Press Release

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES RELEASE OF MOROCCAN PRISONERS OF WAR

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

The Secretary-General welcomes the release by the Frente POLISARIO, with the assistance of a MemberState, of an additional 100 prisoners of war, who were repatriated on 24 February to the Kingdom of Morocco by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

UN MISSION TRAVELS TO NORTHERN HAITI, FINDS

SERIOUS FUEL SHORTAGES DISRUPTING LIFE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, 24 February (OCHA) -- Serious shortages of fuel are badly affecting every day life in north and north-west Haiti.  This was one conclusion of the recent inter-agency mission that travelled to the cities of Port-de-Paix and Cap Haitien on 19 February.  Cap Haitien was taken over by rebel forces on 22 February.

GLOBAL BIOTECHNOLOGY FORUM IN CHILE, 2 - 5 MARCH

VIENNA, 24 February (UNIDO) -- Over 600 participants representing governments, the scientific community and economic life, as well as the general public, will gather in Concepción, Chile from 2 to 5 March for the first Global Biotechnology Forum.  Eminent scientists and experts, as well as other prominent participants, are expected to attend.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS SUICIDE BOMBING IN JERUSALEM AS ‘HEINOUS CRIME’,

CALLS ON PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TO BRING PERPETRATORS TO JUSTICE

The following statement attributable to the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan was issued today in Tokyo:

LOCUST SITUATION HEADS TOWARDS PLAGUE, UN AGENCY WARNS

(Reissued as received.)

ROME, 23 February (FAO) -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched today an appeal to donors for $6 million urgently needed to support desert locust control operations in Mauritania and another $3 million for Mali, Niger and Chad, in order to prevent the early stages of the current upsurge from developing into a plague.

HEADS OF UNITED NATIONS PEACE MISSIONS IN WEST AFRICA MEET IN GORÉE, SENEGAL

(Reissued as received.)

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN TOKYO REMARKS, PRAISES JAPANESE COMPANIES

FOR EVER STRONGER LEADERSHIP IN ‘CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP’

Following are Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarks at a luncheon with business leaders, hosted by the Japan Business Federation in Tokyo, 23 February:

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ‘SENSELESS MASSACRE’ IN NORTHERN UGANDA

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

UN HUMANITARIAN WORKERS TRAVELLING TO MASSACRE SITE IN NORTHERN UGANDA

‘TOGETHER, WE CAN TURN THE GLOBAL TIDE AGAINST HIV/AIDS -– AND WE MUST’,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO DUBLIN CONFERENCE

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s video message for the conference “Breaking the Barriers:  Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia”, in Dublin, 23-24 February: