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German foreign minister pledges
support in Kenya mediation
DPA
Sun, 10 Feb 2008
Accra - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, kicking
off a 3-nation African tour, Sunday pledged his country's help to
support former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's mediation effort
in Kenya.
Steinmeier arrived earlier Sunday in Accra and held talks with his
Ghanaian counterpart Akwasi Osei Adjei. Steinmeier said that
Foreign Ministry undersecretary Gernot Erler would be arriving
later Sunday in Kenay to help Annan in the mediation to try to
resolve the tensions between the government and opposition in the
wake of December's presidential elections.
Erler would be staying in Nairobi at least through Monday.
Steinmeier said he and Adjei agreed that there were now chances
for a way to boost Annan's mediation efforts in a bid to end the
violence in Kenya. Ghana is the first station on Steinmeier's trip
to Africa which will take him to Togo on Monday and a day later to
Burkina Faso.
His programme in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, includes joining
Ghana President John Kufuor at the final of football's African Cup
between Cameroon and Egypt. In Togo, Steinmeier was to inaugurate
a tropical diseases treatment centre. His visit Tuesday to Burkina
Faso is keyed to that nation's current role as a member of the UN
Security Council. The tour is Steinmeier's second to West Africa
in just seven months.
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