UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 171
Week of: Sunday, 23rd September, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 27th September, 2007
Topical Issue(s):

The UN General Assembly holds its 62nd session, under the theme of climate change. Some of the African heads of state talk about the challenges that the continent is facing, including struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goals reducing poverty by 2015.

As world leaders gather in New York for the General Assembly, the Security Council holds a top-level meeting on Peace and Security in Africa. Participants say that despite progress that Africa has made in resolving conflicts, it is still facing challenges such as instability in Somalia.

As top diplomats and world leaders gather in New York, another form of diplomacy, known as humanitarian diplomacy, is being practiced in conflict or disaster areas by people who are providing relief assistance to the needy people. UN Radio discusses humanitarian diplomacy in Sudan with two of the people who have co-written a book on the subject.

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 General Assembly begins its annual general debate with some of the African leaders talking about the challenges facing their countries.

CLIP 1: Festus Mogae
"Diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, still kill many people in Africa"

PRESENTER: You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, a top-level Security Council meeting discusses peace and security in Africa.

CLIP 2: John Kufuor
"The restoration of peace and normalcy on the continent, especially in places of conflict like Somalia and the Eritrea and Ethiopian border is urgent."

PRESENTER: And later in the programme, we'll talk about humanitarian diplomacy in Sudan.

So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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General Assembly Starts 62nd Session under Theme of Climate Change

PRESENTER: Leaders from around the world, including Africa, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York to attend the sixty second session of the General Assembly. They do this every year to express their views on a variety of issues affecting the daily lives of people everywhere. So what exactly have our leaders been saying? Geraldine Adams has been listening to the speeches.

NARRATOR:
This year the General Assembly is holding its sixty second session under theme of climate change caused by global warming. In fact, before the start of the session, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened a special meeting on this issue - - an issue he says is one of his highest priorities. Addressing the session of the General Assembly, President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa of Zambia said the issue of climate is very important to the present and future generations.

CUT 1: Levy Mwanawasa
It is therefore fitting that the theme of this session is "Responding to Climate Change". Indeed, the effects of climate change are being felt mostly by the developing countries. For instance, Southern Africa is experiencing critical food shortages due to torrential rains in some areas and severe drought in other parts of the region.

NARRATOR: For Africa, responding to climate change is just one of the many challenges facing the continent. President Festus Mogae of Botswana recalled that seven years ago world leaders agreed on millennium development goals, or MDGs, to improve the lives of people on the continent by 2015. But those goals, he noted, have hardly been met in Africa.

CUT 2: Festus Mogae
Indicators are that unless something is done to support Africa, the continent is unlikely to achieve any of the Goals by 2015. Statistics tell tales of a continent that is host to huge numbers of the poor and the hungry. Diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, still kill many people in Africa.

NARRATOR: But the picture is not all doom and gloom in Sub-Saharan Africa on meeting the Millennium Development Goals or at least some of them. President Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi said his government had identified six priorities to boost its economy.

CUT 3: Bingu Wa Mutharika
These include agricultural development and food security, irrigation and water development, transport and communications infrastructure, energy and power, integrated road development and management and prevention of HIV and AIDS. We are also implementing an effective system of income distribution targeting the rural poor. I can boldly say that the Malawi government is confident that most of the MDGs will be met or even surpassed by the year 2015.

NARRATOR: One African country which is struggling to end a political crisis caused by conflict is Cote d'Ivoire. Participating in the General Assembly for the first time in his seven years as Head of State of Cote d'Ivoire, President Laurent Gbagbo said his presence at the United Nations was proof of the climate of calm prevailing in his country today following the signing of the Ouagadougou Agreement with former rebels in March this year.

CUT 4: Laurent Gbagbo
(French with English translation)
With the implementation of the Ouagadougou Agreement, today Cote d'Ivoire is unified and it is now up to the state to restore law and order throughout the territory. I would make a formal appeal here for the partial lifting of the weapons embargo so that the state of Cote d'Ivoire can carry out its task of protecting persons and goods.

NARRATOR: President Laurent Gbagbo said that everyone agreed that democratic elections will mark the end of the crisis in Cote d"ivoire. He was committed, he said, to holding free and transparent elections in the country. In the coming days, more leaders will address the General Assembly. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Gerry Adams.

Security Council Holds Summit on Peace and Security in Africa

PRESENTER: Despite progress that Africa has made in resolving its conflicts and bringing peace and security, the continent is still facing challenges such as the instability in Somalia and the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. This was the general assessment at a top-level Security Council meeting on Peace and Security in Africa. UN Radio's Ransford Cline-Thomas reports.

NARRATOR: Heads of state, Foreign Ministers and senior government officials of the fifteen-member Security Council, as well as the Chairman of the Commission of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare, met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss ways to improve peace and security in Africa. The meeting, convened by France, which hold the presidency of the Council, was presided over by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Participants in the Security Council meeting stressed the need for broader cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union to tackle peace and security problems on the continent. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about the importance of investing more in prevention and mediation efforts so that disagreements don't develop into violence.

CUT 1: Ban Ki-moon
Efforts to prevent conflict require much less resources than do peace keeping operations. Next month I intend to propose to the General Assembly a significant strengthening of the Department of Political Affairs to make more effective use of my good offices.

NARRATOR: President John Kufuor of Ghana, who is also the Chairman of the African Union, said his country is anxious to see a new order of peace, unity, democracy and prosperity prevail throughout the continent. Pointing to some of the progress that the continent has made, he cited the fact that the conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and even the Sudan, have been resolved. But he also acknowledged some of the remaining challenges.

CUT 2: John Kufuor
No one can deny however that formidable challenges still remain in areas such as the illicit trade and proliferation of small arms and light weapons, drugs and human trafficking. The restoration of peace and normalcy on the continent, especially in places of conflict like Somalia and the Eritrea and Ethiopian border is urgent.

NARRATOR: Another challenge facing Africa is Somalia, which is struggling to establish a central government and where the African Union has a peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM. The president of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso reminded participants in the Security Council that the United Nations is supposed to have taken over the mission from AMISOM. He stressed that no situation should be written off as hopeless.

(French with English translation)
CUT 3: Denis Nguesso
And we must encourage an inclusive political dialogue for national reconciliation. We expect the United Nations to provide AMISOM with all necessary support and to play an active role in stabilizing this torn country.

NARRATOR: For his part, South African President Thabo Mbeki reminded the Security Council that African leaders have indeed established several structures to deal with peace and security. They include the Peace and Security Council, an Early Warning System, a Panel of the Wise, an African Standby Force and Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development Framework.

CUT 4: Thabo Mbeki
What's missing is the capacity to do these things, the resources of all sorts to be able to do this. And we would want to address this matter directly ourselves as much as we can. And I think it would be very very good indeed if there could be found some way by which the Security Council engages the African Union represented here by President Konare in some detail on this.

NARRATOR: In that context, the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare stressed the need to move beyond promises. He said too many promises have already been made but have not been kept, and expressed the hope that there would be a follow up to this meeting of the Security Council on peace and security in Africa. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Ransford Cline-Thomas.

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Humanitarian Diplomacy Faces Challenges in Sudan

PRESENTER: As top diplomats and world leaders gather in New York, another form of diplomacy is going on in conflict or disaster areas. It is known as humanitarian diplomacy and is practiced by people who are involved in providing relief assistance to people in need. I discussed this with two of the people involved in humanitarian diplomacy, Larry Minear, who has edited a book on the subject which has been published recently and Masood Hyder, who has served as the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. Mr. Hyder told me that relief workers don't only have to negotiate with those who are in charge on the ground in order to gain access for humanitarian goods but they also have to explain the situation to their bosses at Headquarters.

HYDER: The most important thing is to keep them informed. Just because you have understood the situation on the ground doesn't mean that they are equally aware of the situation. And if people are not aware, they might misread, not sufficiently, energetically support you.

MBATHA: Larry.

MINEAR: We have some good examples of this. In the case of the Sudan, the field coordinator for one of the agencies was anxious to eventually cut off assistance for a short period, but in the absence of proper consultation and support from people back at headquarters, this would not have been supported. So there is all sorts of consultation that needs to go on within the family even before one deals with the authorities.

MBATHA: Yeah. Let's talk about Sudan.

HYDER: I was there from 2000 to 2002 as the Acting Humanitarian Coordinator in the events that I describe in the book. Now, before you ask me anything please keep in mind that things have changed a lot from then to now.

MBATHA: Let's talk about then. What are some of the challenges that you faced?

HYDER: First of all the situation in Sudan vis-à-vis the humanitarian community was very special and very interesting and quite admirable in fact, in the sense that the UN and its development partners, had negotiated with the government and the opposition a comprehensive assistance arrangement, known as Operation Lifeline Sudan, OLS. This is one of the most outstanding pieces of arrangements put in place for providing assistance. What's interesting, which is indicative of humanitarian diplomacy generally, is even with that kind of comprehensive arrangement, goodwill from all sides, protocols to underpin it, still implementing a programme of assistance has its difficulties.

MBATHA: But would you consider Operation Lifeline Sudan a success?

HYDER: Now, the great expert on Operation Lifeline Sudan and the author of a famous book is Larry. So why don't you ask him?

MBATHA: Larry.

MINEAR: Well, I think on balance, Operation Lifeline Sudan is considered innovative and path breaking in a sense of getting for the first time both insurgents and government authorities to agree the comprehensive arrangement that Masood has described. Initially in the period after this was signed in 1989 for first year or so, things happened very smoothly. But as political tensions and military operations continued, there were lots of threats to OLS. So I think looking back fifteen or sixteen years later one would have to say that it was not really a success in any kind of ongoing or permanent way.

MBATHA: What are some of the problems or obstacles that it faced?

HYDER: On a day to day basis the problems and obstacles that arose mainly concerned access issues. We were trying to assist people caught up in the war in the southern part of Sudan. A large part of this assistance could only go through air drops, which is a major undertaking. And the obstacles or problems that arose concerned things to do with logistics, costs, security, getting agreement between the government, the opposition, the NGOs and so on.

MBATHA: And it would seem to me that the question of security of staff itself has been one major issue in Sudan.

MINEAR: Yes. In fact even when organizations are promised access to an area like Darfur, the uncertainty on the ground may such that some agencies would decide that it's too risky for them to go there.

PRESENTER: That was Larry Minear, co-author and editor of a book on Humanitarian Diplomacy. You also heard from Masood Hyder who contributed to the book.

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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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