UN envoy in talks with vice-president

Text of report by Sudanese radio, BBC Monitoring Middle East.

Sept 5, 2005 (Khartoum) — [Presenter] The first vice-president of the republic, Lt-Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit, this morning held talks in his office at Republican Palace with the UN assistant secretary-general, special adviser on gender issues and advancement of women, Ms Rachel Mayanja.

The meeting discussed the empowerment of women, especially by supporting peace programmes in accordance with the international declaration of Beijing summit.

After the meeting, the assistant to the UN secretary-general issued the following statement.

[Mayanja in English fading into Arabic translation] I simply wanted to pay a courtesy call on the vice-president and to speak about my area of responsibility, which is gender and the empowerment of women. Women have a significant role to play because 50 per cent of the total population is composed of women, allowing women an opportunity to do other things.

We have the Beijing declaration which was ratified by 198 countries, which included Sudan, and if these commitments are implemented then that would ensure that women can make a big contribution.