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A 48-year old man accused of performing songs that incited the Hutu Interahamwe militia to kill Tutsis in the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the United Nations court announced today.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today to establish a UN assistance mission for Afghanistan, endorsing the mandate and structure laid out earlier this month by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The Security Council today unanimously extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) for six months, until 30 September, stressing the importance of continued support by the Mission to the Government in the consolidation of peace and security after the country's elections in May.

Despite the promises of globalization, about half a billion people in South Asia experienced a decline in their incomes during the '90s, compared to only a small minority of the educated urban population that benefited from the region's economic growth, according to a new United Nations report on development in the area.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today it would sponsor a BBC television series focusing on sustainable development in the lead-up to the UN World Summit for Sustainable Development to take place later this year in South Africa.

Widespread – but low-level – radioactive contamination has been found at five of six sites in Serbia and Montenegro struck by depleted uranium munitions during the 1999 Kosovo conflict, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported today.

Appealing to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to lead their peoples "back from the brink," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today also urged leaders attending the Arab League summit in Beirut to unite in support of the recent Saudi proposal in an effort to help the two sides reach a peace agreement.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, today warmly congratulated the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville parties on the successful outcome of an historic vote in the Parliament that had given legal effect to the Bills implementing the Bougainville Peace Agreement of 30 August 2001.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today strongly condemned the suicide bomb attack in Netanya, Israel, which left at least 15 Israeli citizens dead and many others wounded.

After meeting in closed-door consultations on the situation in Afghanistan, particularly the establishment of a new United Nations assistance mission in the country, members of the Security Council today expressed hope to act soon on a draft resolution submitted by France.