Background Release

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION TO MEET

AT PALAIS DES NATIONS, 5 - 23 AUGUST

Committee to Consider Reports of Canada, Senegal, Armenia,

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:

Background Release

WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MEETS IN JOHANNESBURG;

AIM:  IMPROVE LIVES WHILE PRESERVING EARTH’S RESOURCES

Expected to Draw More Than 100 World Leaders

                                                                  AFR/454

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENTS OF COMMITMENTS

Committee on Elimination of                                        WOM/1363

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).

                                                                  SC/7488

                                                                  AFR/453

Committee on Elimination of

Discrimination against Women

586^th and 587^th Meetings (AM & PM)

UN ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON CENTRAL AFRICA SECURITY QUESTIONS

TO MEET IN BANGUI, 26-30 AUGUST

NEW YORK, 19 August (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa will be holding its eighteenth ministerial meeting from 26 to 30 August, in Bangui, the Central African Republic.