The News Review:

- What’s Wrong with Africa?
- Rich Avoid Peacekeeping for the Poor, Says UN
- European press review
- EU unveils plane ‘blacklist’ deal

What’s Wrong with Africa?
FOXNews – Jan 28, 2004
Taylor, who resides in Nigeria, is the former strongman of Liberia and a man responsible for much bloodshed in that country. He has also been indicted by the U. Special Court for Sierra Leone (.

Rich Avoid Peacekeeping for the Poor, Says UN
Common Dreams – Common Dreams (press release) – Jan 27, 2004
He said the reluctance also arises from concerns over who will command those troops, since most western nations do not want their troops to come under African or Asian authority. In its annual report released Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the major world powers have not given the United Nations the capacity to respond effectively to Africa’s wars. ”And though Africa’s former colonizers have sent troops in recent years to areas ravaged by conflict — including the 2,000 (member) British intervention in Sierra Leone and the ongoing French engagement in Cote d’Ivoire since late 2002 — the major powers have repeatedly made it clear that they will not make the necessary commitment to prevent the massive human rights violations in Africa that result from conflict,” it said. Of the 13 UN peacekeeping operations, five are in Africa: the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Since May 2003, the United Nations has also fielded a UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire (MINUCI), which is expected to be elevated to a full-fledged peacekeeping operation later this year. Last month, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno appealed to troop contributing states to provide more peacekeepers, specifically ”for Liberia and for future operations in Africa”. While it is too soon to give details of personnel requirements, the United Nations, ”would need to generate substantial numbers of well-trained, well-equipped troops and civil police personnel in 2004”, he added.

European press review
BBC News – Jan 28, 2004
“The answer is a resounding no,” it says. “Humanitarian intervention should be used by the international community to a much greater degree than it is today, Human Rights Watch says. In Rwanda, in Kosovo, in Somalia, in East Timor, Sierra Leone. foreign military forces have helped stop civil war and stabilise peace agreements.

EU unveils plane ‘blacklist’ deal
BBC News – Jan 28, 2004
A BBC News Online investigation has found that six airlines, including Flash, had aircraft grounded on safety grounds in one of three European countries in 2002 – and that two of them still fly to the UK. Their names are not known. ConciliationThe only information available about bans imposed in 2003 comes from the UK Government, which banned three passenger airlines – from Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo – on safety grounds. Another passenger airline from Bosnia had its permit temporarily withdrawn. Flash has continued to insist that it was unfairly banned by the Swiss and its planes were not dangerous. The safety deal was thrashed out in a “conciliation” process involving representatives of the parliament, the council of ministers and the commission. The procedure is only used when the parliament and the council have failed to agree by other means.