With pirates and the networks that supported them still outfoxing foreign naval patrols, kidnapping seafarers and disrupting shipping lanes, representatives of the diplomatic Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia today said that combating the scourge required scaled-up resources, enhanced land- and sea-based strategies and more political commitment on the part of the Somali Government.

Given the serious nature of “preliminary findings of preliminary allegations” to be included in a United Nations report on human rights in Southern Kordofan, which was expected to be finalized in the next 10 to 14 days, mechanisms for monitoring human rights in that area must be agreed, now that the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) had ended, a top human rights official said during a press conference at Headquarters today.

In a message to the meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya, the Secretary-General appealed to the international community to support the efforts of the Special Envoy and send a unified message urging the parties to engage in direct talks through the Secretary-General’s good offices to break the impasse.

Briefing the Security Council today, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Choi Young-jin, said a new chapter had opened in the country with four major tasks to address: restoration of law and order; national reconciliation; legislative elections; and economic recovery.

The Secretary-General, addressing the third Global Review of Aid for Trade at the World Trade Organization in Geneva today, said that, at a time of tight budgets, the annual rate of increase for Aid for Trade has slowed sharply. He urged the donor community not to fall short of the present level of Aid for Trade.

The United Nations has declared a state of famine in two regions of southern Somalia. Across the country, nearly half the population is now in crisis. Some 2.8 million are in the south. The Secretary-General said if funding is not made available for humanitarian interventions now, the famine will likely spread.

The United Nations today confirmed the existence of famine in two regions of southern Somalia: southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle, and made an urgent appeal for “exceptional efforts” to support Somalis in overcoming that humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press conference.

The World Food Programme’s Chief, Josette Sheeran, in Somalia today said the situation was a life and death one. The Programme is preparing to open up several new routes — by land and air — into the core of the famine zone. It would start airlifts into Mogadishu within days to bring vital foods to malnourished children.

In a wide-ranging press conference at Headquarters today, Michael Williams, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, assessed the progress and setbacks in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006), saying that major issues — including the existence of arms outside State control, their use as a political instrument and Israel’s presence in the border village of Ghajar — must be tackled in order for Lebanon to exercise full sovereignty over its territory.

An international meeting organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization, involving Member States and the United Nations, will be held on Monday in Rome to look at the response to the crisis in the Horn of Africa. The World Food Programme now has a revised appeal for $340 million for its response to this drought.