Latest News

As some areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) recover from devastating civil war, the United Nations refugee agency has started to assist the return of Congolese who fled to Zambia, with the first group of 400 starting the long trek yesterday, the agency announced today.

Just back from a four-day visit to Somalia, a United Nations refugee agency official today decried at the appalling conditions facing displaced Somalis who fled deadly violence in the capital, Mogadishu, and pledged intensified aid to alleviate their plight.

The United Nations food relief agency today welcomed a €30 million donation from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), to help feed over 2 million people in the violence-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), together with the United States film company Warner Bros. Pictures, will host the screening of the film “Blood Diamond” – which depicts the bloody civil war that engulfed Sierra Leone in the 1990s – for the first time ever in Freetown, the West African country’s capital.

The military head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) today began a series of meetings with local authorities in the south of the country, the start of a concerted effort by the peacekeeping mission to strengthen its relationships with the communities where it operates.

Despite the postponement of elections planned for mid-June in Nepal, the peace process in the mountainous country, which recently emerged from a 10-year civil war, is firmly on track, a United Nations envoy said after briefing the Security Council today.

As the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights wrapped up an 11-day tour of Central Asia in Turkmenistan today, her office announced plans to assist the country’s Government on rights issues.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for decisive action on climate change, citing a new expert report concluding that the world community could significantly slow and then reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases over the next several decades by exploiting cost-effective policies and current and emerging technologies.

Although primarily known for its work in curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also working to save the lives of babies and women with cervical cancer in Haiti.

Launching a five-year peace and development plan for Iraq today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to assist the violence-plagued country to follow through on commitments for progress in security, unity, resource sharing and other areas.