UN Radio

UN and Africa
Programme Number: 079
Week of: Sunday, 18th December, 2005
Recording Date: Thursday, 22nd December, 2005
Topical Issue(s):

" The head of the United Nations mission in Liberia, Alan Doss, says that following the presidential elections, the country is set to make the transition to political stability. Mr. Doss says the UN is determined to help Liberia so that it does not relapse into turmoil.

" The Lord's Resistance Army has increased its attacks on civilians and relief workers in Northern Uganda. The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland says these attacks are making it difficult for humanitarian workers to assist millions of displaced people in the country.

" An agreement reached at the end of the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong on Sunday includes ending export subsidies to cotton farmers by the end of 2006. Mohammed Adam Nashiru, a cotton farmer from Ghana, says subsiding cotton farmers in the developed countries is putting African farmers at a disadvantage.

RESENTER: This is United Nations Radio in New York.

Hello and welcome to UN and Africa, I'm Ransford Cline-Thomas.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME

PRESENTER:
Liberia is preparing for the inauguration of its president in January - the first elected woman to hold the post in Africa in recent times. But a recent disturbance in the capital cast a shadow over the peace process in Liberia -- a country facing the daunting task of restoring stability and economic reconstruction.
CLIP-1: ALLAN DOSS
"This is a country that is emerging from twenty-five years of instability and wars. It's
not all going to be done in a few short months. It is going to take time. We have to stay
the course. We have to invest."

PRESENTER:
That was Alan Doss, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Liberia, speaking about the challenges facing that Liberia following its elections in November. More from him in a moment.
Also in this edition of UN and Africa, the Lord's Resistance Army is continuing to attack civilians and humanitarian workers in Northern Uganda, making life difficult for the people in that area.
CLIP-2: JAN EGELAND
"While the overall number of LRA combatants may not have increased, they have
spread over a larger area and now constitute a significant threat to regional security,
with appalling consequences for several million people."

PRESENTER:
That was Jan Egeland, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator briefing the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Northern Uganda.
Later in the programme, a cotton farmer from Ghana says that subsidies
given to farmers in the United States and other developed countries are
undermining the ability of African farmers to compete in the world market.
So stay tuned to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and hold under until first sentence.)

Liberia Faces Some Problems As It Prepares to Form a New Government

PRESENTER:
Liberia recently held peaceful and successful elections, culminating in the election of Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as president of the country, the first woman to hold that position in Africa. But supporters of his rival, George Weah didn't accept the defeat of their candidate. Mr. Weah himself challenged the results of the elections and complained that they were marked by fraud, although observers said they were generally free and fair. George Weah has now decided not to continue his challenge of the election results. I discussed the situation in Liberia with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the country, Alan Doss who came to the United Nations to brief the Security Council. He told me of a recent disturbance caused by supporters of the Congress for Democratic Change, the CDC whose candidate Mr. Weah lost to Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf.
DOSS: There was a rally which Mr.Weah had attended in the day which passed off peacefully, no problem. But then later in the evening some of the people at that rally who were at the CDC compound began to get unruly. They came out on to the main road. They were pushed back because that is the main thoroughfare and we made it very clear that public demonstrations of this kind will not be permitted. That is the decision of the national authorities. And then subsequently stones were thrown and some vehicles were indeed damaged

CLINE-THOMAS: And, of course, UNMIL was there to provide some support to the Liberian police.

DOSS: Yes indeed. Our formed police unit intervened to support the Liberian police and the situation was brought under control.

CLINE-THOMAS: I guess a very crucial issue to all of this is whether or not Mr. Weah and his supporters, his party, have accepted the results of the presidential run-off elections. Has he?

DOSS: Well, I can't speak for Mr. Weah obviously, but I believe that they have said, he and his party supporters that they will abide by the electoral law process. The National Elections Commission published its findings on their complaints but there are is still legal recourses through the courts.

CLINE-THOMAS: And what exactly were some of these findings? Can you give us some idea of and a sense of what actually was revealed?

DOSS: As I understand, the National Election hearing did not uphold the complaints made by the CDC and dismissed those complaints.

CLINE-THOMAS: Now what is the United Nations encouraging the Liberian parties to do to foster a spirit of national reconciliation?

DOSS: Well I think national reconciliation will take several forms. There is an institutional dimension, which is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission itself, which we are providing support to through the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I think that's a very important instrument. It will be a cathartic instrument. It will enable people to tell their story about the things they saw, witnessed and were victims of over many years. But then there must be other ways. I would hope that the President-elect, and she has said so, that she will be inclusive in her approach to governance, which means that, to my mind, irrespective of which candidate a given region voted for, that region can now expect equitable treatment by the national government. And I believe Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf has spoke to that point and will, I hope, move in that direction because that will also help the reconciliation process. But reconciliation also has to take place frankly at community level. Every single community in Liberia has suffered, so through the communities of faith, through civil society, through NGOs. This can happen at many different levels not just in Monrovia and not just at the national government level.

CLINE-THOMAS: Mr. Doss, are you at all concerned that Liberia may relapse into instability and turmoil?

DOSS: Well there is always that risk. As we know from academic studies, countries that emerge from conflict, especially in the first year or two, are very vulnerable to relapsing into conflict, which is why we want to see this process taken forward in a satisfactory manner.

CLINE-THOMAS: And finally, what exactly did you tell the Council because you came here to brief them?

DOSS: Well, I briefed them on the outcome of the elections. I briefed them on the plans for transition. I briefed them obviously on security and a general perspective in terms of where Liberia is going and how we can help in that process, and not just the UN mission but also the United Nations and more broadly the international community. My message, I think, was generally positive. I particularly emphasized the success of the elections. It was a remarkable event. But now we need to move on. The backlog, the list of challenges ahead, it's enormous. This is a country that is emerging from twenty-five years of instability and worse. It's not all going to be done in a few short months. It is going to take time. We have to stay the course. We have to invest. We have to make sure that we are willing to be steady partners with Liberia. But above all, it's Liberia, its new government and its people that will have to take this forward. We can't substitute for that.

PRESENTER:
That was Alan Doss the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Liberia. On Wednesday George Weah announced that his party will no longer challenge the results of the elections.
LRA Makes Humanitarian Access Difficult in Northern Uganda

PRESENTER:
The civilian population of northern Uganda continues to suffer at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, which has been battling Ugandan armed forces for nearly eighteen years. No one seems to know about the real agenda of the LRA and why its combatants continue to fight government forces. But what is clear is that the rebel force is sustained by abducting people, including boys and girls who are forced to join the ranks of the LRA. Those who refuse are tortured, mutilated and killed. Girls are forced to become wives of the leaders of this rebellion. Despite the Ugandan government's military campaigns against the rebels, they continue to terrorize the people of northern Uganda, thousands of whom are forced to sleep in the bush or to go to urban centres to sleep in public buildings such as hospitals or shop verandas at night. They end up becoming internally displaced people. In his recent briefing of the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Africa, the man in charge of United Nations relief operations, Jan Egeland said that lack of security makes it difficult to help internally displaced people or the IDPs in Northern Uganda.
CUT 1: JAN EGELAND
Access to the nearly 1.7 million IDP's encamped in the northern districts has decreased in the past three months. Recent violence has hampered assistance efforts and we have seen a shocking new tactic: the deliberate targeting of humanitarians. In October and November alone, five humanitarians were killed by LRA ambushes in Sudan and Uganda.

PRESENTER:

Mr. Egeland said it has become more difficult and expensive to reach camps housing internally displaced people in Northern Nigeria because of the attacks by the LRA. He added informed the Council that the United Nations can only reach eighteen of the two hundred such camps without military escorts.
CUT 2: JAN EGELAND
Although the World Food Programme is able to distribute food under heavily armed military escorts, many other organizations find fees for escorts prohibitively expensive, or do not use tem on principle. The NGO Action Against Hunger has reported that 57 per cent of IDPs in one area, or 480,000 people, were not accessible in November. Without access, the effects are predictable: increased mortality, rising exposure to human rights violations, and deepening vulnerability.

PRESENTER:

According to Mr. Egeland, even those people who would otherwise farm in areas outside the camps cannot because of movement restrictions imposed by the Ugandan army.
CUT 3:
Less than half the IDPs in Acholi districts can access land that is more than two kilometers outside of their camps, severely hampering their ability to produce their own food. At present, there is no prospect of a large scale return before the critical March planting season. Therefore, WFP will have to provide food aid to 1.5 million IDPs through 2006.

PRESENTER:

Mr. Egeland said the LRA has escalated its activities beyond the borders of Uganda and southern Sudan where they often take refuge after their attacks. He told the Security Council that in mid-September a group of LRA fighters crossed from Sudan into the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. Egeland said these fighters remain in this border region from where they threaten much of Western Equatoria.
CUT 4: JAN EGELAND
LRA attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers have escalated, severely undermining our ability to provide relief to millions of people, and disrupting the long awaited return of refugees to Southern Sudan. While the overall number of LRA combatants may not have increased, they have spread out over a larger area and now constitute a significant threat to regional security, with appalling consequences for several million people.

PRESENTER:

Jan Egeland, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME

African Cotton Farmers Seek Fairness in International Trade

PRESENTER:
African cotton farmers are concerned about subsidies which rich countries like the United States give to their farmers. Their concern was addressed in an agreement reached last Sunday by the members of the World Trade Organization at their talks in Hong Kong to eliminate subsidies by the end of next year. Mohammed Adam Nashiru, President of the Peasant Farmers' Association of Ghana and a cotton producer himself told UN Radio's Liling Huang that African farmers have campaigned hard to put their case before the world. He said that members of the Association of African Cotton Producers or AProCa from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal have been talking among themselves about the blow that subsidies are dealing to African cotton farmers.
Nashiru: We have also undertaken a signing of signatures to show our concern - over 3 million 150 thousand signatures to tell the world that the going is not easy as a result of certain trade injustices by the developed world. It's a blow to the African countries.

LH: You said you are a producer of cotton - how large is your farm and how much do you produce every year?

Nashiru: My farm is not all that big. I have two hectares and I produce about 2,500 kilos every season, every six months. And we have over 100,000 producers in Ghana, northern part of Ghana.

LH: Cotton is a very important product in the country.

Nashiru: Very, very important - it is the mainstay of the majority of farmers in Africa.

LH: Could you give us some examples as far as your products are concerned if there are no subsidies, how much you can earn, and now how much you earn?

Nashiru: What we are earning now is not substantial, but if subsidies are removed there's a level playing field for all of us, I'm going to make a lot of money, because this time around, I'm going to sell at a higher price, and I'm going to make a good living. Livelihood is going to be improved by majority of cotton farmers if that is done. So that is why we are itching and pressing for it.

LH: To which countries do your product go?

Nashiru: It goes to the EU countries and some neighbouring countries in Ghana, places where they are not producing cotton. We send our products to them to date.

LH: How high is the subsidy of America?

Nashiru: The first one was 6 billion US dollars, given to about 24,000 farmers -- a year - as compared to 300,000 farmers in Africa only 25,000 in the US, they were given that amount, but Africa, nobody give anything. So this is to the detriment of the local producer in Africa. The region can make headway if developed countries tend to pay attention to the current needs of agriculture that is facing the region. It's not a matter of giving us aid. We have the capacity to produce, except that we are not given the needed support by the developed countries. We need to have access to their markets, like they kick open our markets. If you go to our markets - they kick open, they force open our markets, all in the name of trade liberalization, so if those things are erased, are not there, and the playing field is levelled, we are all going to make the same headway and Africa will move out of poverty.

PRESENTER:
That was Mohammed Adam Nashiru, President of the Peasant Farmers' Association of Ghana speaking with UN Radio's Liling Huang.

And that's all for this edition of UN and Africa.
From me, Ransford Cline-Thomas, Producer Derrick Mbatha, Production Assistant Nyi Nyi Teza and engineer John Macias, good bye for now.
*** CLOSING MUSIC ***