The first official trip to Africa by Kofi Annan, as United Nations secretary-general, since assuming office in January, was a big success his spokesman, Fred Eckhard, has said.
Eckhard, in New York, said that the breakthroughs in the Angolan peace process and the crisis in the Great Lakes region marked the highlights of the trip.
For those two reasons, it was substantively a successful trip, Eckhard said.
Annan returned to New York on Friday, after an 11-day trip that took him to South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Lome, where he attended a summit of the Organisation of African Unity's central organ for conflict resolution.
In Angola, he met with UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi and convinced him to end the stalemate in establishing a government of national unity. He also persuaded Savimbi to reconcile with the Luanda authorities by sending UNITA representatives to join the proposed government.
With UNITA representatives now in the Angolan capital, the U.N. announced Monday that the government would be established April 11.
Formation of the government would mark the high-point of the implementation of the Lusaka protocol, the peace agreement signed by the parties in 1994 to end two decades of civil war in Angola.
The secretary-general feels that while there are still significant aspects of the peace agreement to implement, the peace process is back on track, Eckhard said.
Also at the Lome summit, the Zairian government and the rebel forces, who have been fighting since October agreed, to meet this weekend for talks in South Africa.
Eckhard described this deal as the second gratifying aspect of the secretary-general's trip.
The meeting will be presided over by Mohammed Sahnoun, the Algerian diplomat who is the joint representative of the Organization of African Unity and the U.N., within the framework of the U.N. peace plan.
The five-point plan includes an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of all external forces from the region, protection of refugees and displaced people, respect of Zaire's sovereignty and the convening of an international conference on peace, security and development in the Great Lakes region.
Source: Newswire