Latest News

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is immediately sending a multi-disciplinary team to the western area of the vast country where a new outbreak of violence has caused heavy loss of life and numerous injuries.

United Nations agencies are stepping up assistance to Bolivia, where El Niño-induced heavy rains have caused over a dozen deaths and continue to displace civilians.

With the exodus from strife-torn Iraq now the largest population movement since Palestinians were displaced after the creation of Israel in 1948, the head of the United Nations refugee agency today left for a mission to the Middle East focussed on strengthening cooperation and assessing the agency’s programmes for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis.

Africa, particularly the crises in Somalia and Sudan’s strife-torn region of Darfur, will again dominate the Security Council’s work programme for February, although other world hotspots will also be addressed, along with thematic debates on the issue of security sector reform and weapons of mass destruction, the President of the 15-member body said today.

A new expert report confirming the existence of global warming and asserting that it is likely driven by human activities should eliminate any doubt that speedy and decisive action is needed in response, the senior United Nations climate change official said today.

Renewing its support for the planned deployment of African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia, the Security Council today called for the rapid dispatch of a United Nations technical mission to assess security needs in the war-wracked country.

The United Nations refugee agency plans to close three camps in Tanzania by the middle of this year, driven by dwindling numbers of refugees as the security situation across Africa’s Great Lakes region continues to improve.

Voicing deep concern at the explosion of intra-Palestinian violence, the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East today called for Palestinian unity while offering its backing for United States efforts to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations, one member of the grouping.

Top United Nations officials today called for international action to reverse environmental damage across the planet, stressing that the world body can play a key role in this effort.

Despite the recent alarming surge in the number of violent attacks against relief workers in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, United Nations humanitarian officials pledged today to continue their work across the area, even if they have to modify operations.