Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative in Sudan has called on all parties to immediately cease the fighting which erupted today in the southern town of Malakal, stressing the need to ensure the safety and security of civilians in the area.

Improving the status and effectiveness of women, whose numbers have risen steadily in the past decade, in the police force of the Côte d’Ivoire is the subject of a new training course organized by the United Nations mission known as UNOCI in the West African country.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has dispatched a senior United Nations political aide to Madagascar, following a request from the Government for a more active role by the world body in dealing with the political tensions in the Indian Ocean island nation.nAssistant Secretary-General Haile Menkerios, who had been sent to Madagascar in early February to assess the situation, was travelling with Mr. Ban in Africa when he was asked to return to the country to continue the UN’s good offices work there.

An Egyptian woman, who went to file a complaint at a police station on 19 January, has since been subjected to torture, ill-treatment and death threats against her and her family by members of the local police force. Mona Said Thabet went to a police station north of Cairo after she was assaulted by two men at her sister's home. The men were reported to have been police informers.