Ivory Coast President Agrees With US Reconciliation Push

By Phillip Wellman Abidjan 12 November 2007

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An official spokesman for Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has said the president believes political leaders from across the spectrum must work together in order to guarantee lasting peace in the country. The comment follows a recent visit by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who says much of his time in Ivory Coast was spent encouraging authorities to work transparently and collectively to implement a March peace accord. Phillip Wellman reports for VOA from Abidjan.

Presidential spokesman Gervais Coulibaly says Mr. Gbagbo agrees with ambassador Negroponte that the best way to implement Ivory Coast's peace accord is by collaborating with the opposition on important issues.

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, right, greets U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Abidjan, 11 Nov 2007

Negroponte's two-day visit to Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, which concluded Sunday evening, follows growing international concern about the prolonged process of reconciliation in the country.

Negroponte met government and opposition leaders, U.N. officials and representatives from civil society during his visit to evaluate progress towards unity. Negroponte is the most senior U.S. official to visit Ivory Coast since the beginning of civil war in 2002, which divided the country into a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.

The peace accord signed between President Gbagbo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro in March, resulted in a coalition government in which Soro became prime minister. The aim of the agreement is to guarantee free and fair presidential elections.

The accord is widely believed to be Ivory Coast's best chance at reconciliation, but concerns over the pace of implementation have led some international observers, including U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, to express serious concern.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Mr. Negroponte said the United States would like to see full implementation of the peace accord happen as soon as possible. He says that some progress has been made since March, but more should continue.

"Implementation will require courage and a willingness to move beyond the disagreements that have kept Cote d'Ivoire divided," he said. "In my meetings today, I urged Ivorian leaders from across the spectrum to take the steps they know are necessary to implement the agreement and to work together to improve Cote d'Ivoire's prospects for the future."

Negroponte says following through with the agreement will be a complex task, but says it must be done to improve Ivory Coast's social and economic prospects.

"The road ahead will be a difficult one - but it is not an impossible one," he noted. "There will be difficult choices that only Ivorians can make and I encouraged your leaders today to address these issues in as open a manner as possible so all points of view are heard."

Identification of undocumented Ivorians, reintegration of rebels into the national army and disarmament are issues that Ivory Coast has yet to fully deal with. Mr. Gbagbo says he is trying to solve the country's problems thoroughly and together with the opposition, but critics say the president is stalling reconciliation procedures to remain in power. Mr. Gbagbo denies the accusations.

A coalition of opposition political parties in Ivory Coast says it is currently trying without any success to work with Mr. Gbagbo to make sure presidential elections are held before April 2008.

Negroponte says he believes there is a strong desire on the part of all parties to move towards unity.

Ivory Coast was Negroponte's first stop on a West African tour that will also take him to Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Experts Say New Drugs, Rapid Diagnosis Needed for Drug Resistant TB

By Scott Bobb Johannesburg 12 November 2007

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Experts on lung disease meeting in South Africa are warning the world could face a tuberculosis crisis if drug resistant strains of TB are not contained and if TB testing does not become a regular part of HIV treatment. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from our bureau in Johannesburg.

Three thousand experts from 100 countries ended a five-day conference in Cape Town warning that urgent measures are needed to address the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis and its growing presence among victims of HIV/AIDS.

Petrus Van Nell, 68, a victim of Mesothelioma an Asbestos related form of cancer, looks at his hands, as he lies in his bed in Northern Cape town of Prieska, South Africa (File Photo)

One-and-one-half million people died of tuberculosis last year. Nine million new cases were reported. Nearly one-half million were resistant to the main anti-TB drugs. A fraction of these, 400 in South Africa, were resistant to almost all drugs known to science and nearly always fatal.

One of the conference organizers, Nils Billo of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said at the same time no new TB drug has been developed in more than 40 years.

"It is urgent to find new drugs. It is urgent to find new vaccines. It is a scandal that governments are not putting more money into this," said Billo. "And one of the reasons this is happening is that many companies are not really interested to invest in poor countries. Tuberculosis is a disease of the poor unfortunately and companies hesitate to invest in drug development [there]."

He said wealthy nations should provide more funding while developing nations should focus on prevention measures such as education and early diagnosis.

HIV sufferers are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis. One-third of the world's 40 million people with HIV also have tuberculosis. In South Africa 60 percent are infected with both diseases. Their death rate is five times that of people infected with tuberculosis alone.

Billo says as a result treatment programs should be administered together and victims of one infection should be routinely tested for the other.

"It is important that people who come for a TB diagnosis, if they get tested positive for tuberculosis they should immediately or at the same time get tested for HIV. I think that is a very important point that has not yet been implemented programmatically in most of the countries," added Billo.

The experts say tobacco, another major cause of lung disease, is also placing strain on health care systems.

Billo says the five million annual tobacco-related deaths are expected to double in the next 23 years and developing nations will be hardest hit.

"So it is critical that countries ratify the framework convention on tobacco control and that they implement the major tobacco control measures," said Billo.

These measures include higher taxes on tobacco products, enforcement of smoke-free zones and bans on tobacco advertisements.

Israel Says It Will Release More Than 400 Palestinian Prisoners

By Jim Teeple Jerusalem 12 November 2007

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Israel's prime minister says more than 400 Palestinian prisoners could be released this month before an upcoming Middle East peace conference. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem bureau.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, right, and FM Tzipi Livni attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, 11 Nov 2007

Speaking before the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says plans to release about 400 Palestinian prisoners are intended as a confidence-building measure before a planned Mideast Peace conference, to be held in Annapolis, Maryland at the end of the month.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev says the goal is to boost Palestinian moderates like President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We are of course interested in showing the Palestinian leadership that moderation pays and this sort of confidence-building measure can help to energize a process of reconciliation that we really want," he said.

At the same time, Regev says Israel is unlikely to ease roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank that hinder the movement of Palestinians.

"Everyone I think understands, including the Palestinian leadership that if Israel moves in an irresponsible way - if we move too quickly and a security vacuum is created - then extremists - groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad will come into the vacuum they will launch a whole series of extremist and terrorist operations and that will kill the peace process," Regev said.

Palestinians have harshly criticized the restrictions on their movement. The head of the Palestinian negotiating team, former prime minister Ahmed Qureia, had to cancel a meeting Sunday with Israel's Foreign Minister because he could not pass through a West Bank checkpoint.

Saeb Erekat, another senior Palestinian negotiator told the Voice of Palestine radio that Palestinians will welcome their prisoners home, but negotiators had hoped that Israel would release up to 2,000 prisoners.

Erekat says unilateral actions like the prisoner release should be made in cooperation with the Palestinians as part of an overall agreement with the Palestinians to reduce tensions.

Erekat also rejected a demand made by Prime Minister Olmert on Monday that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Meanwhile about a half-a-dozen Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday when gunfire broke out at a rally called by the Fatah political organization to celebrate the third anniversary of the death former Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat. Fatah accused Hamas gunmen of firing on the rally, while Hamas accused Fatah of starting the shooting. It was the most serious outbreak of violence in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the territory in June.

Environmentalists Meeting in Spain to Draft Key Report on Global Warming

By Lisa Bryant Paris 12 November 2007

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The international climate change panel that won this year's Nobel peace prize is holding a meeting in the Spanish city of Valencia this week to draft a key report on global warming. Environmentalists hope the document will increase pressure on countries like the United States and China to agree to binding cuts on greenhouse gas emissions. Lisa Bryant has more from Paris.

Opening ceremony of Panel on Climate Change in Valencia, 12 Nov 2007

Experts from roughly 140 countries are in Valencia this week to synthesize previous global warming studies they produced earlier this year into a report that will be published Friday. They are part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, an international body of experts that won this year's Nobel peace prize for its work on global warming.

The gathering comes ahead of key climate change talks due in December, in Bali, Indonesia. Governments are expected to consider drafting a successor to the 1990 Kyoto Protocol on cutting earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol expires in 2012.

But even as environmentalists praise the IPCC, some like World Wildlife Fund energy expert Stephan Singer believe the panel is already out of date.

"We have seen post-IPCC science coming out the last couple of months which tells us the cautious and conservative consensus body of the IPCC is already past history, unfortunately," Singer said. "We have seen record melting in the Arctic, 10 times as strong as observed this year as the average of 10 to 15 years. We have seen to the surprise of many that the ocean probably is much more saturated with carbon dioxide than we thought before."

Singer notes the IPCC's findings still carry immense political weight. He hopes governments will bear them in mind when they head to Bali next month.

"What World Wildlife Fund hopes will end up in the process following Bali is for long-term emissions reductions of industrialized countries of something like 30 percent, by 2020," he said. "And of course, taking into account over time the large and growing emissions by emerging economies."

Environmentalists particularly hope richer nations like the United States, which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, will take the lead in mandatory emissions cuts -- and set an example for growing and polluting economies like China and India to follow.

UN Rights Envoy in Burma Visits Detention Center For Political Prisoners, Monasteries

By Ron Corben Bangkok 12 November 2007

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The United Nations' human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, began a five-day trip to Burma with visits to a Buddhist monastery and a prison in Rangoon. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, analysts say it will be difficult for the envoy to find out how many were killed or detained during a recent crackdown by the Burmese authorities.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, center, listens to an official while visiting Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon, 12 Nov 2007

United Nations human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, spent at least two hours at the Insein Prison near Rangoon Monday. The prison is well known as a detention center for holding political prisoners whom rights groups say face widespread abuses by authorities.

Pinheiro had earlier visited Buddhist monasteries that had led protests in August and September calling for economic and political reforms.

The military says at least 10 people were killed in the crackdown that followed. But human rights groups and diplomats say the figure was much higher.

Garry Rodan is Asia Research Center director at Australia's Murdoch University. He says hopes that Pinheiro will clarify the facts of what happened may be frustrated.

"This is going to be a very difficult one to be able to simply document and collect information where most sources of information are tightly controlled and where people are very scared. But obviously there will be a lot of hopes placed on something coming out that at least approximates some understanding of the depth and nature of what took place," he said.

Amnesty International last week expressed concerns over the "grave and ongoing human rights violations" committed since the crackdown. These included arbitrary detentions, the holding of hostages, beatings and torture in custody and enforced disappearances.

Pinheiro's trip is his first time in Burma since November 2003. He had abandoned a trip earlier that year after he discovered listening devices in a room where he was meeting with political detainees.

Last week, the U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari pointed to progress during his own visit to the country. Detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, met members of her party, the National League for Democracy, for the first time in three years. She then said she was ready to cooperate with the military in a dialogue for reform.

Despite the intense international pressure for a dialogue for change, some analysts doubt the military's intentions.

Rodan believes the military must negotiate in order to survive.

"This regime is so unpopular and repressive that it struggles for legitimacy even though it has power," he said. I"t alienates its own population so comprehensively that people take enormous risks even in the knowledge that many of the those people would have had that they will in some cases - at best - be beaten - at worst tortured and executed. And yet the protests continued."

The military government has said it is preparing to move to general elections under a program of constitutional and electoral reform. But no timetable has been set when the elections will take place.