The Government will pay about 5,000 rebels and militia group members in Ivory Coast a demobilisation allowance to join the army as part of a 2007 peace accord.
The UN Security Council passed Tuesday the first resolution in five years in support of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, urging all parties to "fulfill their obligations."
Imams and rabbis, many of whom came from Israel and the Palestinian territories, met on Monday in Paris to discuss "new actions" to promote peace in the Middle-East.
A breakthrough in Middle East peace talks is unlikely before the end of the year, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has said, blaming the Israeli decision to hold snap elections on February 20.
Officials from Georgia and Russia will meet on Wednesday in Geneva for UN-backed peace negotiations, the first time representatives of the two countries have met since hostilities erupted in August.
A fifth round of Turkish-brokered peace talks between Syria and Israel - centred on the thorny question of the Golan Heights - has been postponed at the request of the Jewish state, Syria's foreign minister announced.
Michel Sleiman's visit to Damascus is the first by a Lebanese president since Syria withdrew troops from Lebanon in April 2005. But this historic day has been troubled by an attack in Tripoli that caused the death of 18 persons. (Part 2)
Michel Sleiman's visit to Damascus is the first by a Lebanese president since Syria withdrew troops from Lebanon in April 2005. But this historic day has been troubled by an attack in Tripoli that caused the death of 18 persons. (Part 1)
While Russia and Georgia have agreed on an EU-brokered ceasefire, questions remain as to whether it will hold. Meanwhile, the future of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains sketchy.
