UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 165
Week of: Sunday, 12 August 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 16 August 2007
Topical Issue(s):

Two prominent figures in the Somali independent media were killed within hours of each other last Saturday. HornAfrik radio producer Mahad Ahmed Elmi was shot dead and the radio station owner Ali Iman Sharmake died when his car ran over a landmine and exploded. Last year, UN Radio interviewed Mr. Elmi about the role of HornAfrik in Somalia.

Deploying more peacekeepers in Somalia continues to face problems as only Ugandan troop have so far taken up positions in the troubled country. The UN envoy for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, says the African Union needs funding in order to bring in peacekeepers from other African countries.

The World Food Programme is increasing its assistance to hundreds of thousands of people in need of food in Zimbabwe. WFP spokesman Richard Lee says the agency is going to feed more than ten times the current number of beneficiaries over the next eight months.

Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor: Diane Bailey
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, two more media personalities are killed in Somalia.

CLIP 1: Michel Montas
"These are the most recent in a spate of attacks against the media in Somalia, which brings to six the number of journalists killed in the country this year." (0'08")

PRESENTER: You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, deploying more peacekeepers in Somalia is still facing difficulties.

CLIP 2: Francois Lonseny Fall
"I can't say it's only because they are fighting. Some have some concern because there is no ceasefire in Somalia." (0'06")

And in our last segment, the United Nations food agency feeds hundreds of thousands of hungry Zimbabweans.

CLIP 3: Richard Lee
"At the moment we are assisting around about 300,000 people per month. We are going to increase that by ten times, hopefully by November." (0'07")

You will hear more on that later in the programme.

So stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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Two Prominent Independent Media Personalities Are Killed in Somalia

PRESENTER: The independent media in Somalia lost two more journalists last Saturday. Ali Iman Sharmarke, who owned the HornAfrik Media Company and Mahad Ahmed Elmi, who hosted a popular radio talk show for the same company were killed within hours of each other in Mogadishu. Mr. Elmi was reportedly shot dead outside his office and Mr. Sharmarke died when his car ran over a landmine and exploded as he was returning from the funeral of his fallen colleague. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche strongly condemned the killing of the journalists. United Nations spokesperson Michele Montas.

CUT: Michele Montas
Eric Laroche called for decisive action to ensure the freedom and safety of the media. These are the most recent in a spate of attacks against the media in Somalia, which brings to six the number of journalists killed in the country this year. Laroche calls on all authorities and other groups throughout the country to respect the right of all to hold opinions without interference and to seek receive and impart information through any media. The violent events of the last days show how vulnerable freedom of expression remains in Somalia.

Last year UN Radio caught up with Mahad Ahmed Elmi, who spoke enthusiastically about HonAfrik. He told UN Radio's Zenawit Melesse at the time that giving people the medium of radio to communicate and share ideas helped people come alive.

ELMI: It electrifies because when people say exactly what is in their mind the hot issues that are burning them; things that bother everybody else and also sometimes the suggestions, the ideas that it can be solved and how it can be tackled certain issues, people will love it. Everybody will say, oh this person spoke my mind. This person said what I would have said. So once the community communicates among themselves it lets people really to talk person to person, it lets people to exchange ideas and it lets them without fear from warlords or from certain tribes or from anybody else without any fear they exchange ideas, they exchange what's needed in Mogadishu to be done today, what's bothering them, who is killing them, who is supporting them, who is doing good things, who are doing bad things. Our lines were always jammed it went up to a level that the three big different telephone companies even had to feel there we jammed their lines in certain parts of the city because everybody was trying to call in.

ZEN: What kind of things were these people discussing on the phone?

ELMI: They were discussing about the hardships they are having with the warlords, the hooligans who are blocking different roads, what's happening in their neighbourhoods, how they can't get along with their lives, how things should be changed and that the warlords and others should stop what they are doing and all the stuff.

ZEN: You were getting these warlords together in your station to discuss the current problems and the future hopes. What effect did it have on the people of Somalia?

ELMI: The effect it had was that it just exposed their bad intention. It exposed their lack of clear policy, their lack of understanding what the country needs. And also exposed how war mongering that they were, it exposed that they could not 't answer to the public and even among themselves that they could not relate to each other what they were doing. So it was doing more harm than they thought; they themselves communicating with the public.

ZEN: Do you think that the people have learned a lot from these discussions? Did they get a chance to ask questions?

ELMI: Yeah they were asking a lot of questions and most of the time they had no answers for the questions of the public because the public was always right, they were the ones who were wrong and they were exposing themselves really how bad they were, how horrible their activities are and how they have no solution for them. They were just showing themselves that they were stooges. That they were putting the Somalia situation in a quagmire of anarchy. That they themselves were doing nothing but little cheap self interest.

ZEN: Do you think that will change? They will realise that they cannot rule the country with guns?

ELMI: Oh, they have realised long time ago actually that they can not rule the country with guns. And that is why they have been really already deposed and they are already gone. The warlords are gone but still Somalia is not out of the woods.

PRESENTER: That was the late Mahad Ahmed Elmi, a radio presenter for HornAfrik in Somalia, who was killed last Saturday.

STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

Deploying More Peacekeepers in Somalia Continues to Face Difficulties

PRESENTER: Somalia has been struggling to establish a government since the state collapsed in 1991. Recent violence in the capital, including, as you heard earlier, the killing of two journalists over the weekend, points to the urgency of deploying peacekeepers. The African Union has deployed some troops, but more troops are needed to help stabilize the Horn of Africa country. UN Radio's Gerry Adams reports.

NARRATOR: The news out of Somalia these days is of people being forced to flee due to fighting in the capital Mogadishu. In fact it is estimated that 400,000 people fled Mogadishu between February and May and close to 30,000 fled since June as violence flared up between the Union of Islamic Courts fighters and Somali troops, supported by Ethiopian forces. The African Union has deployed peacekeepers in Somalia but so far only Uganda has sent troops to the country. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Ambassador Francois Lonseny Fall, has the difficult mission of helping Somalis find a political solution to the crisis in their country. He regularly comes to the United Nations, as he did this week, to brief the Security Council on the situation in the country. Ambassador Fall reminded reporters that the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM, is expected to deploy 8,000 troops in Somalia.

CUT 1: Francois Lonseny Fall
We have now 1,700 all from Uganda. We are expecting soon 1,500 from Burundi. But it's because of lack of financial and technical support that the deployment of Burundian troops was delayed. And we are expecting also some troops from Nigeria and Ghana. And we expect that with the progress in the political dialogue and also if we get the funding from the international community we will be able to complete the AMISOM.

NARRATOR: But there seems to be reluctance to deploy more troops to complete AMISOM. Is it because of the fighting that countries are not more forthcoming with troops for Somalia?

CUT 2: Francois Lonseny Fall
I can't say it's only because they are fighting. Some have some concern because there is no ceasefire in Somalia. The deployment is always difficult, when there is no ceasefire in the country. But if you see how the Ugandans are doing in Somalia today, if we get funding more troops can be present in Somalia.

NARRATOR: African diplomats insist that bringing peace to Somalia should not be left to the African Union alone, that it is the Security Council which has the primary responsibility of bringing about peace and security in the world. The Chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare has once again written to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, pushing for the United Nations to help expedite the deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia. But some Security Council members feel that no country would be willing to deploy its troops to Somalia until the country sorts out its political crisis. According to Ambassador Fall, Somalis in the transitional federal government are making those efforts.

CUT 3: Francois Lonseny Fall
They have just ended the first phase of the national reconciliation congress by ending the discussion of the social issues. Now they will start the discussion on the political issues. And we are expecting that the outcome of the political discussion will pave the way for assisting in Somalia.

NARRATOR: The President of the Security Council for this month, Ambassador Pascal Gayama of the Republic of Congo, does not believe that there has to be peace first in Somalia before any deployment can take place.

CUT 4: Pascal Gayama
Not at all. What is the reason of having peace first? That is the role the Peacebuilding Commission not the Security Council. The Security Council has to move when there is no peace. So when people are saying that there should be peace first and then UN to come is really nonsense in my view.

NARRATOR: In Ambassador Gayama's view, the United Nations needs to show more commitment to facilitate the deployment of the African Union mission in Somalia.

CUT 5 Pascal Gayama
The AMISOM took place since the beginning of the year. On the 18 of July the mandate has been renewed again, but so far the United Nations has not shown enough commitment on this and we are articulating that in the African Union.

NARRATOR: The UN envoy for Somalia last week called on the Transitional Federal Government to invite opposition groups to join the reconciliation meeting taking place in Mogadishu. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Gerry Adams.

STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

World Food Programme Feeds Hundreds of Thousands of Zimbabweans

Zimbabwe was once the bread basket of Southern Africa but these days, the country is facing serious food shortages. This has prompted the World Food Programme to appeal for more than one hundred million dollars in order to expand its feeding operation in the country. WFP spokesman in Johannesburg, Richard Lee, told me that his agency is planning to buy 200,000 tonnes of food from other countries in Southern Africa.

LEE: In particular we will look to buy maize in Malawi which this year has a surplus of over a million tonnes, but we will also look to buy commodities in Zambia, in Mozambique, and in South Africa.

MBATHA: Why is the World Food Programme increasing its feeding programme in Zimbabwe?

LEE: We are drastically increasing our feeding programme over the coming months. At the moment we are assisting around about 300,000 people per month. We are going to increase that by ten times, hopefully by November, and then continue feeding 3.3 million people from November through to March next year. And the reason for that is that there are millions of people, or will be millions of people in Zimbabwe who need food assistance, who face severe food shortages, largely because of drought which devastated the harvest, but also because of the worsening economic situation which has left many people unable to buy enough food to feed themselves.

MBATHA: And is the Zimbabwean government playing any role in trying to feed the people there?

LEE: The Zimbabwean government doesn't have any role with our food distribution. Obviously we consult the government and we explain to them what our plans are, but they don't have any direct role in what we do and certainly not with the individuals who receive the food assistance from us. However, what the Zimbabwean government is doing is that it's importing large amounts of food. And this, obviously, is the government's job. The World Food Programme is just there to fill in any gaps.

MBATHA: And I understand also that lack of food in Zimbabwe is forcing some families to adopt risky survival measures. Could you tell me more about that?

LEE: Yes. Unfortunately in situations where people face food shortages there is a risk that to survive they will resort to dangerous behaviour. And here we are talking things from small perhaps as skipping oat meal, pulling your child out of school, and then if the situation is really serious you are looking women who might be forced into prostitution, child prostitution, just so that they can get food, or indeed perhaps heading for South Africa, crossing the border illegally into South Africa in search of work so that they can get money to buy enough food.

MBATHA: Is there a threat of famine in Zimbabwe or are we still, should I say, in a safer zone?

LEE: No. We are not in a famine situation at the moment. But if we do not get the necessary funds, that we cannot provide enough assistance, if the government doesn't have money to bring in enough food, then they will get to a situation where millions of people face very very severe food shortages. And then we could be in a very very severe situation. But if we get enough money in so we can get food assistance to the most vulnerable, then we should be able to avert a food crisis.

MBATHA: What are the long term solutions to the food crisis in Zimbabwe?

LEE: The long terms solutions to the food crisis in Zimbabwe are providing people with the tools to do the job. So people must have the right seeds. They must have the right fertilizers. They must have enough draught power, enough tractors, need to repair the irrigation systems in Zimbabwe. But on top of that, there is one overarching issue in Zimbabwe as it is elsewhere in Southern Africa, and that is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. What that is doing in Zimbabwe and elsewhere is making it almost impossible for people to produce enough food. When a family, when the father is dead or is sick or when the mother is dead or is sick, that means there is no way that they can produce enough food for themselves. On top of that, what little money they might have they have to spend that on medicine rather than on food. So to deal with the underlying chronic vulnerability in Zimbabwe requires us to deal with HIV/AIDS and that obviously is going to take a long long time.

PRESENTER: That was Richard Lee, the spokesman for the World Food Programme, speaking with me on the line from Johannesburg, South Africa.

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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 Prewitt. I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye bye.

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