ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SYRIA, 22-23 JUNE

The Secretary-General and his party arrived in Damascus in the afternoon of Thursday, 22 June. The Secretary-General spoke briefly to the press upon arrival.

That evening he met Bashar Al-Assad, the Secretary-General of the Baath Party and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He also met with Farouk Al-Shara, Foreign Minister, and attended a working dinner with him.

On Friday morning, Mr. Annan stopped by the United Nations offices in Damascus to address the staff of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which monitors the zone of separation between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights. He thanked the staff for their support during the recent developments in southern Lebanon.

He then had a final session with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara, after which they gave a joint press conference at the Damascus airport.

Concerning the Lebanese complaint about Israeli incursions along their southern border, the Secretary-General said that a United Nations-Israeli team was on the border today and he hoped by day's end he would receive a report that all alleged violations had been cleared up.

He added that he had instructed the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to report on the status of the border issues this Sunday, 25 June, and every Sunday thereafter so that the Security Council could be regularly briefed on any subsequent violations by either side.

On Friday afternoon he flew to Basel, Switzerland, where he will begin a four-nation European tour the following day.