UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 183
Week of: Sunday, 16th December, 2007
Recording Date: Wednesday, 19th December, 2007
Topical Issue(s):

The Security Council started the week by discussing Somalia which continues to struggle to consolidate a fragile transitional government. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for the country, Ahmed Ould-abdallah says the United Nations needs to launch diplomatic action to help stabilize the country.

A young Kenyan delegate to the UN General Assembly says that education and health are important issues for children in Africa. Millicent Orondo says that African girls are still denied the right to education and the education that is available is of poor quality to prepare children for the future.

As the UN observed International Migrants Day more Africans died as they tried to cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. The United Nations refugee agency says that more than 1, 400 people died in the Gulf of Aden this year while close to 30,000 made it ashore in 300 boats. The latest deaths happened over the weekend.

Producer/presenter: Derrick Mbatha
Editor: Ransford Cline-Thomas
Production Assistant: Florence Poblete-Enriquez
Studio Engineer: Louis Bastion
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 am Derrick Mbatha.

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PRESENTER: In today's programme, the Security Council discusses the ongoing crisis in Somalia.

CLIP 1: Ahmed Ould Abdallah
"The situation is dangerous and becoming more so each day. Somalia youth has only one work possibility, which is to participate in a conflict."

PRESENTER: You will hear more on that in a moment. Also in this edition, a young Kenyan students talks about the aspirations of children.

CLIP 2: Millicent Orondo
"We want to eradicate total poverty in many of the slums, in India, Africa, and also that children can have quality education and life skills education."

PRESENTER: And later in the programme, Africans continue to suffer as they leave their countries in search of a better life.

So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.

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UN Envoy Says Situation is Getting Worse in Somalia

PRESENTER: The Security Council on Monday once again discussed Somalia which continues to struggle to consolidate a fragile transitional government. The meeting of the Council took place just after the newly appointed prime minister announced that he was dissolving his cabinet to form a new one. UN Radio's Ransford Cline-Thomas reports.

NARRATOR: Peace and stability remain scarce commodities in Somalia which has not had a central government since 1991. The federal transitional government established in 2004 continues, with the support of Ethiopian troops, to battle insurgents it drove out of Mogadishu late last year. The African Union has deployed a mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM to try to help stabilize the situation in the country. And so, when the Security Council discussed the crisis in this country, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Ahmed Ould Abdallah, noted that AMISOM is doing excellent work with limited resources. Mr. Abdallah stressed that the conflict in Somalia is a threat to peace and security.

CUT 1: Ahmed Ould-Abdallah
The situation is dangerous and becoming more so each day. Somalia youth, who make up about two thirds of the population, has only one work possibility, which is to participate in a conflict which has blighted their lives.

NARRATOR: The Secretary-General's Special Envoy noted that the situation has continued over the past seventeen years despite fourteen agreements. He asked the Security Council to consider three possible courses of action for Somalia.

CUT 2: Ahmed Ould-Abdallah: The first course of action is simply continuing the current status quo or business as usual. There is a second approach which would be an organized withdrawal of the international community from Somalia, in effect, accepting its inability to protect the population or to bring about a lasting peace. A third possible solution would be immediate and effective action on political and security fronts.

NARRATOR: Mr. Ould-Abdallah said the third option, while not a magic recipe for peace, could help Somalia to move in the right direction. He said the Somali crisis is an international problem and the United Nations must launch diplomatic action to mobilize a consensus to stabilize the country. Speaking on behalf of Somalia, Professor Ahmed Dhakkar said the only option for the Security Council and the United Nations system is to move in the right direction.

CUT 3: Ahmed Dhakkar: It's no secret in Somalia and other circles that many Somalis all over the world and inside Somalia and the neighbouring countries wonder why is it relatively so easy for the Security Council and the UN system to move faster and in the right direction in other locations of the world where there is or has been conflict.

NARRATOR: Professor Dhakkar stressed the need to implement already decided measures, including supporting the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia. The representative of the United Kingdom, Ambassador John Sawers said the transitional federal government should have a roadmap with a timetable to elections at the end of the transitional period and advancing a full dialogue with all actors in Somalia's political process. He expressed support for the Special Representative's effort to resolve the crisis in the country.

CUT 4: Ambassador John Sawers: We support the proposal for a technical assessment mission to Somalia to help advance the UN's contingency planning. And on the role of AMISOM we believe the United Nations should continue to support that force. Ugandan contingent are doing a demanding job in difficult conditions. We welcome the news that Burundi hopes to deploy troops very soon. And we call on Ghana and Nigeria to honour as soon as possible their commitment to AMISOM.

NARRATOR: Several representatives who spoke in the Security Council expressed concern about the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. The president of the Council, Ambassador Marcello Spatafora stressed the need to devise a contingency plan for Somalia to be presented to the Council soon. Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Ransford Cline-Thomas.

STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

Kenyan Child Delegate Says Children Want Quality Education

PRESENTER: When the General Assembly held a commemorative session on children last week, it heard from dynamic children from around the world who spoke about their rights and what they expect the United Nations to do to promote those rights. One of the children was Millicent Orondo from Kenya who was chosen by her peers to deliver a closing statement to the General Assembly and address the press afterwards. The obviously confident Kenyan girl lived up to expectations as she clearly articulated the children's position. I caught up with her later and asked her about the message she brought to the United Nations.

ORONDO: I brought the message of education, poverty and mainly health concerning children. We want to eradicate total poverty in many of the slums in India, Africa and also education in every part of the world, that children can have quality education and life skills education.

MBATHA: Let's talk about education of children in Africa. From what you know, how is it? Are children getting sufficient education in Africa?

ORONDO: No. I don't think so. Some children, yes they get, mainly boys. But girls, sometimes their family don't see that a girl will benefit because they think the girl will be married and it won't benefit the parents. So they don't take girls to school. And also, the free primary education. Yes it is good to us but not so good because the quality of education we get, we don't even finish the syllabus. The children are so congested in a class. So the government, I think, should build more schools, more classes, employ more teachers. It's not yet fit for children, their classrooms.

MBATHA: And how is the situation in your own country, in Nairobi where you live?

ORONDO: It is very unhealthy. There are so many rubbish dumps on the river everywhere. It is just like a small slum. And also the safety is not good because there is Livingston estate and we are just divided by a river and across the river there is a forest where some kind of exploitation takes place. And it is a very insecurity and unhealthy place. But I think the government has really tried because they have started clearing the forest and put some lights. But concerning the environment it is too unhealthy.

MBATHA: You say that there was a forest which had insecurity. What happened in that forest?

ORONDO: A child raped. And then after it was raped a child was just cut, speared and we could find some, like a leg there, back there, in different places. So it's not secure to pass at night. You cannot pass there after seven.

MBATHA: Now let's talk about other issues of concern for children in Africa, health for instance.

ORONDO: Yes, the government has tried because the hospitals are free but it is still like useless because when you go to hospital, you go yes it is free. Yes, you are reaching for the right medicine. But you don't have money because they don't provide medicines in the hospital. There is inadequate medicine. So you will have to be given a prescription to go in another shop. Some people are poor, they cannot afford to buy the medicines. Also the children don't have balanced diet. You understand. The balanced diet is so inadequate like taking so much carbohydrates, it is not like protein and vitamins.

MBATHA: Let's talk about your own education. What grade are you in now?

ORONDO: I am in Grade Eight. I did my KCP this year, and I am waiting for good results so that next year I can join a good high school.

MBATHA: What is a KCP?

ORONDO: KCP is a national exam done in Kenya so that you can come out of primary to secondary.

MBATHA: And, what are you aspirations. What would you like to be when you finish school?

ORONDO: Mainly I would like to be a doctor, and if the president chooses me I can be an ambassador.

MBATHA: Why do you like to be a doctor?

ORONDO: Because I think when you are a doctor you help so many people and you should have the attitude of serving people.

PRESENTER: That was Millicent Orondo, a 15 year-old young lady from Kenya.

STING UN AFRICA THEME MUSIC

African Migrants In Search of Better Life Continue to Suffer

PRESENTER: Tuesday was International Migrants Day, as a reminder of the age-old human activity of moving from one country to another in search of a better life. Many Africans move from North Africa to Europe in search of work, despite the hostility towards African immigrants that has developed in recent years. Some of these would be migrants die during the dangerous voyage across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. UN Radio's Dianne Penn reports.

NARRATOR: According to the United Nations refugee agency, this year more than 1, 400 people died in the Gulf of Aden, while close to 30,000 made it ashore in 300 boats. The latest deaths happened over the weekend. The spokesperson for the United Nations refugee agency, Astrid van Genderen Stort says the first group of the victims was fifty four Ethiopians and four Somalis who were on a boat that had almost made it to Yemen with close to 150 people.

CUT 1: Astrid van Genderen Stort: It capsized unfortunately off shore. At least 58 bodies were found, were recuperated. Fifty four were Ethiopians and four Somalis. Thirty seven people of this boat remain missing and fifty three people made it live for shore.

NARRATOR: According to Ms. Genderen Stort, on Sunday disaster struck another boat carrying 270 people when smugglers tried to change direction and hide after seeing a Yemeni coast guard.

CUT 2: Astrid van Genderen Stort: It hit a rock and it was cut into three pieces. Hundred-seventy three people on this boat made to shore but all the other ones are still missing. There were several children aboard and we think that none of these children also have survived. We don't know the death toll yet but we know that as we speak, bodies are washing ashore.

NARRATOR: Survivors of the second boat told the United Nations refugee agency that while the sea was rough, the smugglers were even rougher. They beat passengers and forced one of them to jump over board and drown. Some of the migrants who use smugglers boats are trafficked women who end up as sex workers in Europe. Cristiano Gentili works for the International Organization for Migration at a reception centre in Lampedusa between Tunisia and Italy.

CUT 3: Cristiano Gentili: One recent case is from a woman from Nigeria. In the end she admitted that she was a trafficked victim and we started procedure to recognize her. We call it here Article 18, that is a person that is cooperating with the police and to identify the smuggler and is going to be under protection. It's a resident's permit because of that, because of legal reasons.

NARRATOR: While the migration of Africans has focused on the movement from North Africa to Europe or Yemen, there is also movement to the south of the continent. The spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, Jemini Pandya explains.

CUT 4: Jemini Pandya: South Africa the main economic hub on the continent has long been a destination point for migrants both regular and irregular. The government estimated last year that there were seven million irregular migrants in the country.

NARRATOR: Ms. Pandya points out that in several African countries there are links between smuggling women and children for sexual exploitation and men for labour because these activities are done by the same criminal networks using the same migration corridors.

CUT 5: Jemini Pandya: For example, in Ethiopia our IOM staff in the field are hearing more and more stories of men who have been promised lucrative contracts in South Africa as the country gears up for the 2010 World Cup. In Tanzania IOM has also identified individual cases of men trafficked to South Africa and forced into criminal activity. And in Kenya, a report by the CRADLE Foundation has found that 43 per cent of the victims that it interviewed were men who had been trafficked.

NARRATOR: Some time in January next year, the International Organization for Migration will be carrying out research on the trafficking of men in Africa in general and in particular from the East and Horn of Africa to South Africa. Reporting for UN and Africa, I am Dianne Penn.

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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 Louis Bastion. I am Derrick Mbatha saying bye bye.

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