Activities of Secretary-General in Spain, 18-19 March

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travelled to Madrid, Spain, from Guatemala on Friday, 18 March.

He met Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez, and followed that meeting with a working luncheon with the Prime Minister and his senior aides.

Talking to the press after his meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, the Secretary-General said they had discussed the dramatic developments in the Middle East and North Africa, including the violence in Libya.  The Secretary-General emphasized that Libya must cease all hostilities immediately and that those responsible for human rights violations will be held accountable.

The Secretary-General added that he would do all he could to fulfil his responsibilities to coordinate closely with Member States on a common, effective and timely response, as mandated by Security Council resolution 1973 (2011), which had been passed a day earlier, on 17 March.

He added that he would follow up on that historic Security Council resolution by travelling to Paris and meeting President Nicolas Sarkozy and other European, Arab and African leaders on 19 March.

After that, the Secretary-General told the press, he would travel to Egypt and Tunisia, so that he could see first hand how the people of those countries are moving ahead with the transition to democracy.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General also had an audience with King Don Juan Carlos I.  He left the following day, Saturday, 19 March, to attend the high-level meeting on Libya taking place in Paris.