World Bank News
Mexico Makes Progress And Faces Challenges In Poverty Reduction Efforts
Mexico City July 28: Between 1996 and 2002, Mexico made progress in its poverty reduction efforts, particularly on extreme poverty, but poverty remains a basic challenge for the country's development. In 2002, half of the population lived in poverty and one fifth in extreme poverty, and the current level of poverty is only slightly lower than the levels existing before the 1994-1995 crisis, according to a new World Bank report.The study, Poverty in Mexico: an assessment of conditions, trends and government strategy, notes that Mexico has achieved progress in terms of the human capacities of the population, including health, nutrition and education. For both health and educational status and levels of service provision, Mexico is reasonably close to where it might be expected to be for its income level. However, certain groups and geographical areas are lagging behind for these indicators.
"The report's statistics on extreme poverty issues show that there has in fact been a reduction from 24.2 percent to 20.3 percent in the number of persons living in extreme poverty in Mexico," said James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank. "Moderate poverty has also been reduced from 53.7 percent to 51.7 percent. These are important movements at a time when economic growth poses a significant challenge."
The study notes that in the last decade, the pattern of poverty changes has closely followed the macroeconomic cycle and the rhythm associated with the labor market. It notes that the 1994-1995 crisis was a huge setback: extreme poverty increased from 21 percent of the population in 1994 to 37 percent in 1996. Between 1996 and 2002, extreme poverty decreased by 17 percentage points to 20 percent, which is only one percentage point below the level prior to the 1994 crisis.
According to the report, trends in the period 2000-2002 are encouraging, since there was a significant decline in extreme poverty, despite the stagnation of average incomes. However, the reduction in moderate and extreme poverty in urban areas was not significant.
"The reduction of extreme poverty at the rural and national levels between 2000 and 2002 is indeed statistically significant," said Michael Walton, the World Bank's Regional Advisor for Poverty Reduction and Human Development. "Some of the factors contributing to the reduction were the growth in international remittances for the extreme poor in rural areas and the increase in government transfers targeted to the extreme poor through Oportunidades," added Walton, the co-author of the study.
Other reasons contributing to the decline in poverty were: the real growth in labor incomes for unskilled activities; a reduction in the wage premium to college graduates since 1997; and a narrowing of the salary differential between rural and urban areas.
The report considers that poverty in Mexico is an important challenge that is linked to the considerable inequality, which is still widespread especially in rural areas and remains at the Latin American average and at pre-crisis levels, even if it declined by almost two percentage points. Poverty is also associated with social exclusion, especially of indigenous groups.
According to the report, 44 percent of the indigenous population is in the bottom income quintile; these groups account for 20 percent of the extreme poor and are the most disadvantaged in terms of health, education and access to basic services.
"There is considerable heterogeneity of poverty across and within states of Mexico," said Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, Senior Economist and co-author of the study. "The indicators of basic social infrastructure and income show that, even within the richest states, there are considerable differences in the levels of well-being of the population."
Lopez-Acevedo explained that, although the social infrastructure disparity between the country's poorest and richest states has lessened, much still remains to be done, especially in the monetary and income area. For example, in the south of the country there has been progress as regards the provision of basic social infrastructure, but this is still one of the poorest areas in the country.
Government strategy: successes and challenges
Regarding the government strategy, the report finds that, as a conceptual framework, CONTIGO --President Vicente Fox's poverty reduction strategy-- is excellent, because it recognizes the multiple dimensions of poverty, emphasizes the complementary areas of public action and adopts a life-cycle approach. However, its implementation is facing challenges, such as the need to enhance interagency coordination, improve the quality of services at the federal, state and municipal levels and strengthen monitoring and impact evaluation.
The study notes that social spending has grown in real terms, especially on education, social protection and programs targeting the poor, on which it increased by 8.4 percent annually in the 1990s and by 9.8 percent annually since 2000. However, there are differences in growth rates for the various items, and a huge variation in the progress of programs, and the capacity of the State to take redistributive action is limited by the low level of tax revenue.
On social protection, the report states that the system has limited coverage for households in extreme and moderate poverty. It notes that Oportunidades, which provides conditional cash transfers for child health and school attendance, is a model program at the international level. Its impact evaluations show positive effects on school attendance, nutritional status and other indicators of well-being, since one of the challenges is to ensure the supply and improve the quality of its services, to strengthen social oversight and to adapt to a dynamic population.
For its part, Seguro Popular is an innovative program that can reduce health risks for extreme and moderate poor not covered by social security. The challenges are to create an instrument for improving performance at the state level and to provide a careful evaluation of its impact on families and on service providers.
"In order to improve its poverty reduction efforts, Mexico needs to achieve growth linked to the competitiveness agenda to generate quality jobs, as well as redistribution. The investment in the human capital of the poor is part of a competitiveness strategy," said Isabel Guerrero, World Bank Country Director for Mexico and Colombia. "It is also necessary to consolidate infrastructure investment and strategies in the rural and informal sectors."
Isabel Guerrero explained that currently rural policies are more consolidated in the social area than in the productive sphere and that many agricultural programs are more geared to large producers, so that more options are needed for marginalized groups. "The poverty strategy must have a component specifically designed to include the indigenous groups in rural areas, since they are suffering disproportionately in terms of income and social inputs."
"Nobody in the Bank and nobody in the Mexican Government is declaring victory in the war on poverty," said James Wolfensohn, who acknowledged the efforts of the Mexican Government and the will of the World Bank to support Mexico in its poverty reduction efforts. -Keralamonitor.com
UN News
PAHO, UNICEF Strengthen Ties To Promote Child Health
July 28: The Pan American Health Organization and UNICEF have signed an agreement strengthening their cooperation in responding to disasters, conducting immunization campaigns, preventing HIV and monitoring nutrition, PAHO announced yesterday.The new collaboration will focus on such areas as training PAHO and UNICEF staff in technical areas related to preparation and response in emergencies and jointly preparing rapid response plans to disasters at the regional level.Both organizations share three basic principles: achieving equity in health, improving the quality of life of children and protecting children's rights (PAHO release, July 27).
U.S. Lawmakers, U.N. Panel Spar Over Oil-for-Food ProbeJuly 28: Some U.S. lawmakers investigating allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the U.N. oil-for-food program are accusing U.N. investigators of refusing to provide access to records and personnel, the New York Times reported today.
Diplomatic sources cited by the newspaper said that during meetings in Washington on July 13, Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman who is leading the U.N. probe into the scandal, turned down requests by members of congressional committees for permission to review documents and interview relevant U.N. officials.
"I argued that our inquiry would benefit his, because his panel does not have subpoena power. But they're completely unwilling to do that," said Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican.
Ensign said he met with Volcker to discuss sharing information, but Volcker was unwilling to do so until his own panel had finished with the information. The U.N. panel is expected to issue an interim report in August.
At least six U.S. congressional panels, the U.S. Treasury Department and two government attorneys are also investigating the oil-for-food program, which was established in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil revenue to buy food and other necessities.
Volcker could not be reached for comment, but the executive director of the panel, Reid Morden, said the group would share information only after its review was completed. He said that since the investigation "could have a serious impact on both the organization and individuals working there, I think it's very important that the inquiry conduct itself with the utmost respect for due process" (Judith Miller, New York Times, July 28).
Broader Use Of Bird Flu Vaccine Being Considered In AsiaJuly 28: Southeast Asian veterinary officials meeting in Bangkok this week will consider a recommendation from the Food and Agriculture Organization that urges the increased use of the bird flu vaccine on chickens in the region, Agence France-Presse reports.
The proposal follows a resurgence of the disease that earlier this year killed 24 people in Thailand and Vietnam and left 200 million chickens dead.
"The FAO is going to give revised guidelines and we will be in some ways supporting more vaccination than before," said FAO official Joseph Domenech. "They won't protect 100 percent against infection, and some animals could carry the virus, but they will not contribute to outbreaks."
Since the crisis peaked in February, several nations, including Thailand - the world's fourth-largest poultry source - have banned the vaccine until further research is complete. Domenech said the risk to vaccinators from potentially infected chickens is marginal.
China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have all reported new cases of the disease since its height. The new reports led the European Union to renew its ban on imported chicken from nine countries until sometime next year. The EU also ruled it would not import chickens from any country administering the vaccination (AFP, July 28).
U.N. Agencies Join Ethiopia's Call For $7 Million To Fight Malaria
July 28: Facing the possibility of a major malaria epidemic, Ethiopia has joined with UNICEF and the World Health Organization to raise nearly $7 million for new medicines to fight the disease, the United Nations said yesterday.
The money would go toward acquiring artemisinin-based combination therapy, which is more expensive than older treatments but also more effective. A joint study by WHO and the Ethiopian Health Ministry found high resistance rates among current drugs.
The new drugs "are much more effective in combating malaria, especially for the most vulnerable people: pregnant and lactating mothers and children under the age of 5," said Angela Walker of UNICEF's Ethiopia office.
"We need to generate this $6.9 million to meet the needs in the next six months and avert any epidemic that might occur," she said.
Malaria is the leading cause of death in Ethiopia, and about 6.1 million cases and up to 110,000 malaria-related deaths were recorded during a major outbreak last year. Walker said the country's prolonged dry spell could make people more susceptible to the disease.
The fundraising effort is part of the government's Roll Back Malaria program (U.N. release, July 27).
Divers Enlisted In Global Marine Conservation Effort
July 28: Snorkelers and scuba divers around the world are being invited to put their skills to work for "citizen science" by recording the health of coral reefs, mangrove swamps and other marine environments, the U.N. Environment Program announced yesterday.
Divers of all abilities who join Earthdive, an initiative supported by UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Center, will be encouraged to record findings from their dives on the project's Web site. The data will help build a Global Dive Log providing scientific data on key marine species. Any information on the illegal trade in endangered species will be passed on to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network.
Earthdive members will also be invited to sign a petition demanding protection of the oceans that will be delivered to the United Nations in 2005, while half of all membership fees will benefit marine conservation projects.
"Earthdive wants people with an interest in diving to understand that what they see under the oceans is not just beautiful, it also sustains human life, and they can help to preserve it by simply recording what they see," founder Chris Long said.
Earthdive employs the concept of "citizen science" to raise global awareness of and financial support for marine protection (UNEP release, July 27).
WTO Head Says Trade Pact Still Needs "A Lot Of Work"
July 28: World Trade Organization Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi said yesterday that "a lot of work" is still needed for rich and poor countries to reach an agreement on the Doha Round during this week's WTO General Council meeting in Geneva, the Straits Times reports.
"We are expecting countries to adopt a flexible stance ... but we still have a lot of work to do in agriculture and industry goods," Supachai said.
According to the Straits Times, officials from developed and developing countries still have not come to an agreement on how to end the U.S. and European Union's system of farm subsidies and credits.
Poor nations have argued that although the current draft, to be endorsed by all 147 WTO country members by Friday, calls for the end of rich nations' agricultural subsidies, it would still allow the 25-country EU to offer subsidies on more than half of its farm products, saying that they are "sensitive" or key to keeping EU farmers in business.
In addition, the developing countries say, the rich nations' demand to have poor nations open their markets to imports would hurt their farmers. According to Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, tariff cuts in India would destroy the livelihoods of 600 million Indians who depend on small-scale subsistence farming (Straits Times, July 28).
Meanwhile, ActionAid members in Geneva have accused rich countries of pressuring poor nations to accept their proposals and break the deadlock around trade talks.
"Behind closed doors developing countries are being pressured to accept trade deals that will provide no benefits for the world's poorest people," said Aftab Alam Khan, head of ActionAid's food rights campaign. "If the WTO does not open its doors and allow democracy and transparency, developing countries may be forced to accept a negotiation framework that is nothing more than a manifesto for the self-interest of the world's richest countries" (ActionAid release, July 27).
Iran Refused WTO Membership; Libya Given Observer Status
Libya was granted observer status in the WTO yesterday, while Iran's bid for WTO membership was rejected because of U.S. opposition. Libya, which has now the right to attend meetings and hold talks with member countries, has five years to start negotiations on joining the body (Bloomberg/Straits Times, July 28).
UNESCO Examining Possibility Of Restoring Afghan Buddhas
July 28:The London Independent reports that UNESCO has sent an art restorer to Afghanistan to evaluate whether the two Buddha statues destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban can be rebuilt from their remains.
According to the newspaper, the restorer, Edmund Melzl, is likely to tell participants at a UNESCO conference to be held in December in Tokyo that reconstruction can be done.
"Yes, we think it is possible to recreate the Buddhas," he said. "In restoration terms, this is the biggest challenge imaginable. Really good restorers could do it. A giant scaffold is needed, and a lot of money."
While some experts say the Buddhas' remains should be left as a tribute to the barbarity of the Taliban, others, including Afghan residents, say the statues should be rebuilt.
"The Buddhas were a kind of a symbol of our history and culture, something that introduced us to the world. We are less without them," said Mohammed Rahim Ali Yar, a former warlord and now governor of Bamiyan province, where the statues were located (Nick Meo, London Independent, July 28).
FAO, African Nations Launch $83 Million Appeal To Fight Locusts
July 28: The Food and Agriculture Organization yesterday issued an urgent international appeal for $83 million to stop a locust plague that has already destroyed 16 million acres of agricultural land in North and West Africa (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, July 27).
Speaking in the Algerian capital of Algiers at a special meeting of countries affected by the plague - Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia - FAO official Thami Benhalima said the amount of money pledged so far to combat the problem was not enough. Since late 2003, countries have contributed $9 million.
"The amount (pledged) is far below our expectations," Benhalima said. "We estimate immediate needs at $80 million. We can't cope ... without international aid. Crops will be heavily damaged."
According to a report prepared by experts from the nine countries, if donors do not provide immediate help, the plague could spread to other countries, bringing the cost of defeating it to $245 million in the next year.
"Locusts use war tactics," said Senegalese Agriculture Minister Habib Syla. "Locusts know no borders. Donors have to understand ... we face the risks of famine and death."
FAO said that the current locust crisis is the worst since 1987-89, when a plague that hit West Africa cost more than $300 million to be eradicated (Hamid Ould Ahmed, Environmental News Network, July 28).
The amount of yesterday's appeal far exceeds earlier requests to combat the locust infestation. In April FAO asked for $17 million to contain what had not yet been classified as a plague (U.N. Wire, April 28).
UNHCR Questions Proposed Changes To Swiss Asylum LawsJuly 28: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has communicated its concern to the Swiss government about planned changes to its asylum laws, saying if passed, they could breach international conventions.
The changes would disallow asylum-seekers who cannot produce identification or travel documents from asylum procedures and from claiming humanitarian status, UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said.
Many refugees seeking asylum lack proper paperwork for legitimate reasons such as that the documents were confiscated by authorities or were never issued, UNHCR said.
If the proposal is adopted, it could breach both the spirit and the letter of the 1951 U.N. Convention on the Rights and Status of Refugees, UNHCR said.
Earlier this year, the agency released data showing an overall two-year decline in the number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe, prompting Pagonis to question the timing of the Swiss proposal.
"There appears to be no need for governments to focus so single-mindedly on restrictive revisions of their asylum laws," Pagonis said, adding that to reduce numbers, receiver countries should devote more energy to solving problems in the regions where asylum seekers have fled (U.N. release, July 27).
Rwanda Official Says D.R.C. Soldiers Forced 283 Countrymen Out
July 28: The governor of a Rwandan province that borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday alleged that Congolese soldiers detained 283 of their countrymen, tortured some until they said they were Rwandans and then expelled them from D.R.C.
Cyagungu Governor Mussa Fazil Harerimana said the refugees arrived in a camp in Rwanda on Monday in U.N. trucks.
"These were Congolese nationals, some with national identification cards, but they have been forced out of their country," Harerimana said. "Some have torture marks and the girls were raped."
A U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees official said the refugees told U.N. staff in D.R.C. they were Rwandan but changed their story once they crossed the border. Some showed Congolese identification documents, the official said.
The incident follows fighting last month around Bukavu, which was captured and held for a week by renegade military commanders who had been backed by Rwanda during D.R.C.'s 1998-2002 war (Arthur Asiimwe, Associated Press, July 27).
Rwandan Foreign Minister Slams U.N. Report On D.R.C.
Rwanda's foreign minister yesterday dismissed a U.N. report released last week that accused Rwanda of involvement in last month's uprising. "We are kind of accustomed to having so-called expert panels of the United Nations formed with a clear purpose to attack Rwanda," said Foreign Minister Charles Murigande.
"Panels in Nairobi collect rumors about what is going [on] in the region and write reports," he said. "They collected rumors and compiled a report that is no different from what a street man would write on the region ... The government of Rwanda has no role in destabilizing eastern Congo."
The report said that while Rwanda has legitimate security concerns in eastern D.R.C., where people believed to have been involved in Rwanda's 1994 genocide fled after the massacres, Kigali continues to play a destabilizing role in D.R.C. (Agence France-Presse, July 27).
Accused Mercenaries Plead Guilty To Lesser Charges In ZimbabweJuly 28: Most of the 70 Angolans, Namibians and South Africans charged by Zimbabwe with being mercenaries and plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea pleaded guilty yesterday to lesser charges, according to Reuters, although all of the men face more serious charges today.
A magistrate found 67 of the men guilty after they entered guilty pleas on charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration and civil aviation laws when they landed in Harare in March. Their sentences could range from a fine to years in jail. The three other men, including suspected leader Simon Mann, were already in Zimbabwe and did not face the same charges.
"The 70 will face two other serious charges tomorrow ... they are going to plead not guilty to all the charges and we are going to be arguing our case," the group's attorney, Jonathan Samkange, said yesterday.
These charges include attempting to possess dangerous weapons and attempting to purchase weapons of war, and could result in sentences of of up to 15 years in jail.
Zimbabwean authorities said the group landed in Harare earlier this year en route to oust oil-rich Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
A separate team of accused mercenaries is being held in Equatorial Guinea and is expected to face trial on similar charges soon.
Families of the accused 70 have expressed concern about the possibility of the men being tried in Equatorial Guinea, where show trials and the death penalty are common, according to human rights groups (Cris Chinaka, Reuters, July 27).
Six Asian Nations Join Forces To Fight Human Trafficking
July 28: Senior officials from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam are meeting today in Bangkok to draft a new framework for fighting human trafficking, marking the first time the six nations have joined forces to combat the billion-dollar trade that traps 800,000 men, women and children every year."We must admit that the problem is a major one, and that it has huge impacts on the rights and livelihoods of our peoples," Thailand's minister of social development and human security, Sora-at Klinpratoom, said in an opening speech. "Accordingly we have to work together, as good neighbors, to solve these problems."
Ministers of the six countries are working toward signing a memorandum of understanding in October at a meeting to be held in Yangon, Myanmar's capital (Agence France-Presse, July 28).
Detained Vietnamese Montagnards In Cambodia Now With UNHCRJuly 28: Seventeen Vietnamese of the Montagnard ethnic minority detained in Cambodia after fleeing alleged persecution in Vietnam were handed over to the United Nations yesterday, Agence France-Presse reports.
The group was seized Sunday along with two journalists, human rights worker Pen Bunna of the human rights group ADHOC and his interpreter, who had searched for them in a remote region of northeastern Cambodia.
About 198 refugees have been detained after arriving in Cambodia following a violent Vietnamese government crackdown on April protests over religious freedoms and land confiscation. Human Rights Watch has said that 10 Montagnards were killed during the violence, but Vietnam puts the number at two.
Amid international pressure, Cambodia permitted the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and ADHOC access to northeastern Ratanakiri province to search for Montagnards fleeing Vietnam. The U.N. agency started interviewing 31 of the refugees in Phnom Penh earlier this week and another 38 arrived in the capital today (AFP, July 28).
Afghan Opium Harvest To Be One Of Biggest Ever, U.K. Says
July 28: The British Foreign Office announced yesterday that the opium harvest in Afghanistan this year will be one of the biggest on record, a revelation the London Independent says will be embarrassing for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who cited cutting the supply of heroin as one of the biggest reasons to invade Afghanistan in 2001.
"The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is in the process of assessing the 2004 harvest in conjunction with the Afghan government. Its report will be published in the autumn. We expect to see a rise in levels of cultivation," said Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell.
"This is unwelcome but experience of counter-narcotics policies in Pakistan and Thailand, which both had much lower initial levels of production and were more stable countries, shows that cultivation tends to increase before declining," he added.
Harry Cohen, a Labor Member of Parliament, responded to Rammell's announcement by saying, "the rise in cultivation and production of opium poppies in Afghanistan has horrendous portents for us in the U.K. bearing in mind the [prime minister's] statement that 90 percent of heroin sold on British streets comes from Afghanistan."
"The claim that cultivation tends to increase before declining gives no comfort and ... is not necessarily the case. It seems to me a hope more akin to peeing in the wind" (Brown/Clennell, London Independent, July 28).
Iraq Suicide Bomb Kills At Least 68; Jordanian Company To LeaveJuly 28: At least 68 Iraqis were killed and more than 56 wounded today in a suicide bomb attack near a police station in Baqouba in what is believed to be the deadliest single bombing since the transfer of sovereignty to Iraq exactly one month ago, CNN.com reports.
The blast occurred when a minibus exploded in the heart of Baqouba, which sits about 30 miles north of Baghdad, as police recruits waited in line outside the station. All 21 passengers on a bus passing by were reported killed, and officials said they expected the death toll to increase.
Violence also rocked Baghdad, where a mortar or rocket exploded in the volatile neighborhood nicknamed Little Fallujah, killing one and injuring six, police said. The target was believed to be a police station, although the weapon missed its target.
Meanwhile, about 35 suspected insurgents were killed in fighting south of Baghdad, as well as seven Iraqi soldiers. The battle came as Ukrainian forces provided cover for Iraqi troops and the U.S. Army (CNN.com, July 28).
Jordanian Company To Stop Operations In Iraq As Kidnappers DemandA Jordanian company agreed yesterday to stop operations in Iraq in compliance with the demands of kidnappers of two of its employees.
The company, Daoud & Partners, made its pledge a day after two of its truck drivers were kidnapped near the Syrian border by a group calling itself the Mujahedeen Corps. Relatives of the two men had protested in front of the company's headquarters in Amman, some of them threatening to kill the owners if they did not agree to negotiate with the kidnappers.
Also yesterday, an organization called the Group of Death pledged to cut off the road from Jordan, a main supply route, and attack Jordanian vehicles. In a videotape on the Arab news station Al-Arabiya, they demanded that Jordanian companies stop working with U.S. forces.
Yesterday, U.S. Secretary Colin Powell urged allies not to give in to hostage-takers' demands.
"Democracy is hard," he said in a television interview in Hungary. "Democracy is dangerous. And this is the time for us to be steadfast, not get weak in the knees. We must not allow insurgents, those who will use bombs and kidnappings and beheadings, to triumph" (Ian Fisher, New York Times, July 28).
Egyptian officials in Cairo and Washington yesterday dismissed reports that their government paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom to free an Egyptian diplomat in Iraq (CNN.com).
Sudanese Rebels Burned Villagers Alive, Reports SayJuly 28: Monitors from the African Union reported yesterday that on July 3 the Janjawid militia raided a village in Sudan's Darfur region and burned villagers alive, the London Telegraph reports.
The assailants, who were riding horses and camels, "killed civilians, in some cases by chaining them and burning them alive," according to an AU report cited by the newspaper.
"However, the team could not substantiate the allegation that Sudanese forces fought alongside the Janjawid," it added.
The Sudanese government, which denies that a genocide is under way in Darfur, has supported earlier findings of the AU that concur with its claims (David Blair, London Telegraph, July 28).
The United States yesterday circulated a revised draft resolution on Sudan to the U.N. Security Council, renewing the threat of sanctions and increasing pressure on the government to disarm the Janjawid militias.
Those opposed to the threat of sanctions, however, were unhappy with the revised draft (Associated Press/New York Times, July 28).
Russia today urged the Security Council to wait before taking any concrete measures against Sudan, Agence France-Presse reports.
"We support the U.N. Security Council examining the Sudan questions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. "But (we) think insofar as undertaking any concrete measures, that should be put off until after it becomes clear how the agreements between [Secretary General] Kofi Annan and the Sudan government are being carried out."
Fedotov was referring to an agreement reached by Annan and the Khartoum government during a visit to Sudan earlier this month under which the government vowed to clamp down on the militias within 90 days (AFP, July 28).
The Arab League is also pushing the Security Council to give Sudan more time to honor its commitments and to "avoid precipitate action" in the crisis.
After a meeting yesterday, the 22-member bloc praised the "steps already taken by the Sudanese government to implement its agreement with the United Nations" and asked other countries to help Khartoum fulfill its part of the accord (Reuters/Al-Jazeera, July 27).
In other news, Chadian President Idriss Deby has said Chad is unable to cope with the huge influx of refugees who are fleeing the Darfur crisis, and he appealed to the European Union for help.
Meager resources in Chad have been further depleted by the 180,00 Sudanese who have crossed into the eastern part of the country (South African Press Association/News24.com).
Two Killed In Bombing Of Afghan Voter Registration SiteJuly 28: A bomb exploded today in a mosque 90 miles southwest of the Afghan capital of Kabul, where Afghans were registering for the October presidential election, killing two.
One was working for the U.N.-Afghan electoral body, according to the governor of the area, Asadullah Khan, who said the blast destroyed the mosque. The other had come to register to vote. Both were Afghans. Six other Afghans were injured, two seriously.
U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva confirmed the account. The U.S. military had initially reported that six people died, including two U.N. staff members (Stephen Graham, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, July 28). De Almeida e Silva said U.S. Special Representative in Afghanistan Jean Arnault was "outraged" at what he called "this callous attack" (U.N. release, July 28).
Medecins Sans Frontieres To Leave Afghanistan Because Of Security Problems
Medecins Sans Frontieres announced today it is pulling out of Afghanistan after 24 years, saying poor security is "rendering independent aid for the Afghan people all but impossible." On June 2, five MSF aid workers were killed in a targeted attack in northwestern Afghanistan.
The group said the government has failed to conduct a "credible investigation" into the murders, and accused U.S.-led coalition forces in the country of using humanitarian aid for political purposes (Rachel Morarjee, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, July 28).
U.N. Security Council Extends D.R.C. Arms EmbargoUnited Nations July 28: The Security Council yesterday renewed for a second year an arms embargo on all the parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and also extended the term of a panel of experts monitoring compliance with the embargo.
Resolution 1552, adopted unanimously, says the parties to the Congolese conflict have failed to comply with the embargo, and therefore the sanctions, originally imposed in Resolution 1493 last July, would be extended until July next year. The embargo requires all governments, including the D.R.C., to prevent the supply of weapons to foreign fighters and Congolese insurgents fighting in the eastern regions of Ituri and Kivu. The foreign fighters include groups supporting and opposing the Kinshasa government.
A four-person panel of experts was set up in March under Resolution 1533 to examine the effectiveness of the embargo. The new resolution extends the panel until Jan. 31, 2005.
The latest report by the panel details a situation in which the embargo has no practical effect. The D.R.C. government has little control in the eastern part of the country, and neighboring Rwanda and Uganda have only limited deployments of custom and immigration officials along the D.R.C. border, according to the report. Both Rwandan troops and militias opposing the Rwandan government are operating in D.R.C., as well as "uncontrolled armed groups" and "alliances of convenience" (fighters from other countries, such as Sudan, sharing arms with groups already in the D.R.C.), the experts say.
The panel recommends greater regional and international coordination of air traffic control (including international financing for improving facilities), firmer actions to ensure fighters do not set up bases in refugee camps, and greater support for "the principle of a joint verification mechanism" involving the African Union and the United Nations.
Regarding the U.N. Organization Mission in the D.R.C. (MONUC), the panel said, "consideration should be given to a more robust deployment of MONUC troops in respect to its monitoring mandate" at key airports and at "key flashpoints along the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda."
By Jim Wurst
U.N. Wire