WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- New Zealand is sending a delegation to New York this week to "strongly support" an arms trade treaty under discussion at the United Nations.
Newire.co.nz reported on June 27 that Phil Alpers was leading the New Zealand contingent -- which will assist in presenting the "Million Faces" petition to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- to the discussions, which opened Monday. Alpers helped found the 700-member International Action Network for Small Arms.
The petition includes one million photos of people around the world calling for a halt to small arms proliferation, including 12,000 New Zealanders.
Alpers said that proliferation meant that worldwide there was enough ammunition to kill every person twice. More than 1,000 people were killed daily by weapons from the global stockpile of 640 million small arms, he said.
While Alpers has the support of Disarmament Minister Phil Goff to lobby for an international arms treaty at the conference, the New Zealand government has yet to sign or ratify the existing U.N. Firearms Protocol. Other countries that have declined to sign or ratify the agreement include the United States, Afghanistan, Colombia, Egypt, France, Iraq and Zimbabwe. A total of 112 U.N. members have yet to sign or ratify the protocol.
A total of 49 countries, including Belgium, Cambodia, Croatia, Mexico and South Africa have signed and ratified the protocol, which requires signatory countries to regulate the manufacture, export, import and sale of small arms.
The U.S. National Rifle Association lobby group has denounced the conference, listing Alpers on its Web site it as one of the "conspirators" in its "Who's Who of the power brokers behind the U.N. Global Gun Ban Treaty."
The former television presenter, now Sydney University adjunct associate professor in Public Health, said several reports would be released over the course of the week in New York.
They included a summary of the worldwide impact of the AK47, a case study of women affected by gun violence, and a review of progress by U.N. member states since the last conference in 2001.
Panamanian President Martin Torrijos has told reporters that the Panamanian government had approved a proposal to renovate the Panama Canal.
The next step is for the bill to be voted on by the National Assembly. If it passes, Panamanians will vote on it in a referendum.
EFE news agency on June 26 quoted Torrijos as saying, "The Cabinet Council approved sending the bill to the National Assembly," adding that under the Panamanian Constitution the referendum must be held at least 90 days after Congress approves the bill.
In an effort to attract foreign investment, Torrijos stated that the government was implementing measures to guarantee the project's "transparency." A commission will be established to monitor the progress of the project that will receive quarterly reports on contracts and construction.
According to Torrijos, "All costs of the construction and the corresponding financial obligations will be paid with funds generated by the operation of the Canal and through the increase in tolls. So that our country can be competitive in today's world, it needs to develop to the maximum its service potential surrounding the inter-ocean waterway and expand it."
The $5.25 billion proposal to expand the Panama Canal includes building a third set of locks, increasing the waterway's cargo transport capability. Currently, about 5 percent of world trade passes through the waterway, with more than 14,000 ships carrying 203 million tons of cargo annually.
The project is slated to begin in 2007 and will be completed seven years later, on the Panama Canal's centenary.
The Panama Canal Authority will seek foreign financing for $2.3 billion of the project's $5.25 billion costs. The Authority forecasts that the entire renovation cost, including the foreign loan, can be covered by an increase in tolls.
The United States administered the Panama Canal until it was handed back to Panamanian control on Dec. 31, 1999 under a 1977 treaty concluded between President Omar Torrijos and U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
A private Pakistani television channel on Sunday broadcast a purported audiotape from former Taliban leader Mulla Omar.
In the tape, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified, Omar asserted that Taliban militants now control large areas of Afghanistan.
Dawn reported on June 26 that the network received the audio file in an e-mail from the Afghan capital Kabul.
Pakistan's Afghan Islamic Press quoted purported Taliban spokesman Mohammed Hanif as denying Omar had issued a new audiotape.
The purported Omar clip was taped when he addressed a Taliban military council in Helmand province, where he told his audience, "Losing the capital of Afghanistan does not mean that Taliban have finished."
Later in the audio file Omar indirectly addressed Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying, "If today the American military abandons you, you have no standing. Russia's military also came to Afghanistan -- remember its fate. The rulers of Kabul would not be able to run the country with the wisdom of others, and God willing they would be destroyed."
Karzai replied to the audio file by labeling Omar a coward, taunting him to come out of hiding and face justice. Karzai told CNN's Late Edition, "It needs guts to do what he's talking about and he doesn't have it. They are no match for our power."
Karzai said that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Omar are definitely not in Afghanistan, noting, "They don't dare come to Afghanistan. We are looking for them constantly. There is no way that they can hide forever."
