- The United Nations legal experts are on a 10-day visit to Côte d'Ivoire to study the West African country’s implementation of national laws and its prison administration as well as the judiciary’s interaction with other sectors of society.
The two experts from the UN Department Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Agneta Johnson and Gwendolyn Chellam, will discuss the redeployment of judicial and prison authorities across the country following years of tensions in the wake of a political and military crisis.
The UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) said the visit also will enable the UN and the international community, which has contributed to the reorganisation of the judicial and prison sectors, to assess the progress achieved and the challenges remaining to be addressed.
UNOCI was set up in 2004 to help ensure a ceasefire and pave the way for permanent peace and democratic elections after civil war split the country into a Government-ruled south and a rebel-controlled north seven years ago. Reauthorised repeatedly since then, most recently until 31 January 2010, it currently comprises nearly 8,400 uniformed personnel, as well as 407 international civilian staff.
Earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Young-Jin Choi warned that technical difficulties might yet again delay the country’s long-awaited presidential elections, which were to have been held as far back as 2005 and are now scheduled for 29 November.
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.