The Secretary-General's visit to Ghana is the first stop on a tour of West Africa that will also take him to Liberia, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire.

 

"We face a development emergency," Mr. Ban told the twelfth UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), taking place in Accra.

 

 

Photo:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second from left) meets with John Agyekum Kufuor, President of Ghana, upon arrival in Accra, Ghana. © UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe 

 

He noted that despite reaching the mid-point of the 15-year race to achieve the set of internationally agreed anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), many countries are falling behind.

 

Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, "is most at risk - here, not a single country is on track to meet all of the MDGs by 2015," he told the gathering of trade and development officials from around the world.

 

Mr. Ban also drew attention to the "alarming" rise in global food prices, which he said threatens to undo the gains achieved so far in fighting hunger and malnutrition.

 

The situation calls for a substantial increase in investment and expenditure in agriculture, and underscores the importance of pushing for an open trading system in agricultural commodities - which would benefit countries around the world, Mr. Ban said.  

 

Zimbabwean Election Crisis

 

While at the conference, Mr. Ban held talks with Zimbabwean opposition leader and presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai over the protracted post-election crisis in the Southern African country.

 

Mr. Tsvangirai complained about the deadlock in Zimbabwe, where the results of the presidential poll held on March 29 have still not been released, as well as the deterioration of the country's humanitarian and political situation.

 

"He [Mr. Tsvangirai] told me that the military had been deployed around the country terrorizing people, and therefore many people had been running away from their homes and hiding somewhere, which had in turn created a very serious humanitarian situation," Mr. Ban said.

 

Mr. Ban also said he would consult the leadership of the AU on possible ways forward.

 

Zimbabwe's electoral authorities have already announced the results of the parliamentary elections that were held on the same day as the presidential poll, in which the incumbent Robert Mugabe was challenged by Mr. Tsvangirai.

 

Violence Somalia

While in Africa, Mr. Ban voiced deep concern over the weekend's heavy fighting in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu and deplored the substantial number of civilian deaths and injuries that have been suffered.

 

In a statement, Mr. Ban "urges parties to the conflict in Mogadishu to refrain from the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force that endangers the lives of civilians, particularly in heavily populated civilian areas, and reminds them that any targeting of non-combatants is a violation of international law."

 

"It is unjustifiable for such violence to erupt particularly when both the Transitional Federal Government [TFG] and the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia have courageously expressed their willingness to talk about peace and reconciliation," said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General's Special Representative.

 

Last month, the TFG announced that it is ready to enter into discussions with the opposition.

 

As of the end of March, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that 70,000 people have fled the violence in Mogadishu since the start of 2008.