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Daily Press Briefing Statements made by [Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.] ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES
Charles Josselin, Minister Delegate for Cooperation and Francophony, will open the annual Landmine Monitor Global Researchers meeting on April 17 at 9:15 a.m.; this is a network of researchers established in 1998 by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The minister will be accompanied by members of the national commission for the elimination of anti-personnel mines [CNEMA]. CNEMA is a commission composed of ministries' representatives, NGOs and elected officials established by the prime minister in 1999 and chaired by Brigitte Stern.
Each year, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines--the ICBL, laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, a federation of NGOs active in mine-clearing--holds a general meeting for members of the global network of scientists from the Landmine Monitor.
This year, it's being held in Paris where the 140 members of the global researchers network, from more than 90 countries, will gather from April 17 to 19 at the international conference center, Avenue Kléber, for working meetings to finalize the annual Landmine Monitor 2002 report. (Press contact: tel. 33 1 47 88 97 53).
We had deplored the April 12 attacks on institutional order and called for it to be quickly restored.
President Chavez's return to office should lead to its restoration.
We expect the democratic authorities of Venezuela to quickly find the means for national reconciliation with respect for the rule of law.
The election in satisfactory conditions of the president of the future Republic of East Timor yesterday, Sunday, April 14, confirms the attachment of the Timorese to the democratic process and is a good sign for the future nation which will officially come into being on May 20.
France pays tribute to the U.N. transitional authority in East Timor and its administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who did a remarkable job in preparing the elections.
The decision by the commission, established under the Algiers Accords signed by Ethiopia and Eritrea on December 12, 2000, on the demarcation of their common border, ends a dispute between the two countries that lasted more than four years and led to open war between May 1998 and June 2000.
France pays tribute to the role of the OAU in settling the dispute-it brokered the Algiers Accords--and the United Nations, especially through the deployment of a peace-keeping mission, UNMEE, whose presence is to be extended until operations demarcating the border are completed.
France is pleased that Ethiopia and Eritrea have accepted the decision and calls on both countries to continue their collaboration with UNMEE and to facilitate the implementation of the decision./.
Embassy of France, April 15, 2002
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