Veep Welcomes UN Secretary General

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, met Mr kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, at the Kotoka international airport in Accra last Wednesday for a private visit to the country.

Mr Annan, who was on a West African tour, was accompanied by his wife, Nanny and a 14-member delegation.

Also at the airport to welcome Mr Annan was Nana Addo Dankwa Akuafo-Addo, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, his two deputies, Mr Akwasi Osei- Adjei and Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, as well as officials of the UN system in Ghana. Briefing the media, Nana Akufo-Addo said Mr Annan attended a meeting in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, on that country's peace process.

He said the meeting discussed the timetable for the implementation of the peace initiatives. It was also aimed at consolidating efforts to hold a general election in Cote d'Ivoire in October this year.

The Spokesman of Mr Annan, Dujarric Stepans, told the Daily Graphic that the UN boss also visited Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia.

At the just-ended seventh ordinary session of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government in Banjul, the Gambian capital, Mr Annan, Ghanaian President J. A. Kufuor, President Olusegun Obansanjo of Nigeria, Persident Blaise Campoare of Burkina Faso and others held a mini-summit, at which it was decided that a meeting be held on the Ivorian peace process on July 5.