UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his first official visit since becoming U.N. chief Jan. 1, will visit the White House next week.
Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas Friday told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Ban was going to Washington Tuesday to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and congressional leaders.
"The Secretary-General told you yesterday (Thursday) that he will make a courtesy visit to Washington, D.C., next week and meet with the president of the host country, George W. Bush," Montas said. "I can confirm that the visit will take place next Tuesday, Jan. 16. In addition to meeting with the president, the secretary-general will also meet with leaders of the U.S. Congress."
Montas was referring to a remark Ban, who succeeded Kofi Annan as U.N. chief beginning Jan. 1, made at his first formal news conference Thursday. But he did not name a date or give further details, which still are pending.
At the end of this month the new secretary-general will be going to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an African Union summit, where he was expected to discuss Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation shaken by violence between a week transitional government and Islamists, and discuss the conflict-ridden Darfur region of Sudan.
He will also visit the nearby Kenyan capital of Nairobi, a key U.N. site for Eastern Africa, and visit the largest U.N. peacekeeping operation in the world in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
