ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN KENYA, 7 - 8 JULY
Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya, in the morning of Wednesday, 7 July. He was welcomed by the Director General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Klaus Toepfer, and the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Anna Tibaijuka.
After a luncheon with permanent representatives to the United Nations in Nairobi, hosted by Mr. Toepfer, the Secretary-General and his wife Nane watched a skit put on by students, aged 5 to 15, from an inner city school in Nairobi to raise awareness of the importance of safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
They then met with representatives of about 20 non-governmental organizations and took a number of questions from them. After that, Mr. Annan addressed the assembled staff. He described a difficult year for the United Nations, during which the organization’s effectiveness was questioned over the war in Iraq and colleagues were killed in Baghdad in August 2003. He referred to the staff responses to the integrity survey as well, but said that, despite all, he remained optimistic, adding, “and so should you”. “Your welfare and security are constantly on my mind”, he said, and he went on to describe the United Nations’ efforts to revamp its security procedures worldwide.
On AIDS, in response to a statement by a staff member, he declared, “AIDS is the real weapon of mass destruction”.
The Secretary-General then briefed the Security Council via teleconference on the situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan, describing his visit there, and his negotiations with the Government of the Sudan that resulted in a joint communiqué, which laid out specific actions to be taken by the Government, as well as by the United Nations to relieve the suffering in Darfur and find a political solution to the crisis there.
Before leaving the United Nations complex, the Secretary-General stopped at the newly-named “Sergio Vieira de Mello Library” and was shown a plaque commemorating the life and work of the Brazilian Special Representative in Iraq, killed in the bombing incident of the previous August.
On Thursday, 8 July, the Secretary-General met with the Kenyan negotiator for the Sudan, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Lazaro Sumbeiywo. The General described a peace process between northern and southern Sudan that was in its final stages, but which was unsettled by the recent conflict in the west of the country, in Darfur. They discussed a new political process to deal with Darfur.
He then saw the Kenyan negotiator on Somalia, Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat. The Somali peace talks had been going on in Kenya for nearly two years, and the Ambassador described the process now as “irreversible”.
After that, the Secretary-General went to the State House for a one-on-one meeting with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, followed by an exchange with their full delegations. At a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General thanked the Government of Kenya for the support it has been giving to the two peace efforts, for the Sudan and Somalia.
“As a neighbour to these two countries”, he said, [the President] is perhaps much more aware than most of the impact the conflict and the fighting in the two countries has had on his own society.”
The Secretary-General added that he and the President had also talked of the challenge of HIV/AIDS which, he said, “on this continent is really taking away the future of many societies and many communities”.
“Today, AIDS has a woman’s face in Africa”, he went on. “Each and every one of us must take on the challenge.”
After a luncheon hosted by the President, the Secretary-General drove to Mbagathi, the Nairobi suburb where the Somalia peace talks were being held.
“I urge you to do everything in your power”, he told a packed hall of some 500 delegates, “to achieve the goal set by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) ministers for this conference, that is, to establish an inclusive government structure by 31 July”.
“Somalia cannot afford another false start”, he declared, and went on, “your people are looking to you with high expectations that you will end their suffering”.
He concluded, “I appeal to you to rise above your differences and do all you can to bring your people an era of security, peace and hope. Your people have the right to look to a better tomorrow. And tomorrow begins today.” (See Press Release SG/SM/9410.)
In a separate programme, Nane Annan visited a Nairobi slum with Kenyan Health Minister Charity Ngilu. She walked through the community and spoke to women and men living with AIDS, as well as children orphaned by the disease. They visited the Kenya Network of Women with AIDS, a grass-roots community-based organization of HIV-positive women reaching out to provide food, health care and support for others infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
Later, she visited Equity Building Society, a Kenyan microfinance institution, and met clients who had received small loans to start or expand their businesses such as tailoring, jewellery and belt making, painting, a school and a cyber-café. They told Mrs. Annan how the loans had improved their lives, enabled them to buy a house or a farm and, most importantly, to educate their children.
The Secretary-General departed Nairobi on Thursday afternoon.