Annan holds separate talks with leaders of Chad, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire

In the margins of the African Union (AU) Summit meeting being held in Banjul, Gambia, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today discussed four flashpoints on the continent, Sudan, Chad, Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire, with the respective leaders of each country.

In talks with Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, the Secretary-General said they agreed on the need to immediately strengthen the AU mission in Darfur (AMIS) and to consolidate the peace accord in that region, which has seen scores of thousands of people killed and over 2 million displaced.

For the 5 May agreement to work, “those parties who have not yet signed must come on board,” Mr. Annan said, adding that he personally “continued to press for the eventual deployment of a UN force in Darfur.”

While the Government has opposed such a deployment, Mr. Annan said, “On this point, we agreed that the dialogue had to continue.”

Mr. Annan also met with Chad's President, Idriss Deby. Responding to press questions, he voiced concern about security in camps for internally displaced persons. “We do not want to those camps to become resting places for fighters, we don't want them to become recruitment place for fighters, we don’t want fighters to intimidate civilians and take away their food for the men in arms and, so, we are also looking at how we can secure the camps and protect the refugees in those camps as well,” he said.

Meeting with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe – where the Government's massive demolition of homes has provoked international concern – the Secretary-General said the long-serving leader “advised me that the former Tanzanian President, Ben Mkapa, had been appointed as a mediator” and added: “We both agreed that he should be given the time and space to do his work.”

On Côte d’Ivoire, a country divided between a rebel-held north and government-controlled south, the Secretary-General held talks with the President, Laurent Gbagbo, and a number of concerned regional leaders. Those meetings are slated to continue later this week in Abidjan.

Asked about elections scheduled for October, Mr. Annan said ideally, Côte d’Ivoire should adhere to that timetable. “But, for technical reasons, if there has to be any delay, I hope it will be a very, very brief one and there must be elections, in any event, by the end of the year,” he stressed.

The Secretary-General's official trip will continue to a number of countries in the region, starting with Sierra Leone.