06 Nov 2002 23:47 Annan to visit Bosnia, Croatia, Yugoslavia
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visits Bosnia, Croatia and Yugoslavia later this month as part of a nine-day trip to Europe, the United Nations said on Wednesday. The trip begins Nov. 17 with a series of official visits to Balkan states, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Annan goes first to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and then to the Yugoslav capital Belgrade and Croatia. The secretary-general then travels Nov. 21 to the Netherlands, where he is to receive an honorary doctorate from Tilburg University. He wraps up his trip with an official visit to France, returning to U.N. headquarters Nov. 26. Bosnia has been bankrolled and supervised by the international community since its 1992-1995 war that gave rise to the term "ethnic cleansing." The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslav republic is preparing to shut down by the end of the year and turn over its main project -- the creation of a professional multiethnic police force -- to the European Union.
