SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN EGYPT, MEETS WITH PRESIDENT MUBARAK

Press Release
SG/T/2017

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN EGYPT, MEETS WITH PRESIDENT MUBARAK

CAIRO, 2 January -- Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was received at 9 a.m. today by Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. The meeting, in tête-à-tête, lasted for an hour.

The Secretary-General later told reporters that he had discussed with President Mubarak, some of the most pressing issues facing the United Nations. On the dispute between Yemen and Eritrea over the Red Sea islands of Hanish, the Secretary-General said that, following his consultations in Sana'a and Asmara last weekend, he was pleased to note that the two countries possessed the political will to resolve the dispute by peaceful means and without delay. He was optimistic that a peaceful solution would be found soon.

The Secretary-General also informed the President of his efforts to persuade Iraq to accept Security Council resolution 986, which would lead to at least the partial lifting of the sanctions on oil sales, allowing Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil in return for food and medical supplies for the Iraqi people. A percentage of the revenue would also be used to replenish the United Nations Compensation Committee Fund in Geneva, in order to compensate the thousands of workers, including Egyptians, who suffered as a result of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

The Secretary-General said he had reviewed with President Mubarak, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the division of labour between the multinational coalition and the United Nations. The United Nations would be responsible for monitoring and training the civilian police force, caring for refugees through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the defense of human rights, while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) force would implement the military aspects of the Dayton agreements. There was, he added, a United Nations presence in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the United Nations was also in charge of the reconstruction of Sarajevo.

The Secretary-General briefed the President on efforts to persuade Libya to implement Security Council resolutions. He said he was hopeful that the obstacles to a lifting of the sanctions against Libya would be overcome.

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He said they had exchanged views on a range of African issues, with special emphasis on Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Liberia and Western Sahara.

The Secretary-General said they had also discussed the United Nations role in economic and social development worldwide.

The Secretary-General said he would like to seize this opportunity to welcome Egypt to its seat on the Security Council, which it assumed on 1 January. He was confident that Egypt, with its regional and international weight, would make an important contribution to world affairs.

Responding to a question on international terrorism, the Secretary-General pointed out that the General Assembly had recently passed a resolution on the need to combat terrorism, adding that more international attention should be given to this serious problem.

On the financial crisis facing the United Nations, the Secretary-General said that regrettably it had not been resolved and that Member States currently owed the world Organization nearly $3 billion to the regular and peace-keeping budgets.

Tomorrow morning, 3 January, the Secretary-General will hold meetings with Foreign Minister Amre Moussa; the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Esmat Abdel Meguid; the Speaker of the Peoples' Assembly, Fathi Sourour; the Chairman of the of the Peoples' Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee, Mohamed Abdellah; and the President of the Shoura Council, Moustafa Kamal Helmi.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Secretary-General will address a seminar organized by the AL-AHRAM Center for Political and Strategic Studies, on the role of the United Nations in the post-cold war era.

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