by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Stephane Dujarric (Right)
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : The UN will be making contacts with Maldives leaders in response to the request by the opposition leaders for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to oversee the all-party talks proposed by that nation’s President Abdulla Yameen, Guterres’s Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
“We are very aware of the request,” he told reporters when asked about the opposition’s letter to Guterres. “Contacts will be made in the next few days.”
Taking up the Secretary-General on his offer to have the UN facilitate all-party talks, the Joint Opposition wrote to Guterres asking for the mediation between them and the government of President Abdulla Yameen.
Earlier this month Guterres, who called for restoration of democracy on the Indian Ocian nation, reiterated “his belief in finding a solution to the political stalemate in the Maldives through all-party talks, which the United Nations continues to stand ready to facilitate,” according to Dujarric.
In the letter to Guterres, the Joint Opposition led by former President Mohamed Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party welcomed the government’s offer of a dialogue in principle, but expressed concern that it was a ploy to ease international condemnation over its recent actions, according to the Colombo Gazette.
The opposition asked Guterres to urge the Maldives government to create an acceptable environment for dialogue.
The Gazette reported that according to the opposition, for this to happen the government must fully implement the Supreme Court ruling of February 1, and release Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed and other political prisoners and withdraw the military from Parliament allowing it to function fully.
The crackdown began when the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the terrorism conviction of Nasheed as well as the convictions of eight other politicians on several charges.
Yameen clamped down a state of emergency and arrested the judges along with several politicians.
The other three judges left on the Supreme Court overturned their unanimous ruling ordering the release of the nine politicians.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : The spate of hurricanes that have leveled island nations in the Caribbean and devastated parts of the United States are a reminder of the urgency of climate action, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
Scientists are clear that such extreme weather “will be the new normal of a warming world,” Guterres said while appealing for aid to the nations devastated by the recent hurricanes.
“A warmer climate turbocharges the intensity of hurricanes,” he said. “Instead of dissipating, they pick up fuel as they move across the ocean. The melting of glaciers and the thermal expansion of the seas means bigger storm surges.”
“Hurricane Irma, which devastated Barbuda, was a Category 5 hurricane for three consecutive days – this is the longest on satellite record,” he said giving examples of the severity of the changes in weather. “Irma’s winds reached 300 kilometers per hour for 37 hours — the longest on record at that intensity.”
“Hurricanes Harvey and Irma marked the first time that two Category 4 storms made landfall in the United States in the same year” and “they were followed by Hurricane Maria, which decimated Dominica and had severe impacts across Puerto Rico”.
Harvey and Irma devastated parts of Texas and Florida in the US.
Renewing his call for implementing the Paris climate change agreement, Guterres said: “The world has the tools, the technologies and the wealth to address climate change, but we must show more determination in moving towards a green, clean, sustainable energy future.”
He appealed for donations of $113.9 million for relief in the countries in the Caribbean affected by the hurricanes.
“I regret to report, the response has been poor,” he said.
India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced a contribution of $200,000 for relief in the region at a meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ministers here last month.
Guterres said: “I commend those countries that are showing solidarity with the Caribbean countries at this time of dire need, including those doing so through South-South cooperation.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has listed Dominica, Cuba, Turks and Caicos, Sint Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic and Haiti among the countries affected by the hurricanes and requiring aid.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
