ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN KENYA, 17 – 19 NOVEMBER 2004
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, in the evening of Wednesday, 17 November 2004.
The following morning, at UN headquarters in Nairobi, the Secretary-General met with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. The President and the Secretary-General reviewed the peace process in those two countries. The Secretary-General praised Kenya for its leading role in both the Somali and Sudanese peace processes. They also discussed the work of the UN’s humanitarian agencies in Kenya.
Later in the morning, the Secretary-General attended the Security Council’s meeting in Nairobi.
In his remarks on the Sudan, the Secretary-General said it was “high time to conclude the negotiations between the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army and start implementing what has been agreed”.
He told Council members and other dignitaries that the conclusion of such negotiations would also serve as a basis and a catalyst for the resolution of existing conflicts. He noted that the devastating conflict in Darfur is a glaring example of the effects of the delay in closing what is known as the Naivasha process.
He called for a comprehensive approach to solving the conflicts in the Sudan, adding that the Naivasha process is a good basis on which to build. For this to succeed, he said, “Sudanese from around the country and across the spectrum, including political parties, civil society and exiles, are going to have to come together to discuss the future of Sudan and how the country should be governed.”
He reported to Council members that the security situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate, as both rebels and the Government breach ceasefires. This has made humanitarian access difficult, if not impossible. The continued suffering of civilians cannot be allowed to continue, he said.
“When crimes on such a scale are being committed”, he observed, “and a sovereign State appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this Council.”
He told Council members that by choosing to meet in Nairobi they had made an important gesture of solidarity and support for the peoples of Africa. While commending them for working through African institutions, he reminded Council members that the Security Council itself retains the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. (See Press Release SG/SM/9600.)
The Council meeting was opened by President Kibaki of Kenya. Also speaking were Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); Ali Othman, the first Vice-President of the Sudan; Aminu Wali, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria, speaking on behalf of the African Union; and John Garang, Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM/A).
Following a lunch, the Secretary-General was presented with the Russian Federation’s instruments of ratification for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol by Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Andrey Denisov. The Secretary-General said this was a historic occasion for the whole world. He added that we now “need to intensify our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and I hope even the countries which have not joined yet will make efforts in that direction”. He also issued an official statement (see Press Release SG/SM/9599).
Also present at the ceremony were 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and UN Environment Programme Executive Director Klaus Toepfer.
Afterwards, the Secretary-General returned to the Security Council for a closed meeting on the Sudan and a dialogue with representatives of the Sudan, the SPLM/A and IGAD.
At a press encounter later, the Secretary-General was asked about the Sudan and Somalia. He said he was encouraged by the recent developments in Somalia, “where they came together, set up a parliament, named the President and the Prime Minister and are determined to go back home and rebuild their nation”.
He said the Somalis are going to need lots of help from the international community and from their neighbours, but in the final analysis, it is only the Somalis themselves who can stabilize their country and live in peace.
Early on Friday morning, the Secretary-General left Nairobi for the United Republic of Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, where he attended the International Conference on Peace, Security and Development in the Great Lakes region.