UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 173
Week of: Sunday, 7th October, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 11th October, 2007
Topical Issue(s):

" The World Food Programme has warned that a disaster is looming for hundreds of thousands of Ugandans who have been affected by floods. WFP has appealed for $60 million to feed 1.7 million people until March next year. The agency says that if it does not receive the resources it needs, there will be a disaster.

" The deployment of a joint United Nations/African Union force for Darfur in January next year is on track. Senior United Nations officials say the mission headquarters is expected to be up and running by the end of this month, and that the force needs to be strong and mobile to face challenges on the ground.

" Drug trafficking is increasingly becoming a problem in Africa which is being used as a transit point for drugs destined for the European market. A UN official who attended a recent meeting of heads of law enforcement agencies in Africa says African countries need assistance to deal with the problem.

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

RESENTER: 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 United Nations food agency warns of a disaster in Uganda unless it receives funds to feed people affected by floods.
CLIP 1: Alix Loriston
"If we don't address the shortfall, which is close to 60 million, it will be a disaster. So we don't have to wait for the disaster to happen."

PRESENTER:

You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, plans for the deployment of a joint United Nations/African Union force for Darfur are on track.
CLIP 2: Jane Holl Lute
"The budget has been prepared and has been presented. It's on the order of $1.5 billion to carry us through June of next year."

PRESENTER:

And later in the programme, we'll talk about the increasing problem of using Africa as a transit point for drugs being smuggled into Europe.

So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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UN Food Agency Warns of Looming Disaster for Flood Victims in Uganda

PRESENTER:

A disaster is looming for hundreds of thousands of flood victims in Uganda unless donors come forward with funds to help feed the people. This warning comes from the World Food Programme which is struggling to help the people who have been affected by massive flooding in the country this year. The eastern and northern parts of Uganda, as well as the drought-prone Karamoja region, have had the heaviest rains in decades, which have destroyed crops for farmers. To find out more about this crisis, I called Alix Loriston, the World Food Programme's Deputy Country Director, based in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, who told me the situation is really bad.
LORISTON: Malaria is looming. The children will be sick. They will be malnourished. So WFP needs to provide support to other agencies like UNICEF and WHO. Some children attending primary education have been relocated and so they have asked us to provide food to the school for the kids to continue going to school but unfortunately we have not been able to do so. WFP is also helping the IDPs in northern Uganda. We have over 930,000 IDPs in Acholi region previously affected by the LRA conflict. Some of them were unable to receive their rations for September because we don't have enough resource. Now we are thinking to have an airdrop operation to be able to provide rations in October for the groups in Acholi.

MBATHA: You say that you are helping IDPs, internally displaced people, are these people who have moved from northern Uganda to other parts of the country?

LORISTON: No no, these are people within north Uganda that have moved to camps and some of them since last year have been moving closer to their home because of the increased security in Acholi in the north.

MBATHA: And they live in camps.

LORISTON: Some of them are in transit areas. They are moving closer but the majority of IDPs are still in camps.

MBATHA: And how did the floods affect those camps, if they did?

LORISTON: The flood per se is not affecting the camps but too much rain affects the roads condition. As a result the trucks cannot move to the camps. In September, if I give you an example, 183,000 IDPs in camps in Guru and Pada (sic) did not receive their rations. And if the road conditions continue to deteriorate we think by October it will be 600,000, that's two thirds of the IDPs in northern Uganda will not get rations for October.

MBATHA: And apart from the internally displaced people in camps in northern Uganda, how have the floods affected other sections of Ugandans?

LORISTON: The biggest impact of the flood is also access. We have three major districts in the north. They are cut from the rest of the country. Let's say fuel supply, in Karamoja, which is the only chronically food insecure area in Karamoja, we were not able to deliver our normal programme because there was not enough fuel supply to the area. Prices of commodities have increased and the area is cut because the bridges are washed away. The impact is not only on people that are affected by floods because their farms, their lands have been destroyed, they are unable to harvest, it's also those people in the cities and the affected area and their access to market or inflation because of price of commodities.

MBATHA: How long can you be able to provide assistance using the resources that you have at the moment?

LORISTON: We have stocks that will be lasting for one-and-a-half months. Let's hope if enough funding comes let's hope for two months. But, otherwise this is really going to be very bad.

MBATHA: And have you approached potential donors and what has been their response?

LORISTON: So far, we have Canada with one million. The UK with 1.5 million, Belgium with $88,000, the Czech with $50,000 and we even have private donors from the States with $50,000, in addition to that the EU for their special operation. It's very important for people to know that there is a flood and the flood is an emergency. If we don't address the shortfall, which is close to 60 million, it will be a disaster. So we don't have to wait for a disaster to happen.

PRESENTER:
That was Alix Loriston, the World Food Programme's Deputy Country Director in Uganda speaking with me on the line from Kampala.
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PRESENTER:

Senior UN Official Says Deployment of Hybrid Force for Darfur on Track

PRESENTER:

Plans to deploy a joint UN and African Union force for Darfur are on track to start in January next year. That's when the force is expected to take over from the African Union which has been patrolling the troubled region of Sudan for the past three years. Two senior United Nations peacekeeping officials recently briefed correspondents in New York on the schedule for the deployment of the force. UN Radio's Dianne Penn reports.
NARR: By the end of October, two battalions from Rwanda and Nigeria should be in Darfur to reinforce African Union peacekeepers already serving there. Their deployment is part of the preparations for the joint African Union-United Nations force for the troubled province in western Sudan. Plans are on schedule for the hybrid force to fully take over in January, says the acting head of UN field support, Jane Holl Lute.

LUTE 1: We are proceeding along four tracks: people, places, things and processes. We are making satisfactory progress in all areas.

NARR: The mission, which will be known as UNAMID, is unprecedented in UN peacekeeping history. More than 25,000 military and police officers will patrol dry and dangerous Darfur, which is roughly the size of France. They'll be supported by 5,500 civilian staff recruited both in Sudan and internationally. Ms. Lute says the mission headquarters will be up and running later this month with the arrival of key personnel, for example in the areas of logistics and administration.

LUTE 2: The budget has been prepared and has been presented. It's on the order of $1.5 billion to carry us through June of next year. The procedures for facilitating the reimbursement for the troops on the ground are in train, and we are confident and have encountered no difficulties in proceeding on that.

NARR: But, she points out, other issues are still being negotiated.

LUTE 3: We've had assurances from the government of Sudan at the highest levels that land will be made available and will facilitate the deployment. We've also had assurances that the airstrips in Darfur will be made available to use, subject to our ability to improve them and maintain them. We have a team on the ground in Nyala right now negotiating with the local government to ensure that we have a place for them to go.

NARR: In addition, certain "vital" aviation and ground transport capacities for the mission are also outstanding, according to the head of UN Peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guéhenno. He says this equipment is essential, particularly in the light of recent attacks on African Union peacekeepers. Nearly two weeks ago, 10 AU peacekeepers were killed in a town called Haskanita that was subsequently was burned to the ground. Attacks like these reflect further deterioration in the situation Darfur, says Mr. Guéhenno.

JMG 1: I think this incident shows the importance of having troops that are very mobile with a capacity to dominate any situation. And for that, we need capacities that even with the strong efforts of the African Union we do not have yet. We need ground transport, we need transport helicopters, and we need light, tactical helicopters.

NARR: The Darfur conflict has had a spillover effect in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic. Several European countries have announced their support for a separate peacekeeping mission there. And while he welcomes their commitment, Mr. Guéhenno hopes Darfur will not be overlooked.

JMG 2: Chad and Darfur obviously are related, and it is essential that there be also commitments in Darfur. Otherwise, it would be very dangerous if what is the most challenging situation-the situation in Darfur-did not have the right resources.

NARR: Jean-Marie Guéhenno, head of UN peacekeeping, updating correspondents on deployment to Darfur. A technical team is currently in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to explain to the authorities the deployment plan and the process of putting together the troops which will make up the force. For UN Radio, I'm Dianne Penn.

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Africa is Becoming a Transit Point for Illicit Drugs to Western Europe
PRESENTER:

The continuing demand for illicit drugs in Europe is becoming a serious problem for African countries which are increasingly being used as transit points for drugs from Latin America. The seriousness of this matter is such that the heads of national law enforcement agencies, known as HONLEA, meet regularly with other experts from around the world to share ideas on how to tackle this problem. Brian Taylor, who is in charge of the Anti-Trafficking Section of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, attended the latest meeting of HONLEA, held in Nairobi, Kenya last month. He told UNDOC's Louise Potterton that African countries need help to interdict and stop trafficking in illicit drugs.
TAYLOR: It's clear that much more needs to be done to help particularly the West African countries to deal with the cocaine situation but also the East African countries with the trafficking of heroine mainly producing Afghanistan, across countries like Pakistan, Iran into East Africa. Then the drugs are being shipped across, sometimes across West Africa but mainly again, towards Western Europe where the main demand for the heroine is. But other countries in Africa like South Africa they have problems with other drugs now such as ecstasy and all in all many of the African countries require significant assistance.

POTTERTON: Is law enforcement working in Africa? Are more drugs being seized than are getting through, getting into the hands of the dealers and to the users?

TAYLOR: There have been large amounts of drugs seized. Already this year in 2007 seizures are certainly up from last year particularly in relation to cocaine and heroine, but it's just basically a situation where the law enforcement authorities are seizing more but it does illustrate the point that more drugs are being targeted on West Africa destined for Western Europe. So much more needs to be done to try build their expertise, capacity, provide equipment, provide training and clearly UNODC is one of the organizations that's trying to facilitate this.

POTTERTON: If more and more drugs are being trafficked through Africa, is this also having an effect on drug abuse levels? Are African countries seeing an increase in drug abuse?

TAYLOR: In some countries that's true. There is always a spillover effect when you have countries which are mainly transit countries but some of the drugs stay in those countries. And then the same is beginning to occur in some of the African countries where the addition, particularly in some of West African countries, people using cocaine now. This wasn't a factor a few years ago, and it's likely to increase.

POTTERTON: One of the workshops during the event was about the role of forensic laboratories, scientific support to Africa. What was discussed in this workshop?

TAYLOR: We discussed a range of issue. For example, when drugs are seized, we have to analyze and to find out exactly what drugs we are dealing with, if it's cocaine, if it's heroine, if it's ecstasy and so on. So, first of all establish that the drugs are indeed illicit drugs. Certainly to look at the purity levels of those drugs. But the whole point of the workshop was to try to establish just how well resourced or inadequately resourced the African countries were in relation to forensic support. Forensic support is crucial to effective law enforcement investigation. And in many cases they are sadly lacking in the type of equipment and trained staff that is necessary to have that kind of effective forensic support.

POTTERTON: What about the future? What is the way forward in Africa?

TAYLOR: There were a number of recommendations made and that these recommendations will now be taken forward to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in March of 2008. Action will be taken on some of these very practical recommendations before then, particularly in relation to the training of staff and so on and approaches will be made to donors to try to lobby for further support to certain African countries. UNODC will be involved in a range of activities and projects to assist many of the member states.

PRESENTER:
Brian Taylor, Chief of the Anti-Trafficking Section of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, speaking with Louise Potterton.

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PRESENTER:
And that's all for this edition of UN and Africa. Our Production Assistant was Nyi Nyi Teza, and our sound engineer was Carlos Macias. I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye bye.

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