SC/8301
Security Council
2004 Round-up

In a sweeping series of debates and actions aimed at countering new and persistent threats to international peace and security, the Security Council in 2004 remained resolute in tackling such intractable challenges as suppressing global terrorist threats, protecting civilians in armed conflict, and building peace in societies shattered by war, including by disarming former combatants, upending post-war cultures of impunity, and providing electoral assistance.

In response to the recent political turmoil in Haiti, OTI initiated the Haiti Transition Initiative (OTI) in May 2004 with implementing partner International Organization for Migration (IOM). The program emphasizes stability-building measures in key crisis spots through the implementation of quick, visible small projects with the following objectives: restore citizen confidence and hope in the process of political development and positive change; empower citizens and the government to address priority needs in communities; and build cooperative frameworks

Surveys indicate that 200,000 under-five children suffer from chronic malnutrition, 42,000 from acute malnutrition,

This report includes:

(A) Headlines

(B) Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe: (1) Armenia

(C) Eastern & Central Africa: (1) Burundi (2) Congo, DR (3) Eritrea (4) Ethiopia (5) Kenya (6) Rwanda (7) Somalia (8) Sudan (9) Tanzania (10) Uganda

(D) West Africa: (1) Chad (2) Cote d'Ivoire (3) Guinea (4) Liberia (5) Mauritania

(E) Southern Africa: (1) Regional (2) Angola (3) Lesotho (4) Malawi (5) Mozambique (6) Namibia (7) Swaziland (8) Zambia (9) Zimbabwe

Davos, SWITZERLAND, January 28, 2005 - On the occasion of the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF), the Government of Brazil today signed a $125,000 Memorandum of Understanding to support Solid Waste Management in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince as part of the World Bank's Low-Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) grant for the reconstruction of Haiti.

The Brazilian contribution will help Haiti cut down the grave risk to public health posed by the virtual absence

Highlights

Port-au-Prince, 22 January 2005 - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chief of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdes, visited Les Cayes, on Saturday 22 January, to participate in a conference together with mayors, delegates, church representatives and peasants from the Grand Sud (Jacmel, Jeremie, Les Cayes, Nippes etc.). The purpose of the meeting was for the Grand Sud representatives to present concerns and projects to MINUSTAH, so that in turn, MINUSTAH

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Jan 20 (Reuters) - It all started so optimistically for Brazil's peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

Back in June, a grateful population welcomed the troops. Brazil's soccer superstars showed up to play a special "peace game" and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the blighted Caribbean country to spread his brand of good cheer.

The mission would show that Brazil was ready to assume a role as a regional diplomatic power with a more socially aware approach than the heavy-handed United States.

The inhabitants of the Cité-Soleil shantytown in Port-au-Prince suffer extreme economic and social deprivation, as well as being exposed to sporadic outbursts of armed violence. The ICRC has therefore embarked on a large-scale water and sanitation project there and is also helping the local committee of the Haitian National Red Cross Society to evacuate people wounded in the clashes.

Rehabilitation work has just begun on the communal latrines in the Bellecourt and Soleil 19 districts, as has work to decontaminate the immediate surroundings of these sites. A major