independent. In sections of Uganda, there are also groups that have taken up arms against the state. Of course the case of the Great Lakes region is very well documented. Small arms have found their way across the porous border across into our country and this has really changed the way of life from what it used to be, such that the Trukana, the Maasai, the Samburu and all the other pastoralist societies now conduct their lives very, very differently.

SO, ARE YOU SAYING THAT THE LOCALS IN KENYA USE THESE SMALL ARMS?

A lot of the pastoralist communities, and this would be anywhere up to sixty percent of the Kenyan populace are pastoralists, have now substituted their spears and bows and arrows for Kalashnikovs and other small weapons. So, you find whenever there is an inter community strife instead of the spear and bows that were used traditionally, small arms are all the time used more and more and therefore that has changed the role of government in the sense that these agents feel that they can take the law into their own hands. Sometimes they will raid even communities across the border. We feel that if there can be a concerted mopping up operation that will revolve not just Kenyan communities, because if you did that then you would make them sitting ducks of the communities across the common borders. So, what is required is a concerted effort that would involve the whole region, to ensure that a mopping up operation is done and we have occasionally done a mopping up operation. In Nairobi we have also set up as a small arms and light weapons office to ensure that there is a concerted effort not just in Nairobi or not just in Kenya, but in the whole region.

YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE WORKING WITH OTHER COUNTRIES, NEIGHBOURS OF KENYA TO TACKLE THIS PROBLEM. HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?

We have engaged governments across the region to ensure that especially the pastoralist communitiesy do not utilize weapons and that they can leave that role to governments to guard them. So we are enhancing the role of governments across, especially the semi-arid areas. The police communities are also cooperating better, especially as far as urban crime is concerned. So, the east African community, for instance, police chiefs organization meets very regularly and the intelligence chiefs as well so as to monitor the movement of the illicit guns across the region with great success.

PRESENTER:

That was Ambassador Zachary Muburi-Muita of Kenya.

STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

UN Agency Helps Rebuild Postal Services in Liberia

PRESENTER:

It's now almost two years since the Liberian government headed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf came to power. After nearly two decades of civil war, the new government is looking for every available international support to rehabilitate the country's war ravaged infrastructure. Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva.
One of the key infrastructure facilities undergoing rehabilitation is the country's postal system destroyed during the brutal two-decade civil war. According to the Universal Postal Union, government, diplomatic and international agencies operating in Monrovia have limited access to their mail. However, for most Liberians, especially those in rural areas, receiving mail via the post office is next to impossible. The agency is currently working on a master plan to rehabilitate the Liberian postal service. Gunter Bohn is a consultant with the project.

CUT 1: Gunter Bohn

I have seen the former post offices which are ruined. They were all destroyed and devastated during the civil war. It is really a question whether these older buildings can be reconstructed or whether it might be better to just construct new ones.

NARRATOR:

Mr. Gunter Bohn estimates that it will take up to five years to rebuild the Liberian postal service.

CUT 2: Gunter Bohn

We have to regain the confidence of the public that the postal service is back and is reliable. The priority would be to re-establish training. Most of the people of the Liberia posts never received the postal training. This is very very urgently required in order to avoid basic mistakes in receiving and dispatching mail and delivering it. We have to make clear that a letter which is posted with PO Box which is the typical way of delivery in Liberia is a safe and secure methodology and that the money spent for mail delivery is properly used by the postal service and not for any other purpose.

NARRATOR:

He says the functional and effective postal system is not a social luxury, but rather an important component needed not only for social advancement but also for economic growth and political development. It is also a catalyst that drives financial transaction, social interactions and enhances communication development.

CUT 3:

Postal service is a very basic infrastructure element. The people, which are currently still living in Monrovia - these are refugees within the country - they have to go back to the countryside, to their own places. But this means that the country, the government of Liberia has to provide the infrastructure which facilitates the return to the countryside, and post is one of these infrastructure elements.

NARRATOR:

At least three to four million dollars is required to revamp Liberia's postal services, most of which will be used to purchase equipment and staff training. Patrick Maigua, UN Radio, Geneva.

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 Nyi Nyi Teza and our sound engineer was Zach Pruwitt. I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye bye.
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