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Returning to the Afghan capital from a visit to the cities of Herat and Kandahar, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations top envoy in the country, said today that he had seen much that gave cause for optimism on his trip outside Kabul.

Despite the “encouraging” progress made in Sierra Leone so far, the continued engagement of the United Nations Mission (UNAMSIL) after the country’s May elections will be indispensable in helping to maintain the stability needed to consolidate the ongoing peace efforts, according to a UN report released today in New York.

After hearing a briefing on the latest developments in Burundi, members of the United Nations Security Council today called for an immediate end to hostilities in the country and urged armed groups to commence negotiations “in good faith without delay.”

The Security Council has given Secretary-General Kofi Annan the green light to proceed with the establishment of a Special Court in Sierra Leone to try persons suspected of committing war crimes during the country’s decade-long civil war, according to a senior United Nations legal official.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of a senior United Nations official as his Special Representative for West Africa.

The lofty economic and social targets set two years ago at a landmark summit of world leaders can be achieved with sufficient help and political will, a senior aide to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a news conference today at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico.

As he headed to a major United Nations forum on development currently under way in Monterrey, Mexico, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed the importance of unlocking badly needed resources to help countries pull themselves out of poverty.

Members of the United Nations Security Council today welcomed recent political developments in Angola, including the "declaration" on the peace process made earlier this month by the Angolan Government.

The suggestion that the need to fight terrorism makes respect for human rights impossible is “fundamentally flawed,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said today, as she introduced her annual report to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Prompted by a graphic display of the grief caused by ongoing violence in the Middle East, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today voiced hope that both sides would step back from the abyss and return to the negotiating table.