WASHINGTON, 12 June — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan leaves today on diplomatic mission to the Middle East to meet Palestinian leaders tomorrow in Casablanca, Morocco.
While in Casablanca, he will also meet in Agadir with Moroccan King Muhammad VI.
Annan will then travel to Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday; to Damascus, Syria on Wednesday; to Amman, Jordan on Thursday; to Beirut, Lebanon on Friday; to Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday; and to Gaza in the occupied territories on Sunday.
During his meeting with regional leaders, he is expected to urge them to support the shaky cease-fire between the Palestinians and Israelis, and commit themselves to "a genuine peace."
"Once they have made the strategic choice for peace, they should stay the course and deal with the terrorists when they strike, but not allow the terrorists... to determine when they meet, when they pursue peace and when they don't," Annan told reporters over the weekend.
The secretary-general said he had been in near daily communication with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and Javier Solana, their EU counterpart.
"There is a real international team working on this," he said. "I think all of us, all those who are interested in calming the situation, are working in the same direction. There is no divergence of views of separate initiatives. We are all together on this."
