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Faced with Ethiopia’s refusal to implement the binding decisions of a Boundary Commission and Eritrea’s imposition of “harsh, humiliating impediments,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan is proposing a major reduction in the United Nations mission monitoring the ceasefire that ended the border war between the two countries six years ago.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today sent in almost $1 million in emergency aid, including hygiene kits, rehydration sachets and tarpaulin sheets, to the Indonesian province of Aceh, where deadly floods have already killed almost 100 people and left over 200,000 needing urgent assistance.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to Somalia’s neighbours to stay out of the spiralling violence in the country, where Ethiopia has admitted sending troops amid fighting between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

President Omar el-Bashir of Sudan has accepted a three-phased approach leading to the deployment of a hybrid United Nations-African Union (AU) force in the strife-torn Darfur region, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

The United Nations marked the second anniversary of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami today with calls for enhancing early warning systems that can save hundreds of thousands of lives, expressions of regret that the catastrophe failed to unite Sri Lanka’s warring sides in pursuit of peace, and an aid airlift for victims of new flooding.

The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has called for negotiation and mutual accommodation to achieve a long-term solution to the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme after the Security Council imposed sanctions and called for a full and sustained suspension of the country’s uranium enrichment activities.

United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie and fellow actor Brad Pitt spent Christmas in Costa Rica handing out presents to Colombian refugee children and their families while spotlighting the plight of those who have been forced to flee conflict in the South American country.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has received the single largest earmarked donation in its 60-year history – $201 million pledged by the Government of the Netherlands to radically expand the agency’s efforts to ensure that youngsters caught in conflict and natural disasters as well as those emerging from crisis can go to school.

The first group of United Nations police advisers and military officers will be deployed in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region over the next few days, the UN said today, after agreement was reached in talks with the Sudanese Government and African Union (AU) that paves the way for the eventual deployment of thousands of peacekeepers.

Hearing reports of sexual and psychological abuse, long work hours and irregular payment of salaries, an independent United Nations expert has called on Indonesia, which provides many migrant workers for overseas employers, to ensure that recruitment agencies protect the human rights of their workers.