LOC19:32
16:32 GMT
BRUSSELS, May 27 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that he had a day earlier instructed his special envoy in Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to postpone the political dialogue on Yemen which was scheduled to begin tomorrow afternoon in Geneva.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels this afternoon, the UN chief said he had received an official request from Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and other actors in the region and "therefore respecting their wishes, I decided to postpone it".
"But I am in the process of fixing another date as soon as possible. I may be speaking to President Hadi soon," he said.
Earlier, Ban met with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junkcer, for a bilateral meeting. This was followed by a working lunch meeting with the European Commission as a whole to discuss and the Post 2015 Development Agenda.
Ban said: "The emergence of violent extremism is a grave threat to international peace and security. All countries and organizations should join hands to forge a multi-faceted response that respect international human rights and humanitarian law."
He added that he would present the comprehensive plan of action on how to counter violent extremism to the UN General Assembly later this year.
Commenting on the migrants' crisis in the Mediterranean, he said many women, men and children are losing their lives while fleeing wars or seeking better future.
"Our response must be comprehensive focusing on countries of destination, transit and origin. We need to crack down on smugglers while saving lives and upholding human rights and international law," Ban said.
The UN chief expressed his opposition to EU plans to sink migrant-smugglers boats in the sea by military attacks.
"I support the strengthening of the military capacity in searching and rescuing people. Our priority should be to give life-saving and also humanitarian assistance to those people. When you consider of destroying these boats, it might lead in depriving of even the very limited means of those people," he stressed. "There may be some other ways."
The UN chief is to address the European Parliament later today. (end)
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