- Submitted by Stanley Ford The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: The Secretary-General welcomes the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the parties in Zimbabwe, which provides a framework for formal talks to end the political crisis in the country. The Secretary-General commends the efforts of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and his mediation team in facilitating the signing of this agreement. The United Nations is committed to support these mediation efforts through its participation in the recently-formed Reference Group. The Secretary-General encourages all sides to engage, in good faith, in serious…

- Djibouti is a tiny country in the Horn of Africa. It is overshadowed by its much larger neighbors, Ethiopia and Sudan, and suffers from the lack of media attention and world recognition. And, that, says the World Food Program's Director in Geneva, Daly Belgasmi, makes life exceedingly difficult for people in this extremely poor country. "We are concerned in the World Food Program about hundreds of millions of people we are feeding....And, Djibouti because it is small and because of lack of media coverage on Djibouti...the country has been forgotten," Belgasmi said. Djibouti ranks 148 on the United Nations Human Development Index. Nearly three quarters of the country…

- Algerian officials say Mali's government and Tuareg rebels have agreed to a ceasefire in Mali's northern desert region. Algerian mediator Abdelkrim Ghrieb announced the agreement Monday following four days of talks in the Algerian capital, Algiers. No further details were released. The talks, which began Friday, were called after a recent flare-up in violence that threatened a 2006 peace accord, also brokered by Algeria. The nomadic Tuaregs have staged periodic revolts in both Mali and neighboring Niger. In both countries, the light-skinned Tuaregs complain that black-dominated governments neglect their communities. The Tuaregs say they also are fighting for…

- In Rwanda, there have been efforts to encourage that trend, with the government launching its own initiatives and supporting some private ones to create all-girls schools. The effort has been boosted by a partnership with a group of Americans. Sister Ann Fox of the US city of Boston met with a female lawmaker from Rwanda, Alosia Inyumba, and together they created what came to known as the Maranyundo Initiative. Sister Fox says the goal of the project is to provide community-based education for young girls. Working with women from Sister Ann’s parish, they built a boarding school in the rural Rwandan province of Bugesera. Sister Ann says the initiative “represents an internat…