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The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, today hailed the signing of a peace agreement in South Africa between the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda as a step towards ending the devastating conflict in the Great Lakes region.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today reported that it had given United States and Afghan authorities copies of an internal UN report produced following the bombing in Uruzgan earlier this month.

Delegates gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York today for the start of an international conference on the illicit tobacco trade, one of a number of issues covered by a proposed global pact on controlling the substance that is currently under negotiation through the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The members of the Security Council have called on the parties to the Lusaka peace agreement to hold talks with the United Nations as soon as possible on the practical implementation of an accord signed today by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.

The United Nations Security Council today extended the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) through the end of January 2003, while calling on the parties - the POLISARIO Front and Morocco - to cooperate fully with efforts to resolve their longstanding dispute.

With a changed political landscape prompting thousands of Angolans to return to their country, the United Nations refugee agency warned today of the harsh social and economic conditions prevailing there.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will start a registration programme this week targeting thousands of Eritreans living in Sudanese urban centres who will lose their protected status at the end of this year, a spokesman for the agency announced today.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint a Singaporean general as the next commander of the United Nations peacekeeping forces serving with the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET).

The United Nations health agency has started a polio immunization drive targeting hundreds of thousands of children in Niger and Burkina Faso after a youngster was reported to have contracted the debilitating disease in the area, a UN spokesman reported today.

The United Nations Security Council today voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for a further six months, through January 2003.