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With efforts to bring peace to the Middle East at the top of his agenda, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today held a series of meetings with leaders attending the Arab League summit in Beirut, Lebanon.

Expressing deep sadness over the death of two international observers near the town of Hebron in the West Bank, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned their killing and called for renewed efforts to reach a ceasefire.

Following confirmation by the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) that rebel troops have pulled out of the strategic town of Moliro, Security Council members today welcomed the move and called on all the parties in the country to comply with the other demands contained in a key Council resolution adopted last week.

As the United Nations and its partners continued rushing aid to people affected by Monday’s devastating earthquake in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, the Chairman of the Interim Administration, today led a group of Cabinet ministers to the stricken area for a first-hand assessment of relief needs.

Meeting to review the latest developments in Kosovo, the United Nations Security Council today heard a report on a number of positive moves in several priority areas, while at the same time was alerted to the need for substantial progress this year to solidify the recent gains.

The Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would have to be changed in order for the court to pay compensation to persons wrongly prosecuted or sentenced, its President said in a document released today at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

A “vicious” dry spell on top of a poor harvest mean the already-high numbers of people in southern Africa dependent on food aid may rise again in April and May, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.

Amid reports of the rising toll in the wake of a series of devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan, United Nations relief agencies today moved urgently to assess the damage and provide humanitarian aid as top UN officials voiced their sympathies for the victims of the disaster and called for international support to assist the nation.

A United Nations Security Council delegation will travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other countries in the region in late April, a UN spokesman said today.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a prominent French human rights advocate as the United Nations new independent expert on human rights in Haiti, a UN spokesman announced this morning.