Africa

GOOD GOVERNMANCE ESSENTIAL FOR POLITICAL STABILITY, ECONOMIC GROWTH

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO WEST AFRICAN SUMMIT

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States, delivered by Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Chief of the United Nations Office for West Africa, in Accra, 19 December:

PRESS STATEMENT ON GUINEA-BISSAU BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

The following press statement was delivered today by Security Council President Stefan Tafrov (Bulgaria):

DESERT LOCUST THREAT GROWING

FAO Locust Group Publishes New Report 

(Reissued as received.)

      ROME, 18 December (FAO)-- After a summer season of good rains and recent favourable rainfall, Desert Locust populations continue to increase and may threaten winter crops in north-west Africa and along the Red Sea, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns today.

FAO HONOURS NIGERIAN PRESIDENT FOR HIS EFFORTS TO BRING FOOD

SECURITY TO FOREFRONT OF AFRICAN POLITICAL AGENDA

(Reissued as received.)

SECRETARY-GENERAL POINTS OUT AREAS FOR MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

IN MESSAGE TO CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION FORUM

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Second Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation delivered in Addis Ababa today, 15 December 2003, by Zéphirin Diabré, Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme:

PAN-AFRICAN IMPLEMENTATION AND PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE

ON WATER ENDS WITH ACTION PLAN FOR CONTINENT

(Reissued as received.)

PRESS STATEMENT BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ON DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Following is today’s statement to the press by Security Council President Stefan Tafrov (Bulgaria):

The members of the Security Council heard a statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE FORMALIZES AGREEMENT WITH SWISS

DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ON FIELD SUPPORT FOR ETHIOPIA

HUMANITARIAN ENVOY NOTES PROGRESS IN COTE D’IVOIRE

ABIDJAN, 10 December (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- “It is important that the parties to the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire now move forward and work together in order for the whole country to return to normality”, said Carolyn McAskie, the Humanitarian Envoy of the Secretary-General for the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. 

SECRETARY-GENERAL VERY CONCERNED ABOUT DISTURBANCES IN LIBERIA

FOLLOWING LAUNCH OF DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION PROGRAMME

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan: