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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
25 April, 2008 =========================================================================
BAN KI-MOON ANNOUNCES NEW UN EFFORT TO END MALARIA DEATHS IN AFRICA
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked the first-ever World Malaria Day today by launching a new drive to ensure that all of Africa, which accounts for the bulk of the more than one million malaria deaths every year, has access to critical interventions such as bed nets and sprays by the end of 2010.
Announcing a “bold but achievable” vision for universal coverage, Mr. Ban described the toll the disease is taking around the world as “unacceptable – all the more so because malaria is preventable and treatable.”
Halting and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases is one of the eight anti-poverty targets world leaders pledged to achieve by 2015, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Secretary-General, in a video message, noted that while several African countries have made dramatic strides in malaria control, the most affected nations “remain off track to reach the goal of halting and reversing the incidence of the disease.”
The new initiative will offer indoor residual spraying, and bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide, to all people at risk, especially women and children in Africa. It will also ensure that all public health facilities have access to effective malaria treatment and diagnosis, and provide training to community health workers.
In addition, efforts will be stepped up to encourage research and development for longer term efforts to control, eliminate and eradicate malaria – which remains endemic throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We may not be able to entirely wipe out malaria right away,” Mr. Ban wrote in an op-ed that appeared today in London’s Guardian newspaper. “But we can control it and dramatically reduce its toll, if we act together.”
“We have the resources and the know-how,” he added. “But we have less than 1,000 days before the end of 2010. So let’s get to work.”
Experts say that malaria slows economic growth in Africa by as much as 1.3 per cent per year, and has a crippling effect on development efforts.
Ray Chambers, the UN Special Envoy for Malaria, noted that malaria costs the African continent something in the area of $30 billion a year in lost productivity. On the other hand, “the charge that the Secretary-General has given all of us today would cost about $2 billion a year,” he told journalists at UN Headquarters.
He added that what the Secretary-General is calling for is not the eradication of malaria in the next several years, since that would require a vaccine which might take several years or decades to achieve.
“In the meantime, from a humanitarian point of view, we must use the tools that we have to reduce morbidity and mortality as quickly as possible,” he said.
The head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that with the existing interventions, it is possible to reduce morbidity and mortality. “This is a very optimistic time,” said Director-General Margaret Chan, adding that the goal for 2010 is possible thanks to heightened political commitment, increased resources and better tools, such as improved medications and bed nets.
The UN has been coordinating global efforts to fight the disease through its Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, which was launched in 1998 by WHO, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.
UNICEF marked World Malaria Day today by calling for accelerated efforts to tackle the disease, which takes a particularly heavy toll on children.
“With an estimated 800,000 African children still dying from malaria every year, it is clear that much remains to be done,” said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.
Yesterday, the agency announced a partnership with religious, business and sports leaders to supply insecticide-treated bed nets for Africa through the “Nothing But Nets” campaign created in 2006 by the UN Foundation.
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UN NUCLEAR AGENCY TO PROBE CLAIM ON SYRIAN INSTALLATION BOMBED BY ISRAEL
The United Nations atomic watchdog pledged today to conduct an investigation after receiving information from the United States alleging that a Syrian installation destroyed by Israel last year contained a nuclear reactor.
Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a statement issued in Vienna that the agency would “treat this information with the seriousness it deserves and will investigate the veracity of the information.”
He noted that Syria is obligated under its safeguards agreement with the agency to report the planning and construction of any nuclear facility.
The information provided by the US yesterday states that the installation bombed by Israel last September was a nuclear reactor that was not yet operational and had not had any nuclear material introduced into it.
“The Director General deplores the fact that this information was not provided to the agency in a timely manner, in accordance with the agency’s responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to enable it to verify its veracity and establish the facts,” Mr. ElBaradei said.
“Under the NPT, the agency has a responsibility to verify any proliferation allegations in a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the NPT and to report its findings to the IAEA Board of Governors and the Security Council, as required.”
Given that, Mr. ElBaradei’s statement added, “the Director General views the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime.”
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IRAQI CHILDREN ARE SILENT VICTIMS OF ONGOING VIOLENCE, SAYS UN ENVOY
Wrapping up a six-day visit to Iraq, the United Nations human rights envoy tasked with protecting the rights of children caught up in armed conflict said that the war-ravaged country's children are silent victims of the continued violence.
“Many of them are no longer go to school, many are recruited for violent activities or detained in custody, they lack access to the most basic services and manifest a wide range of psychological symptoms from the violence in their everyday lives,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
She urged religious, political, military and community leaders to encourage children to stay out of the violence and return to their studies.
Gender-based violence is also reported to be on the rise, which Ms. Coomaraswamy said is “intolerable.”
Only half of primary school children are attending school, down from 80 per cent in 2005, she noted. Only 40 per cent having access to clean drinking water, with the outbreak of cholera possible.
Since 2004, rising numbers of children have been recruited into militias and insurgent groups, some serving as suicide bombers, while some 1,500 are known to be in detention facilities.
Since humanitarian workers' access to children is impeded in many parts of Iraq, children are deprived of their assistance.
The Special Representative called on all parties to give free and independent access to aid workers, and urged the Iraqi Government, the United States Government and other countries to allow agencies, such as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), to be able to reach children in all parts of Iraq without hindrance.
Ms. Coomaraswamy also appealed to the international community to assist neighbouring countries to which Iraqis have fled to ensure that the children are protected and can access basic services, including education and health care.
She called on all sides in the Iraqi conflict to follow international humanitarian standards for the protection of children and to release without delay any children under the age of 18 associated with their forces, and also to adhere to international human rights standards pertaining to juvenile justice provisions.
“Let peace in Iraq begin with the protection of children” said the Special Representative said.
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POOR FARMERS RECEIVE $200 MILLION BOOST FROM UN TO FACE FOOD CRISIS
The United Nations rural development arm announced today that it is providing up to $200 million for poor farmers during the upcoming cropping season as it tries to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of millions of people facing hunger and malnutrition due to soaring food prices.
“The capacity of the world’s 450 million smallholder farmers to respond by growing more food is at risk because of spiralling energy and fertiliser prices,” said Lennart Båge, President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). “Poor farmers are not reaping the benefits of higher food prices because they cannot afford the fertiliser or seeds to plant next season’s crops.”
Speaking after a meeting of the agency’s Executive Board in Rome, he called for concerted comprehensive and coordinated action to be taken by the international community to prevent the slide of millions into abject poverty.
“Poor rural farmers are central to any solution to today’s global food crisis and the long-term problems of hunger and poverty,” Mr. Båge noted.
He called for a three-pronged strategy: providing emergency food aid to feed the hungry today; supporting, in the short term, smallholder farmers in their bid to plan next season’s crops; and longer-term investment in agriculture to ensure food security, nutrition and rural development.
“The world has under-invested in agriculture and rural development for far too long,” the President stated. “It is high time to put this right.”
Yesterday, the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that surging food prices are thwarting the agency’s ability to feed the world’s hungry.
“We can buy 40 per cent less food than we could last June with the same contribution,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a video conference from Rome, voicing concern that as many as 100 million people face being pushed deeper into poverty.
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CONTINUED FUEL SHORTAGES IN GAZA SPARK CONCERN FROM SENIOR UN OFFICIAL
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) said today that he remains extremely concerned about the severe humanitarian impact that the continuing fuel shortages in the Gaza Strip are having on the civilian population and on basic public services.
“The United Nations is heavily engaged with all parties to try to bring about a resolution of this crisis and see adequate supplies of fuel restored and distributed throughout Gaza,” Robert H. Serry said in a statement issued by his spokesperson.
Israel stopped all fuel supplies to Gaza after Palestinian militants attacked the Nahal Oz terminal, located close to the border with Gaza, on 9 April. On Wednesday, it told the UN it was ready to deliver 100,000 litres of diesel, but fuel was not delivered yesterday, with Nahal Oz closed and the storage facilities on the Palestinian side of the border crossing full, according to the Israeli authorities.
The Gaza Petrol and Gas Station Owners Association informed the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) yesterday that it would distribute 50,000 litres of diesel to sustain the agency’s humanitarian operations, but this effort was thwarted by protests on the Palestinian side of the crossing.
UNRWA was able to make its food deliveries yesterday, but it will not be able to do so from tomorrow – the next scheduled delivery day – unless it receives fresh supplies of diesel.
“At this crucial juncture, all parties must act to avert further suffering of the civilian population,” Mr. Serry said in the statement. He called on Hamas, which controls Gaza, to ensure conditions to enable the distribution of supplies at Nahal Oz so that more supplies can enter Gaza.
“Hamas must immediately bring an end to attacks by itself or any other group against crossings in Gaza.”
The Special Coordinator also called on Israel to “restore adequate supplies of diesel and benzene for the civilian population of Gaza in accordance with international law.”
Last month, about 3.8 million litres of diesel fuel and 340,000 litres of benzene were transferred from Israel into Gaza, which Mr. Serry said was not enough to meet the requirements of Gaza, which is home to an estimated 1.4 million inhabitants. In March last year, more than 8.8 million litres of diesel fuel and 1.7 million litres of benzene were supplied.
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RENEWED UN MANDATE AIMS TO STOP SPREAD OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
The Security Council today issued a three-year extension to the mandate of a United Nations committee which works to halt the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Set up under a 2004 Security Council resolution, the committee is part of a regime imposing binding legal obligations on all States to establish domestic controls aimed at preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.
All States are also obliged to refrain from supporting non-State actors to develop, acquire, manufacture or transport nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. States are also required to establish laws to prevent any of these activities by non-State actors, in particular for terrorist purposes.
The committee also promotes better cooperation between countries on measures to block the spread of such weapons, and promotes universal adherence to existing international non proliferation treaties.
The committee compiles information on progress States are making to comply with the resolution, by assessing the physical protection of weapons, border security and law enforcement efforts, as well as controls over exports and trans-shipments.
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IN VIENNA, SECRETARY-GENERAL OPENS NEW MODERN, CLIMATE-FRIENDLY UN COMPLEX
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon began an official visit to Vienna today by inaugurating a new environmentally-friendly, state-of-the-art facility which will support discussions between countries on a range of critical issues, from nuclear weapons to drugs and crime.
Donated by Austria, the “M Building” – as the new complex is known – encompasses dozens of meeting rooms and has the capacity to service up to 1,500 people. “The United Nations and other Vienna-based organizations are very grateful for this meaningful contribution, which will facilitate our work here immeasurably,” Mr. Ban said at the inauguration ceremony.
The Secretary-General highlighted the fact that the new facility is environmentally friendly and hailed its many energy-saving features, such as re-circulating heat and sensors to optimize cooling and heating efficiency and minimize waste.
“For the past year and a half I’ve been pushing the environmental agenda, and it’s encouraging to see that in this building has been designed with the best interests of the p***t at heart,” he stated.
In remarks to the press on the site of the new conference building, Mr. Ban addressed the current food crisis, owing to the soaring prices of basic staples such as rice and wheat.
“We must take immediate action in a concerted way,” he said, stressing the need, in the short term, to address the humanitarian crisis, and, in the long term, to explore how to improve distribution systems and promote improved production.
While in Vienna, the Secretary-General met with Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik. He later held a working luncheon with Ms. Plassnik and the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, as well as senior officials from Poland and Hungary. They discussed cooperation between the UN and the European Union, Kosovo, Chad, Darfur, the Middle East, Cyprus and UN reform.
Mr. Ban also met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, with whom he discussed the country’s contribution to peacekeeping operations in Chad and Kosovo, the Olympic Games, the Annapolis peace process in the Middle East, the humanitarian situation in Gaza and this September’s summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Secretary-General arrived in Vienna from Côte d’Ivoire, the final leg of a four-nation West African tour that also took him to Burkina Faso, Liberia and Ghana.
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NEPAL: UN STILL AWAITING FINAL RESULTS FOR HISTORIC CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY POLLS
The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) said it is still awaiting the final results of the recent Constituent Assembly polls, while the country’s Election Commission today announced that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has won 100 of the 335 seats under the proportional representation system.
The Commission, which has been tabulating the results from the 10 April polls, added that the Nepali Congress and United Marxist-Leninist party received 73 and 70 seats, respectively. The fourth and fifth largest share of seats went to two parties based in the country’s Terai region in the south.
According to UNMIN, this does not yet constitute the “final results” as stipulated in the Interim Constitution, which will only be announced by the Election Commission once parties have finalized their representatives and the Commission has signed off on these.
Once the Commission announces the final results of the election, the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly must take place within 21 days, the Mission added.
The Assembly will be tasked with drawing up a new constitution for the country, which has emerged from a decade-long civil war that claimed an estimated 13,000 lives before the Government and Maoist rebels signed a peace accord in 2006.
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MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO HELP IRAQ OVERCOME DIVISIONS, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL
Although some initial steps toward national reconciliation in Iraq have begun, more needs to be done to help the communities resolve the fundamental issues that divide them, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in his latest quarterly report.
Mr. Ban writes that the Government “continues to face formidable challenges to reaching a national consensus on how to share power and resources.” But he notes that new legislation, including the Justice and Accountability Law, which replaced earlier policies banning former members of the Baath party from public office, represents a compromise between the interests of the country’s three main parliamentary blocks.
Mr. Ban goes on to urge Iraqi leaders to pursue “the Iraqi national interest, rather than individual, party, ethnic or sectarian interests.”
He also says that the holding of credible governorate elections later this year could in the long run serve to underpin the legitimacy of democratic governance, calling on Iraq’s Council of Representatives to “urgently pass a governorate elections law” to conduct the elections as smoothly and as fairly as possible.
The report welcomes the freeze on military operations by the Mahdi Army, announced by its leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, and notes that the end of the fighting in Basra and other places at the end of March was made possible by compromise and agreement.
Mr. Ban adds that he is deeply concerned that large sections of the population are living in poverty and insecurity. To meet the humanitarian needs of Iraqis, he urges Iraq’s political leadership to agree on a hydrocarbon law so that the country’s oil resources can be shared in a fair and transparent manner.
The report is scheduled to be discussed by the Security Council on Monday, where it will be presented by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe.
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MOURNING FALLEN UN STAFF, DEPUTY-SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR INCREASED PROTECTION
As United Nations staff this morning gathered at Headquarters to remember their colleagues who died in the service of the world body, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called on Member States to increase protection for UN personnel.
“Each of us deserves to be protected by the Member States which we serve,” Ms. Migiro said. “The past teaches us that we should not and must not settle for less.”
The UN family, like any family that suffers the loss of its members, “must take the time to remember, to mourn the loss of our dearest colleagues”, she said. “But we must also celebrate their lives and their achievements.”
“There appears to be no safe haven for any UN staff members,” said UN Staff Union President Stephen Kisambira. He asked States to ratify the 2005 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel, which expands the scope of the Convention to cover personnel involved in delivering humanitarian, political or development assistance. The Protocol is not yet in force, as only 11 countries have ratified it.
The memorial ceremony, held at the UN Visitors’ Plaza at the opening of UN Staff Day 2008, concluded with the reading of the names of the 294 staff members who died in service since the last Staff Day, held in December 2005.
As an Honour Guard lowered the UN flag at half-mast, two staff members, Geraldine Adams and Jérôme Longué, alternated reading the names of colleagues who died of deliberate attacks, accidents, illness and other causes. The list included the 17 staff members killed in the December 2007 bombing of the UN office in Algiers, the seven staff members who died in a helicopter crash in Nepal last month and the four UN military observers killed in the July 2006 bombing of an observer post in southern Lebanon.
Among the fallen are 152 military personnel, 20 police officers and 75 local staff – a reminder of the vulnerability of locally recruited UN personnel. Forty-seven were serving with the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), 39 with the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and 34 with the UN Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS). The latest victim, Mohammed Makki El Rasheed, was shot and killed on 21 April in Darfur while driving a truck of supplies for the World Food Programme (WFP).
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TACKLING DROUGHT CRUCIAL IN FINDING FOOD CRISIS SOLUTION – UN
Addressing drought is essential in resolving the food crisis the world faces, the United Nations agency tasked with minimizing the threat posed by natural disasters said today.
Both drought and unsustainable water management have played a key role in the current problem, and managing drought risk is essential to finding a long-term solution to the crisis, according to a press release issued by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
Reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate – have shown unequivocally that the world is warming, almost certainly due to human activity, with potentially disastrous effects including worsening drought in some regions and heavier rainfall in others.
“Drought creeps, so we can outrun it,” said Sálvano Briceño, Director of the ISDR Secretariat. “But this will take a genuine mindset and policy shift towards the ethos that prevention is better than cure, and serious political and economic commitment to saving harvests and lives on a global economic level.”
Major food exporters such as Australia and Ukraine are experiencing the effects of drought, serving as examples of how climate change can trigger future food crises.
Water scarcity contributes to food scarcity, and, as the IPCC has pointed out, billions of people are at the risk of water stress by the end of the century unless carbon emissions are slashed and urgent adaptation actions are taken.
ISDR said that a greater emphasis must be placed on disaster risk, urging communities and nations to enhance their defences against global warming, drought and desertification through such measures as improved water management.
Yesterday, the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned that soaring food prices across the globe are threatening the agency’s efforts to feed the world’s hungry.
WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran warned of the “new face of hunger” – the millions being pushed into the urgent hunger category.
“We're also concerned because this isn't just an issue of hunger, but also an issue of instability,” she said, with protests against soaring food prices having been held in dozens of countries.
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UN LAYS OUT PLAN FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF AREA AROUND CHERNOBYL DISASTER SITE
Marking the twenty-second anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine on 26 April 1986, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today presented a draft action plan to support the Chernobyl area’s ongoing recovery until 2016.
The action plan is part of the “Decade of Recovery and Sustainable Development” proclaimed by a 2007 UN General Assembly Resolution. The aim of the Decade, which runs from 2006 to 2016, is to promote a “return to normal life” for the region.
The UN’s plan is built on scientific findings showing that most people living in the affected areas need not fear negative health effects from radiation. The objective is to spur recovery by promoting new economic opportunities, including investment and job creation, and to restore community self-sufficiency. Accurate, up-to-date information is also being provided to counter widespread myths and misconceptions.
A statement issued by the spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the accident had had a huge impact on the region but that the outlook was hopeful: “We can take, heart, however, in the growing confidence that communities affected by the Chernobyl accident now have the chance and, increasingly, the means, to lead a normal life.”
Later this year, Russian tennis star and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Maria Sharapova plans to visit UNDP community development projects that her charitable foundation has funded since 2007. Ms. Sharapova, who has family roots in Gomel, a city not far from the damaged reactor, said that she looked forward to visiting the region, “and delivering a message of recovery, self-reliance, and healthy choices to young people.”
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UN REFUGEE AGENCY DEPLORES DEATHS OF FOUR REFUGEES AFTER EXPULSION BY TURKEY
The United Nations refugee agency is seeking clarification from Turkey after 18 refugees were forced to cross a fast-flowing river on the Turkish-Iraqi border, leading to the deaths of four by drowning.
The incident took place on Wednesday at an unpatrolled stretch of the border in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey.
According to witnesses interviewed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Turkish authorities had earlier attempted to forcibly deport 60 people of various nationalities to Iraq at an official border crossing. The Iraqi border authorities allowed 42 Iraqis to enter the country but refused to admit 18 Iranian and Syrian nationals. Turkish police then took the 18, including five Iranians whose refugee status had been recognized by UNHCR, to an area where a river runs along the border, and forced them to swim across.
Witnesses said that four people, including a refugee from Iran, were swept away by the strong river current and drowned. Their bodies could not be recovered. UNHCR is in contact with the surviving refugees through its office in Erbil in northern Iraq and reports that they are deeply traumatized.
UNHCR had previously asked the Turkish Government not to deport the five Iranian refugees, who had all been detained after attempting to cross into Greece in an irregular manner. The UN refugee agency had said that it did not consider Iraq a safe country of asylum for these refugees.
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SECURITY COUNCIL VOICES SERIOUS CONCERN AFTER DEADLY VIOLENCE IN BURUNDI
The Security Council has condemned the recent deadly spate of violent confrontations between Burundi’s National Defence Forces and the Palipehutu-FNL rebel group in and around the capital, Bujumbura.
Council members, in a presidential statement issued yesterday, called on the two parties “to scrupulously respect” the ceasefire they reached in September 2006 and to resume dialogue to overcome any obstacles that might delay the conclusion to the peace process.
They also urged the Palipehutu-FNL (Forces Nationales de Libération) to return immediately – and without any preconditions – to the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism that was established in the wake of the ceasefire accord.
“Any attempt to jeopardize peace in Burundi through violent means is unacceptable,” according to the statement, read out by Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month.
He added that the 15-member body backed several existing regional initiatives to bring the parties together to overcome the current crisis and implement earlier commitments, and that it may consider additional measures of its own to support peace and stability.
Last Friday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a similar statement through his spokesperson on the fighting.
Burundi is attempting to rebuild, with the support of the UN Integrated Office in the country (BINUB), after a brutal civil war between its Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority.
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BOSNIAN CROAT COMMANDER CONVICTED BY UN TRIBUNAL TO SERVE JAIL TERM IN ITALY
A Bosnian Croat military commander convicted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal for his role in the torture and persecutions of Muslims living in the Mostar area of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Balkan wars of the 1990s will serve the remainder of his 20-year sentence in Italy.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague, announced today that Mladen Naletilić was transferred yesterday to detention in Italy.
Also known as Tuta, Mr. Naletilić founded and commanded the convicts’ battalion, a military unit within the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) that operated in the area around the city of Mostar in 1993-94.
Mr. Naletilić was convicted in 2003 of persecutions, unlawful labour, torture, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, the unlawful transfer of civilians, wanton destruction and plunder. His co-accused, Vinko Martinović, was also convicted and sentenced to 18 years’ jail.
During the trial the ICTY heard how Mr. Naletilić was personally involved in forcibly removing about 400 Bosnian Muslims from Sovići and Doljani villages and then ordering that all their homes be burned to the ground. He also used prisoners of war to perform forced labour in the vicinity of his villa.
The trial chamber found that Mr. Naletilić repeatedly caused great suffering to Muslims held at the Heliodrom detention centre, in Doljani and at the Tobacco Institute in Mostar.
Italy is one of 15 European countries that have signed an agreement with the ICTY to enforce sentences imposed by the Tribunal on convicted individuals.
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RENEWED VIOLENCE DRIVES THOUSANDS OUT OF SOMALI CAPITAL – UN
Some 7,000 people have fled the Somali capital Mogadishu after a new round of fighting this week that killed a significant number of civilians and reportedly wounded 200 people, including women and children, the United Nations refugee agency announced today.
“The exodus from the war-ravaged city further aggravates the situation in a country where over 1 million people are already internally displaced,” Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva, adding that some 700,000 left Mogadishu last year alone. “The latest violence also prevents the internally displaced living in areas surrounding the city from returning to their homes.”
He pointed out that international aid agencies, including UNHCR, are impeded from providing affected populations with the protection and assistance they need. Furthermore, aid workers encounter problems at checkpoints, including demands for money in exchange for passage.
Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces fought with insurgents, and according to eyewitness reports, over 1,000 families fled their homes in two neighbourhoods north of Mogadishu following heavy shelling of residential areas.
“Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed or wounded over the past few days, among them worshippers brutally killed in a mosque, sparking fresh fears and renewed exodus of civilians from the city,” Mr. Redmond observed.
Many of those who have left Mogadishu are seeking safety in the bush or on the road leading to Afgooye.
That town, which is 30 km west of the capital, is already sheltering over 250,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), most of whom who escaped violence in Mogadishu last year.
UNHCR reported that since yesterday, the fighting has stopped in Mogadishu, but people continue to leave the city, though the numbers are falling.
As soon as the security situation allows, the agency will distribute non-food items – including sleeping mats, blankets, jerry cans and plastic sheets – to settlements for up to 14,000 families, or 84,000 people, along the road between Mogadishu and Afgooye.
Earlier this week, an independent UN human rights expert condemned the killing of civilians in Somalia, including a number of religious leaders, and called for an immediate end to the violence that has flared up in recent weeks in the Horn of Africa nation.
In a statement, Ghanim Alnajjar, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, condemned in particular the alleged deliberate killing of numerous clerics belonging to “Altabligh Group” at the Al-Hidaya Compound/Mosque.
“The killings have to be investigated expeditiously and impartially, and any lasting peace in Somalia must be based on justice, truth and accountability,” he stated.
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DOCTORS' HIV TREATMENTS NEARLY AS EFFECTIVE AS ADVANCED THERAPIES – UN
Treatment of HIV-infected people by doctors looking for simple signs of deteriorating health – such as weight loss or fever – are almost as effective as those relying on advanced laboratory tests, a new United Nations-backed paper has found.
“The results of this study should reassure clinicians in Africa and Asia, who are treating literally millions of people without these laboratory tests, that they are not compromising patient safety,” said Charles Gilks, Coordinator of Anti-retroviral Treatment (ART) and HIV Care at the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and co-author of the paper published today in The Lancet.
“In fact, the outcome of their treatment is almost as good as those patients in the USA and Europe where laboratory-guided treatment is the norm.”
The study, carried out by United Kingdom experts working with WHO scientists, sought to assess the medium- and long-term consequences of the approaches to monitoring ART in settings where resources are limited.
It found that survival rates for those who were treated through clinical symptoms alone were almost identical to those who experienced laboratory monitoring. Although the survival rate is slightly higher for those living with HIV who were monitored for viral loads, the authors noted that this is not the most cost-effective strategy for the poorest countries.
Also, it was found that clinical observation alone is almost as effective as expensive laboratory tests in ascertaining when to have patients switch from WHO-recommended first-line treatments to more costly second-line medicines.
The study's authors used mathematical models and not on real patients. Very little real world data is available because ART drugs have only been used for a short time in some countries.
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