SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ACTIVITIES IN ETHIOPIA 3 - 7 JULY
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, late on Saturday, 3 July.
On Sunday, he met with his aides to prepare for the African Union Summit. He met separately with his Special Advisor for the Millennium Development Goals, Jeffrey Sachs, of ColumbiaUniversity, who was the inspiration behind a high-level seminar on African hunger that he was to address the next day.
He began Monday with a working breakfast with the members of the African Union Commission, and its chair, former Malian President Alpha Konaré. Among the topics touched on were the Sudan, Ethiopia/Eritrea, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and United Nations support for the African Union.
He then addressed the high-level seminar, titled “Innovative Approaches to Meeting the Hunger Millennium Development Goal in Africa”. In Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, he said, a green revolution tripled food productivity and helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of hunger. “Let us generate a uniquely African green revolution”, he appealed to his audience, “and let us never again allow hunger, needless hunger, to ravage lives and the future of a continent.” (See Press Release SG/SM/9405.)
He then had a private meeting with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, who hosted the seminar.
He went on to have other bilateral meetings, starting with the President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, with whom he reviewed the peace process in Burundi, which Mozambique is facilitating.
He then saw President Ismail Guelleh of Djibouti, with whom he discussed Somalia, principally, but also Ethiopia/Eritrea and the Sudan.
His final bilateral of the morning was with the President of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, for a discussion of the stressed peace process in that country.
After that, he attended a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Meles for participants in the high-level seminar on hunger.
In the afternoon, he met the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Ahmed Maher El-Sayed, for a detailed review of the current situation in Iraq and the Sudan, after which they talked one-on-one.
He then had two internal meetings, one with K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, and the second with Louise Arbour, the newly-appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In the evening, he attended the State banquet hosted by Prime Minister Meles in honour of those attending the African Union Summit, which was to formally open the next morning.
After that banquet, his last bilateral meeting of the day was with the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki.
The Secretary-General addressed the opening session of the African Union Summit on Tuesday morning, 6 July.
The vision of an African Union is imperilled by the persistence of deadly conflict in Africa -- particularly the horrific situation in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, he told African leaders. The Secretary-General said that he had just seen the ruined villages and sick and hungry women and children of Darfur. Without action, he warned, “the brutalities already inflicted on the civilian population of Darfur could be a prelude to an even greater humanitarian catastrophe -- a catastrophe that could destabilize the region.”
He noted that he had signed a joint communiqué the previous Saturday with Sudan’s Foreign Minister, which was a welcome development, and he said its terms must now be implemented.
The Secretary-General also pledged to work with African countries as they reach for the Millennium Development Goals. “We will spare no effort”, he said, “to ensure that your development partners keep their solemn promises -- including those made in the Millennium Declaration on trade, debt relief and overseas development assistance.”
He was interrupted by applause when he said, “Many African countries are setting an example to the world -- just as the Union itself has done by ensuring that half your Commissioners are prominent and talented women.”
On the subject of governance, he urged African leaders not to cling to power, saying, “There is no truer wisdom, and no clearer work of statesmanship, than knowing when to pass the torch to a new generation. And no government should manipulate or amend the constitution to hold on to office beyond prescribed term limits that they accepted when they took office.” There was more applause.
“Let us always remember”, he concluded, “that constitutions are for the long-term benefit of society, not the short-term goals of the ruler. Let us pledge that the days of indefinite one-man or one-party governments are behind us.” (See Press Release SG/SM/9406.)
At the break in the opening plenary, the Secretary-General brought together President Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea for a signing ceremony. The two Presidents had been negotiating a boundary dispute that dated back to colonial days, with the help of Yves Fortier, former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, whom the Secretary-General had appointed to conduct talks between the two governments. This unresolved issue had become more pressing with the discovery of oil in the contested region. By the agreement that the two leaders signed that morning, which the Secretary-General witnessed, they would negotiate the creation of a Joint Development Zone in order to share the exploited resources while continuing to try to resolve the disputed boundary.
“This is one of the rare occasions when two African leaders come together to resolve their differences peacefully”, the Secretary-General said at the ceremony, adding, “I think this is an example for other leaders that differences can be resolved peacefully.”(See Press Release SG/SM/9407.)
The Secretary-General then held bilaterals throughout the day. He met in succession with the President of Benin, Mathieu Kérékou; the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni; the President of Burundi, Domitien Ndayizeye; the President of the Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.
The Secretary-General then called a mini-summit on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) relations with Rwanda. The Heads of State of Burundi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda attended, as did the Foreign Minister of the DRC. The Executive Secretary of the African Union Commission, Alpha Konare, also participated.
After that, he hosted a second mini-summit on the subject of the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire. It was attended by the Presidents of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria, and by the Prime Minister of Togo. The Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States was also present.
The participants agreed in a communiqué to convene a high-level meeting of all Ivorian parties, including the President and Prime Minister, in Accra, Ghana, on July 29. Speaking to reporters afterward, the Secretary-General said that until that date, preparations would be made so that “the Accra meeting will be concrete, constructive and we should be able to leave Accra with sure and real achievements.”
That evening he met with Ruud Lubbers, High Commissioner for Refugees.
In a separate programme on Tuesday afternoon, Nane Annan took part in a discussion with Ethiopian teenagers hosted by the Mayor of Addis Ababa, Mr. Arkebe Oqubay, and attended by UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy and UNAIDS Ethiopia Representative Bunmi Makinwa. The teenagers voiced their concerns on issues such as access to HIV/AIDS information, sex education, relationships with their parents, sexual harassment in and around school, and other reasons why so many of their peers, especially girls, are not in school. Mrs. Annan praised the young people for their leadership and encouraged them to continue speaking out about issues and talking with their friends and families as a way to change attitudes.
The Secretary-General and his party left Ethiopia on Wednesday, 7 July, for Nairobi, Kenya.