|
Programme Number: 039
Week of: 13th March 2005
Recording Date: Thursday, 17March 2005
PRESENTER: Hello and welcome to United Nations Radio
from New York.
*** SIG TUNE ***
(Please, play briefly, dip upon hand wave, and hold
under narration.)
PRESENTER:
This is, UN and Africa. I'm Ransford Cline-Thomas.
*** SIG TUNE ***: (Bring Sig Tune up briefly, dip and
hold under)
PRESENTER:
CLIP-1: Joseph Legwaila.
"Recently the Ethiopians have beefed up their frontline
and that has added to more tension"
PRESENTER:
Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, the UN Secretary-Generals
Special representative for Ethiopia and Eritrea, speaking
about renewed tensions between the two countries which
have fought over a border dispute. Is there a threat
of another war? Well you'll hear more on this in a moment.
And UNAIDS says there could be as many as 90 million
new HIV infections unless action is taken.
CLIP2:Purnima Mane
"If we put enough money in prevention and treatment,
it looks like twenty years down the road we will have
a better impact rather than make these choices between
whether prevention or treatment".
Purnima Mane, is UNAIDS Director of Social Mobilization
and Information. You will hear more from her later in
the programme.
Stay tuned to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE ***
(Bring up briefly, dip and hold under until end of first
sentence.)
UN MISSION IN EITHOPIA AND ERITREA
PRESENTER:
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
is still unable to complete its work as a result of
Ethiopia's objection to the decision of a commission
which was set up to draw the boundary between that country
and Eritrea. Nevertheless the Security Council has now
extended the mission's mandate for another six months.
And while doing so, the members also expressed concern
about a recent build up of forces along the border between
the two countries. They called on both sides to return
to the troop levels of last December and refrain from
making threats against each other. The two countries,
you may recall, fought a bitter war in 1998 in which
tens of thousands of people were killed before they
signed a peace agreement five years ago. The United
Nations Mission was established to help the two countries
implement that agreement which, among other things,
provided for the creation of an Independent Boundary
Commission to decide on their border. Now Ethiopia is
saying that while it accepts the ruling by the border
commission, it wants some adjustments made to that decision.
UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha spoke with the United Nations
Special Representative in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ambassador
Legwaila Joseph Legwaila who says it is not yet clear
when the UN Mission which is known as UNMEE will finish
its job.
LEGWAILA: We are waiting for the boundary commission
to demarcate the border because there is a coterminous
clause in the founding resolution which established
UNMEE to the fact that our job is completed only when
the last pillar on the border is planted. Of course,
the first pillar has not been planted, let alone the
last pillar. So that's the problem in a nutshell.
MBATHA: Has Ethiopia indicated why it is unhappy with
the decision of the commission?
LEGWAILA: Ya because they think that the Commission
has made a mistake and the commission says they have
not made a mistake in some parts of the line of delimitation
in the western sector and the central sector. So the
argument is back and forth between the Ethiopian government
and the boundary commission. And until that debate is
resolved, I don't see any way forward.
MBATHA: I also understand that recently there has been
some tension there as Ethiopia has deployed more troops
near the temporary security zone. What's happening there?
LEGWAILA: Actually I think people make the mistake
of thinking that you switch on tension and switch it
off when you are dealing with the situation we have
been dealing with for the past four years. The tension
we are talking about has been going on all along. When
you have two countries engaged in brinkmanship and with
the tens of thousands of troops ranged along the border,
obviously tension will continue as it has been continuing
for the past four years. Of course, recently the Ethiopians
have beefed up their frontline. And that has also added
to more tension.
MBATHA: So from your reading of the situation though,
the tensions are not such that there could be any eruption
or resumption of conflict.
LEGWAILA: We have been assured by the Ethiopians that
the beefing up of their frontline is intended to be
merely a defensive step rather than an offensive one.
And therefore we are going to give them the benefit
of the doubt because, to be honest with you, neither
party in my view has reason to abandon the peaceful
brinkmanship for a confrontation.
MBATHA: Yes, talking about the UN mission there, how
soon do you think that UNMEE may be able to wrap up?
LEGWAILA: Well I can't say how soon because if it depended
simply on UNMEE achieving its objectives, we would have
left in 2003 or maybe even December 2002. But what we
are waiting for now is for the boundary commission to
demarcate the border. And once the boundary commission
demarcates the border our work will be over with the
planting of the last pillar.
PRESENTER:
And that was the United Nations Secretary-General's
Special Representative for Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ambassador
Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, speaking with UN Radio's Derrick
Mbatha.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
One major area of concern to the United Nations is
Darfur in Sudan where militias, known as Janjaweed have
terrorized people. Since the conflict began in 2003
an estimated 100,000 people have been killed and more
than 2 million have been displaced. The government has
been blamed for supporting the Janjaweed militias as
it sought to suppress the rebellion that started in
the region in 2003 when people took up arms complaining
that the region was being neglected. Eventually, the
government committed itself to protect civilians and
to rein in the militias. But reports of attacks against
civilians have continued. Now the militias have threatened
United Nations personnel and relief workers in west
Darfur. UN Radio's Diane Bailey spoke on the line to
Khartoum with the United Nations special envoy in Sudan,
Jan Pronk, who says that the militias have issued the
threats because the government of West Darfur has decided
to take action against them.
PRONK: They told them that they had to return some weapons
which they had been given by the government in the past,
in particular, vehicles which had been used as military
vehicles. The militias didn't like that, and instead
of pursuing a confrontation with the government they
are pursuing a confrontation with the international
community which they think is behind the government,
which is true because the international community wants
the government to take more action. They threatened
the United Nations, the NGOs humanitarian workers staff.
And they started doing that by hold up of locals and
they threatened humanitarian workers, some of them that
they would attack all of them. So we withdrew them and
we asked also the NGOs to follow and quite a number
now have withdrawn to El-Geneina. For how long I don't.
The number is not a very big number and not the whole
of Darfur, only part of western Darfur.
BAILEY: Can the Sudanese government do anything to
make either withdraw these threats or prevent them from
taking any action on these threats?
PRONK: As I was telling you, it's the result of some
action which finally was taken by the government of
Sudan and we are positive they finally did something
leading to this. So they will have to continue. We will
press them to continue but I don't know whether they
are able to continue. And we need also the African Union
troops to be in big number in order to act as a kind
of a deterrent.
BAILEY: What does this withdrawal mean for the people
in need of humanitarian aid in that area?
PRONK: Well there will be a lack of transportation capacity
at the moment until further notice. I don't know how
long. In the short run that is not a big problem because
food had been delivered, so there is food in store.
But I am sure at the moment it has negative consequences.
BAILEY: Now what would you like to see the Security
Council do?
PRONK: To take initiative as soon as possible. They
are waiting and waiting and waiting with the resolution.
We are waiting for a resolution on the mandate. We are
waiting for a resolution on Darfur. We are waiting for
a resolution on the ICC. The longer they wait, the more
insecurity there is. That is what they have to do. Secondly
the members of the Security Council have to give a lot
of support to the African Union troops in order to be
here in a big number and a robust a robust force.
BAILEY: Now what about the peace agreement with southern
Sudan. Will this latest activity have any impact on
the peace agreement that has been signed?
PRONK: No. This is not the issue. The southern Sudan
peace agreement is not being affected, its implementation
by the recent development in Darfur.
BAILEY: Now, the staff that have been withdrawn, have
you been able to talk to them, the ones that have been
withdrawn and are either up in the capital or on their
way to the capital, have you been able to talk to them
about what the situation is like in the area that they
have just left?
PRONK: Yes, of course, our people are talking to them
and have explained that this is in their interest, and
they understand. There is consensus among the UN agencies
and the NGOs concerned. Again it's not a big number.
I am pleased that people are safe.
PRESENTER:
Jan Pronk, the Special Representative of the United
Nations Secretary-General to Sudan in an interview by
UN Radio's
Diane Bailey.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
A new report by the Joint United Nations Programme
on HIV/AIDS is presenting three possible scenarios for
the AIDS epidemic Over the next twenty years. The UN
agency says that depending on the actions taken today,
more than 40 million infections could be averted during
this period. In one scenario a very strong Africa comes
together and tackles the epidemic without much assistance
from donors. In the second scenario there is neither
external nor internal funding and, as a result, prevention
and treatment of AIDS
suffer. In this scenario, it is estimated that there
would be 90 million infections by 2025. In the third
scenario, there is understanding and harmonization between
national governments and external donors. In this scenario,
where there is balance between prevention and treatment,
AIDS is seen as an exceptional
problem. Jean-Pierre Ramazani discusses the problem
of HIV/AIDS in Africa with Mrs. Purnima Mane who is
UNAIDS Director of Social Mobilization Information.
She says in this third scenario AIDS is not seen as
only a health problem.
MANE: So issues around development are also being addressed,
like how do policies around trade, commerce, all these
areas, how do they actually influence AIDS. So this
is the scenario in which you will have the least number
of infections and you will have the least number of
people dying. But, unfortunately in all these three
scenarios the number of deaths will still be quite high
because already people are infected today and they will
continue to die. But generally the number of infections
will be lower and the situation will probably be hopefully
the best in this scenario.
J-P-R: But these are virtual projections.
MANE : Yes they are.
J-P-R: What are the realities in Africa?
MANE: Well I think the realities in Africa could cut
across many of these. What we are seeing is a mixture
of all of these scenarios. What these scenarios are
trying to tell us is what we do now so that we can have
a good impact twenty years down the road. For example,
if we have harmony between national government aid,
if domestic aid goes up as well as external aid goes
up, we are likely to have a better impact. If we put
enough money in prevention and treatment, it looks like
twenty years down the road we will have a better impact
rather than make these choices between whether prevention
or treatment. If we focus on the short term but we also
keep an eye on the long term impact of AIDS, for example,
focusing on development issues, focusing on gender equity,
focusing on our commercial and our trade policies we
will have a better impact. That's what you see even
in many African countries that are beginning to turn
this epidemic around that they are beginning to address
this epidemic in a much more comprehensive fashion.
J-P-R: As there are now different scenarios, could
we say that there is an uncertainty on programmes advised
and applied to African countries related to HIV/AIDS
reduction now?
MANE: No I don't think I would say that there is uncertainty.
I think what's happening right now is that in terms
of making an analysis of what drives this epidemic,
these scenarios make a very clear analysis of what are
the factors that influence the epidemic. And I think
what happens in many countries, there is a tendency
to focus on some factors and not take a comprehensive
look. Second, I wouldn't say that there is uncertainty.
I think the certainty is that as long as we put money
into treatment and prevention, as long as we remember
that what we do now impacts on the future, twenty years
down the road.
J-P-R: What should be done to effectively to prevent
massive new infections in Africa?
MANE: I think the most important aspect for prevention
obviously, is a massive scale up in our prevention efforts.
As I mentioned, earlier, there seems to be a false dichotomy
that we are building up between should we put our money
in treatment because there are so many people who are
ill or infected or should we put our money in prevention.
I think we should stop this argument. And we need to
focus on how can we use our resources to get treatment
to people, but how can we also use our resources in
order to get prevention to those who are likely to be
the most vulnerable
PRESENTER
That was Purnima Mane of UNAIDS speaking with Jean-Pierre
Ramazani in Geneva.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***:
(Please establish music briefly, dip and hold under)
PRESENTER:
You've been listening to, UN and Africa, from United
Nations Radio in New York.
Thank you for listening to the programme and thanks
also to the team here in our studios. That's our Producer
Derrick Mbatha, Production Assistant Beng Poblete-Enriquez
and our studio engineer, Rosie Starr.
And from me Ransford Cline-Thomas bye for now.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***
(Please bring music up and play till the end.)
| 
