UN Radio: Focusing on Africa, Liberia ect...
UN Radio: Focusing on Africa, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire
etc…
UN Official Lauds Afghan Presidential Decree for Start of Voter Registration
The top UN official in Afghanistan has welcomed
Tuesday's presidential decree for the registration of voters
to begin leading to elections for a president and the
leadership of the country. Special Representative Lakhdar
Brahimi described the decree as one of the important
landmarks for the Bonn agreement and called for donors'
continued support for holding the general elections. He said
the UN would be counting on the donors' continued support to
finish the registration programme and organise the
elections.
The UN office in Afghanistan said the voter
registration projects for general elections was facing a
shortfall in funding.
Conflict Must End in Africa's Great Lakes for Human Rights to Improve
A UN-sponsored conference on peace, security and stability in Africa's Great Lakes region has been described as an initiative towards improving human rights observances. But a new report warned that continued clashes are obstacles to that end. UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burundi, Marie-Therese Keita-Bocoum, called on the international community to support the Great Lakes conference since "its success will undeniably have a positive impact on the human rights situation in Burundi and Central Africa." She said "a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities must be quickly established since the complete implementation of the peace agreements depend on them and the war can no longer be used to justify gross human rights violations."
Cote d'Ivoire Peace in Serious Difficulty: Annan
The peace process in Cote d'Ivoire
has encountered serious difficulties. That's the assessment
of Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a new report to the
Security Council in which he warns that without a rapid
reunification of the country, it would be impossible for
elections to be held in 2005 as scheduled. He cites the
pullout of the rebel New Forces from the power-sharing
agreement because they are not getting key government posts,
as a central problem. Mr. Annan says "the fundamental issues
behind the current stalemate must be identified and urgently
addressed." The Secretary-General urges the rebel group to
return to the reconciliation government of President Laurent
Gbagbo.
He also calls on the Government to immediately
restructure the nation's defence and security forces in
order to help convince the New Forces to disarm and yield
the territory they control.
UN Humanitarian Official Promises More Humanitarian Aid to DRC
The head of
the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jan
Egeland, has arrived in Kinshasa at the start of a 4-day
visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
UN spokesman
Fred Eckhard says that in meetings with senior government
officials, Mr. Egeland stressed that the Government should
do more to reduce insecurity since it results in limited
access to people in need.
"He also discussed the need to continue to work on protection of civilians, stopping human rights violations and ending impunity."
Mr. Egeland promised to provide as much humanitarian support to the people of the DRC as possible and pledged to advocate for support for the consolidated appeal for the country.
UNICEF Urges Liberian Factions to Get Children Out of the Military
The top official of the UN children's agency
in Liberia has called on the leaders of warring factions to
get child soldiers out of the military so that they may
return to school.
UNICEF's Resident Representative Dr.
Cyrille Niameogo said the issue of child soldiers in Liberia
is a serious one that needs to be addressed urgently. He
said UNICEF is working with the Liberian Government and
non-governmental organizations to address the plight of
child soldiers. Dr. Niameogo said lots of these children
need serious psycho-social programmes, adding that that they
are traumatized and need to get out of the military and go
to school.
UN Says More Aid Needed for West Sudan
The United Nations has received only a modest
response to an appeal for aid for West Sudan where more than
half a million people have been displaced by fighting. A
spokesman for the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan said
donations so far amounted to around 10 percent of the more
than $22 million requested in September to help those caught
up in the fighting that erupted earlier this year.
The
spokesman said UN agencies, such as the World Food Programme
and UNICEF, had delivered some emergency aid to the west,
but more was needed to provide food, medicine, shelter and
clean water supplies.
Governments Urged to Protect the Right to Food
A United Nations official has
called on governments to fulfil their legal obligation in
protecting the right to food.
Special Rapporteur on the
right to food Jean Ziegler said the right to food was a
human right protected by international law.