United Nations, Oct 19: With stability relatively returning to Bolivia following a deadly violence, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the country's people to work for a better future and pledged the UN's full support in this endeavour. In a statement released by his spokesman, Annan said he was "heartened" that a constitutional solution has been found to the crisis that had unfolded in Bolivia.

The Secretary-General called on all Bolivians "to take this opportunity to engage in constructive cooperation aimed at building a more just society, in which all citizens may channel their social demands through democratic institutions and in which human rights are fully respected".
Annan offered the Bolivian people the UN's assistance "in helping to address the difficult challenges that they face."

Carlos Mesa was sworn as Bolivia's new president late Friday, hours after his predecessor Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was forced out by weeks of bloody street protests set off by a plan to export natural gas to the United States.
Bureau Report