ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN LIBYA, 3 - 5 JULY

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Sirte, Libya, via a brief stopover in Tripoli on Sunday, 3 July, to attend the Summit of the African Union.

Upon arrival in the northern coastal town of Sirte, the birthplace of Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi, the Secretary-General was taken to meet with the Libyan leader under a tent on the beach, under the blazing mid-afternoon sun.  Also joining that meeting were President Festus Mogae of Botswana, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who were among the leaders who had arrived in Sirte for the African Union Summit.

Later Sunday, the Secretary-General met with his team, which included former Mozambican President Joaquim Alberto Chissano, one of his envoys for the 2005 World Summit, in preparation for the AU Summit.

In his Summit address on Monday, the Secretary-General urged the gathered African leaders to seize the precious opportunity for United Nations reform.  (See Press Release SG/SM/9978.)

He said, while the focus on Africa at the pivotal Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Gleneagles was welcome, he noted that it was the World Summit in two months’ time at United Nations Headquarters that holds the greatest promise.

“That Summit is expected to be the largest gathering of world leaders in history”, he said.  “It is in my judgement a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the world to come together and take action on grave global threats that require bold global solutions.  It is also a chance to revitalize the United Nations itself.  It is, in short, an opportunity for all humankind.”

He then said, “But it is in Africa that many of the problems the Summit will address are most acute.  Our continent, more than any other, suffers from the fact that the multilateral system is not living up to its potential.”

He noted key goals he intends to push in September that affect Africa, including the need for breakthroughs on aid, trade and debt; the importance of strengthening United Nations peacekeeping; the call on leaders to affirm the principle of the responsibility to protect; and the proposal to transform the Human Rights Commission into a Human Rights Council.

The Secretary-General announced the setting up of the United Nations Democracy Fund, after signs of significant interest from Member States.  The Fund, he said, “will provide assistance to countries seeking to establish or strengthen their democracy”.

“A number of Member States have already indicated their intention to contribute.  I hope more will follow that example”, he said.

After the traditional group photograph with the gathered leaders, the Secretary-General held 12 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit.

He met with the Libyan leader for the second time in two days, the Presidents of Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe, Niger, Egypt, Liberia, and Togo, the Prime Minister of Egypt, the Foreign Minister of Algeria and the United Kingdom Minister for Africa.  He also spoke on the telephone with the President of Cameroon.

Before leaving the African Union Summit site Monday evening, the Secretary-General spoke to reporters and responded to several questions, including one on the mass evictions in Zimbabwe, and another on the relative importance of the African Union and the G-8 Summits.  He was also asked about the African Union’s provisions for States to interfere where countries cannot protect their own citizens.  He replied, “You saw what happened in Rwanda.  Do we want to repeat it?”

On the upcoming G-8 meeting, he said he hoped the leaders will commit to ensure the Doha (trade) Round is really a development round and it levels the field for the developing countries.  He went on to say he thinks that most of the countries, given the chance, would prefer to trade themselves out of poverty rather than live on handouts.

Tuesday morning, the Secretary-General met with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.  He then had a breakfast meeting with President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana, followed by a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, before leaving for London via Tripoli.