ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN GAMBIA - 28 APRIL

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Banjul in the morning of Friday, 28 April, for the first-ever visit by a Secretary-General to the Gambia.

At midday, he met with President Yahya Jammeh for over an hour, most of that time one-on-one.

The Secretary-General then had a brief encounter with the Gambian press. He volunteered that he had raised with the President the issue of the recent student riots in the Gambia, and said that the President had assured him that those responsible would be prosecuted. Asked for the United Nations’ position on human rights, the Secretary-General said that the people must know of their rights and do whatever they could to defend them. It was not an issue, "that we should leave to governments alone to defend". He then attended a luncheon hosted by the President.

In the afternoon, he attended a ceremony renaming Old Cape Road in Banjul to "Kofi Annan Street". The Secretary-General's final activity was the inauguration of United Nations House. This is a facility for all United Nations agencies working in the Gambia, subsidized in part by the Government.

He departed late on Friday afternoon for Libreville, Gabon.