Security Council briefed by Secretary-General on Sharm El-Sheikh agreements
20 October - Secretary-General Kofi Annan today briefed the Security Council on his recent trip to the Middle East and stressed the need for both parties to faithfully implement the agreement they reached at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit in Egypt.
"Even though there may be aspects of the agreement that one or the other may not like, we have to try and implement it in its entirety," Mr. Annan told reporters following his briefing to the Council. "It's only a beginning," he noted. "We have heavy lifting ahead of us, and it can only work if all the parties implement it in good faith."
Asked to characterize the current situation, the Secretary-General said that while the violence had abated, tensions were still high. "Some aspects of the Sharm agreement have been implemented and steps have been taken but we are nowhere near the level where I would say it is satisfactory," he said. Mr. Annan added that the next 48 to 72 hours would be "crucial" and expressed the hope that the parties would stick with the agreement and continue to implement it with the facilitation of the United States.
For his part, the Secretary-General said he would be working with US President Bill Clinton in setting up the fact-finding body agreed to at the summit "in the expectation that both sides will cooperate so that we will find out what happened, how we got to where we are and how we draw lessons for the future to ensure it's not repeated."
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