20 October 2008: In a message to the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ seventh Pan African
Conference, taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 19-22 October
2008, Cheick Sidi Diarra, the Secretary-General’s High Representative for the
Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island
Developing States, on behalf of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, called for
strengthening the relationship between the UN and the International Federation.

He noted the overlap between the two bodies’ priorities, including climate
change and protection against the impacts of disasters, as well as that their
work was complementary. [The Message]