UN chief rings Japanese Peace Bell

Friday 21 September 2007, is the International Day of Peace. At UN Headquarters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open the day with the ringing of the Japanese Peace Bell in the morning accompanied by the UN Messengers of Peace. The Secretary-General will observe a minute of silence, and will call on the world to observe a minute of silence at noon local time in commemoration of the day. In his message, the Secretary-General noted that "Peace is one of humanity’s most precious needs. It is also the United Nations’ highest calling." - UN Pulse



Photo: The Japanese Peace Bell (UN)

“On this International Day, let us promise to make peace not just a priority, but a passion,” the Secretary-General has said. “Let us pledge to do more, wherever we are in whatever way we can, to make every day a day of peace.” - UN



Photo: UN SG Ban Ki-moon waves to the crowd as he visits internally displaced persons at the Al Salam camp in El Fasher, W Sudan Sept 6, 2007 (AFP)

Sep 19, 2007 POTP - France calls for protection force in Darfur neighbours.

Sep 20, 2007 VOA - Chad rebels cautiously await EU peacekeepers.

Sep 20, 2007 (UK's No 10) PM promises "tireless" work on Darfur - The situation in Sudan is "one of the great tragedies of our time", Gordon Brown said as he pledged technical support for peacekeepers due to go to Darfur.
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"PRAY FOR PEACE! AND PRAY FOR RAIN!"

Sep 20, 2007 Los Angeles Times report by Maggie Farley entitled Darfur shows limits of diplomacy - UN envoy struggles to bring warring parties and allied nations to Sudan peace talks.

Love this snippet from the report:

"... After stopping to admire a baby and converse through an interpreter with a fruit seller, he [UN envoy Jan Eliasson] found himself in the middle of a circle with a Sufi mystic who had been leading a prayer. The mystic presented Eliasson to the crowd.

"This is the man who has come to bring peace to Darfur. Let us pray for him. Let us pray for peace," the mystic said, with his arms uplifted. As people in the crowd lifted their arms and chanted, Eliasson lowered his head and clasped his hands in front of him.

"Pray for peace!" the mystic said. "And pray for rain!"

That afternoon, as Eliasson's small plane lifted off the runway, the rain came. Soon, Eliasson hoped, so would peace."



Photo: [Sep ? 2007] UN peace negotiator Jan Eliasson meets with tribal leaders in Nyala in the Darfur region of Sudan, where he encourages them to get their representatives to join in the upcoming negotiations. His pitch to one leader: “Take the chance now! The whole world wants peace in Darfur!” (Photographer Carolyn Cole/maggie.farley@latimes.com)

I say, Sudanese people sound like such good fun - when they're not killing each other! Here's an idea that's just occurred to me: they could pull together and request World Heritage Status, for Sudan to be conserved, preserved and protected as a Great Wonder of the World to save it from droughts and pollution. If they disarmed to start building instead of fighting, Sudan could end up with systems more advanced than most other countries.

God help the children. Little do they know, time is not on their side. Within ten years, Sudan will start running out of water. Take a look at these two photos - and the other seven at the Guardian's photo gallery on "Climate change: 9 pictures") - Lake Chad has lost 90% of its surface area in 30 years. If, God forbid, Sudan becomes a failed state, the only solution I can think of is assisted migration and 51 beds in The Hague.



Photo: Sea ice, polar bears' natural habitat, has been steadily receding, leaving their long-term future in doubt (Ty Milford/Getty Images/Aurora Creative/Guardian)



Photo: A young boy takes water from Lake Chad to drink, in Koudouboul, Chad, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2006. The lake that once provided adequate livelihoods for 20 million people in west-central Africa, from Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger, has lost 90 per cent of its surface area in 30 years. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena/Guardian)
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BBC World Service Trust Wins Radio For Peacebuilding Award

Congrats. Great work by Darfur Lifeline. The BBC World Service Trust's humanitarian radio service in Sudan has won first prize for its children’s programme Ursom ala el ard makaanak (Draw Your Place On Earth) in the Youth category of the Radio For Peacebuilding Awards. The prize is awarded by Radio For Peacebuilding Africa. - ethnicnow.com
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The future is in our hands

UN SG Ban Ki-moon will seek to advance the global agenda on climate change when he meets with heads of state and other top officials from more than 150 countries at UN HQ September 24, 2007. 15 bloggers will be live blogging the event.



Please don't forget UNITED NATIONS WORLD PEACE DAY FOR GANDHI OCTOBER 2.