United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Luanda on Sunday evening, 25 August, for a two-day official visit to Angola.

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At the end of his holiday in Ghana, the Secretary-General accepted a long-standing invitation to meet in Côte d’Ivoire with that country’s President Laurent Gbagbo.

On Friday, 16 August, while on holiday in his native Ghana, Secretary-General Kofi Annan was awarded the traditional honorary title of “Busumuru” by the Ashanti people in his birthplace of Kumasi.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONFIDENT THAT INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IS PREPARED

TO ASSIST ANGOLA IN OVERCOMING COMPLEX CHALLENGES

Following is the text of a toast by Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a State banquet hosted by President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola in Luanda today:

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SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENTS OF COMMITMENTS

MAJOR-GENERAL PUONTI APPOINTED CHIEF MILITARY OBSERVER IN UNITED NATIONS

MILITARY OBSERVER GROUP IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today the appointment of Major-General Pertti Juhani Puonti of Finland as Chief Military Observer in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

SECRETARY-GENERAL REPLIES TO CAMBODIAN PRIME MINISTER’S LETTER

ON TRIAL OF KHMER ROUGE LEADERS

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

Today, the Secretary-General wrote to Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, on the issue of the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders.  The letter was in response to a letter from the Prime Minister to the Secretary-General.

SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES SYMPATHY FOR FLOOD VICTIMS

AS UNITED NATIONS PROVIDES SUPPORT

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan: