The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the suicide attack at a mosque during Friday prayers in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal region, where over 40 people were reportedly killed and 100 injured. He is appalled at this deliberate attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and the reported use of a teenager to perpetrate the attack.

The Secretary-General said that the dramatic scenes in Tripoli are a testament to the courage and determination of the Libyan people to seek a free and democratic future. It is crucial now for the conflict to end with no further loss of life, and no retribution, and he called on Colonel [Muammar al-] Qadhafi’s forces to cease violence immediately and make way for a smooth transition.

The Secretary-General has been speaking to world leaders and heads of regional and global organizations in an effort to coordinate the response to the recent developments in Libya. The Chairman of the National Transitional Council of Libya stressed the significance of UN support in the post-conflict period.

Senior representatives of the Secretary-General met yesterday with the Chairman of the Executive Bureau of the National Transitional Council of Libya, which highlighted among Libyans’ needs and priorities: transitional justice and human rights; electoral assistance; socio-economic recovery; and security.

The Secretary-General has invited regional organizations to participate in a meeting tomorrow to discuss Libya. The invitees include the African Union, the European Union, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States. The objective is to develop ways to work together on the post-conflict phase.

Around 11 o’clock this morning, local time, the United Nations House in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, was struck by a car bomb. In remarks to the press, the Secretary-General condemned the attack, which he called “an assault on those who devote their lives to helping others”. A number of people are dead; many more are wounded.

Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, told correspondents today that the upcoming annual Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organizations Conference in Germany — on the theme “Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens” — is an important opportunity for NGOs and civil society to meet and begin preparing for next year’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development — Rio+20 — which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed its alarm at the emerging reports of atrocious human rights violations in Libya, including what appear to be mass summary executions, mostly apparently carried out by the forces of the Qadhafi Government during the last few days before they lost Tripoli.

While it was expected that States would continue to oppose the testing of nuclear weapons during the upcoming high-level meeting on the issue, it was more important to ensure the necessary ratifications to allow the entry into force of the international instrument banning tests, an official of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Secretary-General attended the International Conference in Support of the New Libya in Paris today, where he told participants that our most immediate challenge is on the humanitarian front, with some 860,000 people having left the country since February. Public services are under severe strain, with sporadic fighting continuing in the south.