SECRETARY-GENERAL STATES THAT FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF MITCHELL REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS COULD HELP RESTART MIDDLE EAST PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

SECRETARY-GENERAL STATES THAT FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF MITCHELL REPORT

RECOMMENDATIONS COULD HELP RESTART MIDDLE EAST PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

Following is the text of a statement issued yesterday, by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on the report of the Sharm el-Sheik Fact-Finding Committee:

Having received the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee report, the Secretary-General wishes to congratulate Senator Mitchell and the Committee members for having produced a fair and balanced analysis of the causes of the present crisis.

The Secretary-General has written to President Bush to express his appreciation for the Committee's emphasis on the need for a halt to all settlement activity; to support the call for maximum effort to control violence in all its forms; and to stress the economic and social crisis facing the Palestinian people.

The Secretary-General believes that full implementation of the report's recommendations could, in conjunction with the Jordanian-Egyptian initiative, help build a bridge back to negotiations towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.

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