AFTER UNSCHEDULED VISIT TO LIBYA, SECRETARY-GENERAL ADDRESSES MEETING OF GULF CO-OPERATION COUNCIL IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Press Release
SG/T/2162
AFTER UNSCHEDULED VISIT TO LIBYA, SECRETARY-GENERAL ADDRESSES MEETING OF GULF CO-OPERATION COUNCIL IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
19981209 In-Flight Call to United States Secretary of State Albright Reports Progress in Talks on Suspects in Lockerbie Bombing Case(Received from a spokesman travelling with the Secretary-General.)
After a previously unscheduled visit to Libya on Saturday, 6 December, Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew next morning to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the meeting of the Gulf Co-operation Council.
During the flight, he was in communication with United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He summed up his talks with Libyan authorities on the Lockerbie affair, saying, "We are well on the way to resolving the problem."
The Secretary-General arrived in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday evening, 6 December. He met there with his Special Envoy for Iraq, Prakash Shah. Next day he had a number of bilateral meetings before addressing the Gulf Co-operation Council. (For text of statement see Press Release SG/SM/6821 of 7 December.) His meetings with officials were dominated by the Secretary-General's recent visit to Libya, and on the situation in Iraq.
In the morning he met with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Azeddin Laraki; the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Esmat Abdel-Meguid; and the Secretary-General of the Gulf Co-operation Council, Sheikh Jamil Ibrahim Alhedjallan.
The Secretary-General had two meetings with President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. During a one-hour tête-à-tête, they discussed the situations relating to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to Libya and Lockerbie.
- 2 - Press Release SG/T/2162 9 December 1998
A meeting with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, was followed in the afternoon by talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani; the Emir of Bahrain, Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa; and the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. He also met with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
All whom he met endorsed the Secretary-General's efforts to bring to closure the impasse in the Lockerbie case, so that the two suspects could be brought to trial in the Netherlands.
After a press conference at about 10:30 p.m. local time, the Secretary-General made a late-night departure for Paris.
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