European Union: ICRC president meets senior officials
12-06-2003 News Release 03/39
Geneva (ICRC) – Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is in Brussels today for talks with senior European Union officials on matters of humanitarian concern.
Mr Kellenberger will meet Javier Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Poul Nielson, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, for talks on Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Middle East. Mr Kellenberger will also address the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union.
During his visit, the ICRC president will stress the organization’s concerns about the deteriorating situation from a humanitarian viewpoint in Liberia, where the organization is continuing to work in difficult conditions in the capital, Monrovia. Mr Kellenberger also plans to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Regarding the Middle East, the ICRC president will focus on the situation in Iraq and in Israel and the occupied and autonomous territories.
Commissioner Nielson and President Kellenberger will give a press conference at the European Commission press centre in the Breydel building, Brussels, on 12 June at 12.15 p.m.
Further information:
Thierry Germond, ICRC Brussels, tel. ++32 2 286 58 70
Florian Westphal, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 29 30