Programme Number: 027
Week of: Sunday, 19th December, 2004
Recording Date: Thursday, 23th December 2004

Issues:

" DARFUR, SUDAN: UNICEF INTERVIEW: As women and children bear the brunt of the suffering resulting from the crisis in Darfur, UNICEF tries to create education and playing facilities for the children in refugee and displaced peoples camps in Darfur and in neighbouring Chad.

" DARFUR, SUDAN: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks about disappointments and what the Security Council could do next.

" WASH FORUM: SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER FOR WATER: How the South African government is trying to eliminate the inequalities in water sharing created by the racist apartheid policies of many decades.

Editor / Presenter: Ben Dotsei Malor
Producer:
Production Assistant: Marcia Ward
Studio Engineer:

NARRATOR:
This is United Nations Radio from New York.

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NARRATOR:
Hello and welcome to, UN and Africa. I'm Ben Dotsei Malor.

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NARRATOR:
As women and children bear the brunt of the suffering caused by the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, we hear what UNICEF is doing in refugee and displaced peoples camps in Darfur and Chad to help.

CLIP-1: KEITH MCKENZIE
"These children have been witness to terrible events. As UNICEF we feel strongly that the provision of education facilities almost immediately is a very important emergency response."

NARRATOR:
We'll also be hearing UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan's latest thoughts and recommendations on developments in the Sudan.
Also how the South African government is trying to remove the racist and unequal policies of the past over the use of water.

CLIP-2: MINISTER SONJICA
"Water was monopolized by people who owned property and land. Mainly the farmers. We ended that. Most importantly our constitution ensured that water is a human right."

NARRATOR:
Stay with, UN and Africa, as we look into what the United Nations is doing about Africa, in Africa, or for Africa.

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DARFUR, SUDAN

NARRATOR:
The worsening security situation in Sudan's Darfur region continues to make life difficult for thousands of people, with UN agencies expecting a rise in the number of internally displaced people. It is also feared that many people fleeing from fresh attacks will be making their way west - across the border - into refugee camps in neighbouring Chad.

The work of humanitarian organisation suffered a serious setback in the past few days when the UK charity, Save the Children, pulled out of south Darfur after some of its workers were shot and killed. This leaves the affected civilians more vulnerable. The majority of the people bearing the brunt of the crisis in Darfur are women and children, and the UN children's agency has been working hard to reach all the affected children.

UNICEF's Special Rep for the Darfur Emergency, Keith McKenzie, has been in Darfur and Chad - visiting some of the camps. On the line to the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, I asked him first about the current plight of the internally displaced persons in Darfur?

INTERVIEW WITH UNICEF'S KEITH MCKENZIE

"McKenzie: In Darfur the situation is not good at all. The recent increase in conflict, escalation of fighting is causing further displacements. Almost all the camps to which we have access we have seen large numbers of new people coming in who are being displaced either from other camps around which fighting is ongoing or from new areas in Darfur that are affected by the fighting. The children I think are particularly affected. Just to get an idea of the scale of the problem that we are dealing with there are about two and a half million people who are affected in Darfur either directly or indirectly with the ongoing crisis. All these two and a half million people about an estimated 45 per cent of them are children under the age of 18. So that well over a million children that are directly affected with the ongoing crisis. Now these children have been witnessed to terrible events. They have seen family members being killed, they have seen their homes being looted and burned down, they have had to flee, they have had to come into these concentration areas. As UNICEF we feel strongly that the provision of education facilities almost immediately is a very important emergency response because it provides these children with some form of normalcy . It brings children into schools and is an entry point for all our other child centred activities. So they've been through some very traumatic events.
Malor: You are talking to me right now from N'Djamena, you've been visiting some refugee camps close to the border with Darfur. What have you been observing in these camps?
McKenzie: There are just over 200,000 people who have fled Darfur are now housing in refugee camps here in Eastern Chad. I was down there, got back yesterday and spent three days over there visiting some of them. The situation on this side of the border in the refugee camps is comparatively a little better than it is in the IDP camps in Darfur itself. But again while we can care for their physical needs still these people who we see over here have been through the same horrible events that the people in the IDP camps have been through. There are about 53,000 children in these camps. There are 11 refugee camps in Eastern Chad. 63,000 children who are of school going age. We have managed to get 49,000 of them into school and we have now launched a very accelerated programme in building more schools and more class rooms in an effort to get all children ever child that's in a camp into a school so they can be cared for better.
Malor: How would you describe the prospects for the year ahead for the months ahead for the internally displaced people and also for the refugees?
McKenzie: Given the ongoing events as they are, given the seemingly breakdown of the talks between the government and the rebel factions in Abuja the situation doesn't look good. Looking forward into 2005 I am afraid I can't see great hope in the situation improving. What we need to see over here for both the IDPs and the refugees, what they need absolutely is the guarantee of security. There has to be a peace agreement. There has to be a political agreement on this ongoing conflict and the peace agreement that is actually realized and observed on the ground and that is what is required right now for these people to be able to go back home and for us to go with them and help them to regain their normal life in their homes and in the homeland."

NARRATOR:
That was UNICEF's Special Representative for the Darfur Crisis, Keith McKenzie, speaking from N'Djamena, in Chad.

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN ON SUDAN & DRC

NARRATOR:
The crisis in Sudan's Darfur region and the crucial final leg of talks between the Khartoum government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement of South Sudan remain pressing concerns of the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Here's what he's just been saying during his end-of-year press conference over here at UN headquarters:

SG-SUDAN-1:
"In Sudan, the North-South peace accord must be concluded, and the momentum used to promote peace throughout the country. In Darfur, the security situation is deteriorating. The government and the rebels must cease attacks and abide by their commitments. We need improved security and protection for the internally displaced in Darfur, and more humanitarian aid. The deployment of the African Union monitors, troops and police needs to be speeded up, and the international community must give the commission all possible assistance. And, ultimately, the Security Council must assume its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security."

NARRATOR:
Mr Annan was also asked what more the Security Council should do now?

SG-SUDAN-2:
"I think on Darfur we have heard lots of good intentions from Member States. Some have been very generous in providing assistance on the humanitarian side. Others have given assistance to the African Union to allow them to deploy their troops quickly. I think the Council, like all of us, has been following the situation in the Sudan. We have been promised a peace agreement by the end of the year on the North-South, which everyone hopes will help energize other processes within the country. But we are also seeing that the situation on the ground is deteriorating and that the IDPs are having a very difficult time. So there comes a time when you have to make a reassessment as to whether the approach you have taken is working or not. And if it is not working, what other measures do you take? The Council itself has talked of sanctions in the past. But I think those who are perpetrating these crimes must not be allowed to get away and impunity must not be allowed to stand."

NARRATOR:
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME

SOUTH AFRICA: INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER FOR WATER

NARRATOR
Millions of Africans remain without safe drinking water and sanitation.
Currently, worldwide, one billion people live without safe, plentiful water - for drinking, washing and cleaning. Sanitation is another worry altogether. And a global forum on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene or WASH, was held recently in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, with participants sharing experiences on how to make water, sanitation and hygiene available to all. In South Africa, for example, some 14 million people did not have access to clean water when the first democratically elected government came into office ten years ago. But since then, the government has been working to reduce this number through the National Water Act. At the conference in Dakar, UN Radio's Diane Bailey met South Africa's Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Bulyewa Sonjica, and asked her first to explain how the National Water Act dealt with the racism associated with the use of water:

"MINISTER SONJICA: The Water Act was in line with our new vision as the ANC-led government, a vision which in its constitution calls for non-racialism, non-sexism and equality. And Act called for equity and the delivery of water and sanitation. It called for the end of monopoly of water because water was monopolized by people who owned property and land, mainly the farmers. We ended that, but also, most importantly, our constitution ensured that water is a human right.
DIANE BAILEY: If you can talk a little bit about confirming water as not only a human right but as a national asset.
MINISTER SONJICA: Well, as a national asset Government is responsible and is the custodian of the water, which means, therefore, that there is nobody in the country who will use water without the consent of Government. And at the same time, there is no situation where people can be discriminated against when it comes to the use of water. Because if you were to take an example of farmers and their farm workers, farm workers were denied the usage of water in the farms under the understanding or the claim that the farmers were the owners of the water by virtue of their owning the land. We outlawed that. I think it was an attempt to restore the dignity of our people.
DIANE BAILEY: Now South Africa, if I understand rightly, is a dry country. You have a problem with water but you have been able to manage water well. What is the secret?
MINISTER SONJICA: Well, the secret is policies. We have adopted an integrated approach to water resources management. And recently we have produced a strategy, what we call the National Water Resource Management Strategy, which would help us to manage the water resources that we have. But central to the implementation of those strategies, we have to have people participating, it's quite important, so that we can sustain this programme. Otherwise they cannot be sustainable if they're not owned and understood by people. But also we want to link these strategies to poverty alleviation strategies.
DIANE BAILEY: People actually pay for water in South Africa. Can you explain that policy as well.
MINISTER SONJICA: We have what we call the free basic minimum policy where we give 6,000 litres per household per month to all South Africans. But if you exceed that quantity that you are given every day (sic) by Government, we make you pay. The argument, the reasoning behind that is that poor people might not even use the 25 litres per day that we give to them. They use much less. It is people that are affluent that use much more water than the rest of the people. They use pools, they wash their cars, they do all those other things that waste water - what we do then is they pay for consuming more water, they co-subsidize for the poor. But also we have what we call an indigene policy because there will be areas where the revenue base of the municipalities is such that they're not getting anything from the communities, the users are more or less poor people, all of them. So we compensate such municipalities by giving them a fund called the Equitable Share, so that if there is no big user who's paying for water, money that would be accrued as revenue by the municipality, then we help that municipality to be able to deliver these services all the time to everybody."

NARRATOR:
That was South Africa's Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry,
Bulyewa Sonjica, speaking to UN Radio's Diane Bailey during the
recent forum on Water sanitation and Hygiene or WASH in Dakar,
Senegal.

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NARRATOR:

The next edition of UN and Africa is a special one, with the highlights of our major stories, events and interviews of the year.

Thank you for listening and thanks to Production Assistant Marcia Ward and studio engineer by Zac Prewitt. I'm Ben Dotsei Malor. Together we are wishing you a merry Christmas and Happy holidays. Goodbye.

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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.