SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO ERITREA, 9-10 MAY

Press Release
SG/T/2139
AFR/68

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO ERITREA, 9-10 MAY

The Secretary-General departed Uganda for Eritrea on Saturday afternoon, 9 May.

On the flight to Asmara, the United Nations plane carrying the Secretary-General and his party encountered strong headwinds and had to refuel in Khartoum. During the brief stopover there, the Foreign Minister of the Sudan, Mustafa Osman, came to the airport to greet the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General took the opportunity to ask for access by United Nations aid workers to the Nuba Mountain area of the Sudan, which they had not had for eight years. The Foreign Minister granted the request.

The late arrival in Eritrea made it impossible for the Secretary-General to attend the dinner planned for him by President Isaias Afwerki, but the President greeted him at the airport.

The official programme then began on Sunday, with a helicopter ride to Massawa, the port city almost totally destroyed by the war for independence. There, the Secretary-General laid a wreath at the Martyrs' Memorial, met with the mayor and viewed different parts of the city which was rapidly being constructed.

He returned to Asmara, where he had lunch with representatives of United Nations agencies, and addressed the staff at United Nations offices there.

In the late afternoon, he met for an hour and a half with President Afwerki. They discussed the situation in Somalia, Sudan and the Great Lakes. They also talked of United Nations reform, and how it could be applied to United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, as well as Eritrea's relations with those agencies.

The Secretary-General and the President then gave a press conference, bringing to an end an eight-nation African tour.

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