ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN GAMBIA, INCLUDING TECHNICAL STOPOVER IN MOROCCO, 30 JUNE – 1 JULY
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Banjul, the Gambia, on Friday afternoon, 30 June, to attend the annual African Union Summit.
On his way to Banjul from London, the Secretary-General and his party made a technical stopover in Casablanca, Morocco, where they were met by the Prime Minister, Driss Jettou.
On arrival in Banjul, the Secretary-General and his wife, Nane, were met at the airport by the Gambian President, Al Hadji Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, and his wife.
Later that evening, the Secretary-General received a briefing from his senior advisors who had attended the preparatory meetings.
On Saturday morning, just before the opening of the plenary African Union meeting, the Secretary-General met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. The Secretary-General said he was appreciative of the way Iran had been constructively engaged since the proposal by the permanent members of the Security Council and Germany had been put forward. He said he was pleased that Iran showed a serious commitment to the process. The Secretary-General stressed that every effort should be made to avoid any standstill in the diplomatic process.
He also met briefly with President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon. The two discussed the Secretary-General’s mediation efforts regarding the territorial dispute between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
In his speech to the plenary, the Secretary-General said that he celebrates the fact that most African States have democratically elected Governments. (See Press Release SG/SM/10548.)
But, he added that, “to keep building on the progress we have achieved so far, we have to do far better in building a comprehensive strategy for the future -- one which gives equal weight and attention to the three pillars of development, security and human rights”.
In the afternoon, he held another series of bilateral meetings.
On Côte d’Ivoire, the Secretary-General first met with President Laurent Gbagbo. He then consulted with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria; the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Tandja Mamadou of Niger; President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso; and the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konaré. He also consulted on the phone with the African Union’s mediator for Côte d’Ivoire, South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Speaking to the press on their behalf, the Secretary-General said that this had been part of a series of consultations that they have been carrying out, in the determination to ensure that the timetable set out for the elections in Côte d’Ivoire is adhered to.
He announced that these consultations would continue in Abidjan on 5 July. He said that he and a number of African leaders would want to see “what further assistance we can provide them in implementing and sticking to the road map that all of them had agreed to”.
The Secretary-General later met with the President of Chad, Idriss Deby. They discussed the situation along the Chad-Sudan border, particularly regarding security in camps inside Chad, as well as the situation in the region as a whole.
He also met that day with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
On Sunday, the Secretary-General, continued his bilateral meetings.
In the morning, he met separately with Presidents Ahmed Abdallah Sambi of Comoros, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Omer Hassan Al-Bashir of the Sudan, Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia and Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania.
He also met with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and African Union Commission Chairman Konaré.
In between his bilaterals, the Secretary-General addressed a closed session of the African Union meeting, to ask that the African Union members show some flexibility with regard to the mandate of the African Union Mission in Darfur. He said resources would be raised during a pledging conference in Brussels later in July, and that the mandate be extended through December.
While in the plenary hall, the Secretary-General also talked to South African President Mbeki.
On Sunday afternoon, Nane Annan, accompanied by national and local Government officials, visited the Santa Yalla Support Society, a self-help group of people living with HIV/AIDS supported by the United Nations family. Mrs. Annan praised the people for their courage in speaking about their HIV status and their efforts to reach out to others with the disease. “You are doing so much,” she said, “more than many others in society in the fight against AIDS. You are working on prevention, home care, income-generating activities, sending children to school and, as we heard, children are graduating.”
Prior to leaving Banjul, the Secretary-General spoke to reporters.
He noted that he had held a long and substantive discussion with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir while in Banjul. He said that he and President Bashir agreed on the immediate need to strengthen the African Union Mission in Darfur and to consolidate the Darfur Peace Agreement.
The Secretary-General added that they also agreed that the dialogue had to continue on the issue of the deployment of a United Nations force in Darfur.
Asked about the next steps following the Darfur Peace Agreement, the Secretary-General said that, among other things, the rebels who had not signed the Agreement should be pressed to come on board, while those who had signed should begin effective implementation immediately.
On Zimbabwe, the Secretary-General told the reporters in Banjul that he had met with President Mugabe, who had told him that the former President of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa, has been appointed as a mediator. They both agreed that Mkapa should be given the time and space to do his work.
And he told the press that, during his meeting on Saturday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he had underscored the importance that “every effort should be made to avoid any standstill in the diplomatic process”.
Just before leaving for the airport, he also met with Nathalie Delapalme, an official from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, late on Sunday afternoon.