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UN and Africa
Programme Number: 067
Week of: Sunday, 25th September, 2005
Recording Date: Thursday, 29th September, 2005
LIBERIA AND 11TH OCTOBER ELECTIONS
TOP MUSICIAN YOUSSOU N'DOUR CAMPAIGNS AGAINST MALARIA:
PRESENTER: Greetings from United Nations Radio in
New York.
This is, UN and Africa and I'm Ben Dotsei Malor.
*** SIG TUNE ***: (Bring Sig Tune up briefly, dip
and hold under)
PRESENTER:
Liberians prepare for elections in a few days time.
But there are some doubts about the exact date for
the polls. The UN's top envoy in Liberia, Alan Doss,
tells us about his expectations.
CLIP-1B: SRSG ALAN DOSS
"We know other countries in Africa and beyond
that have gone through dreadful times, awful conflict,
but with UN and other international help, have come
out of it, have held a successful election, but then
moved on to do the things that have to be done. Sometimes
these are difficult. There are hard choices to make.
But it can be done, and that's the message that I
keep giving in Liberia, as I did in Sierra Leone and
Cote d'Ivoire: it can be done!"
MUSIC: YOUSSOU MENU TRACK
PRESENTER:
And one of Africa's most successful musicians, Youssou
N'Dour of Senegal is deploying his talent and fame
again in the fight against malaria - a disease that
kills close to 3000 African children every day.
CLIP2: YOUSSOU N'DOUR
"What we expect October 8th is music unite -
different sounds, different language and a lot of
vibrations between the crowd and us."
That's Youssou N'Dour of Senegal
Stay tuned, to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and hold
under until first sentence.)
LIBERIA ELECTIONS THROWN INTO SOME DOUBT
There has been some rising doubt in Liberia over
the past few days about whether the presidential and
legislative elections scheduled for Tuesday 11th October
could still be held on time.
This uncertainty follows this week's decision by
the Supreme Court of Liberia to quash the disqualification
of a number presidential candidates, who had been
barred on the grounds that they reportedly did not
submit their applications before the deadline.
Their appeal to the Supreme Court has now been upheld
meaning the National Electoral Commission must now
add their names to the already-printed ballot papers
- a process that could take several days and end up
delaying the polls.
The UN-supported elections are expected to move Liberia
out of years of conflict, war an instability into
durable peace. The UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia,
UNMIL, is providing security, logistics and other
necessary assistance for the smooth and successful
conduct of these elections.
The head of the peacekeeping mission, Alan Doss,
was recently in New York with a progress report for
the UN Security Council.
I caught up with him and asked him first, for the
specific items of progress he has been able to report?
SRSG Doss: Well I've been able to report substantial
progress: First of all, elections: national, presidential,
legislative elections. It's not been easy, but a lot
of good work has been done led by the National Elections
Commission, which is doing a good job, and backed
up by our own UNMIL team. So, together I think there's
every reason to be confident that the elections will
be held in a free and fair manner, and in a safe and
secure environment, which is our principle concern.
Malor: How good is security, particularly from
the point of view of the contribution of the UN mission
you lead in Liberia right now?
SRSG Doss: Well, one of the other points of
progress that I underlined this morning in the Security
Council is that UNMIL now with its 15 thousand troops,
1400 police officers is deployed everywhere throughout
the country. So we have a strong presence on the ground,
not only in Monrovia. So working with the national
authorities, the national police, we will have good
security coverage for the elections. I can't say that
there won't be any security incidents at all because
we have a lot of people around who sadly don't, yet
find their place - ex-combatants, internally displaced
- but we've put in place the measures, I think, needed
to prevent any large-scale disruption of the elections,
and the results, because it's very important that
the results be respected. And I've indicated publicly
to the candidates and to the general public that UNMIL
would react very strongly, robustly, to any efforts
to disrupt the election by violent means.
Malor: Let's look at support you and the UN
Liberian Mission are getting for the successful conduct
of these elections. Let's look internally. How good
is the support or the collaboration, the assistance
you are getting from all of the political players
in Liberia to make this a successful election?
SRSG Doss: Well, so far I think it's been very
good. We've worked with the political parties to ensure
they respect the code of conduct, that they let us
know for example where they're holding campaign rallies,
so that we can make sure the security is in place
and we avoid clashes between rival supporters, so,
so far, so good. But, of course we've got to keep
that up as I say right through polling day, and then,
if there were to be a run-off, we would also need
to ensure that security was in place to allow people
to exercise their democratic right. That's what they're
asking for - Liberians are asking for. And then to
make sure that the results are handled properly, that
if people have disputes, or claims, or allegations
that they handle them through the process that's been
established for that purpose.
Malor: How much support are you getting from
say the United States or the European Union?
SRSG Doss: Considerable, both from the United
States and the European Commission have been active
in the process, providing technical assistance, funding,
as well as other partners. The UN itself, when we
count the cost of our elections division and assistance
been given for the printing of ballots, for security.
For the hiring of poll workers, for example, we're
going to hire up to 20 thousand poll workers, all
of that announced to, we think, in the region of 40
or 50 million dollars that the international community
has brought to the table to make sure that these elections
are held properly, on time.
Malor: Is the field too wide: too many candidates,
too many parties? How difficult is it - having so
many presidential candidates for example?
SRSG Doss: Well, on the one hand, yes. Obviously,
if you have 20 presidential candidates, which is what
we have, it complicates the logistics of a much larger
ballot for example. So yes, that is a complication.
But on the other hand, I think it gives everybody
a chance. You know Liberia is a county that is emerging
from a long period of conflict and crisis. So let
people set out their market stall. Let the people
have a chance. As long as we can, as I say, assure
that it's being done in a free and fair manner, safely,
then…it adds to the cost, it's true, but if as
a result of that, everybody can say, "we had
a chance, everybody voted for whom we want to",
then I think that's a small investment to make.
Malor: Some people, who have been observing
Liberia and Liberian politics, West African politics
for a long time, would look back and say, 'Charles
Taylor came to the presidency through UN-conducted
elections, and then things unravelled, he's ended
up in exile in Calabar, and the after-effects of his
tenure as president are still there. How can you guarantee
that these coming elections will produce a government
or governance that is lasting, and less problematic
than the one we saw with Charles Taylor?'
SRSG Doss: Well as you know we've learned,
particularly in West Africa, that peace agreements
don't necessarily make peace, and elections don't
necessarily make a democracy. Much will depend on
the way the incoming government acts, behaves. I can't
guarantee anything. This will be up to that government
and the people of Liberia, who will have to hold this
government accountable for what it does to do that.
What I would say is they have an opportunity, a space.
If they use that space and opportunity well than hopefully
we will have turned the corner for Liberia. And it
has happened in other countries. We know other countries
in Africa and beyond that have gone through dreadful
times, awful conflict, but with UN and other international
help, have come out of it, have held a successful
election, but then moved on to do the things that
have to be done. Sometimes these are difficult. There
will be hard choices to make. But it can be done,
and that's the message that I keep giving in Liberia,
as I did in Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire: it can
be done!
Malor: Finally, preparations towards elections,
Liberians might be hopeful for a brighter future.
What are the key things you are going to be looking
out for to see happen, things that will give you joy
to feel you're on track for Liberia?
SRSG Doss: First and foremost, security. We
need security, we need stability because without security,
stability, you will not get the kind of investment
that's needed to create the jobs. I mean there's a
huge problem of employment generation for Liberia,
as it is in most West African countries. And without
jobs you won't have economic stability and security.
So it's a circular process, so we've got to focus
on that. What the mission, I believe, can do in the
next year or two is, working with the incoming government,
is create the environment that allows this government
the time to make the changes needed to push the program
forward, to build on what's already been done because
after all, let's not forget, that within two years,
that country has gone from a state of anarchy and
chaos to one that today is stable, relatively peaceful,
and is looking forward to multiparty diverse elections.
That's quite an achievement, I think.
We've been listening to the head of the UN peacekeeping
mission in Liberia, Alan Doss, speaking to us during
his recent visit to UN Headquarters in New York.
STING JINGLE
SENEGALESE MUSICIAN YOUSSOU N'DOUR'S CAMPAIIGN AGAINST
MALARIA
World-famous Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour is
preparing for another phase of his campaign against
malaria, using a major concert in Geneva on Saturday,
the 8th of October. It's estimated that malaria kills
more than 3,000 children every day, with the overwhelming
majority of these deaths in Africa.
Youssou N'Dour, who's a Goodwill Ambassador for the
UN Children's Agency UNICEF, and a Special Representative
of the Roll Back Malaria Programme has just been speaking
in Geneva about the forthcoming concert. UN Radio's
Bissera Kostova has more details.
MUSIC YOUSSOU TRACK 2 … SATELLITE
(Please start clean and let Bissera's narration start
in from 30 seconds.)
NARR: "Youssou N'Dour & Friends United Against
Malaria" is a concert that will bring together
artists from five continents to Geneva on the 8th
of October to raise awareness about the fight against
malaria. It will also celebrate the 60th anniversary
of the United Nations. The star-studded event is being
organized by Mr. N'Dour at the request of the "Roll
Back Malaria" campaign - a partnership of UN
agencies and the World Bank, set up in 1998 to coordinate
the fight against malaria. The famous Senegalese singer
has been speaking about his expectations for the concert.
Ndour A: YOUSSOU N'DOUR IN FRENCH …. (please,
play for 5 seconds and dip under voice-over.)
VOICE OVER: YOUSSOU VOICE-OVER
I've always said that, I think music is the first
language, I think it is a strong language; we dream,
we dance, but we know that after all it is a force
(or strength) that could be used to convince people.
The music content could go much faster than a political
statement.
NARR: And switching to English, he stresses the uniting
force of music.
Ndour 1: What we expect October 8th is music
unite - different sounds, different language and a
lot of vibrations between the crowd and us.
NARR: Youssou N'Dour wants people to know that malaria
kills 3,000 children every day and two million people
every year, 90 percent of them in Africa. But malaria
is easily preventable with insecticide-treated bed
nets. The leading international organisation in the
battle against this mosquito-borne disease is The
Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
It's the largest financier of malaria prevention and
treatment, with more than a billion US dollars committed
over the next two years for more than 70 countries.
The Fund's communications chief is Jon Liden.
Liden 2: The aim is to roll all across Africa
and get enough bed nets to Africa, to cover every
family and every child. So far the fund itself is
financing almost 110 million bed nets, but we need
at least twice than that, probably almost two and
a half times that much in order to cover every family
in Africa.
NARR: Mr. Liden says the aim is within reach, thanks
to new more effective medicines and new pesticide
treated bed nets that last up to five years.
Liden 1: There is a particular programme in
Tanzania that has been organized in order to channel
money directly to an experiment, which is to saturate,
to give these long-lasting bed nets to every child,
every family with a small child in two districts in
Tanzania, and then measure to what extent the mortality
from malaria falls within a two-year period. And all
the ticket proceeds from the concert on the 8th will
actually go towards buying these bed nets.
NARR: Buying and distributing these bed nets is something
Youssou N'Dour is more than happy to leave to the
experts as he concentrates on taking care of what
he knows best.
Ndour 2: We are musicians, we are not interested
about raising the money, or distributing bed nets.
There's different people who are going to do that
and what we expect is really music, and celebrate
also - remember, we celebrate United Nations.
MUSIC YOUSSOU TRACK 13 … EVERYBODY HAS A HEART
(Please start clean and let Bissera's closing narration
come over the music from 10 seconds into the tract
and play the music till the end.)
NARR: Youssou N'Dour for the "Roll Back Malaria"
partnership. Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.
KEEP YOUSSOU N'DOUR MUSIC AS CLOSING MUSIC
The voice, the music, of Senegal's Youssou N'Dour,
who's using his talent and resources in the fight
against malaria. Watch out for that major concert
scheduled for Saturday 8th October in Geneva.
That's it, for now. You've been enjoying UN and Africa
with me Ben Dotsei Malor and the team made up of Julio
Martinich, Chuck Appel, and Derrick Mbatha.
You are safe in the hands of Yossou N'Dour.
Goodbye.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***
(Please bring music up and play till the end.)
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