JAPAN: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Zimbabwe crisis has major implications for Africa
Record ID:
464780
JAPAN: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Zimbabwe crisis has major implications for Africa
- Title: JAPAN: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Zimbabwe crisis has major implications for Africa
- Date: 1st July 2008
- Summary: (BN03) TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 01, 2008) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON ARRIVING AT A NEWS CONFERENCE BAN KI-MOON AT THE PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON SAYING: "I regard the current situation on the Korean Peninsula over this nuclear issues is a very encouraging step forward. The participants to six-party talks should not lose this momentum, build up on this and take this momentum to accelerate the denuclearization process of North Korea nuclear issues, Korean Peninsula." BAN KI-MOON AND PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON SAYING: "At this time, things seems to be moving towards the right direction even for there's still some slowing down as well as some administrative hindrance, but as far as I know as of today, the international aid workers and U.N. staff have been able to carry out their humanitarian assistance." CUTAWAY OF PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON SAYING: "I have spent quite some time and energy in discussing the matter with many African leaders and many world leaders -- how United Nations can help the Zimbabwean people so that they can enjoy genuine freedom and so that they can really choose their leaders out of their own will without being intimidated, without being threatened and exercising their democratic free will." CUTAWAY OF PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON SAYING: "The situation in Zimbabwe has great implications, not only to the people and government in Zimbabwe, but it has a greater implication in the region and the democracy of the African continent is also very much important to maintain the credibility of democratic rules in Africa as a whole." BAN KI-MOON LEAVING THE NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 16th July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Reuters ID: LVABFEY5DBLWHZAM6KOTJ54QN2N5
- Story Text: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns the controversial elections in Zimbabwe will have greater implications for the African region; he also discusses nuclear progress in North Korea but problems in Myanmar.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says moves by North Korea to destroy part of its nuclear reactor is "encouraging".
He hopes it will lead to more developments through the six-party talks and says those taking part should keep up the momentum.
On a less positive note, Ban said United Nations aid workers were carrying out relief work in cyclone ravaged Myanmar, there was still some hindrance.
On Zimbabwe, Ban said the African country's people needed genuine freedom to choose their leaders. His comments come after a widely-condemned vote in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe, 84, was sworn in for a new five-year term on Sunday (June 29).
Election authorities announced he had won a landslide victory in a one-candidate presidential run-off ballot condemned as violent and unfair by monitors. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the vote.
"I have spent quite some time and energy in discussing the matter with many African leaders and many world leaders -- how United Nations can help the Zimbabwean people so that they can enjoy genuine freedom and so that they can really choose their leaders out of their own will without being intimidated, without being threatened and exercising their democratic free will," said Ban.
Ban said the situation in Zimbabwe had larger implications for the African region.
Leaders at the African Union Summit in Egypt are expected to press Mugabe on Tuesday to negotiate with Zimbabwe's opposition, but are unlikely to punish his government for holding a discredited presidential election.
Ban's Asia tour will take him to China prior to his revisit to Japan for the Group of Eight (G8) Summit.
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