Africa

UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR SADDENED BY DEATHS

OF AID WORKERS KILLED BY GUNMEN IN SOMALILAND

NEW YORK,21 October (OCHA) -- In a statement today, Jan Egeland, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, expressed profound sorrow over the killing by unknown gunmen of two aid workers in the town of Sheikh, in northern Somalia.  He also extended his condolences to the bereaved families of the deceased.

FAO ISSUES DESERT LOCUST ALERT

Mauritania, Niger, Sudan, Neighbouring Countries at Risk

ROME, 20 October (FAO) -- Desert locust outbreaks in Mauritania, the Niger and the Sudan may locally threaten crops, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday, issuing an alert to inform affected governments and the international donor community.

UN UNDERTAKES FIRST HUMANITARIAN MISSION TO VOINJAMA, LIBERIA, IN FOUR YEARS

MORE AFRICAN COUNTRIES BACK LEAD-FREE PETROL

NAIROBI, 17 October (UN Environment Programme) -- An international effort to phase lead out of petrol in Africa is gathering pace as more and more countries develop and implement action plans for switching to unleaded gasoline.

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED AT DEATH OF MOKTAR OULD DADDAH,

FIRST PRESIDENT OF MAURITANIA

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the death of Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania:

LIBERIA:  HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE SCALING UP

SECRETARY-GENERAL HAILS INAUGURATION OF NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL

GOVERNMENT AS ‘TURNING POINT’ FOR LIBERIA

Following is the message of Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan on the inauguration of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, as delivered today in Monrovia by Jacques Paul Klein, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia:

BETTER MARKET ACCESS, DIVERSIFICATION NEEDED TO REVIVE

AFRICAN TRADE, SAYS UNCTAD CHIEF

PRESS STATEMENT BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ON LIBERIA

Following is the text of a press statement on Liberia delivered today by the President of the Security Council, John Negroponte (United States):

DISPLACED PEOPLE CONTINUE TO ARRIVE IN TOTOTA, LIBERIA

NEW YORK, 9 October (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- On Tuesday, 7 October, an inter-agency mission visited Totota and Kakata in Liberia to examine the relocation of internally displaced persons in irregular shelters and assess new population movements into Totota.