SECRETARY-GENERAL’S MESSAGE TO UN GROUP ON SECURITY IN CENTRAL AFRICA;

ENCOURAGING PROGRESS NOTED, BUT PEACE PROCESSES ‘STILL FRAGILE’

VAST HUMANITARIAN NEEDS FOUND IN SOUTH KIVU PROVINCE,

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

NEW YORK, 31 October (OCHA) -- A recent humanitarian needs assessment mission conducted jointly by several United Nations agencies has found widespread humanitarian needs in the region from Uvira to Fizi in the South Kivu Province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

AFRICAN CAPITAL MARKETS WORKSHOP ADOPTS ROBUST ACTION PLAN

ADDIS ABABA, 30 October (ECA) -- The African Capital Markets Development Workshop, organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in partnership with the Rand Merchant Bank, closed yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa, after three days of intensive discussions.

UNITED NATIONS RESIDENT COORDINATOR DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT DETERIORATION

OF HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN SOOL PLATEAU, SOMALIA

NAIROBI, 30 October (OCHA) -– United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Maxwell Gaylard is deeply concerned that the potential failure of the current short season Deyr rains in the Sool Plateau of Somalia could precipitate a humanitarian disaster affecting 15,500 pastoralist families.

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES SPIRIT OF OPENNESS, FORGIVENESS IN CENTRAL

AFRICAN REPUBLIC NATIONAL RECONCILIATION DIALOGUE

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the closing ceremony of the dialogue of national reconciliation in the Central African Republic, as delivered in Bangui on 27 October by General Lamine Cissé, Representative of the Secretary-General in the Central African Republic:

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE TO IGAD SUMMIT, LAUDS SUDAN PEACE PROCESS,

EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER SOMALIA HOSTILITIES

The following is the text of the Secretary-General’s message to the tenth summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held in Kampala, Uganda, on 24-25 October and delivered by Mohamed Sahnoun, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General:

DEATH BY MALARIA THREATENS 15 MILLION ETHIOPIANS AS UN AGENCIES

APPEAL FOR $5.8 MILLION TO AVERT MAJOR EPIDEMIC

LIBERIANS DISPLACED BY FIGHTING CONTINUE TO STREAM INTO CAMPS,

UN INTER-AGENCY NEEDS-ASSESSMENT TEAM FINDS

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.