News archive: April 2013
14 April 2013
A Chinese statement issued during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry said the nuclear issue was the ‘shared responsibility of all parties’. North Korea has recently threatened nuclear attacks, and is feared to be preparing a missile launch. China and the US vowed to work together to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programme and to settle tensions through dialogue. John Kerry said that the US and China were able ‘to underscore our joint commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner’.
Source: BBC | China and US make North Korea nuclear pledge
14 April 2013
Officials and witnesses say eleven children have been killed in a NATO air strike in the Shigal district, in the Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. The strikes were called in to support a major operation by US and Afghan government forces targeting senior Taliban commanders and a local weapons cache. The NATO-led International Security Assistant Force (ISAF) said: ‘The air support was called in by coalition forces – not Afghans’. A statement issued on behalf of President Karzai strongly condemned the NATO attack, and ‘military operations in residential areas that cause civilian deaths’.
Source: BBC | Afghan children 'killed by Nato air strike in Shigal'
10 April 2013
At the International Donor Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the government of Sudan to cooperate in facilitating the work of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), international development partners and humanitarian actors throughout Darfur, while respecting human rights. Mr. Ban said ‘We share a collective commitment to achieving a comprehensive and inclusive peace for the people of Darfur. Resolving the conflict there remains critical to consolidating peace and stability for Sudan as a whole.’
The donor conference hosted by Qatar hoped to raise 7.2 billion US dollars in order to be able to cover development and reconstruction of Darfur over a six-year period. According to reports, 3.7 billion US dollars were pledged.
Source: International Donor Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur | Doha - Qatar | 7-8 April 2013
Source: United Nations Secretary-General | Latest Statements | Secretary-General's message to the International Donor Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur, 7-8 April
10 April 2013
The New York Times reports that the first person killed by a US drone attack, in 2004, was victim of a secret deal, under which the C.I.A. had agreed to kill him at the request of Pakistan. The victim, Mr. Muhammad, was not a top operative of Al Qaeda, but a Pakistani ally of the Taliban who led a tribal rebellion and was marked by Pakistan as an enemy of the state. The C.I.A. agreed to kill him in exchange for access to airspace it had long sought, in order to be able to use drones to hunt down its own enemies.
Source: The New York Times | A Secret Deal on Drones, Sealed in Blood
9 April 2013
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon honoured the memory of the more than 800.000 people who lost their lives during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and stressed that countries have a ‘shared responsibility’ to prevent mass atrocities from happening again. Mr. Ban said ‘Collectively, we must go beyond words and effectively safeguard people at risk. And individually, we must nurture the courage to care – and the resolve to act.’
He also stressed that since the Rwandan genocide occured, the United Nations has worked every day to prevent a recurrence of such horror, with the Responsibility to Protect having become a global principle.
Source: UN News Centre | On anniversary, Ban honours victims and survivors of Rwanda genocide