UN chief to tour the Middle East

The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will start by the end of this week a tour which will last for 8 days in the Middle East. It will concentrate on the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, said diplomats and officials at the UN on Wednesday.

AFP said it is presumed the UN chief had left New York on Thursday for Paris and then to Tehran on June 17, Cairo 18, Beirut 19, Amman 20, Israel 21, the West Bank 22 and in Damascus on June 23, according to the same sources, SANA reported.

Annan's visit to Saudi Arabia was canceled, as the Saudi crown prince Abdullah will not be in al-Riyadh. Instead, the UN chief will visit Casablanca in Morocco to meet with the crown prince.

Spokesman for United Nations Fred Eckhard refrained from confirming Annan's tour as far as the UN have not completed verification of the Israeli withdrawal of the whole south Lebanon.

UN teams started the verification process on the two sides of the Israeli- Lebanese borders on June 8. This operation ended within two days by the Israeli side and it proceeds slowly on the Lebanese side.