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UN and Africa
Programme Number: 068
Week of: Sunday, 2nd October, 2005
Recording Date: Thursday, 6th October, 2005
BREAKTHROUGH FOR LIBERIA'S 11TH
OCTOBER ELECTIONS"
AND
MORE DIFFICULTIES IN THE ETHIOPIA-ERITREA DISPUTE
PRESENTER: This is United Nations Radio from New
York.
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and hold under narr.)
PRESENTER:
Hello and welcome to, UN and Africa. I'm Ben Dotsei
Malor.
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and hold under)
PRESENTER:
A major breakthrough in Liberia as presidential and
legislative elections are CONFIRMED for Tuesday the
Eleventh of October. Former Nigerian ruler Abdulasami
Abubakar brokered an agreement with some disaffected
candidates to pave the way for the polls.
CLIP-1: GENERAL ABDULSALAMI ABUBAKAR
"The election is on course and come 11th
October, God willing, the scheduled elections in Liberia
will take place."
PRESENTER:
We'll be hearing from some Liberian voters.
And problems mount for the UN peacekeeping mission
between Ethiopia and Eritrea with Eritrea banning
vital helicopter flights by UN peacekeepers.
We ask the head of the UN peacekeeping mission Legwaila
Joseph Legwaila about the stalemate and the lack of
progress on the lingering Ethiopia-Eritrea dispute.
CLIP2: SRSG LEGWAILA
"To be honest with you, I've been expecting
the international community to put pressure on the
two countries to realize that it is in their best
interest to implement the decision of the boundary
commission."
We'll also hear what the Ethiopian and Eritrean government
have said publicly lately about the dispute.
You're tuned to UN and Africa.
LIBERIA'S POST-WAR ELECTIONS ON
TRACK
ACTUALITY: ATMOSPHERE , UNITY, WORK TOGETHER
"UNITY and WORKING TOGETHER …."
The call from one of the candidates in Liberia's first
presidential and legislative elections since the end
of the civil war, which is firmly on course, to be
held on Tuesday 11th October.
There was some doubt about the date after some independent
candidates were cleared by the Supreme Court to contest
- a last-minute decision that threatened to delay
the polls.
But through the intervention of former Nigerian president
General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the candidates involved
have accepted NOT to contest the elections after all.
Here's the former Nigerian leader announcing the breakthrough
that now paves the way for the National Electoral
commission, NEC to go ahead with the elections.
CLIP GENERAL ABDULSALAMI ABUBAKAR
"The independent candidates, Councillor
Marcus Jones and his running mate and Hunter also
they went to court to seek their rights. I am happy
despite the fact that judgment was given against NEC,
instruction was give to NEC to ensure that register
the independent candidates to contest the elections,
these gentlemen, sons of Liberia have put the interest
of the country and their country men and women into
hearts. The election is on course and come 11th October,
God wiling, the scheduled elections in Liberia will
take place."
One of the independent candidates, Marcus Jones further
explained their decision to withdraw from the process.
CLIP MARCUS JONES.
"As you are aware the NEC rejected only
independent aspirants, as opposes to passing all political
candidates and party irrespective of the odds. Not
withstanding our rejection which was unconstitutional
we decided to seek the aid of the justice system as
opposed to other alternative. And we did that and
we succeeded. Though the opinion and judgement of
the court came a bid late not withstanding the court
was under tremendous pressured and pressure did not
break the court. So as this time as we continue to
look chief Justice and parliament on Supreme Court
bench, for his decision that he has made. Justice
has been done the people of Liberia have succeeds
in testing the system. We want to say, yes we been
consulting our supporter sympathizers and members,
recommend and Abuja…, and we said we had nothing
to say, we can't commit our self until we come to
Liberia and continue the consultation. The results
of the consultation have yielded what we are disclosing
here to day, that independent candidates that is ….Hon.
Sam Mohammed Kromah, ….Hon. Isaac Johnson and
I Councillor, Marcus William Jones, are stepping aside,
at this time in interest of peace, in interest of
Justice, the suffer mess of our country. We want to
say that the process should continue and let us not
be blame for what so ever, consequences that may arise."
Councillor Marcus Jones. And here's how some Liberians
have been reacting to news of the breakthrough.
VOX POPS OF LIBERIAN VOTERS
The views of some Liberian voters.
The head of the peacekeeping mission in Liberia, Alan
Doss, has been speaking about the UN's readiness for
the polls:
SRSG STATEMENT SHORT
"Liberians are preparing to vote for the
first time in many years. UNMIL will provide a secure
environment, in which the National Elections Commission
can hold free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.
UNMIL is fully ready to support the elections in accordance
with the provisions of the comprehensive peace agreement.
To that end, the mission has developed a security
plan for the elections, in close collaboration with
the national security agencies and other election
partners. UNMIL civilian police have prepared a detailed
deployment plan for the national police. UNMIL will
have a robust military presence throughout the country,
during and after the elections to ensure the freedom
of movement … In conclusion, we are all know
… we all share the same hopes for change …
to create in Liberia a society based on democracy
and the rule of law. Thank you and may God bless Liberia."
The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia,
Alan Doss.
Liberians are choosing from twenty-two presidential
candidates, including the former World Footballer
of the Year, George Oppong Weah and former UNDP official
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
There are great expectations that these elections
are going to bring lasting peace after more than a
decade of war and conflict in which more than 200,000
Liberians were killed and many more thousands were
displaced across West Africa as refugees.
The next edition of UN and Africa will provide more
coverage of the aftermath of these elections.
STING JINGLE
UN'S OPERATIONS IN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA FACE MORE
TROUBLES
The operations of the UN peacekeeping mission in
Ethiopia and Eritrea have been thrown into some disarray
following the Eritrean government's decision to ban
all UNMEE helicopter flights in the Eritrea.
Helicopter flights have been vital for the UN's monitoring
and surveillance work along the yet-to-be-demarcated
border.
The UNMEE Force Commander, Major-General Rajender
Singh, is also seriously worried that the Eritrean
government's ban could endanger the lives of UN peacekeepers
located in remote parts of the Eritrean-Ethiopian
border, especially if any emergencies should arise
where the UN peacekeepers need to be reached quickly
by air.
The Eritrean government has not provided any reasons
for the ban. And, UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan,
has urged the government of President Isaias Aferwerki
to reverse the decision immediately. Mr Annan has
stressed that freedom of movement is a fundamental
principle of all peacekeeping missions. The UN Security
Council has also expressed its grave concern about
the development and called on the Eritrean government
to remove the ban.
Before this latest development, concern has been
building over the lingering stalemate and the lack
of dialogue between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In a moment
we'll be hearing from the head of the UN mission serving
the two countries.
But first, the difficulties between the one-time
sister countries was highlighted during the recent
General Assembly Debate, when Eritrea's Finance Minister
BERHANE ABREHE spoke, again, about dark clouds of
war.
CLIP ERITREA MINISTER DARK CLOUDS OF WAR
In the speech devoted almost entirely to the Eritrea's
conflict with Ethiopia, Mr Berhane accused Ethiopia
of aggression.
CLIP ERITREAN FINANCE MINISTER.
The Eritrean comments attracted this response from
Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.
ETHIOPIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
So, with these exchanges any positive movement towards
a final resolution of the dispute would seem far away.
Before all this and the latest ban by the Eritrean
government, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission
in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila
was in new York briefing the Security Council on the
situation.
I asked him then about the lack of progress in resolving
the Ethiopia/Eritrea dispute?
INTERVIEW WITH SRSG LEGWAILA
"I share the concern that there has not
been any movement. I think it's obvious, it's given,
but there has not been any movement towards the implementation
of the decision of the boundary commission, which
is the remaining face of the process. And as I say,
I share that concern, and the Security Council also
does, it shares that concern. But the parties are
not knitting their commitments under the Algiers agreements
to the full, and therefore they are being urged to
do so because we believe that if you don't follow
through, as they say in golf, with the implementation
of the Algiers Agreements you run the risk of delaying
a solution to the border conflict, the conflict which
raged between the two countries between the years
1998 and 2000. And take that together with the fact
that the United Nations by the end of October, the
United Nations would have spent more than $1 billion
on UNMEE. And then the third thing is that the Security
Council is obviously concerned about the length of
stay of UNMEE, that UNMEE has been there for five
years.
Ben: They are trying to close you down, are
they?
Legwaila: No, no, no. They are not trying to
close the mission because that would be too drastic
and dangerous. So all they are trying to do is to
awaken the parties to the reality that if they don't
implement the decision of the boundary commission
there may be problems along the road.
Ben: Personally for you Ambassador Legwaila,
what specifically would you like to see to move things
forward between these countries to bring sustainable,
lasting peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea?
Legwaila: To be honest with you, I've been
expecting the international community to put pressure
on the two countries to realize that it is in their
best interest to implement the decision of the boundary
commission. That's in the first instance. And secondly,
to realize that UNMEE cannot be there for eternity,
that we should wait for the last pillar to be planted
when the first pillar has not been planted, when the
border has not, the survey of the border has not even
been completed. So those are my preoccupations. Those
are the preoccupations of the Security Council.
Ben: How high is the risk that UNMEE's mission
could be ended without the border being demarcated,
without peace being restored? How real is that risk
right now?
Legwaila: That risk is there and always be
there because I mean, you know, if the stalemate continues
for five more years, ten years, who knows? The Security
Council may think that maybe this is a waste of money,
and maybe reduce the Mission of UNMEE to a token presence,
a few hundred observers running around the border
by helicopter or by vehicle simply trying to make
sure they can report to New York on whether the war
is about to break out or not. And that's what I said
to the troop-contributing countries, in my statement
to the Security Council, that the two countries run
the risk of being told eventually that since you appear
to be comfortable with the stalemate then we are going
to abandon you to your own devices.
Ben: Are you disappointed? Are you frustrated?
Legwaila: Well, I'm disappointed because this
is the first peacekeeping operation I have participated
in which shows signs of atrophying, and therefore
I don't like it, dieing slowly, almost completely
forgotten because people are not dieing everyday.
We don't have rebels to deal with. The two sides are
disciplined enough to respect at least the secession
of hostilities agreement, which is the ceasefire between
them. And now I think some people may think that,
well they can draw comfort from that kind of status
quo, which of course is unfortunate, is dangerous
because you end up missing the opportunity to put
pressure on the parties to at least relieve you of
the financial and man-power burden for keeping them
separated.
Ben: In order not to end on a rather negative
note for people who have worked with you to bring
good news to the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea, what
would you say gives you some pleasure for all of the
effort, all of the energy, time, resources you and
the international community, the UN system, put into
resolving this problem?
Legwaila: Well, you know I have always told
my colleagues in UNMEE that there is nothing nobler
than serving the cause of peace. You know all of these
peacekeepers who come from all over the world - some
come from very comfortable societies - now they are
languishing in the boondocks of Ethiopia and Eritrea,
and they're still smiling, saving the two countries.
There is nothing that is nobler than that, and therefore
when I say I'm frustrated, it doesn't mean that I
delete all the experience that I have enjoyed in the
past five years, the experience of seeing IDPs return
to their villages, those who have been able to return
to their villages, seeing them reconstruct their villages,
re-connect with their lives that has been pleasing
enough, but that is not enough. What would please
me even more is to leave that place with the border
demarcated, Eritrea and Ethiopia shaking hands, good
neighbourliness re-established, trade re-established,
diplomatic relations re-established. I mean that would
be the happiest day of my life. But unfortunately
right now it sounds like a pipe dream."
That brings us to the end of this edition of UN and
Africa, with special thanks to Kojo Roberts Mensah
and other colleagues at UNMIL Radio in Liberia.
On behalf of Julio Martinich, Derrick Mbatha, Nyi
Nyi teza, and all of us here at UN Radio in New York,
I'm Ben Dotsei Malor, saying THANK YOU.
Peace.
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