United Nations Radio

Ban Ki-moon

PRES: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke on Tuesday about the wide range of issues he tackled during his recent trip to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He began the trip by addressing the Madrid High Level Meeting on Food Security for All. He noted that the food crisis is still with us, though it has been overshadowed by the financial crisis that followed it.

SG: We do not see many references these days to the food crisis in the news. It has been eclipsed by economic fears. But we are still not out of the woods. I call it our forgotten crisis.

PRES: Mr. Ban pointed out that in Kenya, alone, one quarter of the population, or 25 million people are in a state of food emergency. At the Madrid meeting, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, the Secretary-General called for a sharp increase in agricultural assistance to the most vulnerable nations. Moving on to his participation in the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Mr. Ban said Darfur was a topic of intense discussion. Over the past 3 weeks fighting between the government and rebels has killed many civilians and displaced thousands of people in the area of Muhajeriya in the South.

SG: Publicly and privately, I pressed both the government and rebel forces around the city of Muhajeria to withdraw and to safeguard civilians. Both sides have largely complied. I told everyone I spoke to, bluntly and categorically, that the UN would stand its ground.

PRES: The Secretary-General then turned to Zimbabwe, where the opposition's leader Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday as Prime Minister. The agreement on a unity government follows a long period of deadlock after the election that created a political and humanitarian crisis in the country.

SG: I welcomed Zimbabwe's progress in forming a unity government. But I told President Mugabe, very frankly, that they still have far to go. I emphasized to the President that the government must protect the human rights and democratic freedoms of all Zimbabweans. I urged him to release all those arrested or secretly detained in recent months.

PRES: In the next stop on his trip, Afghanistan, Ban Ki-moon said this would be the critical year for addressing that country's security challenges and strengthening its democratic institutions. In Pakistan he called for an investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India and announced the creation of an independent UN commission to investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In India, he said, he argued forcefully for "green growth" at the New Delhi Sustainable Development Summit. From there he also expressed concern about the crisis in Sri Lanka's north where a quarter million civilians have been trapped by fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.

SG: I telephoned President Mahinda Rajapaksa from India and expressed my deep concern over the high number of civilian casualties. He assured me that he would take all measures to safeguard the civilian population.

PRES: Stopping in Iraq, Mr. Ban said he congratulated the people on holding peaceful and democratically conducted provincial elections. Finally, the Secretary-General expressed his continuing concern about the situation in Gaza, where he himself witnessed the destruction and daily difficulties faced by the Palestinian civilians even after the end of the 3-week attack on Hamas by Israel.

SG: All but one border crossing remains closed. Nearly 1 million refugees depend on daily UN aid. Yet we are getting in supplies for only 30,000.

PRES: Mr. Ban denounced the seizing by Hamas militants of UN aid, which has since been recovered and demanded that it not happen again. He also announced that he is establishing a UN Board of Inquiry into the killings and damage that occurred at UN premises in Gaza.

 Producer: Bissera Kostova

 Duration: 4'00"