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Kofi Annan of Ghana,
Retired UN Secretary General.

- Kofi Annan icon for
African talents
- 7th Secretary General of the U.N. ( retired in December 2006).
- Nobel Prize Winner for Peace, also bridging the European-African relationship.

As the United Nations peacekeeping mission reduces its forces in post-conflict Sierra Leone, the West African country urgently needs aid from the international donor community in providing its security sector with needed equipment and must promote harmony between its police and troops, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says.

The Sierra Leonean National Security Council Coordinating Group should "join the United Nations in appealing to Member States to provide urgently the much-needed assistance" for the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), he says in his most recent report to the Security Council on the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

Since long-lasting peace and stability cannot be guaranteed without collaboration between the security forces, he calls on the Government to implement its earlier action plan to address major security sector gaps and solve the problem of harmonizing relations "through the continued sensitization of their personnel and through disciplinary measures."

Mr. Annan commends the leadership of the two security agencies for deciding to investigate recent incidents and prevent their recurrence.

On socio-economic matters, he notes public sector strikes over the late payment of salaries even as the prices of basic commodities rise and the rainy season approaches.

"The high poverty level combined with widespread unemployment and the marginalization of certain segments of society, in particular young people, could affect stability in the country," Mr. Annan says.

With the restoration of Government control over diamond mining, official exports have been valued at $50 million this year, compared with $29 million in the same period last year, he says, and the Government expects an increase in licensed diamond mining throughout the country.

Relevant Links
West Africa Aid Sierra Leone Post-Conflict Challenges

The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is scheduled for release in September 2004, while the Special Court, established through an agreement with the United Nations, has secured funds until the end of this year and is finalizing its 2005 budget, he says.

Meanwhile, the Court's Registrar "has started negotiations with several countries on the possibility of entering into bilateral agreements on the enforcement of sentences and the relocation of witnesses," he says."

UN chief Kofi Annan challenges world leaders to do more to combat AIDS
VIJAY JOSHI Canadian Press Sunday, July 11, 2004

"AIDS activists shout slogans during a demonstration Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP/Sakchai Lalit)

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The International AIDS Conference opened Sunday with UN chief Kofi Annan challenging world leaders to do more to combat the raging global epidemic and warning that women are increasingly the unwitting victims of the disease.

Three years after world leaders pledged at the United Nations to defeat the epidemic, there has been progress on many fronts, Annan said in a speech to nearly 20,000 policy makers, scientists, activists and celebrities.

"And yet, we are not doing nearly well enough," he said, in the first appearance by the UN secretary general at an International AIDS Conference.

"We need leaders everywhere to demonstrate that speaking up about AIDS is a point of pride, not a source of shame. There must be no more sticking heads in the sand . . . no more hiding behind a veil of apathy."

Organizers criticized a U.S. decision to send a pared-down delegation that forced some researchers to cancel presentations, with delegates saying they believed it was a message that the conference wasn't focused enough on abstinence.

The U.S. stance sends "a strange signal" from the largest donor nation to anti-AIDS efforts, conference co-chairman Joep Lange said. "These ideological games are very counterproductive," he said.

The United States says the reason is cost cutting: It spent $3.6 million on the Barcelona trip. The bill this time is $500,000.

The conference was expected to discuss how best to prevent infections - with discussions on whether to focus primarily on condoms, as host country Thailand has done, or on abstinence, as favoured by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Bush Tells Lies, Condoms Save Lives, read a placard held by one of an estimated 1,000 activists, many of them HIV positive, who rallied outside the venue to demand increased access to drugs, condoms and clean needles.

Thailand doled out condoms at tollbooths, hotels and the conference. The venue even had an exhibit of dresses made of condoms, symbols of the country's success in securing a sevenfold decrease in HIV infections since 1991 largely by promoting condom-only sex among prostitutes.

The emerging HIV epidemics of Asia typically have started with drug users and gay men, then progressed to sex workers and their clients, the region's main engine of transmission, said epidemiologist Tim Brown of the Hawaii-based East West Center.

The pace of the spread depends on the percentage of the country's men who visit prostitutes, he said. Thailand had one of the higher percentages, about 20 per cent in 1990, so its epidemic spread fast. The same pattern is happening more elsewhere in Asia - but more slowly.

"What's particularly dangerous about the slow growth is that it won't motivate the kind of aggressive response that we've seen in Thailand and in Cambodia," Brown said.

A UNAIDS report issued before the conference said 38 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, 25 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa and 7.6 million in Asia. A record five million people were infected last year.

In sub-Saharan Africa, experts are alarmed at the high rates at which HIV is spreading from high-risk groups to young women and married monogamous housewives.

Calling it a "terrifying pattern," Annan said women now account for nearly half of all adult infections, and in sub-Saharan Africa the figure is as high as 58 per cent.

"And yet, one-third of all countries still have no policies to ensure that women have access to prevention and care," Annan said.

The theme of the 15th conference is getting more of the newly available antiretroviral drug combinations to the millions in the developing world who need them - turning AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic disease.

In a speech to open the conference, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urged governments around the world to provide ARV drugs to the needy. He announced a donation of $5 million over five years to a UN-initiated fund to fight AIDS."

Annan Dispatches Senior Envoy to Sudan for Talks On Darfur Progress
" UN News Service (New York) July 14, 2004 Posted to the web July 15, 2004

The top United Nations envoy to Sudan will travel there tomorrow to hold the first talks with its leaders about the progress made by Khartoum and the UN since they signed a joint communiqué about alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan dispatched his Special Representative Jan Pronk to participate in the first meeting of the Joint Implementation Mechanism (JIM), which was set up on 3 July, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said today.

But the meeting will take place against a background of continuing insecurity in Darfur, with UN humanitarian agencies reporting violent clashes between government forces and two rebel groups, and fighting among tribal groups as well.

In South Darfur, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has noted the increase presence recently of Arab militias known as the Janjaweed. Allied to the Sudanese Government, the Janjaweed stand accused of attacking black African villagers, burning their homes and killing or raping many civilians.

Briefing reporters in New York, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said his worst fear was that the insecurity would worsen and worsen until aid agencies felt they had to withdraw for their own safety.

"Our trucks are looted, our humanitarian workers are threatened and attacked, and that's not necessarily only the fault of the Government. There are many militias and other forces" in the region, he said.

But Mr. Egeland said the Sudanese Government had generally improved humanitarian access to Darfur by lifting obstacles, as it promised to do in the communiqué signed after talks between Mr. Annan and senior government ministers.

In that declaration, Khartoum said it would lift humanitarian restrictions and also take measures to end the impunity of people who are committing human rights abuses in Darfur. The UN said it would provide urgent aid relief and play its part in any peace efforts.

Meanwhile, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reported that it has trained 30 doctors in the states of North and South Darfur in safe motherhood practices, treating sexual abuse and family planning methods.

At the same time, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that poor sanitation means tens of thousands of children across Darfur are at high risk of contracting cholera and other water-borne diseases.

Relevant Links
East Africa North Africa Civil War and Communal Conflict Humanitarian Abuses and Civilians Peace Negotiations and Conflict Resolution Sudan

More than half of the estimated one million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur now have access to clean water, but UNICEF officials said the agency needs to step up the pace of latrine construction to avoid serious hygiene problems - especially given the arrival of the rainy season.

Apart from the JIM talks in Khartoum, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, will take part in a separate political dialogue on resolving the Darfur conflict in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, tomorrow."

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