UN and Africa
Programme Number: 084
Week of: Sunday, 22nd January, 2006
Recording Date: Thursday, 26th January, 2006
Topical Issue(s):

" UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has warned that the insecurity has worsened in Darfur in the past six months and has spread to Chad. He strongly called on the Security Council to take measures to avert a catastrophe.

" Eight Guatemalan troops are killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as they look for Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army. The Division Commander in the eastern part of the country, Major General Patrick Cammaerts Says UN peacekeepers are supporting Congolese forces in operations against the LRA.

" The Executive Director UN-Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka says that there is a political will among African leaders to tackle the problem of slums which continue to increase on the continent. She stresses the importance of preventing the emergence of shantytowns instead of reacting when they have already been erected in urban areas.

RESENTER: This is United Nations Radio in New York.

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

PRESENTER:
The head of the United Nations refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, has alerted the Security Council about an impending calamity in the western Darfur region of Sudan unless bold measures are taken soon. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says the situation has deteriorated severely over the past six months with violent attacks happening everyday.
CLIP 1: ANTONIO GUTERRES
"Just a few days ago, armed rebels took several government officials hostage and attacked the village of Guéréda, where UNHCR cares for over 25,000 Sudanese refugees.''

PRESENTER:

In a moment you will hear more from Mr. Guterres who also touched on other trouble spots on the African continent.
Also in this programme, eight peacekeepers are killed as they help the national army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo search for rebels of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army who infiltrated the country. The Division Commander of the United Nations peacekeepers in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Major General Patrick Cammaerts.
"We have a mission here. We take a firm robust stance against armed groups, negative forces, killers, rapists, torturers and so on and so forth according to our mandate and according to our rules of engagement.''

PRESENTER:
Later in the programme you will hear from the head of UN-Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka talking about the problem of slums in Africa and what is being done about it.
So, stay tuned to UN and Africa.
*** SIG TUNE *** (Bring up briefly, dip and hold under until first sentence.)

PRESENTER:
The situation in the troubled western Darfur region of Sudan has worsened in recent days. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who briefed the Security Council this week, said that violence and impunity have never been completely checked. He strongly appealed to the Council to take action to address this situation saying that the refugee agency only deals with the symptoms of a disease. Mr. Guterres pointed out that it is the Security Council which has the power to cure the disease. UN Radio's Diane Bailey reports.
In his briefing to the Council, Mr. Guterres pointed to Sudan and Chad where he said the situation had taken a turn for the worse.

GUTERRES: Humanitarian workers are regularly cut off from the displaced and those they are trying to help. And this month we were forced to raise the threat level for staff in areas of West Darfur, even as staff observed the systematic destruction of crops and rising gender-based violence.

DIANE: And that insecurity has now spread across the border into Chad, Mr. Guterres told the Council.

GUTERRES: Just a few days ago, armed rebels took several government officials hostage and attacked the village of Guéréda, where UNHCR cares for over 25,000 Sudanese refugees. The increasingly unstable conditions in the border area, which is home to 200,000 refugees, have compelled us to relocate part of our staff.

DIANE: Mr. Guterres appealed to the Security Council to take action to avert a catastrophe in Darfur, stressing that the full involvement of the African Union forces currently in Darfur, and of the UN is needed.

GUTERRES: I am aware of the discussions underway on the evolution of a more robust security force, and the delicate question of its nature and composition. But preventing a disastrous human toll in Darfur requires a peace agreement, not as a solution to the problem but as the start to a complex process of reconciliation. And to reach that peace agreement we need the full commitment of the Council and all its Members working together in support of peace and putting pressure on all the parties involved. Who can defy you if you act together?

DIANE: The Great Lakes region is another area of serious concern for the UN refugee agency. Mr. Guterres pointed to the 20,000 people who just last week fled the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and crossed into Uganda. That type of insecurity and the killing of 8 peacekeepers in the DRC have made humanitarian assistance extremely difficult.

GUTERRES: As with Sudan, threats to peace and development in the Great Lakes region do not end with a single country, or two or even three. Security and solutions cannot be parcelled out one nation at a time. Both Sudan and the DRC underline how crucial it is to employ, and for this body to support, a regional approach to peacekeeping and political missions.

DIANE: High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, speaking to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

PRESENTER:

And that report by UN Radio's Diane Bailey.

STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:
As you heard in our previous segment, eight peacekeepers were killed in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and five others wounded on Monday in a clash with rebels of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army. Elements of the group, which is known for its atrocities and abductions of children in northern Uganda, crossed into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations Mission in Congo-Kinshasa is assisting in the formation of a new army in the country and in enabling the government to extend its authority throughout the territory. So when combatants of the Lord's Resistance Army entered the Garamba Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations peacekeepers provided support to the Congolese army to deal with the problem.
CUT 1: PATRICK CAMMAERTS
We have ongoing operations in the Garamba Park since a couple of months where we support the FARDC, that's the new Congolese army in operations against the LRA. As you know, the LRA had infiltrated in Garamba Park some months ago. And it is now our mandate to support the FARDC to forcibly disarm the foreign combatants, foreign armed groups. And in those operations we also use Special Forces from Guatemala.

PRESENTER:

Major General Cammaerts says at the moment it is not clear how exactly the eight Guatemalan peacekeepers were killed and that their bodies will be examined in autopsies to see what happened.
CUT 2: PATRICK CAMMAERTS
At this stage it is very difficult to say. There has been huge firefight for at least four hours where we used our attack helicopters to deal with the problem. And then the forces were extracted from the park.

PRESENTER:

The United Nations senior military officer in Congo-Kinshasa points out that Karamba Park is a very difficult terrain in which to operate.
CUT 3: PATRICK CAMMAERTS
It's extremely difficult because you talk about a vast area of jungle with patches of savannah in between, very very difficult terrain. You can hide there for years and nobody will ever find you. So in our reconnaissance we use the information that we get from locals, from rangers, who are working in the area. We get the information and we that information, we try to find those people, and together with the FARDC and if we find them we will arrest them, disarm them and hand them over to the authorities.

PRESENTER:

Major General Cammaerts says United Nations peacekeepers will continue their mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is different from traditional peacekeeping where United Nations troops are deployed between two parties.
CUT 4: PATRICK CAMMAERTS
We have a mission here under Chapter VII of the mandate where we use all necessary means to implement the mandate. If you take 2005 as a reference, has seen operations where we take a firm robust stance against armed groups, negative forces, killers, rapists, torturers and so on and so forth according to our mandate and according to our rules of engagement. And that is what we have done and that is what we continue to do.

PRESENTER:

That was Major General Patrick Cammaerts, the Division Commander of the United Nations peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter allows the use of coercive measures, including force to restore international peace and security.
STING/JINGLE: UN AND AFRICA THEME
PRESENTER:

One of the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by which world leaders when they met in 2000 is significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. The African continent is facing huge problems of inadequate housing as millions of people move to settle in towns and cities. UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha discussed this issue with Anna Tibaijuka, who is the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, which deals with human settlements. She says that the majority of the urban population are living under squatter and slum settlements. She notes that the situation is worse in sub-Saharan Africa where people don't have access to adequate shelter, water or sanitation and are exposed to disease.

TIBAIJUKA: North Africa, some countries like Algeria and Tunisia are doing relatively better than others, but even there you still have large slums in cities like Cairo and other places. But you also have countries like Morocco with very serious upgrading programmes. But then you come to Sub-Saharan Africa, the situation, I am afraid, is quite precarious, as I said, a whopping 72 per cent of urban population living in slums. This is over 200 million people.

MBATHA: Why is the situation precarious in Sub-Saharan Africa? Are there certain things that are not being done correctly?

TIBAIJUKA: Well, as you know, Sub-Saharan Africa most of it is least developed and people have come into cities very quickly. They cannot find descent adequate housing. They cannot find jobs. Incomes are low. The municipal authorities, the town and city authorities are practically overwhelmed, so they cannot provide for these people. And the end up staying in these settlements which are really made of shantytowns, huts and shacks.

MBATHA: What should the African governments do to solve this problem?

TIBAIJUKA: Well, my agency, UN-HABITAT in delivering our mandate, we have raised awareness of this precarious situation at the highest level possible at the 2003 African Union summit in Maputo. The African Union head of state summit passed the decision, urging African governments to mainstream the mainstream the implementation of the Habitat agenda and we have followed up this issue in trying to mobilize the entire continent to work together to cooperate, first of all, to be aware that urban infrastructure and housing are very important sectors and they should get the requisite investment they deserve. And other the African Union we have now created also the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development. This was created last year in South Africa. It is chaired by the Minister of Housing of South Africa, Madame Sisulu. So we are really trying to assist African governments to rise to the challenge of chaotic urbanization.

MBATHA: And so far, how has been their response to the initiative that you have just cited?

TIBAIJUKA: I think that we are seeing increasing political will. We are seeing rising awareness. I must say that recently, the new president of Tanzania, His Excellency Mr. Jakaya Kikwete. I must say that being a Tanzanian I was quite delighted when I heard him spend a lot of time of his inaugural speech at parliament talking about the challenge of urbanization and of the need for people, both authorities but also the citizens, to depart from impunity, to follow town planning rules, of course as far as the laws and regulations as commensurate with income levels and are realistic. But he made quite a passionate plea to the people of Tanzania, for example, to say that we need sustainable urbanization. I am also seeing a lot of attention from different heads of state. Recently, of course, we have had evictions in Nigeria, but I must say that the president of Nigeria had established the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development after we launched our campaign on good urban governance in Nigeria. So you can see that the crisis, the urban crises are many, Zimbabwe, you name it, all these endless evictions of the urban poor. They themselves manifest that there is underlying and fundamental causes to these problems. So awareness is rising but now we shall require political will. People have to understand that it is not enough to invest in rural development. We must also invest in urban development.

MBATHA: How does this tie in with the Millennium Developments Goals?

TIBAIJUKA: Well, actually the Habitat Agenda, of course, is part of the UN principal MDGs. So under environmental sustainability, which is Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals, we have target 11, which is about slum upgrading, which has now actually been extended to slum prevention by the 2005 World Summit of the Heads of who met here in New York, where they now endorse the principal slum prevention. Slum prevention, meaning that while we upgrade existing slums, we must now be proactive, make sure that the new ones do now come up. So we upgrade and prevent at the same time. Basically we have really to work harder to increase our capacities in putting up master plans and enforcing them. There is no point of having a master plan if it is not going to be enforced. So I can say that we are making progress in that direction.

PRESENTER:

That was Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat.

SIG TUNE ((Bring up briefly, dip and hold under)
PRESENTER:
And that's all for this edition of UN and Africa. Our producer was Derrick Mbatha, Production Assistant was Nyi Nyi Teza and our studio engineer was Luis Bastion
From me Ransford Cline-Thomas bye for now.