TOP UN OFFICIALS REVIEW MALARIA CONTROL EFFORTS IN UGANDA

Two senior United Nations officials are currently in Uganda to review the country's progress in controlling malaria, which every year kills an estimated 1 million people, most of them children in Africa.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO), Margaret Chan, are also hoping to gain a better understanding of the remaining challenges in tackling the disease.

The two officials arrived in Uganda from Tanzania, where they met on Monday with President Jakaya Kikwete.

In addition to Government leaders, Mr. Chambers and Dr. Chan are also holding talks with local <"http://www.who.int/topics/malaria/en/index.html">malaria experts and visiting urban and rural health centres focused on fighting the disease. They are joined on the trip by the President of the Global Health Programme at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Their long-term objective is to end malaria deaths," UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York. "That can be achieved by meeting the Secretary-General's goal of providing all endemic African countries with malaria control interventions by the end of 2010."

Last September government, business and civil society leaders launched a global campaign to reduce malaria deaths to near zero by 2015, with an initial commitment of nearly $3 billion.

The Global Malaria Action Plan aims to cuts deaths and illness by 2010 to half their 2000 levels by scaling up access to insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor spraying and treatment, and achieve the near-zero goal through sustained universal coverage. Ultimately it seeks to eradicate the disease completely with new tools and strategies.

Halting the incidence of malaria is one of the many health-related targets that make up the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the pledges world leaders made to try to slash poverty, hunger, preventable illness and a host of other socio-economic ills by 2015.

TANZANIA NATURALIZES FIRST BATCH OF BURUNDIAN REFUGEES, REPORTS UN

After living in Tanzania for over three decades, thousands of Burundian refugees have been granted citizenship by the host Government, in the first large-scale naturalization of its kind in Africa, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

This week, 3,568 out of over 160,000 Burundian refugees were granted citizenship, a decision marking "a major milestone in a programme that will bring to a close one of the world's most protracted refugee situations," Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva.

Early last year, some 218,000 Burundians who fled violence in their country in 1972 were given the choice by Tanzanian authorities to either return home or to apply for citizenship.

At the peak of the crisis in Burundi in the 1990s, almost half a million people escaped clashes, sheltering in camps along the Tanzanian border. The peace process in Burundi has paved the way for the return of one of the continent's longest-staying refugee populations, with over 400,000 Burundians having returned from Tanzania since 2004.

UNHCR advocated on behalf of the refugees with both the Burundian and Tanzanian Governments, helping them make their decisions on whether to return or stay.

Ultimately, 162,000 refugees opted to apply for citizenship, with the first batch of applicants naturalized on 4 August. Tanzania has reaffirmed its commitment to wrapping up the process by the end of this year, Mr. Mahecic said.

Meanwhile, 45,000 Burundians who decided to return home have already reached Burundi with assistance from UNHCR, with an additional 9,000 refugees set to return in the coming months.

"UNHCR will continue to support the Tanzanian Government in the transition phases of the integration of the newly naturalized" through such community projects as road rehabilitation, school construction and repair, and improvement of health services, the agency's spokesperson said.

The entire repatriation scheme is funded through UNHCR's $28 million Supplementary Appeal for 2008-2009, launched last February, which is facing an $8 million funding gap.
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UN LAUDS TANZANIA’S DECISION TO GIVE BURUNDIAN REFUGEES MORE TIME TO RETURN HOME

The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed Tanzania's decision to allow more time for some 36,000 Burundian refugees who have been living in the country since the 1990s to make their way back to their homeland.

The Mtabila camp in Kasulu district in north-western Tanzania – the last remaining camp hosting Burundian refugees in the country – was scheduled to close on 30 June and all of its residents were expected to voluntarily repatriate, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

But the Government announced on 20 June that the Burundians will have more time to go back home, and that no refugee will be forcibly returned.

"The refugees will now have the chance to plan their return home during the traditional high season for repatriation, which runs to the end of September," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

UNHCR has assisted over 485,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda to return home voluntarily since 2002.

In addition to those in the Mtabila camp, who fled to Tanzania to escape the ethnic violence in Burundi in the last 16 years, the country is also hosting the so-called "1972" Burundian refugees in western Tanzania.

The Tanzanian Government decided in 2008 to give the latter group a choice to return home or apply for Tanzanian citizenship. Some 165,000 of them decided to stay and applied for naturalization, while another 55,000 opted to return to Burundi.

UNHCR has assisted some 40,000 of them to return so far and the remaining 15,000 are registered to repatriate before the end of the year.
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AFRICAN YOUTH REACH KILIMANJARO’S SUMMIT TO HIGHLIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE – UN

AFRICAN YOUTH REACH KILIMANJARO'S SUMMIT TO HIGHLIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE – UN
New York, Mar 6 2009 6:00PM

A team of disadvantaged African youth has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as part of a United Nations-backed campaign seeking to draw attention to the negative effects of climate change.

The 10 youth – from Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana – reached the summit of Africa's highest peak yesterday as part of the fourth annual ascent organized by Kilimanjaro Initiative, a Nairobi-based non-governmental organization, in partnership with the UN.

Upon reaching the peak under the banner of the "UNite to Combat Climate Change" campaign, they called Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who himself flew over the mountain last weekend and saw first-hand how there is less water in the streams and less snow on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

When the climbers reach the bottom, they reported on their findings to Janos Pasztor, the Director of the Secretary-General's Climate Change Support Team.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that rising temperatures, increased rainfall and extreme weather conditions will dramatically change where and how people live in cities.

Changing climates does untold damage to economic and public infrastructure and stretches the ability of urban centres to accommodate displaced populations, leading to unemployment, deteriorating educational facilities, inadequate health care systems and a possible rise in crime in urban centres, according to the agency.
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CONTINUING AFRICA TOUR, BAN HOLDS TALKS WITH TANZANIAN PRESIDENT

CONTINUING AFRICA TOUR, BAN HOLDS TALKS WITH TANZANIAN PRESIDENT
New York, Feb 26 2009 4:00PM

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon began an official visit to Tanzania today, meeting with President Jakaya Kikwete with whom he discussed a range of issues, from the country's upcoming elections and regional crises to the global economic meltdown.

The two also talked about the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is based in the Tanzanian city of Arusha and is expected to complete its work next year, as well as the situations in Burundi, Zimbabwe, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Mr. Ban and President Kikwete also spoke about climate change and its impact on food security in Tanzania, as well as the public health situation in the country and the Government's efforts to stamp out HIV/AIDS.

In a separate meeting chaired by President Kikwete, the Secretary-General met with former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, who briefed him on the Nairobi talks aimed at bringing peace to war-torn DRC, which Mr. Mkapa co-chairs with former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

They discussed the reintegration of fighters from the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) into the Congolese armed forces, the prospects for UN assistance in supporting military integration, and the question of temporary amnesty.

Also today, Mr. Ban delivered a lecture to the local diplomatic corps, the academic community and representatives of the media, in which he called on African leaders to move forward on education, efforts to battle climate change and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

He also emphasized the need to put an end to violence throughout the continent – including in Darfur, DRC and Somalia.

Mr. Ban arrived in Tanzania from South Africa, the first stop on his current tour which will also take him to DRC, Rwanda and Egypt.
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AFRICAN YOUTH TO CLIMB KILIMANJARO, JOINING UN CAMPAIGN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

AFRICAN YOUTH TO CLIMB KILIMANJARO, JOINING UN CAMPAIGN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
New York, Feb 25 2009 2:00PM

A group of young people from impoverished urban areas in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana, will set off on a gruelling trek to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro under the United Nations banner to draw attention to the effects of climate change.

Ten underprivileged youth will join 25 other people from the private and public sectors in the fourth annual ascent to the "rooftop of Africa" organized by the Kilimanjaro Initiative, a Nairobi-based non-governmental organization (NGO), in partnership with the "UNite to Combat Climate Change" global campaign.

"This year's climb will highlight – with the melting ice of Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop – how global warming has a direct impact on the living conditions of individuals and communities throughout the world," said Wilfred Lemke, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace.

"By raising awareness about the impact of global warming, including in populated urban areas, the Kilimanjaro Initiative will assist in the achievement of MDG [Millennium Development Goal] 7 of 'ensuring environmental sustainability,'" he added.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that rising temperatures, increased rainfall and extreme weather conditions will dramatically change where and how people live in cities.

The change in climate does untold damage to economic and public infrastructure and stretches the ability of urban centres to accommodate displaced populations, leading to unemployment, deteriorating educational facilities, inadequate health care systems and a possible rise in crime in urban centres, according to the agency.

At the top of Kilimanjaro, the group will use a satellite telephone to call Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who is currently on the South African leg of a tour that will take him to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Egypt.

Mr. Ban is also due to fly over the receding ice cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, on his way to the city of Arusha to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
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