US military jet crashes in Libya, 2 eject safely

Cached:  http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2011/03/22/us_military_says_plane_crashes_in_libya/

By Cassandra Vinograd Associated Press / March 22, 2011

A Photo provided by the U.S. Air Force Air Force shows an F-15E Strike eagle in-flight over Afghanistan on Oct. 7 2008. US officials said Tuesday March 22, 2011 that an F-15E has crashed in Libya and the 2 crew members have ejected.

LONDON—A U.S. military jet crashed in Libya after an equipment malfunction but its two crewmembers ejected and are safe, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Vince Crawley, a spokesman for the Africa Command, says both sustained minor injuries and were separated because they used parachutes to eject from the F-15E Strike Eagle jet at high altitudes, ending up in different areas.

The crash occurred Monday night at 2130 GMT (5:30 p.m. EST). Its exact location was not given.

One crew member has been recovered and an operation is currently under way to recover the other one — “but we know he’s safe,” said Ken Fidler, another spokesman for Africa Command.

The aircraft, based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, was flying out of Italy’s Aviano Air Base in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn at the time of the incident. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

The Air Force has said only that B-2, F-15 and F-16 fighters are participating in operations over Libya. The U.S.’s involvement in Libya is being run by Africa Command, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany.

Africa Command launched in Oct. 2008 after the Pentagon abandoned efforts to base the command on the continent after it hit resistance among the African nations, and instead posted about two dozen liaison officers at African embassies.

Mekong River Crisis: Vietnamese Opposition Could Sway Lao Hydropower Plans

Cached:  http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/southeast/Vietnamese-Opposition-Could-Sway-Lao-Hydropower-Plans-118160889.html

A Western construction worker surveys ongoing work to build a power plant for the Nam Theun 2 dam, south of Vientiane, Laos (file photo)

Vietnamese officials are criticizing the Lao government’s controversial plan to build a dam on the Mekong River. Analysts say opposition from Vietnam and other lower Mekong countries could force Laos to scale back its hydropower ambitions.

Vietnamese officials are publicly opposing a plan by neighboring Laos to build a hydropower dam on the Mekong River.

The $3.5 billion Xayaburi hydropower dam is the first of 12 dams planned for the lower Mekong. A Thai developer would build the dam, and Thailand would buy most of the 1,260 megawatts of electricity the dam would generate.

Lao officials say the proposed Mekong dams would cut poverty and bolster their land-locked country’s economy.

Criticism

But Vietnamese officials say the dam would jeopardize water supplies and threaten fishing on the river’s downstream reaches. Their recent comments echoed warnings by environmentalists that the Mekong dams would damage the environment and threaten the livelihoods of people who live near the river.

Analysts say political pressure from Vietnam and its lower Mekong neighbors – Thailand and Cambodia – could force Laos to delay or modify its plans to harness the Mekong’s flow.

Philip Hirsch, a professor of human ecology at the University of Sydney, told VOA that of the lower Mekong countries, Vietnam has so far been most publicly critical of Laos’ hydropower ambitions.

“The interesting question, which I think is very difficult for anyone to answer, is how these two countries, Vietnam and Laos – which are so close – are going to extricate themselves from what at the moment seem to be diametrically opposite positions on the Xayabouri dam,” Hirsch said.

Vietnam and Laos are both one-party states and Hirsch says Vietnam typically influences Lao policy “behind closed doors.” But Hirsch says recent criticism of the Xayabouri proposal by high-ranking Vietnamese officials has been “very public.”

All four lower Mekong countries will be closely watching a recommendation on the dam expected this month from the Joint Committee of the Mekong River Commission, an advisory body formed in 1995 to promote sustainable development along the 4,900-kilometer Mekong system.

Influence

But Hirsch points out that the MRC has no power to force Laos to abandon its plans for the Xayabouri and other Mekong dams.

“The MRC is not a regulatory institution,” Hirsch added. “It’s not a strong agency in that way, it’s one which has always worked on the basis of trying to achieve consensus, and if we’re looking for regulation from the MRC, I think we’re looking in the wrong direction.”

Hirsch says Thailand has vowed to stay neutral in MRC negotiations, which puts the onus on Vietnamese and Cambodian officials to address the Xayabouri dam proposal in discussions with their Lao counterparts.

Trinh Le Nguyen is executive director of the Vietnamese NGO PanNature. He tells VOA that although Laos has final say over the Xayabouri and other Mekong dams, Vietnam may pressure Laos by threatening to not invest in future Mekong hydropower projects.

“Vietnam can decide not to invest or buy anything from [Laos],” Trinh Le Nguyen said. “It’s one of the ways they can have some power.”

In October, an independent study commissioned by the MRC recommended that lower Mekong countries delay decisions on hydropower projects for 10 years, warning that Mekong hydropower dams would exacerbate food insecurity and cause “serious and irreversible” environmental effects.

China, which borders northern Laos, already operates four dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong River.

UN Says 111,000 In Laos Need Immediate Food Aid

Cached:  http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/112948/un-says-111-000-in-laos-need-immediate-food-aid.html

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

U.N. agencies say more than 100,000 people in central and southern Laos are in immediate need of international food aid because of rice shortages caused by drought and flooding last year.

In a joint statement Tuesday, the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization said the need is greatest in southern Laos, where communities are still struggling to recover from the effects of Typhoon Ketsana in 2009.

The United Nations agencies said large parts of Laos experienced a prolonged dry period at the start of last year’s rice-growing season that led to lower yields. Flooding later in the season caused many families to lose their entire crops.

The agencies estimated that more than 4,000 tons of rice will be needed this year to help feed 111,000 people who are in immediate need of assistance.

The United Nations said the food shortages are particularly serious for low-income families because of unusually high food prices, both in Laos and worldwide.

The agencies based their report on interviews conducted with government officials and international organizations in December.

They also made several recommendations to improve medium-term food security, including improvements in crop diversification, dry-season irrigation, grain storage, and veterinary care.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Voice Of America

UN seeks $498 million for annual mine clearance activities

Cached:  http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37810&Cr=landmine&Cr1=

18 March 2011 – The United Nations today appealed to the world community to make up a huge shortfall in this year’s nearly half-billion-dollar programme to clean up mines and other remnants of war, which claim thousands of victims annually long after the conflicts that spawned them have ended.

“Remarkable progress has been made in eliminating the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war, but more work is required,” senior UN Development Programme (UNDP) official Neil Buhne said in launching the 2011 edition of the annual Portfolio of Mine Action Projects.

The combined 2011 budgets for 238 projects in 29 countries and territories total $498 million, of which only $131 million have been secured as of last month, leaving a $367-millon shortfall.

Mr. Buhne, Director of the Geneva Liaison Office of the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, noted that more than 65 countries are affected by landmines or explosive remnants, which claimed nearly 4,000 casualties, a third of them children, in 2009. “Landmines and explosive remnants of war also take a heavy toll on people’s livelihoods, countries’ economic and social development, and international peacebuilding efforts,” he said.

UN support ranges from building the capacities of national mine action institutions to backstopping humanitarian relief initiatives and ensuring the safe deployment of peacekeepers and UN political missions. Clearance activities account for 36 per cent of this year’s shortfall, while projects covering multiple elements such as capacity building and coordination amount to a further 55 per cent.

“With International Mine Awareness Day coming up on 4 April, the urgent and compelling need to protect civilians from landmines and explosive remnants of war is rightly attracting media attention,” UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Director Maxwell Kerley said. “We must continue to raise awareness about the impact of these indiscriminate weapons.”

The portfolio is an annual snapshot of the impact of such weapons in countries or territories with mine action programmes, providing proposals for projects and detailing their costs. The largest funding gap is for Sudan, which has requested the largest amount – $71 million. The smallest amount requested is for the occupied Palestinian territory – $494,000.

Seventy-one agencies, including UN bodies, governments and international or national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), submitted proposals. Many projects will help remove and destroy cluster munitions, teach people how to stay out of harm’s way, and assist victims of these devices in countries such as Cambodia, Chad, Laos, Lebanon, Tajikistan and Somalia.

Fourteen United Nations departments, programmes, agencies and funds are involved in mine action. The portfolio is published jointly by the UNMAS, UNDP and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).