EL SALVADOR – United NationsSecretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon called on Salvadorans to keep the spirit of peace alive, as he attended at a ceremony commemorating the 23rd anniversary of El Salvador’s 1991 Peace Accords on January 16, 2015.

“Keep [the spirit] alive by deepening reconciliation and dialogue within Salvadoran society,” he said at the event, which took place in the capital, San Salvador. “Keep it alive by fully upholding international human rights obligations. Keep it alive by intensifying efforts to safeguard the rights of victims, building on the 2010 official apology.”

Mr. Ban became the first UN Secretary-General to attend the annual commemoration of the peace agreement, as he visited the Central American nation as part of his recent tour of the region.

Hespokeof a ‘lasting bond’ formed between the UN and El Salvador, and said his attendance was ‘deeply meaningful’ to the UN and ‘deeply moving’ on a personal level. That was at least in part because of the conflict, discord and bloodshed currently prevalent elsewhere in the world and the pessimism with which people greeted such situations.

“In many trouble spots, people say: Our differences are too wide. The wounds are too deep. Peace is not possible,” he said. “To all of them, I say: Look to the people of El Salvador. Peace is precious and peace is possible. That is El Salvador’s message to the world. That is your gift to humanity.”

Despite a war lasting over a decade, accounting for the deaths of more than 75,000 Salvadorans and the displacement of a million more, El Salvador had proven the possibility of overcoming differences through dialogue and the transformation of society through mutual respect and tolerance.

Mr. Ban described the lasting impression that the peace-making and peace-building process in El Salvador left on the UN, with the Organization’s Mission in the country, ONUSAL, leading the way on post-conflict peace-building.

“The peace process pioneered a new generation of peace operations and profoundly shaped how the United Nations faces global challenges to this very day,” the Secretary-General said. “Your efforts have helped advance peace in virtually every corner of the world.”

Challenges still remained, including citizen insecurity, social exclusion and lack of opportunities, as well as sexual violence against women and the fact that 40 per cent of murders in the country were against children and youth. Peace would be consolidated when structural challenges such as inequality and exclusion were addressed, and social cohesion would come when all communities became part of the conversation.

Mr. Ban also took part today in apress conferencewith President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, welcoming ongoing efforts made by El Salvador’s Government to improve the situation in the country.

Its recent election to the UN Human Rights Council demonstrated as much and recognized its engagement with and commitment to UN principles, while the establishment of bodies like the National Council on Citizen Security and Coexistence were also positive steps. The UN was also “fully ready” to support recent recommendations made by the National Security Commission.

“I am also pleased that the [recently launched five-year Development] Plan places human rights at the centre of policy making. I have encouraged President Sánchez Cerén to continue working to strengthen the human rights of women, children, the LGBT community and indigenous peoples and to beef up institutions to end impunity,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL – Three days after the end of the first round of talks under the Libyan political dialogue process, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has welcomed the unilateral announcements by the parties in Libya of a ceasefire in order to resolve the conflict peacefully through dialogue.

“The Mission calls on the parties to work with UNSMIL on the specific elements of the ceasefire, including the mechanism to ensure compliance with it,” said apress statement released by UNSMIL, adding that the move was an encouraging sign that made a significant contribution to creating the conducive environment for the ongoing dialogue.

The ceasefire comes after a first round of intensive talks, hosted by UNSMIL in Geneva last week, in which participants agreed upon an agenda for talks going forward, with the aim of reaching a political agreement to form a consensual national unity government, and making security arrangements necessary to end fighting and ensure the withdrawal of armed groups from Libyan cities.

As well as discussing confidence-building measures to safeguard Libya's national unity and to alleviate the population's suffering, participants also agreed to hold another round of talks in Geneva next week and strongly urged all relevant Libyan stakeholders to attend.

“UNSMIL is calling for an end to the fighting to spare Libyan blood, stop the destruction and pave the way for a peaceful search for solutions to Libya's political and security crisis through dialogue,” the Mission's statement said. “A truce will also allow humanitarian aid to flow to the displaced and the needy in affected areas and will encourage international organizations to resume full operations in the country.”

The Mission urged parties to ensure that the ceasefire applies to ground, sea and air operations as well as movement of armed personnel and vehicles. Committees from both sides will coordinate with UNSMIL regarding tackling any breaches.

INTERNATIONAL – A United Nations-supported video campaign to fight hunger in Africa will feature at the matches throughout the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, which started Saturday, 17 January, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced.

In the video, a footballer dressed in white garb dribbles a ball across an abandoned underground construction site, laser focused, dust stirring up around him as he angles for the winning kick – he takes it and scores – which represents for overcoming hunger in Africa by 2025.

“Eradicating hunger requires teamwork and perseverance – the same qualities that players in the Nations Cup show us on the field,” said José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General.

The campaign, ‘African Football against Hunger,’ is a product of the partnership between FAO and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and will spotlight the breakthrough commitment by African leaders to end hunger in the next decade.

The initiative leverages the global popularity of “footie” to spread a message of solidarity: African nations can overcome hunger in our lifetime, but they need collective action and popular support to reach their goal.

Of particular significance, Mr. Graziano da Silva stressed, is adequate nutrition to reach one's goals, athletic or otherwise.

Hunger, unlike the invisible opponent in the video, is tangible across the African continent, says FAO. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 223 million people – or one fourth the population there – are undernourished. This hampers their ability to lead healthy, productive lives and holds Africa as a whole back from reaching its full potential.

“Football brings together people from all over the continent and that makes it the ideal platform to call for solidarity,” said Mario Lubetkin, FAO´s Director of Communications, during a press conference in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on the eve of the opening of the Africa Cup of Nations.

He also added that (it can) “bring people across Africa on board with our joint effort to raise the bar in the fight against hunger.”

Home to seven out of 10 of the planet's fastest growing economies, Africa also has the youngest population in the world. However, regional markets are still dominated by foreign food imports and youth unemployment runs high.

Therefore, investing in agricultural development now could improve inclusive growth that boosts youth employment, strengthens rural livelihoods and meets the food challenges of a growing world population.

In this regard, the FAO-administered Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, also featured in the video, was established in 2013. As the first Africa-for-Africa fund, it has so far leveraged some $40 million from African States (primarily Equatorial Guinea and Angola) for projects that aim to improve agriculture and fight hunger.

The work of FAO and the Fund complement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), a home-grown, region-wide cooperative effort to boost agricultural productivity that was launched by governments 10 years ago.

Investments in agricultural development, strong social safety nets and rights to access resources are of great importance to ensure a food-secure Africa, according to the UN agency. It also highlights the need to support small-scale farmers, who work more than 60 percent of the agricultural land.

The Africa Cup of Nations takes place in a pivotal year for international development, with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) coming to an end and the international community finalizing a set of sustainable development targets to succeed them.

Sustainable livelihoods and food security are likely to be cornerstones of the post-2015 development agenda.

“This is the time for governments, institutions and civil society on the continent to come together and double down on efforts to make hunger history,” Mr. Lubetkin underscored.

Sixteen teams will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations from Saturday, 17 January to 8 February in venues across Equatorial Guinea.

INTERNATIONAL – The United Nations Special Envoy on Ebola described a growing feeling of confidence among those responding to the outbreak in West Africa, but he warned that there is an absolute need to maintain focus, vigilance and discipline to ensure that the disease is wiped out.

“In the last few weeks, we’ve seen a big shift, a sense of self-confidence a sense that it can be beaten,” David Nabarro said in an interview with theUN News Centre. “[The shift] started in early December in Liberia, with some parts of the country that had been so badly affected beforehand reporting near zero or zero cases; other parts of the country at least beginning to feel better.”

This, Dr. Nabarro said, is a major change from when he took up his position last August. He describes the situation then as 'frightening' and filled with unknowns.

“We were bracing ourselves for some very bad news,” he said. “And there was bad news. September was worse, and October was difficult.”

In September, cases in the region were rising by 150 per day and the daily tally was increasing exponentially, with the outbreak accelerating ahead of the response. Since then, the daily figure for new cases has reduced to about 50 per day, with the number of cases week-by-week gradually reducing.

The Governments of the affected countries have been leading efforst to curb the spread of the virus, supported by the UN Mission for Emergency Ebola Response (UNMEER), operating in an area the size of France.

In recent weeks, Dr. Nabarro said, the response has taken on a much more local feel, shifting from treatment, safe burials and community mobilization to focusing on identifying those most at risk and those who have the disease, isolating them, and tracking down everybody with whom they have had contact.

“The phase that we’re involved in right now is called ‘case finding and contact tracing,’” he said. “It’s like detective work. And that’s where we are right now, with the absolute goal of reaching the point where there is no more Ebola infection in the region, and at the same time where we’re seeing a recovery of the normal aspects of life, like schooling, like healthcare, like agriculture and like markets, all the things that represent normal life coming back.”

That ‘detective work’ is part of what helps drive numbers of new cases down towards zero. Once new cases are emanating only from lists of people cited as having been in contact with someone who has Ebola, progress is being made towards zero cases. If surprises and flare-ups are still occurring, then there is still more to be done.

“In some parts of the region, I’m happy to tell you, that we really do understand the chains of transmission and the contact tracing is very good,” he said. “In other parts, we’re still getting surprises. Flare-ups suddenly occur.”

To maintain the vigilance and rapid response times that are vital to eradicating Ebola, Dr. Nabarro underlined the need for experienced epidemiologists and anthropologists, who together can keep a close watch on the levels of disease and what’s happening in the population to respond to it.

“We need them everywhere. We need hundreds of them,” he said, “because we need to be able to find every single person who has Ebola and keep them under surveillance and get them under treatment if they get sick and when they get sick.”

The experts need the support of supervisors; need the most effective IT for communication; and need transport systems so they can be supplied with everything they need in places without roads or access of any kind. People, materials and money will be vital going forward, and Dr. Nabarro said he would ask Governments and foundations to contribute on his upcoming trip to Europe.

He was also enthusiastic about news of success in efforts to develop a vaccine for Ebola, and stressed that once a viable vaccine is approved, at-risk health workers should be the first immunized.

“In the last few months, hundreds of health workers have got sick with the disease and too many of them have made the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “I would like to be sure that the moment the vaccines becomes available, it’ll be the health workers who are most at risk who are protected.”