Middle East

UN chief to visit United Arab Emirates and Oman next week

11 January 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel next week to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, during which he will attend the annual summit on energy that opens in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Saad Hariri (file photo)

Ban reiterates support for UN-backed tribunal during meeting with Lebanese leader

10 January 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reiterated his support for the work of the United Nations-backed tribunal set up to try suspects in the 2005 murders of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others, as he met with the slain leader’s son and current Premier, Saad Hariri.
Sheep drinking from water troughs in the desert. The green trees of the Israeli settlement of Karmel are in the background.
UNRWA

UN chief deplores razing of East Jerusalem building for new Israeli settlements

10 January 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored the destruction of the Shepherd’s Hotel in occupied East Jerusalem to make way for new Israeli settlements in the heart of a Palestinian neighbourhood.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

UN chief strongly condemns church bombing in Egypt

3 January 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned the bomb attack that killed 21 people and wounded 70 others at the al-Qiddissin Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, on New Year’s Eve.