LIBERIA:

This week Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council to vote on deploying a multi-national force to Liberia. A ceasefire had been signed on June 17, but has not held. The Council met on June 30 behind closed doors and decided to wait until Saturday when the Security Council mission to West Africa returned before they voted.

"I would have preferred an urgent reaction," the Secretary-General told the press. "These days with modern communications you can always get information you need without waiting for their return. The situation is urgent, tragic and I would urge a prompt, quick decision," he said, adding that Washington was also considering his appeal that a force be sent to Liberia urgently.

Referring to the fact that the United Kingdom is working with the West African and UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone and France is leading the multinational force in the Congo, he said "there are lots of expectations that the US may be prepared to lead this [Liberia] force. Of course, that is a sovereign decision for them to take, but all eyes are on them."

President Bush has sent a delegation to Liberia to make a military assessment.

CONGO:

On June 30, the Government of the Congo, the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) and Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) - and three armed entities signed an agreement on military and security arrangements, moving the country closer to a two-year national transitional government.

AFGHANISTAN:

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is boosting its support to Afghanistan's education system through food aid. "For the next two years, over two million school children would be targeted, in an effort to provide food assistance to encourage enrolment, attendance and school performance, especially for girls, at an estimated cost of $97 million," it said.

An Afghan peace committee with United Nations participation brokered ceasefires between rival factions in two instances in Afghanistan last week.

SIERRA LEONE:

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has produced a stable environment and progress in reconstruction, but peace in neighboring countries is vital if this is to continue. "Tangible progress has been made in the efforts to consolidate peace, including the reintegration of some 48,000 out of the 57,000 disarmed ex-combatants, the completion of the resettlement of internally displaced persons and the acceleration of the repatriation and resettlement of Sierra Leonean refugees," Mr. Annan states.

SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS:

Next week the first biennial meeting to develop a plan to end trade in small arms and light weapons will convene at the United Nations. This meeting will consider implementation of the action plan developed in the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls these weapons a global scourge. According to the UN statement, "Small arms and light weapons kill more than half a million people each year -- including 300,000 in armed conflict and 200,000 from homicides and suicides -- of which 90 per cent are civilians. In the 1990s, small arms were the weapons of choice in 47 of 49 major conflicts."

Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of Japan is the Chair-designate of the conference. She said that the issue of small arms and light weapons "was a multidimensional one that should be tackled through global and regional harmonization, as well as by national initiatives."

PREVENTING ARMED CONFLICT:

On July 3, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the prevention of armed conflict, changing the United Nations from an organization that reacts to crises to one that attempts to prevent them. The resolution calls for nations "to support poverty eradication measures and enhance the capacity of developing countries, to comply with treaties on arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament, and to strengthen their international verification instruments and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons."

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