SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES HOPE THAT SECURITY COUNCIL UNITY

CAN BE REBUILT AROUND TASK OF RELIEVING IRAQI SUFFERING

      Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the
Security Council meeting on the situation in Iraq on 19 March:

SENIOR OFFICIALS FROM 10 COUNTRIES AND ONE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

ADDRESS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

(Reissued as received.)

HIGH OFFICIALS OF SEVEN COUNTRIES ADDRESS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Laud Inauguration of International Criminal

Court, Call for Rights-Based Responses to Terrorism

(Reissued as received.)

CONFLICT OR COOPERATION:  PIONEERING ATLAS ON FRESHWATER

CHARTS CHOICES –- WORLD WATER DAY, 22 MARCH

(Reissued as received.)

UN-HABITAT LAUNCHES WATER AND SANITATION IN THE WORLD’S

CITIES:  LOCAL ACTION FOR GLOBAL GOALS

Waking Up to Realities of Water and Sanitation Problems of Urban Poor

(Reissued as received.)

UNLESS ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED, PROLIFERATION OF SMALL ARMS, MERCENARIES WILL

CONTINUE TO POSE SEVERE THREAT TO WEST AFRICA, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS

Following is the text of remarks, as delivered, by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to today’s Security Council meeting on “Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons and the Phenomenon of Mercenaries:  Threats to Peace and Security in West Africa” in New York: 

RENEWED FIGHTING IN LIBERIA DISPLACES MORE CIVILIANS

NEW YORK, 18 March (OCHA) -- Fighting between Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy Rebels and Liberian Government forces in Liberia’s Bong County has caused an estimated 15,000 persons to flee the town of Gbarnga toward Totota, where there are already an estimated 60,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).  There are unconfirmed reports that another

Security Council

4720^th Meeting (AM & PM)

SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR STRENGTHENED COOPERATION IN WEST AFRICA

TO COUNTER SMALL ARMS TRAFFICKING

COLOMBIAN COCA CULTIVATION FALLS BY 30 PER CENT

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 17 March (UN Information Service) -- The national survey conducted by the Government of Colombia and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported 102,000 hectares of coca under cultivation as of 31 December 2002.  This represents a significant 30 per cent reduction compared to 2001, when the surface was 144,807 hectares.

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRONGLY DEPLORES ISRAEL’S CONTINUING GAZA STRIP RAIDS

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