New York - German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung promised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assistance in the fight against piracy off the Somalia coast during a meeting Thursday in New York.

In dealing with the surge in piracy in the Gulf of Aden the international community needs a clear operation plan, said Jung.

"Where German interests are concerned, we will ensure that a condemnation of the pirates takes place," said the defence minister.

Amman - The Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Karen AbuZayd, on Wednesday urged donor countries to contribute "significant additional pledges" to enable the agency to come to grips with "a grave and imminent financial crisis".

AbuZayd made the appeal during the concluding session of a two-day meeting in Amman that brought together donors and host governments, NGOs and other UNRWA stakeholders.

New York  - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that Somali pirates have received 30 million dollars in ransom this year alone.

There has been a surge in piracy in 2008 - the latest being the hijacking of a Saudi supertanker, carrying about 100 million dollars worth of crude oil, on Saturday.

Ban called for a "pragmatic and effective" way to end piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia as it has weakened the transitional government and authorities in the autonomous Puntland areas in north Somalia.

Citing a report on the security situation in Somalia, Ban said that since January 2008, a total of 65 merchant ships with about 200 crew members each, have been hijacked off the Somali coast.

New York  - The United Nations Security Council was on Wednesday considering the deployment of an additional 3,000 military and police personnel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, diplomats said.

The extra troops were to man a separation zone between the warring parties in eastern Congo, where fighting has disrupted entire areas and displaced tens of thousands of Congolese.

The UN mission in Congo (MONUC) comprises more than 17,000 military troops, who are stretched thin in the vast Congolese territory.

The 15-nation council was discussing a draft resolution worked out by France to authorize the deployment of the new forces until December 31, with the possibility of a renewal.

Geneva  - All the delegations attended "constructive" talks on the Russia-Georgia conflict Wednesday and agreed to meet again for another round of negotiations next month, the European Union representative to the discussions said.

"We had constructive meetings of the two working groups," said Pierre Morel. As planned, the two groups, with eight delegations in total, met on security and refugee issues for about three hours each.

The first round of talks last month ended with Moscow and Tbilisi accusing each other of walking out without the two sides having sat in the same room.

"Today, we have taken a big step forward," said Morel, adding that the talks had entered a "fully operational phase."

Nairobi/Goma  - A Tutsi rebel group that has been battling government forces in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is sticking to its promise to withdraw soldiers from two fronts, the UN said Wednesday.

"Since late yesterday evening we have seen them begin to withdraw," Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, military spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUC) told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "We have been patrolling and monitoring since this morning."

Rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) has routed the Congolese army and seized control of territory in the eastern North Kivu province in recent weeks.