Council meeting
15 October 2006
Pretoria - South African President Thabo Mbeki, supported by Foreign Affairs
Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, will attend the AU Peace and Security
Council Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday, 17 October 2006. The AU
Peace and Security Council will meet to review the situation in Cote
d'Ivoire.
President Mbeki will attend this Summit within the context of efforts by the
African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to help
the leadership and people of Cote d'Ivoire resolve their political
challenges.
This meeting follows a special summit convened by United Nations (UN)
Secretary General, Kofi Annan, on the margins of the 61st session of the UN
General Assembly (UNGA61) in New York on 20 September 2006, and the subsequent
visit to Cote d'Ivoire by President Thabo Mbeki on Monday, 25 September
2006.
The New York meeting mandated the regional grouping ECOWAS to meet,
following which recommendations would be made to the AU Peace and Security
Council and subsequently the UN Security Council.
Accordingly, recommendations from the ECOWAS Summit held on Friday, 6
October 2006 in Abuja will be presented to the Heads of State in Ethiopia on
Tuesday, 17 October 2006.
President Mbeki is expected to return to South Africa on Wednesday, 18
October 2006.
Enquiries:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
15 October 2006
