In London, Annan and Barak meet to discuss Middle East violence
14 November -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak today used their brief stopovers in London to discuss ways of putting an end to the ongoing Middle East violence.
The half-hour encounter took place at London's Heathrow Airport where the planes carrying both leaders stopped to refuel. After the meeting, Mr. Annan told reporters that "we all want to do whatever we can to stop the violence, stop the killing, to stop the tragedy that is taking place on the ground in the Middle East and find a way of getting the parties back to the table."
Mr. Annan was en route to New York from Doha, Qatar, after attending the Summit meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference. In his comments to reporters, the Secretary-General said he had "shared with the Prime Minister the mood in Doha at the Islamic Summit." Mr. Annan added that Mr. Barak had described his recent discussions with United States President Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C.
In another development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, met today with high-level officials in Cairo as part of her current trip to the Middle East. Mrs. Robinson held discussions with the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Esmat Abdel-Meguid and Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.
Tomorrow, Mrs. Robinson is scheduled to return to Gaza for a meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat. The High Commissioner is expected to wrap up her trip in the Jordanian capital of Amman before returning to her office in Geneva at the end of the week.
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