UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 178
Week of: Sunday, 11th November, 2007
Recording Date: Thursday, 15th November, 2007
Topical Issue(s):

• The people of Northern Uganda have suffered for twenty years as the conflict raged on between government troops and fighters of the Lord’s Resistance Army. But now there is a glimmer of hope that peace may finally come to this part of the country as the government and the LRA continue negotiations.

• The people of Ogoniland have been protesting that oil exploration in their area is destroying the environment and their livelihoods in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. Henrik Slotte, the Chief of UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, says that a mission is set to undertake a comprehensive environmental assessment in that region next year.

• Africa has reiterated its call for at least two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats in the Security Council. Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins of Angola says it is time to redress a historical injustice done to Africa after two world wars.

Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Production Assistant: Charles Appel
Studio Engineer: Zach Pruwit
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 Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army negotiate an end to the conflict in Northern Uganda.
CLIP 1: Joachim Chissano
“The peace process in Uganda is on the right track and we are foreseeing a very good outcome.”

PRESENTER:

You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, the United Nations environment agency is sending experts to assess areas affected by oil production in Nigeria.
CLIP 2: Henrik Slotte
“Oil exploration in this region has been ongoing for 50 years so there is contamination that is directly linked to the oil exploration.”

And later in the programme, African countries want at least two permanent and five non-permanent seats on the Security Council.
CLIP 3: Ismael Gaspar Martins
“The continent is not adequately represented in the Security Council. Time has therefore come to redress the historical injustice done to Africa”

More on that later.
So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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Hopes Rise for Peace in Northern Uganda

PRESENTER:

The people of Northern Uganda have suffered for twenty years as the conflict raged on between government troops and fighters of the Lord’s Resistance Army. But now there is a glimmer of hope that peace may finally come to this part of the country. UN Radio’s Ransford Cline-Thomas reports.
NARRATOR:
For two decades, the people of Northern Uganda have not known peace at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army, the LRA, led by Joseph Kony and notorious for abducting children to force them to become child soldiers or sex slaves. However, the situation seems to be changing as the LRA and the Ugandan government are now negotiating an end to the conflict which has cost many lives and displaced more then one-and-a-half-million people. Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano is the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for areas affected by the LRA, which include Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and the north eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He came to New York this week to brief the Security Council on the peace process in Northern Uganda and this was part of his assessment.
CUT 1: Joacquim Chissano
The peace process in Uganda is on the right track and we are foreseeing a very good outcome. The two sides have signed two important agreements, one on comprehensive matters which deals with the root causes of the conflict and the other one is on accountability and reconciliation.

NARRATOR:
President Chissano says that the two parties have suspended the dialogue in order to consult with the people of Uganda adding that, in fact, the government has already done so and the results are good.
CUT 2: Joachim Chissano
The LRA has just started the consultations and it’s very important to note that the LRA delegation took the courage to go inside Uganda and meet the authorities, including the President of the Republic and thereafter to meet the citizens and many other institutions. They were well received as an expression of the will of the people to bring the violent conflict to an end and to find ways for reconciliation.

NARRATOR:
While there is talk of reconciliation in Uganda, there is also the issue of outstanding warrants of arrest which the International Criminal Court, the ICC, issued for the LRA leader Joseph Kony and three of his senior commanders. But the Ugandan government now says it wants to have an alternative tribunal to try LRA war crimes suspects instead of the International Criminal Court. There is also talk of traditional justice for the victims of the LRA. Mr. Chissano says this presents a challenge.
CUT 3: Joachim Chissano
Some will perceive this as lack of punishment and will say that a culture of impunity is being installed, while for the Ugandans that will be punishment enough according to their perceptions, according to their culture.

NARRATOR:
But what about the victims of the LRA? What, for example, does Maurine Akello think?
CUT 4: Maurine Akello

When we were younger we were abducted and we were taken to the bush as child soldiers. It’s important to forgive because it’s the only way we could get back peace.

NARRATOR:

Betty Ocan, a Ugandan member of parliament agrees.
CUT 5: Betty Ocan
Let us forget about retributive justice. If we are going in for retributive justice, then we should use our national justice system instead of going in for ICC which is not going to address some of the issues. We need all these problems addressed so that we have sustainable peace.

NARRATOR:
Meanwhile, Salva Kir, the leader of South Sudan, which is mediating between the government of Uganda and the LRA shares as similar view.
CUT 6: Salva Kir

When they sign peace, it will be up to the people in the region and their country whether to write back to the ICC to cancel a warrant of arrest that was issued in the name of the four top commanders of the LRA.

NARRATOR:

Salva Kir says he is hopeful that the Ugandan government and the LRA will sign the agreement to end the conflict in Northern Uganda. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Ransford Cline-Thomas.
STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC
UN Experts Prepare to Assess Oil-Affected Sites in Nigeria’s Ogoniland

PRESENTER:

Oil plays a very important role in the economy of Nigeria. But in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, it has become a source of conflict between the local people and oil companies. For example, the people of Ogoniland are not happy with the operations of Shell Oil which they say have not only contaminated the environment, but have also destroyed their livelihoods. They also feel that the Federal Government of Nigeria has not done enough to protect their region. Now, the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, and the United Nations Development Programme are preparing to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the sites affected by oil production in Ogoniland starting next year. To find out more about this, I called Henrik Slotte, the Chief of the UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch based in Geneva.
SLOTTE: This initiative was prompted by the Federal government of Nigeria that a year ago asked UNEP as part of the reconciliation process in Ogoniland to start and implement an environmental assessment of the contamination in Ogoniland.

MBATHA: And how has oil exploration impacted sites in this region?

SLOTTE: Oil explorations in this region have been ongoing for 50 years so there is contamination that is directly linked to the oil exploration. However, for the last 10-12 years, there has not been active oil exploration because there was political unrest during the early part of the 90s. Now it is in the government’s interest, as well as the oil industry but also in the local community’s interest that the environmental assessment is done which will be followed by environmental clean-up that then could lead again to development and economic activities.

MBATHA: And how long do you expect this assessment to take place?

SLOTTE: Well, there are many factors that will play in when you work in Ogoniland but I told the minister of environment in Abuja that we anticipate to start in early 2008 and have the work done by latest in end of 2008.

MBATHA: You made mention the fact that there was a political turmoil in this region for some time. Now how is the local community of Ogoniland involved in this and how is it going to benefit from it?

SLOTTE: We have discussed with the local communities, they are welcoming this and they would naturally like to see this assessment as soon as possible lead to clean up. What we can do already in the early part of next year is to recruit local staff for positions where we can use local people, be it as drivers, be it as secretaries but also more technical tasks working in the field alongside our international experts.

MBATHA: You said that this initiative was started by the Federal government of Nigeria as part of reconciliation. Can you elaborate on that?

SLOTTE: Well, this is a much broader project and we are then taking care of the first phase of the environmental part. I believe that the federal government and also the local community see that because of the impact the oil industry has had with the environment, this is a key part of it. We also see that the work we are doing in the field has a peace building dimension and that is why our organization did not hesitate when we got this request knowing very well that it is not easy to work in the Niger Delta.

PRESENTER:

That was Henrik Slotte, the Chief of the Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme based in Geneva.
STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC
Africa Wants Two Permanent Seats with All Privileges in Security Council

PRESENTER:

The concern about membership in the Security Council was once again this week discussed in the General Assembly, and Africa reiterated its call to be represented on the Council. Negotiations to reform the Security Council remain stalled, more than ten years after the issue was raised at the United Nations. Dianne Penn has been following the discussions.
NARRATOR:
As it stands now, the Security Council is made up of fifteen members. Five of these members are permanent with a veto power, and the other ten are elected to serve for two years. But many members of the United Nations believe that it is time now to reform the Council to reflect the realities of today. In particular, there is criticism of the continued veto power of the five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. For its part, the African continent is asking for not less than two permanent seats on the Council with the right of veto in addition to five non-permanent seats. The position of the African Group at the United Nations was presented to the General Assembly by Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins of Angola.
CUT 1: Ismael Martins
The continent is not adequately represented in the Security Council. Time has therefore come to redress the historical injustice done to Africa in order to close a chapter that followed two world wars and move forward in the search for collective security by working together in a more inclusive transparent and democratic manner.

NARRATOR:

African countries have a common position on the reform of the United Nations known as the Ezulwini Consensus which was adopted in Addis Ababa in 2005. And it says something about the veto power which is seen as favouring the interests of the five permanent members of the Security Council. Ambassador Martins sums it up.
CUT 2: Ismael Martins
Africa is in principle opposed to the veto but, if maintained, it should be made available to all permanent members of the Security Council as a matter of justice.

NARRATOR:
Adding his voice to that position, Ambassador Paul Badji of Senegal has insisted that this question of the veto power should be examined very closely because those who wield that power are not always acting in the best interests of the international community.
CUT 3: Paul Badji (French with English translation)
We believe that the demands of modern times and of justice in action compel us to reflect more realistically and responsibly, bearing in mind the fact that a single country cannot and must not, often for interests outside those of the international community as a whole, block or paralyze action of the Security Council.

NARRATOR:

Indeed, a reformed Security Council, Ambassador Leslie Christian of Ghana argues, should be transparent in its activities and more responsive to the interests of the general membership of the United Nations.
CUT 4: Leslie Christian
This is more so, as all member States of the UN are called upon and obliged to share the burden of the maintenance of international peace and security through, inter alia, assessed contributions to the peacekeeping budget, the provision of troops for UN peacekeeping missions and implementation of resolutions adopted by the Security Council.

NARRATOR:

While Africa has a common position on the reform of the Security Council, it is not yet clear which countries would be selected to occupy the permanent seats of the Council in case that reform materializes. Several names have been suggested, including Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. Ambassador Martins explains.
CUT 5: Ismael Martins
It would be the responsibility of the African Union, the selection of Africa’s representatives in the Security Council, a question to be given due consideration in accordance with acceptable criteria to be determined collectively at the level of the African Union and the United Nations respectively.

NARRATOR:

Many members of the United Nations are frustrated that it is more than fourteen years now that the General Assembly has been wrestling with the issue of making the Security Council more democratic and representative. And, as some have speculated, agreement may not come soon enough. Reporting for UN Radio, I am Diane Penn.
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PRESENTER:
And that’s all for this edition of UN and Africa. Our Production Assistant was Charles Appel and our sound engineer was Zach Pruwit. I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye bye.

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