SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO KENYA, 3 -5 MAY

Press Release
SG/T/2134
AFR/63

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO KENYA, 3 -5 MAY

(Received from the Spokesman travelling with Secretary-General.)

The Secretary-General arrived in Nairobi in the afternoon of Sunday, 3 May. Upon arrival, he visited the United Nations complex in Gigiri, where he met with Klaus Töpfer, Director-General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, and heads of United Nations agencies and programmes. In the evening he attended a reception hosted by Mr. Töpfer, which was also attended by Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi.

The Secretary-General began the second day of his official visit to Kenya at 8 a.m., when he was received by President Moi. They discussed United Nations issues in Nairobi, Somalia, Sudan, including Operation Lifeline Sudan, and the Great Lakes region.

After planting a tree in Uhuru Gardens, he met with Kenyan Foreign Minister, Bonaya Godana. They initially met one-on-one, then, with their delegations, they discussed Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, the Great Lakes region and Kenya's relations with the United Nations.

At midday, he was briefed on the humanitarian situation in the Sudan by Carl Tinstman, Coordinator of the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan, and by Michael Sackett, of the World Food Programme (WFP).

He then attended a lunch hosted by Francis X. Ole Kaparo, Speaker of the National Assembly, to which Parliamentarians of all political parties were also invited. He compared the Assembly to a tree, which in African village life is where people gather to decide issues of common concern. (See Press Release SG/SM/6546.)

He returned to the United Nations complex in Gigiri where he met with the external actors on Somalia, addressed the United Nations staff and gave a press conference. (See Press Release SG/SM/6547.)

Back at his hotel, he met with the Foreign Minister of Sudan, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, with whom he discussed the negotiations on the Sudan which began in Nairobi that day under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

That evening he attended a dinner hosted by President Moi. The President accompanied the Secretary-General to the airport in Nairobi the following morning, when he departed to Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania.

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