UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 163
Week of: Sunday, 29 July 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 02 August 2007
Topical Issue(s):

The Security Council decides to authorize the deployment of over 20,000 troops and police to protect displaced people in Darfur. The head of peacekeeping operations, Jean Marie Guehenno says there is no precedent of the UN coming together with a regional organization like the African Union to launch one of the largest operations in the history of the United Nations.

In Geneva, the Human Rights Committee completes the review of the human rights records of Sudan and Zambia. On Sudan, the Committee says although the country has some positive developments, human rights abuses in the conflict-torn region of Darfur are alarming. Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva.

President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of Cote d'Ivoire participate in a ceremony to burn weapons in Bouke. The spokesman for the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire, Hammadoun Toure, says the event was a symbolic demonstration that the Ivorians are determined to complete the peace process.

Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Production Assistant: Florence Poblete-Enriquez
Studio Engineer: Zach Prewitt
Duration: 15'00"

PRESENTER: This is United Nations Radio in New York.

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

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PRESENTER: In today's programme, the Security Council decides to deploy peacekeepers in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan.

CLIP 1: Jean Marie-Guehenno
"There is no precedent of the United Nations coming together with a regional organization like the African Union to launch what is going to be one of the largest operations in the history of the United Nations"

PRESENTER: You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, the Human Rights Committee says human rights abuses in Darfur are alarming. And later in the programme, leaders of Cote d'Ivoire participate in a symbolic burning of weapons.

CLIP 2: Hammdoun Toure
"It was, I think, a symbolic ceremony to show that Ivorians are determined to re-unify their country."

PRESENTER: You will hear more on that later in the programme. So stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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Security Council Decides to Deploy Peacekeepers in Darfur

PRESENTER: Tuesday was a historic day for the people of Darfur as the Security Council finally adopted a resolution authorizing the deployment of peacekeepers in this troubled region in Sudan. The decision to deploy the twenty-six thousand strong force was a result of intense negotiations among Council members over the past days and weeks. UN Radio's Dianne Penn reports:

NARRATOR: A unanimous decision by the UN Security Council could bring peace to Sudan's troubled Darfur region. On Tuesday the 15-member council authorized a joint United Nations-African Union force for Darfur where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003. The head of UN Peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, says the force is unprecedented in the six decades of the UN's establishment.

CUT 1: Jean-Marie Guehenno

There is no precedent in the history of the United Nations of the United Nations coming together with a regional organization like the African Union to launch what is going to be one of the largest operations in the history of the United Nations. It's unprecedented in the arrangements that we have been making with the African Union so that we are really in that effort together.

NARRATOR: The Darfur force will incorporate African Union personnel already on the ground and could be operational by the end of the year. It will consist of 20,000 military staff and more than 6,000 police officers. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of the United Kingdom-one of the sponsors of the resolution-calls it "a new beginning" for Darfur.

CUT 2: Emyr Jones Parry

It addresses not just the security situation. It talks about the need for political agreement. But we also have to tackle the ongoing relief that is necessary for the humanitarian situation.

NARRATOR: Darfur has been on the world agenda for the past four years. The UN estimates two million people there have fled their homes due to fighting between rebel groups, government forces and allied militia known as "Janjaweed." A small African Union force has been patrolling Darfur, which is roughly the size of France, since 2004. But with millions subsisting on food aid, the British Ambassador, Mr. Jones Parry, says the resolution covers humanitarian concerns while calling for a political solution to the conflict.

CUT 3: Emyr Jones Parry

This is not the use of force to try and enforce an agreement. It is the use of force to actually protect civilians. Two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand people have died and something like two million have been displaced from their homes. And if you've been to the camps and seen the position of the people there, you wouldn't wonder why we are putting in the troops and police. We're putting it in to protect civilians. But at the same time we know, that in the long-term solution of Darfur there needs to be a political process, which reaches a successful outcome. That's part of the resolution as is humanitarian relief.

NARRATOR: Sudan's Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad hails the Security Council resolution as the product of close collaboration between the UN, the African Union and the Sudanese government. He says many of his government's concerns were taken into consideration.

CUT 4: Abdalmahmood Mohamad

I would like to state that the resolution asserted in no uncertain terms the African character of the operation. There is also an improvement in the area where the resolution dealt with the political process. In fact it commended the commitment of the government of Sudan to the peace process and called particularly on the non-signatories to join the peace process. And we would like from now on to give more attention to the peace process because you have to have peace to keep.

NARRATOR: And Jean-Pierre Lacroix of France, another of the resolution's sponsors, says it's a crucial step towards ending the Darfur crisis.

CUT 5: Jean-Pierre Lacroix

The decision is also a very strong message of the strong determination of the international community to help the population of Darfur. And it's also a very strong message to the parties of the conflict and including, of course, the government of Sudan. We need cooperation and we actually do expect the full cooperation in the implementation of that resolution.

NARRATOR: That was Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations. The Darfur resolution comes before the UN and the African Union l host talks in Arusha, Tanzania, with rebel groups that have not signed onto the Darfur Peace Agreement. For United Nations Radio, I'm Dianne Penn.

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Human Rights Committee Reports Human Rights Abuses in Darfur

PRESENTER: The issue of Darfur was also before the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, which completed the review of human rights records of Sudan and Zambia. The highlight of the meeting was recommendations the committee made regarding the human rights situation in Darfur. Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva.

NARRATOR: It was the first time in over ten years that the human rights committee had examined Sudan's human rights record. The committee said although the country had some positive developments, human rights abuses in the conflict torn western region of Darfur were alarming. The committee voiced concern over the ability of the Sudanese government to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crimes against humanity in the region. The committee listed serious human rights violations in the region to include, murder, rape, forced displacement and attacks against the civilian population, which have been committed with total impunity. Tawfik Khalil is one of the vice chairpersons of the committee.

CUT 1: Tawfik Khalil
No one could really turn a blind eye to what's happen there. But one gets the impression or I got the impression the will is there, difficulties are there; we did not go into things, which are within the purview of the Security Council like disarming factions or different warring factions which are not only confined the Janjaweed but also other factions fighting among themselves.

NARRATOR: The committee said it was unacceptable for militias engaging in ethnic cleansing or targeting civilians receive to financial support. Ivan Shearer from the committee says the support must be brought to an end.

CUT 2: Ivan Shearer
This has been a major problem in Sudan that more or less covert assistance has been given to certain elements that have been pursuing gross violations of human rights and in gross violations of international humanitarian law.

NARRATOR:The committee's report also cited concerns over the recruitment of child soldiers and immunity enjoyed by the security forces and individuals believed to have committed human rights abuses. The report said the government of Sudan must cooperate with the international criminal court in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations.

CUT 3: Ibid
That was something Sudan resisted because it considers that the Security Council resolution is invalid which required them to submit offenders to the International Criminal Court.

NARRATOR: On Zambia, the Committee raised its concerns over the persistence of customary laws, which were detrimental to the advancement of women. The committee said cases of assault, defilement and rape were considered as customary issues and are dealt by customary court rather than criminal courts. But, according to Tawfik Khalil, Zambia had made positive steps towards improving its human rights record.

CUT 4: Tawfik Khalil
They have established the Zambian Human Rights Commission. They have also Police Public Complaints Authority which really is mandated to look into whatever unlawful detention, brutality and so on which takes place in prisons. They have made considerable progress in reducing the maternal mortality. This is a very important in Africa and elsewhere. And also there is increased participation of women in parliament. There is the abolition of corporal punishment.
The Human rights committee, monitors compliance with the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is a cornerstone of human rights law. For UN Radio I am Patrick Maigua in Geneva

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Leaders of Cote d'Ivoire Participate in Weapons-burning Ceremony

PRESENTER: At the beginning of this week, thousands of Ivorians converged in Bouake, the second largest city which is in the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire controlled by former rebels of Forces Nouvelles. They were there with the President of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro to participate in a ceremony to burn weapons. To find out more about this ceremony, I spoke on the line to the capital of Cote d'Ivoire, Abidjan, with Hammadoun Toure, the spokesman for the United Nations Mission there, known as ONUCI, who told me that the event went well:

TOURE: It was attended by ONUCI officials led by the OIC of the mission, Abu Moussa, leading a high level delegation there. In addition to the international community we had six heads of state from the direct neighbouring countries of the West African region who also attended. It was, I think, a symbolic ceremony to show that Ivorians are determined to re-unify their country and also to take all necessary arrangements to fulfil the rest of the Ouagadougou Agreement.

MBATHA: And President Laurent Gbagbo was present at the ceremony in Bouake.

TOURE: Yes. This was the first time he was driving from what they used to call government zone to Forces Nouvelles-controlled area.

MBATHA: Ah! He drove there?

TOURE: Yeah Yeah Yeah. He drove. Yeah.

MBATHA: What's the significance of his attending this ceremony in Bouake?

TOURE: His presence meant his commitment, his readiness to take all steps to complete the disarmament, that's what we hope, and also to facilitate the return to peace of the country and, of course, national reconciliation. We hope following this ceremony all tasks in the Ouagadougou political agreement will be implemented, mainly the identification and DDR processes because this was just the beginning of the DDR process. We hope it will be completed. We also hope that the extension of state authority throughout the country will also materialize to lay the ground for the preparation for election.

MBATHA: And when you say the DDR process you are talking about the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants.

TOURE: Exactly. But in addition to that you also have the dismantling of militia groups.

MBATHA: Now, apart from the symbolic ceremony in Bouake, were there any other activities or symbolic ceremonies elsewhere?

TOURE: No. The whole thing took place in Bouake. And what is interesting is that President Gbagbo said within the coming days he will give instructions to Guillaume Soro, the Prime Minister, to prepare the ground for elections.

MBATHA: And when can those elections be expected to take place?

TOURE: Well it's not up to the UN to say. It's up to the Independent Electoral Commission to take care of that and, of course, to announce dates.

MBATHA: Now tell me about the mood of the people in Cote d'Ivoire. How is it?

TOURE: It was a kind of I would say, a national celebration. From all corners of the county people rushed to Bouake. This, I think was a very well organized ceremony. During the short time they got to announce it, to organize and to hold it, and also the popular participation, people from all parts of the country that converged to Bouake to celebrate. So I would say, of course, it was a celebration mood. But, of course, after the symbols what are you going to do? I think people are having high expectations and we hope that the leaders will meet the high expectations of the people who have suffered a lot during this five-year conflict.

MBATHA: And now what do you expect to happen next?

TOURE: Concrete actions. As we say, we want to see the political will coincide with the operation concrete actions on the ground regarding the identification, also what they call the deployment of the administration and the organization of election, of course, the DDR, which is key to all the rest, maybe.

MBATHA: Are you optimistic that the peace process will stay on course?

TOURE: Well it has to following what happened. It was not only an Ivorian I would say business. All neighbouring countries were here at the highest level. It means the whole world is interested in what's happening in Cote d'Ivoire. It means that the international community does care for Cote d'Ivoire and we think they wouldn't do less than what is expected from them.

PRESENTER: That was Ammadoun Toure, the spokesman for the United Nations Mission in Cote d'Ivoire on the line from Abidjan.

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PRESENTER: And that's all for this edition of UN and Africa. Our Production Assistant was Florence Poblete-Enriquez and our sound engineer was Zach Pruwitt. I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye-bye.

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