UN:News: Jack Lang (Piracy off the Coast of Somalia), Posted by Menelik Zeleke

UN News: The situation in Somalia, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

UN: 2010 among deadliest years for disasters, urges better preparedness

The earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 topped the list of disasters for last year

24 January 2011 – 2010 was one of the deadliest years for natural disasters in the past two decades and unless better preparations are put in place now, many more disasters can be expected in years to come, the UN’s top disaster reduction official said today. Some 373 natural disasters claimed the lives of more than 296,800 people last year, affecting nearly 208 million and costing nearly $110 billion, according to annual data compiled by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) of the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and supported by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the UN body charged with helping coordinate efforts to achieve substantive reduction in disaster losses and build resilient nations and communities.
“These figures are bad, but could be seen as benign in years to come,” said the head of UNISDR and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström. “Unless we act now, we will see more and more disasters due to unplanned urbanization and environmental degradation. And weather-related disasters are sure to rise in the future, due to factors that include climate change.”
According to the data, the 12 January earthquake in Haiti killed more than 222,500 people, while the Russian summer heat wave caused about 56,000 fatalities – making 2010 the year with the highest disaster-related casualties in at least two decades.
Currently, moderate to strong La Niña conditions are well-established in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and are likely to continue until the first quarter of this year, according to the El Niño/La Niña update issued recently by the UN World Meteorological Organization, the data notes. El Niño is a large-scale warming of water in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean every three to five years and can last up to 18 months, while La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean temperatures in the same region.
La Niña is thought to be linked to the floods and landslides that occurred in Colombia last year, and more recently the floods in Queensland, Australia, triggered by rains that began in late December.
“It’s critical for local governments, city leaders and their partners to incorporate climate change adaptation in urban planning,” Ms. Wahlström said, stressing that disaster risk reduction was no longer optional. “What we call ‘disaster risk reduction’ – and what some are calling ‘risk mitigation’ or ‘risk management’ – is a strategic and technical tool for helping national and local governments to fulfil their responsibilities to citizens.”
According to CRED’s data, for the first time, the Americas became the world’s worst affected continents in terms of fatalities, with 75 per cent of total deaths caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Europe was the region with the second highest number of deaths, with the heat wave in Russia accounting for nearly a fifth of 2010’s total fatalities. Other extreme climate events in Europe included Storm Xynthia last February, floods in France in June and the extreme winter conditions all over Europe throughout December.
Asia experienced fewer disaster-related deaths with 4.7 per cent of total fatalities, but remained the region most prone to natural disasters. An estimated 89 per cent of the total number of people affected by natural disasters last year resided in Asia.
Five of the ten most deadly disasters occurred in China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Earthquakes killed almost 3,000 people in China in April and 530 people in Indonesia in October. Between May and August, floods killed more than 1,500 people in China, and another 1,765 were killed by mudslides, landslides or rock fall triggered by heavy rainfall and floods in August. Nearly 2,000 people were killed by the massive floods in Pakistan.
Floods and landslides during the summer in China are estimated to have cost $18 billion in losses, while flood-related destruction in Pakistan was estimated at $9.5 billion. The Haiti earthquake caused damage worth $8 billion, according to the CRED data. The costliest event in 2010, however, was the earthquake in Chile in February, with damages valued at $30 billion.
The other two years when natural disasters caused higher losses were 2005, when damages from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma alone amounted to $139 billion; and 2008, when the earthquake in Sichuan, China, caused $86 billion worth of damages, a figure than brought the total losses for that year to about $200 billion.

UN: 2010 among deadliest years for disasters, urges better preparedness

Black History Month: A Black Woman's Smile

Egyptians Rage against Mubarak's 30-year Rule

News

Tue. Jan 25, 2011

CAIRO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Empowered by current events in Tunisia, thousands of Egyptians demanded an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and clashed with police in unprecedented countrywide protests on Tuesday inspired by the revolt that brought down Tunisia's president.

"Down, down, Hosni Mubarak," chanted protesters in Cairo, where police fired teargas and used water cannon, and protesters hurled bottles and rocks at them.

Some protesters were beaten hard by police with sticks. Others, in a rare show of nerve against a huge national security operation, chased police down side streets. Reuters TV footage showed one policeman joining the demonstrators.

In Alexandria protesters tore down a picture of Mubarak, 82, and one of his son, Gamal, who many Egyptians believe is being groomed for office when his father stands down. Both deny this.

Protesters in Cairo who responded to calls by web activists for action cried: "Gamal, tell your father Egyptians hate you."

Egyptians have the same complaints that drove Tunisians onto the streets: surging food prices, poverty, unemployment and authoritarian rule that smothers public protests quickly and often brutally. "Tunisia, Tunisia," protesters shouted.

The United States, a close ally of Egypt and major aid donor, called for restraint from all sides to avoid violence.

"Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington.

The protests in Cairo and other cities may have drawn 20,000 people or more, based on witnesses. An Interior Ministry statement said more than 10,000 gathered in one central square in Cairo alone, but did not give an overall number.

But it is hard to estimate because protests were so spread out and state media gave only cursory mention of the events.

"DAY OF WRATH"

Egyptian protests usually draw only a few hundred people. The large numbers and the fact that protests across several cities were coordinated in a way not seen before gave Tuesday's events a force unprecedented since Mubarak took office in 1981.

"What is happening today is a major warning to the system. It is both an extension of pent-up frustrations and continued protests. What is also new is that there are new generations who are using new tools," said analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah.

The protest could gather momentum unless the state swiftly addressed the demand for reform, he said.

With most formal opposition groups fractured and toothless, web activists led the calls for Tuesday's demonstrations, billed as a "Day of Wrath" against poverty and repression.

By drawing demonstrators in such numbers, online activists have shown their calls for political change can reach a broad audience. Until now most of the rage has stayed on the Internet.

As night fell, police and protesters in Cairo's central Tahrir square mingled and some shared food. Some protesters showed no sign of quitting for the night.

Messages on Twitter and Facebook read: "Tahrir protesters are not going home. They need food and blankets. Roads are closed, so if you live nearby, please help."

Others called for more protests in the days ahead.

Demonstrations took place in Ismailia and Suez, both cities east of Cairo, and in other Nile Delta cities like Mansoura and Tanta. Protesters also gathered in north Sinai.

"We are gathered here to demand our rights. We can't live. Everything is expensive and there is unemployment. We want prices to go down. This government is the reason for our suffering," said Ibrahim, 33, in Mahalla el Kubra, the site of 2008 riots over subsidised bread shortages and price rises.

ARRESTS

In Ismailia, protesters chanted: "Where are you, freedom?" In Alexandria they shouted: "Revolution, revolution, like a volcano against Mubarak the coward."

Medical and security sources said 46 people were injured. A security source said 15 people were detained in Cairo. A group of lawyers said some 50 were detained across Egypt. Another source said two police officers were injured in Suez when rocks were hurled. Witnesses saw protesters dragged off by police.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that despite the provocative approach of some demonstrators "they were allowed to organise peaceful protests". It blamed the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood for provoking some rioting.

The Brotherhood, seen as having Egypt's biggest grassroots network, had not made an explicit call to join the protest in the days leading up to it. But some members joined in.

The Interior Ministry earlier said it would deal firmly with anyone breaking the law and said demonstrators could face arrest. But Interior Minister Habib al-Adli had told a state newspaper he welcomed stationary protests for short periods.

"We have orders not to clash with them (protesters)," one security officer was heard to say, speaking on a mobile phone earlier in the demonstration in Cairo before scuffles began.

Analysts had expected the authorities to show a more tolerant attitude for fear of provoking the kind of anger that drove Tunisians into weeks of unrest before the overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in office.

Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, and some of the Cairo protesters chanted: "Oh Mubarak, Saudi Arabia awaits you."

"I will go to the streets on the 25th of January because this country is my country and I vow an oath that I am ready and willing to die for its sake," wrote Mohamed M on a Facebook group that called for protests and has 87,000 supporters.

Cote d’ Ivoire: Obama Meets with ECOWAS Delegation

Williams Ekanem and Agency Reports

President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with a delegation from the Economic Council of West African States (ECOWAS) over the lingering presidential election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire tomorrow.

In the same vein, from New York, United Nations sources say  that a team from ECOWAS would be in New York on Thursday to meet with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, on the same issue.

Reports monitored in Washington say, the ECOWAS team to the meeting slated for the White House would be led by the President of Sierra-Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma. Among those that would be on the delegation are President of ECOWAS Commission, Amb. James Victor Gbeho, Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, Nigerian Ambassador to US, Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, and the commission's Director of Political Affairs, Dr. Abdel Fatau Musah.

Cote d'Ivoire had been in the throes of crises since the November 28 Presidential rerun which the country's eletoral body declared was won by opposition leader  Alassane Ouattara. Another body, the Constitutional Council, after the ruling FPY contested the result of the election, declared incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo winner, an action that had been condemned and is being resisted by the international community.

Both personalities are presently laying claim to the West African country's presidency, a development that is gradually pushing the country to the brink. While some targeted sanctions had been imposed on Gbagbo, his family and close associates by US and European Union, ECOWAS leaders at a meeting in Abuja last month resolved to use "legitimate force" to oust the sit-tight Ivorian leader.

Though, ECOWAS is still engaged in diplomatic talks with Gbagbo, the upcoming meetings in US are seen as part of efforts by the regional body to garner global support for an impending military action against the Ivorian leader should the ongoing talks fail.

White House and State Department sources yesterday said that the ECOWAS team would first meet with the US Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton, at the State Department on Wednesday morning, before proceeding to the White House in the evening to meet with Obama.

Last month, President Obama had in a phone conversation with President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the chairman of ECOWAS, commended Nigeria 's resolute leadership in standing behind the Ivorien people and for insisting that the result of the November 28, 2010 presidential rerun must be respected.

News from Africa

Uganda’s President opposes UN on Ouattara

Jan 25, 2011

Williams Ekanem with agency reports.

Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, has joined the list of African leaders opposed to the removal of the sitting president Gbagbo as he opposed the UN recognition of Alassane Ouattara as winner of Cote d’ Ivore’s election and wants an African Union probe into the poll.

Other African Presidents opposed to ECOWAS and United Nations’ position on Cote d’Ivoire are Ghana and South Africa.

Museveni’s spokesman, Tamale Mirundi stated this on Tuesday.

Agency reports quoted him as saying that “Uganda differs with the UN and the international community on Cote d’ Ivore,” Mirundi told Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, quoting Museveni.

UN certified electoral commission results showed incumbent Laurent Gbagbo had lost, but the result was overturned by the pro-Gbagbo Constitutional Council after it cancelled thousands of votes in Ouattara strongholds.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS, the EU and the U.S. have sided with Ouattara and called for Gbagbo to step down immediately, but he has refused.

According to the reports, South African President Jacob Zuma said last week after meeting Museveni that there were “discrepancies” in the way the result was announced.

Angola is also seen as a potential weak point in AU unity on Cote d’ Ivore, while Ghana has said it will not take sides.

Mirundi said Museveni agreed with Zuma that an alternative approach to Cote d’ Ivore crisis was better.

“Each country has a constitution and framework within which to solve internal problems, so it is not up to the UN or international community to recognise this or that winner; the matter must be investigated.

“There is need for a serious approach that involves investigating the electoral process, including registration of voters and who voted, not just declaring who has won,” Mirundi quoted Museveni as saying.

News from the State Department: U.S. Issues Travel Warning to Uganda

Washington D.C. 

January 25, 2011 

Williams Ekanem 

The State Department has alerted U.S. citizens residing in or traveling to Uganda to the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections on February 18, 2011. In a travel alert issued yesterday, U.S. warned its citizens in Uganda to exercise caution and remain abreast of the security situation throughout the election period. This Travel Alert expires on April 18, 2011. The travel warning may have been necessitated by the bomb blast that killed some people in July 2010 while watching a televised FIFF world cup match in nearby South Africa. Uganda's 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections generally were orderly and peaceful, and there are no indications that the 2011 elections will be any different. Nevertheless, the State Department recommends that U.S. citizens monitor the local news for changing security developments throughout the elections. Instances of localized unrest related to the elections are possible, and U.S. citizens should be aware that even peaceful gatherings and demonstrations can turn violent. U.S. citizens should maintain a high level of security awareness at all times and avoid political rallies, demonstrations, and crowds of any kind. Ugandan authorities have however increased patrols and police presence due to the July 2010 terrorist bombings in Kampala, the December 2010 bombing of a Uganda-bound bus in Kenya, continued threats against Uganda by the terrorist group al-Shabaab, and heightened domestic tensions that accompany competitive political campaigns. U.S. citizens are advised to be extremely vigilant with regard to their personal security in public places frequented by foreigners such as hotels, resorts, upscale shopping centers, restaurants, places of worship, and outdoor recreational events.

Past State of the Union Address, Posted by Menelik Zeleke