ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SOUTH AFRICA, 13 - 15 MARCH
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his wife arrived via London in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday morning, 13 March. He was met at the airport by Ngconde Balfour, South Africa’s Minister of Correctional Services. That afternoon, he met with the United Nations country team.
Tuesday morning, he and Nane Annan took part in an official welcome ceremony with President Thabo Mbeki and his wife at the Presidential Palace, known as Tuynhuys. In the presence of an honour guard, the United Nations Anthem was played while a 19-gun salute took place.
The Secretary-General had a one-on-one meeting with President Mbeki. In a joint press conference that followed, the Secretary-General said he had thanked the President for the wonderful contribution and leadership that South Africa has shown, not just in terms of United Nations reform but in efforts to resolve conflicts from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Côte d’Ivoire to Burundi and Darfur.
He also addressed a joint session of the South African Parliament, and said that the kind of things South Africa is doing at home, and promoting on the wider African scene, may show the best way for developing countries to respond to today’s world. South Africa, he said, has shown that a nation need not be imprisoned by its history. He told the Parliament that no country today can be unaffected by events in its neighbourhood, and it is the responsibility of the stronger countries in each neighbourhood to lend a hand to the weaker, without seeking to impose their domination. (See Press Release SG/SM/10375.)
On Tuesday afternoon, the Secretary-General accompanied his wife, Nane, on a visit to a centre in Cape Town offering 24-hour services for women and children rape victims. Part of the South African Government’s innovative, holistic response to the problem of sexual violence, the centre provides care and treatment, counselling, shelter referrals and legal assistance. It is linked to a specialized sexual offences court which seeks to bring offenders to justice, where the convictions rate for perpetrators was reported to be more than 90 per cent.
In the evening, the Secretary-General and his wife attended a State banquet hosted by President Mbeki and the First Lady at the Presidential Palace.
On Wednesday, the Secretary-General and his wife travelled to Johannesburg to meet with former President Nelson Mandela at his residence. He spoke to reporters after that encounter, and was asked about the prospects for the Human Rights Council. Asked about his and Nane Annan’s future when he leaves office, he said that they would want to devote some time in Africa to agricultural productivity and also to girls’ education and women’s empowerment.
The Secretary-General then visited Soweto, where he laid a wreath at a memorial for one of the first victims of the uprising in that township 30 years ago, a 12-year-old boy named Hector Pieterson. While in Soweto, he held a dialogue with civil society representatives and youth groups.
He left Wednesday afternoon, 15 March, for Antananarivo, Madagascar, the next leg of his Africa visit.