The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UN

  • UN calls for fast Mali deployment

    UN calls for fast Mali deployment

    The United Nations Security Council has called for the “swift deployment” of an international force to Mali.

    The call comes after Islamist militants said they had entered the key central town of Konna, advancing further into government-held territory.

    The BBC reports that the UN has approved plans to send some 3,000 African troops to Mali to recapture the desert north, which is controlled by the militants.

    Mali’s president has asked the UN and France for help, diplomats say.

    The United States ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, who asked whether the Malian President Dioncounda Traore had requested specific kinds of military support, said: “It wasn’t specific, but it basically said, ‘Help, France!’.”

    France – the former colonial power – would respond to the request on Friday, France’s UN ambassador Gerard Araud said following an emergency meeting of the security council.

    For logistical reasons the African force already approved by the UN was not expected to even begin its offensive before September or October, the BBC says.

    The UN resolution also calls for peace talks between the government and rebels, in an attempt to separate them from the foreign extremists, the report adds.

  • Awareness ’ll reduce breast cancer

    Despite the awareness being created on breast cancer, it remains a major killer of women. This is the verdict by the United Nations (UN).

    The need to increase the level of awareness has led to declaring this month as breast cancer awareness month.

    Mrs Dorothy Aso (not real name), 48 succumbed to breast cancer after a long battle.

    Mrs Aso had breast cancer and was on oxygen mask in Ward E3 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for months.

    Her elder sister, Mrs Elizabeth Uyo, described her sister’s condition as critical because she was under emergency for three days before she died.

    She relived what she went through after her sister’s death. “I have had to donate seven pints of blood and more is still required.

    “When I asked her how it started she said she discovered something like a lump in her breast. So, she visited the hospital and she was told that her breast will be severed so she started avoiding visiting hospitals.

    “Then she resorted to taking Tianshi products, which unfortunately didn’t help her.”

    Mrs Uyo said her sister was in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, when the problem started, adding that she came to Lagos when it got out of hand.

    “The doctors said my sister will need about N3 million for treatment. We were waiting on some non-governmental organisations (NGO) to help out but none came to our aid and she died,” she added.

  • UN, AU, ECOWAS and Mali

    Hardball is certainly not done with Mali. Today is the fourth time he will be commenting on the subject of the divided country, a division foolishly aggravated by that country’s military under the coup leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo. The long-awaited approval by the United Nations (UN) Security Council authorising military action against separatist Tuareg rebels in northern Mali has finally been given. It follows the resolve of both the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to forcibly reunite Mali and prevent Al-Qaeda from developing deep roots in the region. Nigeria was at the forefront of the effort to put together a regional intervention force to retake the northern part of Mali already declared independent by Tuareg rebels under the aegis of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). The UN-approved intervention force, African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), has a one-year mandate.But in giving the approval last week, the Security Council was more cautious than the AU and ECOWAS have been in the past nine months. Even though the caution appear obfuscated, it is still remarkable. Said the world body: “(The Security Council) urges the transitional authorities of Mali, consistent with the Framework agreement of 6 April 2012 signed under the auspices of ECOWAS, to finalize a transitional roadmap through broad-based and inclusive political dialogue, to fully restore constitutional order and national unity, including through the holding of peaceful, credible and inclusive presidential and legislative elections, in accordance with the agreement mentioned above which calls for elections by April 2013 or as soon as technically possible, requests the Secretary-General, in close coordination with ECOWAS and the African Union, to continue to assist the transitional authorities of Mali in the preparation of such a roadmap, including the conduct of an electoral process based on consensually established ground rules and further urges the transitional authorities of Mali to ensure its timely implementation.”

    In other words, the UN recognises the nexus between political development in Mali and the success of AFISMA. The AU and ECOWAS have, however, over the months appeared eager to gloss over the pernicious influence the coup leaders still wield over the transitional government in Mali. Only recently, the coup leaders forced the resignation of the prime minister, the eminent astrophysicist, Cheick Modibo Diarra, and installed Django Sissoko as replacement. The UN deplored this meddlesomeness, but ECOWAS has made only feeble statements on the peremptory dismissal.

    This prompted Hardball on December 13 to warn that diarchy was creeping in on Mali. He wrote: “It seems all but clear that Mali is quietly but agonisingly slipping into diarchy. This is a traumatic transformation for a country that in 1992 transited into full and stable democracy with the election of Alpha Oumar Konare. His re-election in 1997 and the peaceful transition to another elected president, Amadou Toumani Toure, in 2002 convinced the world that Mali had become a democratic trailblazer for the region. Unfortunately in March this year, a few months before Toure passed the baton to a successor, the army under Captain Amadou Sanogo staged a coup d’etat. Even though international pressure and ECOWAS muscle-flexing compelled Sanogo to transfer interim presidential power to the Speaker of the Mali National Assembly, Dioncounda Traore, and head of government business to Cheick Modibo Diarra, a former Foreign minister, effective power has remained with the coup leader who continues to enjoy the perks of leadership without the corresponding responsibility.”

    It must be reiterated once again, even though the UN was surprisingly not firm enough on the matter, that the Malian conundrum could never be solved as long as the coup leaders retain effective control. Democratic Nigeria must make Captain Sanogo and his cohorts relinquish power as a precondition for our participation in AFISMA. It is naïve and short-sighted to expect that Sanogo and his men would not complicate the campaign for unity if allowed so much elbow room as they currently enjoy. It is even difficult to see northern rebels entering into negotiation with the transitional government, as the UN has directed, when the coup leaders still wield enormous influence in Bamako. More crucially, it is hard to see AFISMA succeeding in the face of an indulgent UN, an absentminded AU, and an unreflective ECOWAS.

     

  • UN declares March 21 International Day of Forests

    UN declares March 21 International Day of Forests

     

    The United Nations General Assembly has declared March 21 as International Day of Forests.

    The day will be observed from 2013 to celebrate and raise awareness on the importance of all types of forests and trees outside forests.

    “The day captures the spirit of and keeps up the momentum generated by the International Year of Forests 2011, which enabled countries to promote sustainable management, development and conservation of all types of forests and trees,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted FAO as saying in a statement issued on Saturday.

    It said on that day countries were being encouraged to get involved in local, national and international efforts in favour of forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns.

    The governing conference of the FAO supported the idea of the day, while the UN General Assembly facilitated the negotiation process for its establishment.

    “FAO looks forward to supporting its members and working with international partners, including the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, to help celebrate the day,” the statement added.

     

  • UN backs Mali intervention force

    UN backs Mali intervention force

    The United Nations Security Council has authorised an African-led military force to try to oust Islamists from northern Mali.

    The BBC reports the council unanimously voted to give the force an initial one-year mandate.

    The resolution also sets “benchmarks” for Mali, including political reconciliation and improved training for the military.

    Armed groups, some linked to al-Qaeda, took control of northern Mali after a military coup in March and established a harsh form of Islamic law.

    The Economic Community of West African States said it has 3,300 troops ready to go to Mali – although an operation is not expected to begin before September 2013.

    The resolution, drafted by France, sets out a multi-stage process for reunifying Mali.

    European Union and other UN member states are tasked with helping to rebuild Mali’s army, which collapsed when Tuareg nationalists and Islamist rebels overran the north.

    The BBC says the idea is to get the army into shape for a joint military operation with the ECOWAS force.

     

  • UN suspends Pakistan polio drive

    UN suspends Pakistan polio drive

    The United Nations has suspended an anti-polio campaign in Pakistan after three more health workers died in the latest of a spate of gun attacks.

    Attacks in the Peshawar region killed a vaccination supervisor and her driver, and injured a student volunteer, BBC reports.

    Coming after five deaths on Tuesday, the UN said it was suspending its three-day vaccination drive.

    No group has claimed responsibility, but the Taliban had issued threats against the UN’s anti-polio campaign.

    Pakistan is one of just three countries where the disease is still endemic.

    The UN children’s agency UNICEF and the World Health Organisation were suspending work on the programme nationwide after Wednesday’s bloodshed, said UNICEF spokesman Michael Coleman.

    The UN provides technical and financial support to employees and volunteers of the local health department who administer the polio drops.

    The programme was halted in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces on Tuesday after four female health workers were shot dead in the city, while another female worker was killed in an attack in Peshawar.

    The vaccination supervisor and her driver died when their car was sprayed by gunmen riding motorbikes in Charsadda district, north of Peshawar, police said.

     

  • UN hails Nigerian general’s performance in UNMIS, UNMISS

    UN hails Nigerian general’s performance in UNMIS, UNMISS

    UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday commended Maj.-Gen. Moses Obi of Nigeria for his contributions as Force Commander of the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS).

    Ban’s commendation is contained in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, in New York to announce the appointment of Maj.-Gen. Delali Sakyi of Ghana as the new Force Commander of UNMISS.

    Obi, who completed his assignment on November 18, had served both the UN Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) and UNMISS.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that he was the first Force Commander of UNMISS since its establishment on July 9, 2011.

    “The secretary-general is grateful for his significant contribution to both missions over the past two years and seven months.

    “The critical period saw the successful conclusion of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

    “It also witnessed the peaceful holding of the Southern Sudan self-determination referendum and the birth of a new nation,’’ Ban said.

    Before joining UNMISS, Obi had served in different peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad and Sudan.

    He was once the Chief of Training and Operations, Army (CTOP’A’) at the Army Headquarters in Abuja and he had also served as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Nigerian Army.

    Obi, who hails from Oku-Bushuyu in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River, attended the Nigerian Military School, Zaria, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.

    The two-star army general had, since his commission into the Nigerian Army, attended several military and civil courses at home and abroad.

    He had also held command, staff and instructional appointments at various levels.

  • Nigeria, nine others to receive UN treatments on HIV, Tuberculosis

    Nigeria, nine others to receive UN treatments on HIV, Tuberculosis

    The Executive Director of United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Mr. Michel Sidibe, said Nigeria and nine other countries will be the focus of a new UN-led preventative treatments of tuberculosis (TB)/HIV infection.

    Other beneficiaries are Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    The UN Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria reports that the initiative was inaugurated on Tuesday as part of a wider effort to accelerate the global fight against the highly fatal co-infection.

    Sidibe urged the scaling up of services in affected countries through concerted and joint efforts.

    He noted that the agreement between UNAIDS and the Stop TB Partnership would seek to achieve the 2015 goal of reducing deaths from TB among HIV patients by 50 per cent, or the equivalent of 600,000 lives.

    “TB/HIV is a deadly combination; we can stop people from dying of HIV/TB co-infection through integration and simplification of HIV and TB services,’’ Sidibe said.

    He said that at the 2011 UN high-level meeting on AIDS, member states agreed on the ambitious objective of reducing by half the TB/HIV deaths by 2015.

    “TB is preventable and curable at low cost, yet we still have one in four AIDS-related deaths caused by TB, and this is outrageous,’’ Dr .Lucica Ditiu, the Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership, also said at the inauguration.

    Ditiu said that in spite of increased access to antiretroviral therapy for patients and a consequent 13 per cent reduction in the numbers of TB-associated HIV deaths over the past two years, the pulmonary disease remained the leading cause of death among HIV patients.

     

  • South Sudan expels UN human rights officer

    South Sudan expels UN human rights officer

    South Sudan said on Sunday it had expelled a United States human rights investigator, accusing her of writing false reports, a move the U.N. mission said broke the country’s legal obligations to the body.

    U.N. sources, who named the officer as Sandra Beidas, said the expulsion may have been related to an August report accusing the army of torturing, raping, killing and abducting civilians.

    South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended a decades-long civil war in which some two million people died.

    Sporadic conflict has continued in disputed border areas.

    Reuters says human rights groups accuse the new nation, which depends heavily on Western donors, of allowing abuses by its security forces, mostly composed of poorly-trained former guerrilla and militia fighters.

    Government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the officer had been “writing reports which have no truth in them”. He did not elaborate.

    Hilde Johnson, head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), called the expulsion a “breach of the legal obligations of the government of the Republic of South Sudan under the charter of the UN.”

    Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused South Sudan’s army of gross human rights violations during a disarmament campaign aimed at stopping inter-tribal warfare in Jonglei.

     

  • Syria to make ceasefire announcement

    Syria to make ceasefire announcement

    Syria’s government is expected to give its reaction to a ceasefire proposed for this weekend’s Eid al-Adha holiday by United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

    Mr. Brahimi announced on Wednesday that the Syrian government and most opposition groups would back the truce.

    But the Syrian foreign ministry said it was still studying the plan.

    Heavy fighting is reported to be continuing within Syria, where an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s government began in March 2011, BBC reports.

    Meanwhile, a new, expanded team of UN human rights investigators met in Geneva and said it had requested and expected to be granted a meeting with Mr. Assad.

    Carla del Ponte, a former UN prosecutor who recently joined the commission, said she would investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    “My principal task will be to continue the investigation… and to determine the high-ranking political and military figures [responsible for] these crimes,” she told reporters in Geneva.

    She said the UN Security Council should refer the case to the International Criminal Court.