As immediate efforts to provide food and other aid to hundreds of thousands of Haitian quake victims improve, the United Nations is also looking to longer-term goals of procuring 200,000 tents for the upcoming rainy season and encouraging many residents of the overcrowded capital to return to the countryside.

"Looking at the mid-term and long-term recovery efforts, providing permanent assistance and job creation and opportunity for these people who have already been displaced is also an opportunity to decentralize and de-concentrate Port-au-Prince, so this is also an opportunity to decentralize the country," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Acting Special Representative Edmond Mulet told a news briefing by video link from the capital. (RealPlayer required to view link) 

The government's idea, which it will present formally to a meeting of donor nations in New York in March "is to take a general overview of the country, not only where the physical damage happened but also to incorporate the reconstruction of Haiti into a global development programme," he said, stressing the need to strengthen the provinces by providing job and agricultural opportunities to those people, many of whom migrated from the countryside in the first place.

Some 3 million people, a third of the total Haitian population, lived in Port-au-Prince when the devastating earthquake struck on January 12, killing up to 200,000 people, injuring many more, leaving 2 million in need of aid and destroying much of the city. The UN itself suffered heavy casualties when its headquarters collapsed. The UN casualty toll now stands at 92 dead, seven unaccounted for and 30 injured.

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Where did you sleep last night? Where did you eat? What does your neighborhood look like? These are some of the questions United Nations staff are asking hundreds of children in Haiti after launching a new program to keep track of children orphaned or separated from their families by the earthquake.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a coherent political strategy to assist Afghanistan in its quest for peace, security and development, noting that the country's challenges cannot be overcome by military efforts alone.

"We must recognize that while security is a major element in the transition strategy, it must not be the main and only focus," Mr. Ban said in his opening remarks to the International Conference on Afghanistan, which he co-hosted with President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"We need a coherent political strategy - not as an add-on to the military strategy, but which guides it as part of a balanced civilian and military approach, with peace and reconciliation as an integral component."

Some 70 nations met in London to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan following last year's elections, in which Mr. Karzai won another term as President.

The long road ahead towards recovery and institution-building, Mr. Ban said, must be inclusive, must strengthen governance, respect the human rights and meet the basic needs of the Afghan people. It must also foster an environment conducive to justice and accountability, an environment where corruption cannot thrive.

He added that despite the increasingly complex security environment, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), together with other UN partners, remains committed - for as long as necessary - to the Afghan people's pursuit of peace and prosperity.

Morocco's tolerance of Jews and its resistance to anti-Semitic policies during World War II were spotlighted on January 28 as part of a series of events being held at the United Nations to commemorate victims of the Holocaust.