Programme Number: 025
Week of: Sunday, 5th December, 2004
Recording Date: Thursday, 9th December 2004

Issues:

" Rwanda gets a reprimand from the UN Security Council over cross-border incursions in the DR Congo.

" The Nairobi Summit for Mine-Free World: A new commitment to clear landmines and to help in the rehabilitation of victims.

NARRATOR: Hello and welcome to United Nations Radio from New York.

NARRATOR:
This is, UN and Africa … looking at what the UN is doing about Africa, for Africa and in Africa. I'm Ben Dotsei Malor.

NARRATOR:
The United Nations Security Council condemns reports that Rwanda has sent troops into the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Rwandan envoy denies the allegations.
CLIP-1: RWANDAN ENVOY

NARRATOR:
And he highlights his country's concerns about Rwandan rebels operating from the DRC.
A major summit on the elimination of landmines ends in Nairobi with a firm declaration for more mined land to cleared and victims to be rehabilitated. But UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is calling for more to be done.
CLIP-2: SG CLIP ON LANDMINES


Stay tuned, to, UN and Africa.

*** SIG TUNE ***
(Bring up briefly, dip and hold under until end of first sentence.)

DR CONGO / RWANDA / SECURITY COUNCIL
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned recent reports of military incursions by Rwandan troops into the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The alleged Rwandan operations come just days after all the leaders of the Great Lakes Region and other interested or co-opted presidents met at a landmark summit in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and agreed to work together for peace, stability, democracy and development in their region.
The Council is demanding that the Government of Rwanda withdraws without delay any forces it may have in the territory of the DRC.

Fifteen members of the Council travelled between the 20th and 25th of November to Rwanda, the DR C, Burundi and Uganda. The leader of the delegation, Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere of France, opened the briefing.

MR DE LA SABLIERE CLIP IN FRENCH 1:
(Please, play for 6 seconds and dip under narration.)

Ambassador de La Sabliere laid emphasis on the transition processes in Burundi and the Dr Congo, where elections are to be held next year.

MR DE LA SABLIERE CLIP IN FRENCH 2:
(Please, play for 15 seconds, until the words 'irreversible' and dip under narration.)

NARRATOR:
Mr de La Sabliere said it was crucial for all the necessary steps to be taken to ensure that the transitional processes in both countries would be IR-REVERSIBLE. He also called for all the necessary international support and assistance for Burundians and Congolese to make these two processes successful.

But the meeting was dominated by concerns and condemnation from many countries over recent reports that Rwandan troops had moved into the east of the DR Congo and carried out attacks against suspected Rwandan Hutu militiamen and former members of the Rwandan military.

A representative of the Congolese government Madame BOOTO NDUKU said her country was doing everything to hold free and fair elections in the year 2005 but she said Rwandan President Paul Kagame was mounting hostile action against the Congo.

DR CONGO-1: MME NDUKU

NARRATOR:
Madame Nduku called on the Security Council to condemn and deal with what she described as the irresponsible attitude of the Rwandan president. She pledged that her government will be doing more to strengthen security along the border with Rwanda.

Germany's envoy Gunther Pleuger who was alo on the trip regretted the fact that he couldn't describe the outcome of the mission as an unqualified success.

GERMANY GUNTHER PLEUGER

Mr. Dirk Van Den Berg of the Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the European Union, had strong words about the reported Rwandan incursions.

EU ENVOY

On his part, the Rwandan Ambassador to the UN, Stanislas KAMANZI flatly denied any wrong-doing by his government.

RWANDA-1:

But he stressed the constant insecurity his country faced from armed Rwandan Hutus in neighbouring DR Congo.

RWANDA-2:

NARRATOR:
Almost all the countries which spoke in the Council called on the Congolese government of President Kabila to do more to disarm and re-integrate rebel groups operating in the DR Congo. They also acknowledged that the presence of former members of the Rwandan military in the DR Congo continued to pose a threat, not just to local Congolese civilians but also to Rwanda and the Great Lakes Regions as a whole.

Pakistan Ambassador MUNIR AKRAM said peace and stability in the DR Congo and the Great Lakes Region depended on how well Congo's riches are managed for the benefit of the Congolese.

PAKISTAN ENVOY

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN, MUNIR Akram.

STAB / JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA

NAIROBI SUMMIT ON A MINE-FREE WORLD
NARRATOR:
The Nairobi Summit on a Mine Free World ended last week, in Nairobi/Kenya, with the adoption of an Action Plan to rid the world of anti-personnel landmines. The challenge now is to clear all mined areas in the next five years. Our colleague Carlos Araujo, who covered the event for the UN Radio, filed this report.

CARLOS
Anti-personnel landmines have been recognized as perhaps the cruelest weapons that exist today. They maim and kill people indiscriminately long after a conflict has ended. The outcome of the Nairobi Summit is a plan of action which will guide the world leaders in their efforts in the next five years. The plan specifies seventy actions that states must take in the next five years to promote the goals of the convention. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which worked tirelessly for the adoption of the Ottawa Convention, welcomed the adoption of the Nairobi action plan. Jody Williams, who, together with the ICBL won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for their work to get rid of anti-personnel landmines, says the success of the Summit will be measured by how the Action Plan is vigorously carried out.

CUT 1: (Jody Williams)
The challenge is to ensure that that action plan is not just beautiful words on paper, the same thing that we said when the treaty was negotiated, that it was lovely and elegant and beautiful words on paper. But words are cheap unless they are followed by concrete action to make them reality. I am heartened by the commitment shown by governments This is the highest level representation at a mine-related conference at the signing ceremony. I think that that is a real symbol of the commitment to see a world free of landmines.

One of the highlights of the Nairobi Summit was Ethiopia's ratification of the Ottawa Convention banning landmines. Its representative to the Summit, Abdul Karim Risko said the document of ratification had already been signed by the Ethiopian government and sent to the United Nations Secretary-General.

CUT 2: (ABDUL KARIM RISKO)
We believe that Ethiopia's ratification will give … to others a total ban of anti-personnel mines a new impetus and open up a new era of cooperation among the countries of the Horn of Africa for the implementation of the convention.

Landmines are particularly dangerous to children who sometimes mistaken them as toys because they are small and colourful. That is why the Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund, Carol Bellamy says UNICEF is the UN's lead agency for landmine awareness.

CUT 3: (Carol Bellamy)
Let me say for UNICEF certainly landmines is a subject that is very important because of the impact that landmines have on children. We certainly at UNICEF and in the UN support every government in the world embracing this treaty, but ultimately this treaty exists because of the impact that landmines have on people's lives. These weapons constitute a kind of terror to the people who have to live among them. The presence of the mines forces people to alter the rhythm of their existence, to think about every step they take.

One person who knows first hand the power of destruction of landmines is Habiba Hassan. She is a Kenyan teenage landmine survivor whose schooling has been delayed as a result of a landmine accident.

CUT 4 (Habiba Hassan)

(Kiswahili with English interpretation)

That incident happened in Moyale when I was on my way to visit my grandmother. We were in a car and it hit that thing. First of all I was out of school for one year so I was left behind. I would have finished school this year but because of that incident I will complete my studies next year.

In conflict areas, people are not only terrorized by anti-personnel landmines, but their lives are also affected by anti-tank and anti-vehicle landmines which made it difficult to deliver relief assistance by road. The case in point is Sudan which has faced a civil war for more than two decades. Martin Barber, who is director of the UN Mine Action Service says aid organizations have been forced to deliver relief supplies by air which is much more expensive than road transportation.

CUT 5: (Martin Barber)
According to the World Food Programme, landmines and explosive remnants of war affect the food security of at least two million people. In addition, anti-personnel landmines and explosive remnants of war are taking a regular toll on the lives of people living in many parts of the country.

NARRATOR:

So, although the adoption of the Nairobi Action Plan is seen as an important milestone in implementing the Ottawa Convention banning landmines, there is still much more to be done. This is the message that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan conveyed to the world leaders who gathered in Nairobi.

CUT 6: (KOFI ANNAN)
Anti-personnel mines still kill and maim innocent people everyday and hold back entire communities in working their way out of poverty. Anti-personnel vehicle mines pose a great threat too. We cannot rest until all landmines are cleared and these indiscriminate weapons banished forever.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. I am Carlos Araujo reporting for UN Radio.

*** CLOSING MUSIC ***:
(Please establish music briefly, dip and hold under)

NARRATOR:
Thank you Carlos. And thank you for listening to UN and Africa, from United Nations Radio in New York.

I'm Ben Dotsei Malor. Our producer has been Derrick Mbatha, Production Assistant Beng Poblete-Enrique and the Studio Engineer has been Zac Prewitt.
Goodbye.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***

Please, give us your feedback as we continue to examine what the United Nations is doing for Africa, in Africa and about Africa.  Send an e-mail to unradio@un.org.