SARAJEVO SARAJEVO, Oct 12 (Hina) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday proclaimed in Sarajevo the birth of the six billionth person in the world. Annan voiced satisfaction that the six billionth baby was born in a city where
life is being back to normal after the war, and in a war-ravaged region where the culture of coexistence is returning in order to help promote tolerance and the understanding of all peoples of the world. At a ceremony held at the maternity ward of a Sarajevo hospital, Annan officially declared that the six billionth citizen of the world would be a baby boy, born by Fatima Mevic, in the first minutes after the midnight (October 12) Neither the awful war, nor the merciless siege of Sarajevo, nor even the inhuman policy of ethnic cleansing has succeeded in preventing this and so many other births in Bosnia," said Annan. The UN Secretary General hopes that Sarajevans wil
SARAJEVO, Oct 12 (Hina) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday
proclaimed in Sarajevo the birth of the six billionth person in the
world.
Annan voiced satisfaction that the six billionth baby was born in a
city where life is being back to normal after the war, and in a war-
ravaged region where the culture of coexistence is returning in
order to help promote tolerance and the understanding of all
peoples of the world.
At a ceremony held at the maternity ward of a Sarajevo hospital,
Annan officially declared that the six billionth citizen of the
world would be a baby boy, born by Fatima Mevic, in the first minutes
after the midnight (October 12)
Neither the awful war, nor the merciless siege of Sarajevo, nor even
the inhuman policy of ethnic cleansing has succeeded in preventing
this and so many other births in Bosnia," said Annan.
The UN Secretary General hopes that Sarajevans will celebrate
Tuesday's birth by ensuring the rebirth of the tolerance and multi-
religious atmosphere by which Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina had
once been characterised. It will be our joint gift for the six
billionth baby, he added.
On this occasion, UN Secretary General promised to give the
Sarajevo University Clinical Centre 50,000 US dollars, on behalf of
this World Organisation. This financial assistance should ensure
better medical care for Sarajevans.
Annan also expressed hope that the birth of the 6 billionth baby in
Sarajevo would send reverberations through the world. He recalled
that the entire world was being transformed by a large increase in
the number of its citizens. In the last four decades the number of
citizens has doubled.
Out of 4.8 billion people who are currently living in countries in
developments, almost three fifths live without basic hygienic
conditions. One third of the world population has no access to clean
drinking water, one quarter lives in inadequate accommodation,
while necessary medical service is not available to one fifth,
Annan said in Sarajevo.
The challenge of the birth of the 6 billionth citizen is to fulfil
the promise of our times that each man, each woman and each child
should be offered a chance for using their abilities as best as
possible in security and dignity, the UN Secretary General said
calling on responsible to commit themselves to accomplishing this
noble objective.
(hina) jn ms