ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN UNITED KINGDOM, 13 - 15 MARCH
On Monday morning, 13 March, the Secretary-General began an official visit to the United Kingdom with an on-the-record breakfast meeting with senior editors at the Royal Commonwealth Society.
Mr. Annan briefed the assembled journalists on Africa and its ecological, political and economic crises and the threat of HIV/AIDS. He referred, in particular, to Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea/Ethiopia, Mozambique and southern Africa, Sierra Leone and Western Sahara.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General attended an informal luncheon organized by the United Nations Association of the United Kingdom (UNA-UK) where he was introduced to the staff of the United Nations Association. He spoke to them of the relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations and thanked UNA-UK for its work on behalf of the United Nations. Speaking to representatives of United Kingdom civil society at the lunch, he referred to the Millennium Assembly and to the millennium report he would be issuing later in March. He also referred to the United Nations World Conference on Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001, and to the panel he had formed to supervise the Study on United Nations Peace Operations which would look at these operations in the light of disasters such as those that took place in Srebrenica and Rwanda. The civil society representatives included Oxfam, UNICEF UK, the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture, the International Broadcasting Trust, the Inter-faith Network, the Womens National Commission, the Confederation of British Industry, the Commission for Racial Equality, the Trades Union Congress, the British Olympic Association, the National Union of Teachers, and the National Peace Council.
The Secretary-General then attended a multi-faith church service at Westminster Abbey to mark Commonwealth Day, in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness Prince Charles. Following the service, he walked to Number 10 Downing Street with Prime Minister Tony Blair, stopping to chat with some school children along the way. Their subsequent discussion focused on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, India/Pakistan, Iraq, the situations in Kosovo, Lebanon, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. The Secretary- General thanked the Prime Minister for Britains role in providing rapid assistance to the victims of the floods in Mozambique.
On Monday evening, the Secretary-General attended a Commonwealth Day reception at the Commonwealth Secretariat, hosted by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Commonwealth Secretary-General, in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness Prince Charles.
On Tuesday morning the Secretary-General had a working breakfast with Robin Cook, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. They reviewed, in particular, conflicts and crises in Africa and the situations in Iraq and Kosovo. Other issues discussed included reform of the Security Council, the Middle East peace process and Cyprus. Following the breakfast, they gave a doorstep briefing to the press.
The Secretary-General then met Peter Hain, Member of Parliament, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with whom he had further discussions on issues related to Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. They also discussed issues of conflict prevention, and the Secretary-General briefed him on the Peace Panel that he had set up to review peace operations in the light of recent experiences. Mr. Hain was to visit New York to attend the Security Council session on Angola the following day.
The Secretary-General also had a meeting with Geoff Hoon, Secretary of State for Defence. They discussed the future of peacekeeping operations in general and the need to consider the changing nature of troop deployments. In particular, they discussed peacekeeping in Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kosovo. The Secretary-General also briefed Mr. Hoon on the aforementioned Peace Panel.
That afternoon, the Secretary-General attended a working luncheon given by the Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short. The Secretary of State, expressing the British Governments strong support for the United Nations and the leadership of the Secretary-General, stressed her Governments desire to do everything possible to help strengthen the Organization. They proceeded to review the situation in Angola and, in particular, the forthcoming report, to be issued by the Security Council Sanctions Committee on Angola, on the role of diamonds in financially sustaining the rebel movements in Africa, especially in Angola and Sierra Leone. They also discussed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The humanitarian crisis in Mozambique was examined, as well as ways of evaluating and improving the international communitys reaction to such crises, and finally they talked at length about the question of conflict management. The Secretary-General briefed her on the Study on Peace Operations, not only in so far as the Secretariat was concerned, but also that of Member States and how they operated. The role of the police was also discussed and the relative difficulty regarding the speed with which police forces could be deployed compared to that of the military.
In the evening, the Secretary-General delivered the annual Commonwealth Lecture at the Commonwealth Institute entitled: Africa - Maintaining the Momentum (see Press Release SG/SM/7330). The lecture was followed by a question-and-answer session.
On Tuesday evening, the Secretary-General was guest of honour at a dinner hosted by the outgoing Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyakou.
The Secretary-General flew to Paris on the morning of Wednesday, 15 March.