“The cash allows refugees to have more control in diversifying their diets, and they can buy milk, vegetables or pasta directly from the local market,” said Abdou Dieng, Country Director for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Ethiopia.

Refugees at Sheddar, located outside of Jijiga, the regional capital of the Somali area of Ethiopia, are now receiving a monthly ration of 13.9 kilograms of food – including wheat, rice, pulses, corn-soya blend, oil, sugar and salt – as well as a cash allocation of 100 Ethiopian Birr or the equivalent of $5 per person.

An additional 13,000 refugees will start to receive cash in the same region in October. The moves are part of a pilot initiative that will last until December.

The pilot project is part of an “excellent partnership”, Mr. Dieng said, between WFP, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the Government of Ethiopia represented by the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) and the donor, European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) which provided a contribution of $1.3 million.

Ethiopia, along with Kenya and Yemen, host most of the 1 million Somali refugees, who, along with some 1.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), are bearing the brunt of the factional fighting in the country since 1991.

During a visit to Mogadishu last week, John Ging, Director of Operations in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that despite gradual improvements in the humanitarian situation in Somalia, the needs remain immense and urged greater investment to break the cycle of crisis in the Horn of Africa nation.

“It is my earnest hope that the Framework will lead to an era of peace and stability for the peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today at the signing ceremony in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

He stressed that the signing is a significant event, but only the beginning of a “comprehensive approach that will require sustained engagement.”

Eleven African countries – Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania – signed the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Region.

By doing so, they agree to preserve and protect the territorial sovereignty, as well as the peace and stability, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Ban said.

The UN, the African Union, the 11-country International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) act as guarantors. A UN Special Envoy is expected to be appointed to support the Framework’s implementation.

The Secretary-General said he had been deeply disturbed by the violence that erupted in April last year in eastern part of the country when the M23 – made up of former national army troops – mutinied. Clashes between the fighters from the M23 and the DRC’s national army (FARDC) displaced nearly a million people in North Kivu, and in recent weeks, more than 300,000 people have been displaced by additional fighting in the south-eastern province of Katanga.

Following today’s signing, Mr. Ban stressed that the regional partners must act on the commitments and oversight mechanisms which aim at addressing key national and regional issues.

“I therefore call for your sustained political, technical and financial support, especially over the long-term, to accompany the implementation of the national and regional commitments outlined in the Framework,” Mr. Ban said.

He urged the participating members to meet at least twice a year, on the sidelines of the AU Summits and in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly held annually in September in New York, to review progress on the implementation of the Framework and agree on the way forward.

“Your active participation in the national and regional oversight mechanisms will also be essential for the success of the process,” Mr. Ban emphasized.

In a special report to be issued in the coming days, Mr. Ban said he outlines a “new comprehensive approach” to addressing the underlying causes of the conflict in the country and the region with all relevant partners.

The report includes various components of the Framework signed today, as well as a strengthened political and security role for the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).

In recent months, there has been growing support among Member States and UN senior officials to deploy an ‘Intervention Brigade’ with peace enforcement authorities beyond traditional UN peacekeeping. The brigade would be comprised from troop contributing countries and operate under the umbrella of MONUSCO. The decision to approve such a deployment is currently under discussion with the UN Security Council.

Regional countries “have committed to putting in motion” such a brigade, Mr. Ban said.

Speaking to journalists after the signing event, Mr. Ban added that he will brief the Security-Council upon his return to New York and that he expects the 15-member Council to make a decision “very soon.”

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, the Secretary-General met privately with the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila Kabange, and with Uganda’s Vice-President Edward Ssekandi. Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was unable to attend.

Mr. Ban also spoke with Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Chairperson of the African Union, whose country hosted today’s signing event.

He also held a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Mozambique and Chair of the SADC, Armando Emílio Guebuza, who expressed support for a possible military brigade within MONUSCO.

Discussing the wider situation in other African countries, Mr. Ban met with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, with whom he discussed the political situations in Kenya, Mali and Somalia. Mr. Ban also noted the lack of progress in the resolution of the remaining outstanding issues between Sudan and South Sudan and the deteriorating security situation in parts of Darfur.

Mr. Ban also met with the Foreign Minister of the Central African Republic, Colonel Parfait Anicet Mbay, to discuss political and security developments in that country.

Today’s Framework agreement had been expected to be signed at the African Union summit in Addis on 28 January but was delayed over what Mr. Ban called “procedural issues”.

Between 2000 and 2011, measles deaths dropped from 542,000 to 158,000 globally, representing a 71 per cent decrease. New cases also dropped during the same period by 58 per cent, according to new data released by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

However, the agency warned that despite global progress, some populations remain unprotected, with an estimated 20 million children lacking vaccinations. More than half of them are concentrated in five countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. India has the largest number of unvaccinated children – 6.7 million – followed by Nigeria and Ethiopia with 1.7 million and 1 million, respectively.

In 2011, outbreaks of the disease were reported in all five countries, as well as France, Italy and Spain. Most of these countries are in WHO regions which have committed to eliminate measles by 2015 or 2020.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that occurs through the spread of nasal and oral fluids and causes complications and deaths, even in previously healthy individuals. It is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe vaccine is available.

“The measles outbreaks pose a serious challenge to the regional elimination efforts and signal where national health systems and routine immunization programmes need strengthening,” WHO stated in a news release. “Resuming progress in reducing measles cases and deaths means strengthening health systems so that they can provide effective immunization services and laboratory-supported surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases to all children.”

The new data, published in WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record, shows overall progress in reducing deaths is linked largely to increased vaccination coverage. Two doses of measles vaccine are recommended by WHO since about 15 per cent of vaccinated children fail to develop immunity from the first dose.

The UN health agency noted that the outbreaks indicate the need to ensure that parents are fully aware of the benefits of immunization and the risks associated with not vaccinating children.

Since 2000, with support from the Measles & Rubella Initiative, more than one billion children have been reached through mass vaccination campaigns ? about 225 million of them in 2011.

Launched in 2001, the Measles & Rubella Initiative is a partnership — led by the American Red Cross, the UN Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and WHO — committed to reducing measles deaths worldwide.

In April, the partners of the Initiative introduced a new global plan to jointly tackle measles and rubella using the same strategy and a combined vaccine. The new Measles & Rubella Initiative aims to reduce measles deaths worldwide by 95 per cent between by 2015 and to eliminate measles and rubella in at least five of six WHO regions by 2020.

Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, and his counterpart from South Sudan, Salva Kiir, are scheduled to meet Sunday in Ethiopia to finalize agreements on all issues being discussed under the talks, held under the auspices of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel.

The talks have been designed to enable the two nations to fulfil their obligations under a so-called roadmap aimed at easing tensions, facilitating the resumption of negotiations on post-secession relations and normalizing the relations between the two countries.

“The Secretary-General congratulates the negotiating teams of the two parties for what they have achieved so far,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson.

“He urges both Presidents to now take responsibility for the resolution of their remaining differences, so that their summit concludes with a success that marks an end to the era of conflict and ushers in a new era of peace, cooperation and mutual development for the two countries and their people,” the spokesperson added.

The members of the Council “strongly encouraged the negotiators to continue intensive work to resolve all remaining issues,” Ambassador Peter Wittig of Germany, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, said in a statement read out to the press.

They affirmed that it is the responsibility of the two presidents “to exercise constructive leadership and demonstrate the political will” to ratify the progress made and bridge the remaining gaps to ensure the successful conclusion of the negotiations on 23 September.

The Council also reiterated its grave concern about the “rapidly worsening” humanitarian situation in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the two areas in recent months owing to conflict and food shortages.

“The members of the Council once again stressed the urgency of immediately delivering humanitarian relief supplies to the affected civilian populations, so as to avoid any further suffering or loss of life,” said the press statement.

South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July last year, six years after the signing of the peace agreement that ended decades of warfare between the north and the south. However, the peace between the two countries has been threatened in recent months by armed clashes along their common border and outstanding post-independence issues that have yet to be resolved.

The situation between the two countries will also be the subject of a high-level meeting to be convened on 27 September in New York on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual general debate.

South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July last year, six years after the signing of a peace agreement that ended decades of warfare between the north and south. However, the peace between the two countries has been threatened recently by clashes along their common border and outstanding post-independence issues that have yet to be resolved.

Tensions increased in recent weeks after South Sudanese forces moved into the oil-producing region of Heglig in Sudan’s South Kordofan state before eventually departing, and Sudanese forces engaged in the bombardment of South Sudanese territory.

Ban’s spokesperson said that the Secretary-General reiterated the readiness of the United Nations to assist the parties implement their agreements and support the mechanisms established by them.

“He stresses the necessity of commencing the work of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism for peace and security along the border and confirms UNISFA’s readiness to immediately support its operations,” the spokesperson added.

The Security Council established the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNIFSA) in June last year following an outbreak of violence after Sudanese troops took control of Abyei – a border area disputed between South Sudan and Sudan – which led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people in the weeks before South Sudan became an independent State.

Last week, the Council extended UNIFSA’s mandate for another six months, and demanded that the two countries finalize the establishment of an administration for the area in line with an agreement signed last year.

In a unanimously adopted resolution in early May, the 15-member Council determined that the prevailing situation along the border between Sudan and South Sudan constituted “a serious threat to international peace and security.” It called on the two countries to immediately end hostilities and resume negotiations, and voiced its intention to take “appropriate measures” if the parties did not comply.

Earlier this week, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Ali Al-Za’tari, said that only 5,000 people have returned to Abyei while more than 100,000 people remain displaced. He noted that it was “high time” for humanitarian staff to have access to Abyei from Sudan – currently, international humanitarian staff are only able to get to Abyei if they travel via South Sudan.

“Impressive GDP growth rates in Africa have not translated into the elimination of hunger and malnutrition,” said the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Helen Clark, at the launch of the report in Nairobi. “Inclusive growth and people-centred approaches to food security are needed.”

With more than one in four of its 856 million people undernourished, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s most food-insecure region. There are more than 15 million people at risk of malnutrition in its Sahel region alone – stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea – and an equal number in the Horn of Africa remain vulnerable after last year’s food crisis in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.

UNDP’s Africa Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future stresses that action on agriculture alone will not be enough to eliminate hunger, and new approaches will have to include the improvement of health services and agricultural infrastructure, as well as giving a greater voice to the poor through strengthened local governments and civil society groups.

“Building a food-secure future for all Africans will only be achieved if efforts span the entire development agenda,” Miss Clark said at the report’s launch, which was attended by Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki. The report is the first in UNDP’s Human Development Report series which focuses specifically on Africa.

It underlines that food insecurity should not be prevalent in a continent that has been experiencing high rates of economic growth and improvements in life expectancy and schooling in recent years.

“It is a harsh paradox that in a world of food surpluses, hunger and malnutrition remain pervasive on a continent with ample agricultural endowments,” said the Director of UNDP’s Africa Bureau, Tegegnework Gettu, in a news release.

While acknowledging that there are no quick fixes, the report emphasizes that food security can be achieved through immediate action in four critical areas. These include increasing agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers; boosting nutrition by expanding access to health services, education and clean water; implementing social programmes that protect farmers against natural disasters and conflict; and giving women and marginalized groups access to land and technology.

“The impressive economic growth which much of the continent has been recording must now be accompanied by decisive action to improve food security and nutrition,” UNDP’s Helen Clark said. “Growth divorced from advances in human development does little for people, and without advances in human development, countries cannot meet their full potential either.”