Peace and Security

The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) today outlined the certification process it has designed to ensure that the country's police meet international standards of professional competence and personal integrity, saying those who fall short of those standards would not be allowed to serve.

Back in New York after its mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa, a delegation of the Security Council has called for an "inclusive agreement" to pave the way for a transitional administration in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Following three days of talks between senior United Nations and Iraqi officials on returning UN weapons inspectors to the country, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today reported that the discussions had been "useful and frank" and predicted that a new round could be held within a month.

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said today there were no troubling developments to report in the buffer zone between the two nations, which remained quiet.

Although the humanitarian situation in Angola has deteriorated, there is a currently a window of opportunity for re-launching the peace process, a senior United Nations official told the UN Security Council today.

With many issues in Angola remaining to be addressed, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to extend the appointment of his special adviser for Africa through February 2003.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser for Africa is in Angola for a series of meetings to determine how the UN can best help the country re-energize the peace process, a UN spokesman in New York said today.

The Security Council has reaffirmed its intention to keep under close and ongoing monitoring the sanctions against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), with a view to improving their effectiveness until the conditions in the relevant Security Council resolutions were met.

Adopting a 176-item agenda for its annual session that opened last week the day after the terrorist attacks against the United States, the United Nations General Assembly today decided to move rapidly into a plenary debate on combating terrorism.

Expressing his shock at the magnitude of the destruction that he witnessed at the site of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said New Yorkers had the full support, sympathy and admiration of the UN.