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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named the former director of the office for democratic institutions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be his envoy for the Côte d’Ivoire election process.

The Security Council today called on “all parties” to ensure a smooth and successful transfer to a United Nations operation in the violence-wracked Darfur region of Sudan, while also commending the African Union’s (AU) mission in the region and endorsing the group’s 30 April deadline for achieving peace in a conflict that has claimed almost 200,000 lives and displaced two million.

Despite some progress in controlling atmospheric pollutants such as lead, ozone-depleting substances and some greenhouse gasses, urgent action is needed to provide clean energy to reduce poverty, promote development and tackle climate change, according to a United Nations report released today.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) today announced that Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway will serve as its new Special Representative, advocating for action to combat the spread of the disease and to help those affected by it.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will open an office in the war-torn republic of Chechnya in the Russian Federation as soon as security conditions allow, the head of the agency announced today, saying a presence on the ground would allow it to improve assistance to the war-affected population, which includes tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs).

In spite of some gains in transport, notably the Trans-Asian Railway Network and the Asian Highway Network, a staggering $600 billion a year is needed for infrastructure development in Asia-Pacific region as a whole, a major United Nations regional meeting was told today.

With the estimated number of people affected by the infectious eye disease, blinding trachoma, dropping from 360 million people to 80 million over the past 21 years, several more countries are on track to eliminate the scourge, the United Nations health agency announced today.

United Nations human rights officials have expressed grave concern at reports of shooting into a crowd of demonstrators by the Nepalese army resulting in death and injury, calling the incident a clear violation of international standards.

The United Nations administrator of Kosovo today called on Serbia to reverse its calls to ethnic Serbs to boycott institutions in the Albanian-majority Serbian province which the world body has run ever since the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 after grave rights abuses.

While the much talked about ‘donor fatigue’ did not occur during the relief phase for last year’s devastating Pakistani earthquake, any slackening of aid during the reconstruction stage could lead to hardship for many survivors next winter, a senior United Nations relief official has warned.