Latest News

The United Nations Security Council today endorsed recommendations made by its recent missions to Central and West Africa, and emphasized the importance of a sub-regional approach to issues such as small arms, mercenaries, child soldiers and humanitarian access.

The top United Nations official on HIV/AIDS will address tomorrow over 1,000 political leaders from every part of India, expected to convene for the first time ever in New Delhi for a national convention where they will sign a declaration underlining their personal commitment to fight the pandemic.

While welcoming progress made towards ending strife in Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations Security Council today voiced concern at the continued existence of regional factors of instability, particularly the use of mercenaries and child soldiers, and the spread of small arms and light weapons which prevent a lasting solution to the crisis in the region.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the decision by the United States to position troops near Liberia to support deployment of West African forces to stabilize the war-torn country, and he called on other states to join in providing necessary backing on an urgent basis.

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Korean War’s truce agreement, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan stresses that resolving the conflict, and the related nuclear and security issues, should remain a top priority.

Despite a substantial increase in food production during the first year of peace after almost three decades of war in Angola, over 1 million people still urgently require food aid due to increased numbers of refugees and demobilized soldiers returning home, two United Nations agencies said today.

Some 25,000 Rwandan refugees in Uganda – half the total still scattered across Africa – will be repatriated voluntarily under a tripartite agreement signed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with the Governments of Rwanda and Uganda.

Arab ministers gathered in Beirut ended their United Nations-backed meeting today expressing concern with the lack of progress in talks since the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) last ministerial conference, in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, and voiced dissatisfaction that developed countries have not fulfilled the promises they gave in previous negotiation rounds.

The Uzbek Government’s execution of six people whose cases were pending before a United Nations human rights panel was a “grave breach” of the country’s obligations under international agreements it has signed, the UN’s Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights said today.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named former Prime Minister Harri Holkeri of Finland as his new envoy and head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).