The Senior Programme Officer, Field Project Financing and Budgeting of the United Nations, Ms Hannah Davies has begun a fact finding mission on Nigeria’s participation in peace keeping. Davies, who led a team of UN surveyors to the Defence Headquarters, said their visit is in line with the United Nations’ mandate last year to pursue a different approach to doing surveys to find out the cost involved in a country’s contribution to UN peacekeeping. The survey, which will last for three days, will cover five categories which include training deployment medicals, allowances, personnel, gears and equipment. The Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, during the October 2013 monthly press briefing of the army in Abuja had dispelled a rumour that the authorities were deliberately with holding allowances of soldiers that participated in peace keeping mission. Attahiru said “The Nigerian Army commenced its participation in peace support operations in 1961. The first actors of this noble endeavour are still alive and can testify to the fact that the Nigerian Army has never held back operational allowances, or any allowance for that matter, of any personnel in the last 52 years of its involvement in peace support operations,” he said. - UN To Investigate Nigeria’s Participation In Peace Keeping – www.channelstv.com

UN To Investigate Nigeria’s Participation In Peace Keeping – www.channelstv.com: "Attahiru stated that some administrative and logistic factors might delay the payment of such allowances but disclosed that the army has ways of filling the vacuum saying “At times, administrative and logistic bottlenecks may delay the release of funds. The army headquarters has always made efforts to fill in the void, more so troops are kept informed of all developments” revealing that the “United Nations (UN) admitted to owing Nigeria and four other countries N127.2 billion accrued through her peacekeeping efforts to the global organisation.”"

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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending invitations today to the list of invitees determined at the 20 December Trilateral meeting between Russia, the United States and the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi. The conference, to be held in Switzerland, will also include the three other permanent members of the Security Council - China, France and the United Kingdom, joining Russia and the US - as well as representatives of the League of Arab States, the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and 26 other countries, Mr. Brahimi announced last month. “The Secretary-General is in favour of inviting Iran, but discussions between the initiating States have not produced final results yet,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson today said. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are to meet on 13 January, and “we very much hope they will reach agreement on Iran’s participation,” said Mr. Ban, adding that the active support of regional powers is “critical”. The goal of the conference is to achieve a political solution to the conflict through a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian Government and the opposition for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué, adopted after the first international meeting on the issue on 30 June 2012, which called for the creation of a transitional government that would lead to the holding of elections. Mr. Ban said in a statement today that the conference is a “unique opportunity” for ending the violence and ensuring that peace can be restored in a way that fully meets Syrians’ aspirations. Over 100,000 people have been killed and 8 million driven from their homes, 2 million of them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, since the conflict first erupted in March 2011. The Secretary-General will chair the event, which will be held in two parts. Following its opening session in Montreux on 22 January, it will then move on 24 January to the Palais des Nations in Geneva where Mr. Brahimi will facilitate the talks between the two Syrian parties. Given that the opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad have yet to name who will attend on their behalf, the spokesperson today reiterated the UN’s call for a “broadly representative” delegation as soon as possible, so as to allow sufficient time to prepare for negotiations. Meanwhile, a separate conference for Syrian women is being organized by UN Women on 12 and 13 January, also in Geneva, to include their opinions in the future of the country, the UN agency has said.

United Nations News Centre - Invitations to Syria peace conference being sent out today, UN spokesperson confirms: "Preparations for the long-sought international conference on Syria are moving ahead, with the United Nations reaching out to the more than 30 participating Member States and with a call on the Syrian opposition to name members of its delegations."

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