Need for stability in Africa to top agenda of talks with OAU leaders, Annan says

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who heads to Zambia later this week to attend an African summit, said today that the question of bringing stability to the continent would top the agenda of his meetings in Lusaka.

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Annan said that at the summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) he hoped to discuss with African leaders "the need to work together to end the crisis and the conflicts on the continent, and particularly at a time when they are thinking of creating an African Union, to work together to end the conflicts and focus on economic and social issues."

Noting that "union" implies harmony and stability, the Secretary-General stressed that if African leaders were going to form a union, "they should look at how the European Union did it, and begin by ending conflicts."

Mr. Annan will address the OAU summit on Monday, 9 July, before heading to Germany and Switzerland, and then to Italy, where he will attend the "Group of Eight" meeting later this month.