|
UN and Africa
Programme Number: 072
Week of: Sunday, 30th October, 2005
Recording Date: Thursday, 3rd November, 2005
Topical Issue(s):
ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA POISED FOR RENEWED
WAR
LIBERIA: RUN-OFF POLLS FOR PRESIDENCY
PRESENTER: Hello and welcome to United Nations Radio
from New York.
PRESENTER:
Greetingzzz. I'm Ben Dotsei Malor and this is UN and
Africa.
PRESENTER:
Sabre-rattling between Ethiopia and Eritrea reaches
a worrying level with fears of imminent war breaking
out between the one-time sister countries.
CLIP-1: UNMEE SRSG LEGWAILA JOSEPH LEGWAILA
"Both of them are telling us that they are not
preparing for war, and that war is something that
they cannot afford, that my force commander knows
what preparations for war looks like and therefore
when we see this (?) , we are concerned, and that's
the reason why we have to make sure that the international
community is aware."
PRESENTER:
That's the head of the UN Mission to Ethiopia and
Eritrea Legwaila Joseph Legwaila. More from him a
just a moment. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has
expressed his serious concerns about the potentially
explosive situation. But what can be done now?
LIBERIA: D-Day arrives to elect a post-war president
… Liberians make a choice between the poor local-boy-made
good, former World Footballer of the Year, George
Oppong Weah and the Harvard-educated former World
Bank and Un official Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
CLIP2: LIBERIAN VOTERS
"Well, I would like to make a passionate appeal
to all Liberians listening to me. Vote and vote right."
CLIP3: "I have nine children. I really want
to see the lives of my children improve because the
health care to the (?) system in the country school
are very poor and we need to have a country with good
character, especially building up our children's foundation."
The views of some Liberian voters.
More coming up.
Just stay tuned … to … UN and Africa.
UN AND POSSIBLE WAR BETWEEN ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA
International concern has risen dramatically over
the past few days about the potential of war breaking
out again between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
For nearly a month now the Eritrean government has
severely curtailed the peacekeeping of the United
Nations along the contested Ethiopia/Eritrea border
by banning vital monitoring flights by UN helicopters.
Now there are credible reports that both countries
have deployed troops and weapons to the border. At
United Nations Headquarters in New York, the UN's
Head of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno,
spoke about Secretary-General Kofi Annan's deep concerns
USG GUEHENNO ON SG CONCERN.
"The Secretary-General is extremely concerned
about reports received from the United Nations Mission
in Ethiopia and Eritrea concerning movements of military
personnel on both sides of the temporary security
zone as well as irregular activities inside the zone."
Mr Guehenno warned about the possibility of a mistake
provoking war.
USG GUEHENNO ON SG CONCERN.
"It is essential at this stage, in this very
fragile moment, that neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea
make any movement that can be misunderstood by the
other side, and could lead to a very dangerous situation.
I mean, this is the time really to bring the tension
down."
Well, there is no doubt that the tension between
the one-time sister countries is now so real that
some believe they are preparing for war.
On the phone line to Asmara, I asked the head of the
peacekeeping mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea, Legwaila
Joseph Legwaila, what signs of war they had observing
lately on the ground.
INTERVIEW WITH SRSG LEGWAILA.
Legwaila: Well, I don't know if we are seeing signs
of war, but every time people start behaving as if
they are preparing for war you have every reason to
be concerned, so we are concerned because we see some
activities, which are indicative of people preparing
for something that might end up destabilizing the
process we are running.
BM: What are those activities, Ambassador Legwaila?
Legwaila: Well, movement of troops and armaments,
although we are not seeing real massive movements,
the fact is that there are some movements, and combine
that with the fact that we don't see 60% of the area
of our responsibility, because we don't have aerial
assets, like helicopters, so because we don't see
some parts of the Temporary Security Zone, and the
adjacent areas, we can only guess what is going on
there, day or night. We have to err on the side of
caution, and therefore, I think we have every right
to suspect that while we are sleeping, or while we
can't see some parts of the Temporary Security Zone,
and the adjacent areas, something must be happening
there, which is not good for the process?
BM: How would you characterize the current state
of things, in all the time you've been there, how
serious is this, how real is the threat of war?
Legwaila: Well, it's very difficult actually to say
definitively whether war is about to break out. What
we are saying is that when you have massive troops
on both sides of the border, even if they are not
doing anything indicative of the onset of war, the
problem is that when we have so many troops, heavily
armed, not very far from the area you are monitoring,
war can break out not by design, but by miscalculation.
And that is what frightens us more than anything else.
BM: Is the danger real enough for you to contemplate
withdrawing the UN peacekeeping mission from Ethiopia
and Eritrea right now?
Legwaila: Well, I can't contemplate withdrawing the
peacekeepers because I'm not responsible for contemplating
to withdraw the peacekeepers. All I have to do is
report the facts as I see them to the Security Council,
to the Secretary General, who then reports to the
Security Council. And it is the Security Council in
its own judgement - of course with the advice of the
Secretary General - they can decide whether the situation
is bad enough for the peace keepers to be saved, in
other words to be withdrawn.
BM: Ambassador Legwaila, how would you characterize
the tension that is there now between Eritrea and
Ethiopia?
Legwaila: Well, I have always told people that since
I've been here, I've been here now for five years,
there's always been tension, and this tension ebbs
and flows, so now we have tension because our helicopters
have been grounded, and before the grounding of the
helicopters, of course, we had tension, because there
was a stalemate. Now that tension has escalated because
of the banning of our helicopter flights, which made
it impossible for us to monitor a hundred percent
of the area we're supposed to monitor. And therefore,
one part is scaired that the area we're not able to
monitor may be used by the other side to build up
troops. So this guess work on both sides is very dangerous
for the process.
BM: In the past few days, with the tension escalating,
have you been able to speak to President Melizinawee
(?) of Ethiopia and President Afiwerke (sp?) of Eritrea?
Legwaila: Well, I came from Addis today and I had
a meeting with the foreign minister of Ethiopia. I
have had meetings with the commissioner, with whom
we are supposed to dialogue on the Eritrean side,
the DNC (?) is the link between the mission and the
government of Eritrea. I haven't seen the government.
Both sides know what the problem is and therefore
unfortunately we cannot force them to do what they
are not prepared to do.
BM: You spoke to the Ethiopian foreign minister and
you're talking to the Commissioner on the Eritrean
side. What are you picking up from them, that they
are ready to go to war, or that they are willing to
back off and let peace prevail?
Legwaila: No, both of them are telling us that they
are not preparing for war, and that war is something
that they cannot afford, and as you know both of them
are very poor countries. And in any case, there is
a legal process, which was initiated by them, which
must be allowed to reach a successful conclusion,
and therefore, they are continuing to make protestations
in favor of peace, not in favor of war, even when
we see their troops moving and we express concern,
they say this is not intended to start another war.
But my force commander knows what preparations for
war look like, and therefore, when we see these things
happening we are concerned, and that is why we have
to make sure the international community is aware,
the Security Council is aware, the Secretary-General
is aware.
BM: Are you saying your force commander thinks and
feels that there is the preparation for war between
the two countries?
Legwaila: There are activities which resemble activities
by countries preparing for something. It may be preparing
for brinksmanship or preparing for war.
The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia
and Eritrea, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila.
LIBERIA: RUN-OFF PRESIDENTIAL POLLS
Liberians are going to the polls on Tuesday November
8 to elect a new president to move the country forward
after more than a decade of war, conflict and instability.
This second-round or run-off election is between the
two top candidates from last month's elections, the
39-year old former World Footballer of the Year, George
Oppong Weah and the Harvard-educated former Finance
Minister, 66 year-old Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
The head of the National Elections Commission, NEC,
Frances Johnson-Morris, has been calling on both candidates
to ensure that their supporters behave well.
MORRIS ADVICE TO LEADERS
To make sure the polls are conducted peacefully and
smoothly, the two candidates themselves have been
featured in this musical public service announcement
which is being played on radio stations.
MUSICAL GEORGE AND ELLEN TOGETHER:
The voices of the two Liberian presidential contenders.
Some voters have also been expressing their opinions.
SOME LIBERIAN VOTERS
On his part, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission
in Liberia, Alan Doss has met media directors and
urged them to be objective in their work. Mr Doss
asked them to separate facts from opinions and also
he called for their asked for their support in making
the whole electoral process a success.
The top UN envoy also travelled to one particularly
volatile part of the country, Nimba County which is
near Liberia's border with Guinea and Cote D'Ivoire.
During the visit he shared these thoughts about the
UN's focus and concerns.
DOSS IN NIMBA.
MUSICAL GEORGE AND ELLEN TOGETHER:
The head of the UNMIL, the UN's peacekeeping mission
in Liberia, Alan Doss.
… bringing us to the end of this week's UN and
Africa,
… with me Ben Dotsei Malor, Carlos Marcias, Derrick
Mbatha and Nyi Nyi Teza.
We thank you for listening …
And we leave you with one of the two Liberians who
would become President of their country in the next
few days.
Good bye.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***
(Please bring music up and play till the end.)
|
