The United Nations refugee agency has voiced concern over the plight of hundreds of people in western Colombia who have been forced to flee their homes amid an increasingly violent struggle between illegal armed groups over the control of mining and coca farming in the area.

The United Nations and its partners today congratulated Haiti's President-elect Michel Martelly on his poll victory, saying the world body looked forward to working closely with his administration once it is inaugurated on 14 May.

The United Nations envoy for Haiti has handed over to the president of the country’s senate a prefabricated building that will temporarily house the Parliament until the one destroyed by the earthquake in January last year is rebuilt.

The lack of earthquake risk reduction is a major gap in Haiti’s development efforts, considering its vulnerability to major seismic events, a leading quake expert working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Caribbean country to help build its preparedness capacity said today.