Remarks upon arrival at Narita Airport, (unofficial transcript)

SG: I am very happy to be back in Tokyo. I do expect to have a series of discussions with the Japanese leaders including the Emperor and the Prime Minister and of course the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance. We shall be discussing UN reform, including I am sure the Security Council reform, peacekeeping and development. And, of course, as the Prime Minister himself has just come back from Africa, I look forward to discussing with him the situation in Africa.

Let me also say how sorry I was about the tragic accident in Mongolia where NHK lost two brave journalists. Those journalists were accompanying a UN humanitarian mission in Mongolia to see what they can do to bring them urgent assistance. So I offer, once again, my deepest and heartfelt sympathies to their colleagues and their families. Thank you.

Q: There was talk of sending a peacekeeping force to Congo. Is that still necessary at this point? And what is your view on the current situation there?

SG: Well I think that the Congolese situation, there is a new leader and he has just taken over and we need to wait for the situation to settle. And the leaders in the region met, those countries that are sympathetic and are fighting on the side of the Democratic Republic of Congo, indicated that they still will support for the Government of Congo. And I know that the leaders in the region, and we ourselves are trying to see what we can do to energize the peace process and hopefully bring the Congolese people together to resolve these differences. I would hope that their renewed efforts will yield some results. And I have just come from the France-African meeting in Cameroon and this was also the one of the major topics among the leaders there. Thank you. *****