Press Release

ECONOMIC POLICY KEY TO WORLD ANTI-POVERTY FIGHT SAYS UN

NEW YORK, 8 December (United Nations Department of Public Information) -- Economic policies geared to generating sustainable growth can serve as powerful mechanisms for fighting poverty, especially when ancillary economic and social policies are linked to the needs of the poor, concludes a United Nations report issued today.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN DARFUR, SUDAN, SAID TO BE AMONG WORST IN WORLD

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ENVOY DISCUSSES HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE

NEW YORK, 8 December (OCHA) -- Ms. Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy for the Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, arrived in Abidjan yesterday, 7 December, for a fourth follow-up and evaluation mission.

UN HUMANITARIAN OFFICE SEEKS MORE SUPPORT FOR WATER-HARVESTING

PROGRAMME TO INCREASE ETHIOPIA’S RURAL FOOD SECURITY

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA CROP PROSPECTS MIXED, SAYS FAO REPORT

23 Countries Face Food Shortages, Others Expect Bumper Harvests

ROME, 8 December (FAO) -- Though some regions in sub-Saharan Africa can expect bumper crops, food shortages are forecast in 23 countries throughout the continent, according to the Africa Report released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)*.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew from New York to Los Angeles on Tuesday, 2 December, where he arrived in the early afternoon.

GENEVA ACCORD OFFERS HOPE OF RECONCILIATION, PEACE TO ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS,

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS FOLLOWING MEETING WITH SIGNATORIES

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

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE FOR LAUNCH OF U THANT INSTITUTE

HAILS PREDECESSOR’S LEGACY OF FOCUSING ON THE INDIVIDUAL

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message for the launch of the U Thant Institute, delivered in New York today, 5 December, by Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information:

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE TO COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT, URGES

DIALOGUE FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION IN ZIMBABWE

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Abuja, Nigeria, today, 5 December:

SHARON CAPELING-ALAKIJA’S LIFE DRIVEN BY ‘SENSE OF SOLIDARITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE’,

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS AT MEMORIAL CEREMONY

Following is the text of the Secretary-General’s remarks at today’s memorial ceremony for Sharon Capeling-Alakija: