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The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) had "key contributions" to make in safeguarding the interests of the Iraqi people, bringing peace to the Middle East, rebuilding Afghanistan and healing the breach between faiths opened by terrorism, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message issued today to a meeting of the 56-member body.

While the situation in troubled north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains tense - with sporadic fighting reported in around the town of Bunia - a senior United Nations humanitarian official said today the only way to quell the violence is to send a multinational force to the region to pressure rival factions to reopen peace talks.

Welcoming new research on 10,000 abducted Sudanese children and adults who are still missing, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today called on the Government of Sudan and international donors to seize the data as an opportunity to make headway in resolving this "massive task."

Mountain people - the guardians of some of the world's most valuable natural resources - are the focus of a pioneering United Nations survey intended to help policy makers tailor development strategies to provide vulnerable communities the ability to deal with a host of agricultural and environmental issues.

The principal challenge facing the international community is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world's people, instead of leaving millions behind in poverty and squalor, a senior United Nations communications official told ministers meeting today in Bangkok to discuss challenges facing the broadcasting industry in Asia and the Pacific.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched an emergency appeal to donors for relief supplies for victims of the massive earthquake that struck Algeria last week, killing more than 2,000 people and injuring 9,000 others.

With Ethiopia facing an even more complex humanitarian crisis, musician and activist Bob Geldof returned today to the drought-stricken country on a new mercy mission, facilitated by the United Nations, for the first time since his landmark visit 20 years ago launched a world-wide campaign to save the East African nation from famine.

The United Nations health agency has put Toronto, Canada, back on the list of areas with recent local transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) following new reported clusters of 26 suspect and eight probable cases of the deadly disease linked to four area hospitals.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has chosen Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN’s top human rights official, to serve as his Special Representative in Iraq for a four-month period, according to a letter released today at UN Headquarters in New York.

The effect of drugs on crime and violence at the family and street-level will be the focus of a United Nations panel during its current session, already underway in Vienna.