By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council aims to approve on Thursday the creation of a special force that would carry out "targeted offensive operations" to wipe out armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, council diplomats said. The 15-member Security Council was still negotiating on Wednesday a draft resolution to establish the so-called intervention brigade within the existing 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, known as MONUSCO.

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An African force currently in Mali should be converted into a U.N. peacekeeping operation and a separate combat force should be created to confront Islamist threats, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended to the Security Council on Tuesday. The U.N.-backed African force in Mali is due to take over from France when it starts withdrawing its 4,000 troops from the country in late April.

The lives of thousands of children are at risk in coup-hit Central Africa because of a lack of access to basic aid, food shortages and the ongoing use of child soldiers, the United Nations said Tuesday. "About 600,000 children have been affected by the conflict across the country," Marixie Mercado, spokeswoman for the UN's children's agency, told reporters in Geneva. "Many nutrition centres are closed and looted and an estimated 13,500 children are expected to suffer from life-threatening malnutrition this year," she said.

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda warned on Friday that the court will "not hesitate" to investigate alleged crimes committed in the Central African Republic, where rebels were advancing on the capital Bangui. "I am deeply concerned about reports of the worsening situation in the Central African Republic and allegations of the commission of serious crimes," Bensouda said in a statement issued from The Hague.