Fighting Ebola: Obama pledges additional aid to UN

Washington: US President Barack Obama has pledged additional aid to the UN to contain the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, the White House said in a statement.

In a telephonic conversation Monday, Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed "the need for greater international assistance to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa", Xinhua reported citing the White House statement.

Obama thanked Ban for recent steps taken by the UN to coordinate the global response while pledging additional US assistance to bring the outbreak under control, according to the statement.

The two leaders also agreed on the need for a broad coalition to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State Sunni extremist organisation and to continue humanitarian assistance to civilians under threat in Iraq.

Additionally, they discussed the importance of an effective monitoring mechanism for the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and reviewed goals for the upcoming UN General Assembly, including the secretary-general's Climate Summit and the UN Security Council session on foreign terrorist fighters that Obama would chair, the statement added.