As authorities in Guinea-Bissau struggled to ensure social and political stability following a wave of high-profile political assassinations, the situation was “calm, but extremely fragile”, the top United Nations envoy in the country said today as he urged the international community to step up its support for planned reforms in “every sector, because every sector has critical needs”.

Pledging that the Security Council would carry out its work in as transparent a manner as possible during Uganda’s presidency, Ruhakana Rugunda, that country’s Permanent Representative, today highlighted the 15-nation body’s busy agenda for July, which would include open debates on Somalia and the Middle East, as well as a ministerial-level meeting on post-conflict peacebuilding.

The Security Council’s programme of work for June would include open debates on United Nations peacekeeping operations, protection of civilians in armed conflict, and Iraq, the last to be chaired by Turkey’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, that country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said at Headquarters today.

During its May presidency, the Russian Federation would continue to pursue the policy of consolidating the Security Council’s prerogatives under the United Nations Charter and its main responsibility to maintain international peace and security, Vitaly Churkin, the country’s Permanent Representative, said today.

The United Nations was well equipped to tackle an Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic through up-to-date preparedness plans in its country offices, funds, programmes, peacekeeping missions and other parts of the Organization, David Nabarro, Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

The top United Nations management official presented a “mixed picture” of the Organization’s financial health at a Headquarters press conference today, while noting some recent improvements in several areas.

Impunity in Somalia was a major factor maintaining a long-running “genocide in motion” in that Horn of Africa country, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General emphasized to correspondents at a Headquarters news conference this afternoon.

While the activities of huge, complex peacekeeping operations in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo grabbed the headlines, there were several smaller United Nations missions carrying out their mandates “quietly and effectively” and, along the way, helping to improve the lives of local populations in their host countries, the world body’s top peacekeeping official said today.

As the Government of Sri Lanka declared an end to military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes today urged the authorities to ensure safe transit for and speedy processing of thousands of war-dazed civilians fleeing the conflict zone.

The United Nations was setting its sights on economic development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with the head of the United Nations country team telling correspondents today that humanitarian relief “is not the answer”.