Following is Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s keynote address, as delivered, at the high-level meeting on reform and transitions to democracy, in Beirut, Lebanon, 15 January:

The situation in West Africa had taken a turn “in the right direction”, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the subregion told the Security Council today, noting that a cessation of “open conflict” and tensions tied to institutional political unrest had, in some countries, resulted in credible elections.

Sri Asih Roza Nova of Indonesia has started the second phase of the Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Memorial Fellowship on the Law of the Sea, at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs. She started the second, practical phase of the Fellowship programme and her research paper on 13 January and will complete it on 9 March.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the World Future Energy Summit opening, in Abu Dhabi, 16 January:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva announced today their appointment of Ertharin Cousin (United States) as Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), at the Under-Secretary-General level, in succession to Josette Sheeran. The Executive Board of WFP has confirmed its concurrence with the appointment.

The new Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations, George Wilfred Talbot, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The new Permanent Representative of Republic of Moldova to the United Nations, Vladimir Lupan, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The new Permanent Representative of Mauritania to the United Nations, Ahmed Ould Teguedi, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Meeting of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights today elected Walter Kälin (Switzerland) and Marat Sarsembayev (Kazakhstan) to the Human Rights Committee, replacing members who had resigned before completing their four-year terms of office.

The Secretary-General has designated David Scheffer of the United States as the Special Expert to advise on the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, for an initial period of six months, replacing Clint Williamson, whose term of office expired on 30 September 2011. The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Williamson for his service as Special Expert.