- Multilateralism, with a revitalised United Nations playing the pivotal role, is vital for combating a host of ills threatening West African countries, such as drugs, arms and human trafficking, organised crime and terrorism, Cape Verde said today.
“In this context in which states and democratic processes are threatened by factors from outside, multilateralism is an indispensable protection and essential resource,” Cape Verde Delegation Chairman Antonio Pedro Monteiro Lima told the General Assembly on the sixth day of its 64th annual General Debate.
“Within this framework the UN remains the central element as the collective conscience of the community of nations, devoted to coordinating our common action, favouring consensual and federative solutions.
“The revitalisation of the United Nations system thus seems a necessity of our time, allowing for the participation of all at the expense of unilateralism, consolidating its effectiveness in favour of common interests and obtaining solutions that respond to the aspirations of the most vulnerable and of present and future generations,” he urged.
He said Cape Verde and other West African States are confronting organised crime, “which in our regions is finding fertile ground for its criminal investments due to the fragility of our economies and the vulnerability of our emerging democracies and generally the weak response capacity of our States in the face of this wholesale threat.”
He cited support already being given by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help the region coordinate its efforts to confront “this tremendous challenge.”
Mr Monteiro Lima said Cape Verde was already making its contribution to a strengthened UN by being one of the eight pilot countries for the “Delivering as One” project aiming at a single programme, single budget, single office and single leader for all the UN agencies, funds and programmes. This pilot project is “on the path to success,” he added.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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