UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was expected in South Africa Tuesday on the first leg of a five-nation African tour that will focus on the victims of conflict, climate change and UN reform, among other issues, dpa reported.
Ban's visit to South Africa is his first to the country as UN chief. He is scheduled to be met on arrival Tuesday evening in Johannesburg by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma before holding talks with President Kgalema Motlanthe in Pretoria on Wednesday.
He is also expected to meet with former president Nelson Mandela and the ministers for finance and environment.
The foreign ministry in Pretoria said Ban and Motlanthe would discuss developments in Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia and Madagascar, all of which are engulfed in political turmoil or war.
The global financial crisis, climate change, UN structural reform and the second UN racism conference to be held in Geneva in April were also on the agenda of the talks.
The last UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa eight years ago broke down when Israel and the US walked out over what they considered excessive criticism of Israel.
With regard to UN reform, South Africa is an strong advocate of expanding the UN Security Council to include permanent members from the developing world. Only the US, Britain, France, Russia and Japan currently have permanent membership of the top UN decision-making body.
Ban will spend two days in South Africa before continuing his visit in Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo and Egypt.
The UN said in a statement Ban would be flying "over the receding ice cap of Mount Kilimanjaro" in Tanzania and would meet with the region's political leadership.
He will also visit victims of the conflict in DR Congo, including victims of sexual violence and some of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the east of the vast country.
In Egypt, he will attend an international conference in Sharm el-Sheikh resort on March 2 in support of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
...