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SG: I think it is important for the Ivorians, a country that had known stability for so long, a country that was prosperous and was at peace, a country that played an important economic and political role in the region, to return back to the glorious old days. And it can be done. They have talented and serious people. And I hope the leaders who are coming here will focus on the issues, will put their country and their people first, and forget their individual ambitions for just forty eighht hours and work with us to find a solution.

And not only that, I know we tend in Africa to say we don't want to interfere in internal affairs of our neighbours, but over the years we've discovered that problems do not remain internal for very long. They often spill over the border in forms of refugees. They often cause economic hardships for the neigbours, because nobody invests in a bad neighbourhood. So once they mess up the neighbourhood and it seen as a bad neighbourhood by investors, not only are they not coming in to invest, if they do come, interest rates are much higher. And refugees who are now spread around the region, the internally displaced people, a beautiful country that is now more or less divided, we need to work to bring it together, we need to work to restore stability. And my message to my brothers and sisters from Ivory Coast is this: put the nation and the people first. And they should think of their founding fathers and the sacrifices they made to make Ivory Coast what it once was, and it can be the same again.

Q: Finally, very briefly, Sudan. Are we going to declare it a genocide, what's happening in Darfur, or not?

SG: The Security Council has discussed it; it's fully seized of the problem and it has not concluded that it is geneocide. There's no doubt that we have a catastrophic situation on the ground. There's no doubt there has been gross and systematic violations of human rights that the international community and the Government has to do something about.

When I was in Sudan earlier this month, the Sudanese signed an agreement with me offering access to all humanitarian workers, supplies and equipment, and was going to take steps to disarm the Janjaweed and other outlaw elements as well as deploy six thousand troops, push for political settlement of the problem and deal with those who have perpetrated human rights crimes.

I think we've seen some progress. There has been improvement in the access to the region. Many more humanitarian workers are going in. Supplies and equipment are going in but we need to do much more on the security front. And the people need to be protected. The Government indicated to me they would deploy six thousand police and I think they should do that as quickly as possible to protect the population and to dissuade the Janjaweed and other rebels from attacking them.

Thank you.