ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 7 TO 10 NOVEMBER 2000
The Secretary-General departed for Geneva on Tuesday, 7 November, where he arrived on Wednesday morning. At his hotel, he met with Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, before her departure for the Middle East.
At midday he consulted with his Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, and his Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast. They reviewed the current state of de Sotos talks with Cypriot leaders Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, the current round of which had been underway in Geneva since 1 November.
At 3 p.m. the Secretary-General and his team met with His Excellency Glafcos Clerides and his delegation, and then at 4:30 p.m. they met with His Excellency Rauf Denktash and his delegation.
After these sessions, the Secretary-General told the press that he had shared with the two parties his assessment of where things stood with the Cyprus talks, together with some thoughts on where things should go from there. He did not go into details. He added that he had asked Mr. de Soto to travel to Athens, Ankara and Cyprus later in November.
I hope that they will understand my words, he said, as an effort to take further steps in the direction of a comprehensive approach to a settlement.
The United Nations is seeking to facilitate the parties efforts to reach that goal, he concluded, and my observations are offered to them in this constructive spirit.
On Tuesday morning the Secretary-General met separately with United States and United Kingdom envoys on Cyprus to discuss a paper he had presented on Monday to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides and the way forward.
He met at 10:30 am with Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, the United States Presidential Envoy for Cyprus, and at 11:30 am with Sir David Hannay, the United Kingdom Special Envoy for Cyprus.
Also on Cyprus, at 5 pm on Tuesday, the Secretary-General met with Ambassador Philippe Petit of France, representing the Presidency of the European Union.
In between the first two meetings, he met with his own Special Advisor on European Issues, Ambassador Bernard Merimee of France, to review progress made by the Ambassador in establishing a mechanism to facilitate the flow of funds from the European Union to United Nations agencies.
On Friday, 10 November, the Secretary-General met with one of his Special Envoys for the Balkans, Carl Bildt of Sweden. They reviewed the full range of Balkan issues - elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavias relations with Montenegro and the situation in Kosovo as well as in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They discussed the need for a long-term United Nations strategy for the Balkans.
He then met with George E. Moose, United States Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
He departed Geneva for Bahrain early on Friday afternoon.