SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS MAURITANIA, 7-8 NOVEMBER

9 November 1998

Press Release
SG/T/2155/Rev.1*

SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS MAURITANIA, 7-8 NOVEMBER

19981109 The Secretary-General began his first official trip to North Africa on Saturday, 7 November. He arrived in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in the afternoon, having travelled from Paris via Rabat. In Rabat he was welcomed by the Governor of Rabat and by Ahmed Snoussi, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations in New York. After a brief stop at the airport, the Secretary-General and his party departed to Mauritania on board a private Moroccan aircraft.

At Nouakchott, he was welcomed by Cheikh El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and Dah Ould Abdel Jalil, Minister for the Interior.

At 6 p.m., the Secretary-General was received by Maaouya Ould Sid' Ahmed Taya, President of Mauritania. During their tête-à-tête meeting, they discussed cooperation between Mauritania and the United Nations; Western Sahara; Mauritanian programmes to eradicate poverty and illiteracy, as well as Mauritanian action to promote the economic and social role of women in society.

After his meeting with President Ould Taya, the Secretary-General met with the press.

On Sunday, 8 November, the Secretary-General met with both Prime Minister Mohamed Lemani Ould Guig and with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cheikh El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna. They discussed Western Sahara, as well as matters of United Nations-Mauritanian cooperation in the field of agriculture, health, education, population and economic cooperation in general.

At 11 a.m., the Secretary-General and his party visited the Centre for the Promotion of Women where, in the company of the Foreign Minister and Mrs. Mintata Mint Hedeid, Secretary of State for Women's Affairs, they saw several projects achieved with the cooperation of United Nations agencies to promote women's issues in the country. Following this meeting, the Secretary-General gave a press conference.

That afternoon he attended a luncheon hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He later departed for Laayoune in Western Sahara, where the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) is located.

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* Revised to correct information in the first paragraph.