President to visit Balkans and Egypt

The President, Mrs Mc Aleese, leaves tomorrow on a State visit to Oman and official visits to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and …

The President, Mrs Mc Aleese, leaves tomorrow on a State visit to Oman and official visits to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Egypt. She will be away until November 25th.

The President starts her trip in Sarajevo, where she will meet Irish Sfor troops who are deployed as military police in the city, and view the work undertaken at Camp Butmir.

She will fly to Kosovo on Saturday to meet about 100 Irish transport company troops with Kfor in Pristina and UN representatives. She will have lunch at Camp Clarke and unveil a commemorative stone at Kfor headquarters.

International troops in the former Yugoslavia come from many nations and are deployed under a UN mandate.

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Mrs McAleese will be accompanied by her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, and senior officials from Aras an Uachtarain, the office of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs. On Sunday, she will attend Mass with Irish troops in Sarajevo.

She will then have an informal tour of the town and its landmark locations which suffered immense destruction during the siege in the 1990s. She travels to Cairo for a one-day official visit on Monday.

She will meet President Hosni Mubarak, view the sights and attend a reception for the Irish community and Egyptian government and community representatives.

The State visit to Oman begins on Tuesday with a ceremonial welcome and official talks with her host, Sultan Qaboos. She will be joined by the Minister for Social Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, and the Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt. She will address staff and students of Sultan Qaboos University and meet the Omani Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

She will undertake a number of engagements, including a meeting with the Omani Women's Association.