NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SIERRA LEONE PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
Press Release
BIO/3023*
NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SIERRA LEONE PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
19960717 James O.C. Jonah, the new Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Most recently, Mr. Jonah was Chairman of his country's Interim National Electoral Commission, responsible for managing the transition from military to civilian rule. He also served on Sierra Leone's National Security Council.Prior to this, Mr. Jonah was United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs (1992-1994), focusing on Africa, the Middle East and global election monitoring. During that period, he also served as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Middle East in December 1992, and for Burundi in September and October 1993.
Mr. Jonah also served as Special Envoy for Somalia, before retiring from the Secretariat in March 1994. He was recalled later that year to serve as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Angola, during September and October 1994. In April 1996, he was appointed Special Envoy for Liberia.
Mr. Jonah began his career in 1963, in the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs. In 1970, he was transferred to the Office of the Secretary-General, where he served as a political adviser. He has also served as Political Adviser to Gunnar Jarring, the Secretary-General's Special Representative to the Middle East, as well as to Lieutenant-General Siilasvuo, Commander of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). In 1977, he was appointed Special Adviser to Lieutenant-General Prem Chand, the Secretary- General's Representative for Rhodesia.
Mr. Jonah was Assistant Secretary-General for Personnel Services (1979- 1982) and was Assistant Secretary-General for Field Operational and External Support Activities (1982-1987). He served as Secretary-General of the Second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination in August 1983, and was the Secretary-General's Special Representative to coordinate all activities relating to the Second Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination.
__________ * This release supersedes Press Release BIO/2645 of 10 March 1992.
- 2 - Press Release BIO/3023 17 July 1996
From 1987 to 1990, Mr. Jonah was Assistant Secretary-General for Research and the Collection of Information. In 1990, he was appointed as Representative of the Secretary-General to resolve the dispute between Bulgaria and Turkey. From 1991 to 1992, he was Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Questions, Regional Cooperation, Decolonization and Trusteeship.
Mr. Jonah holds a doctorate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He spent one year at Boston University with the Special African Programme; two years as a special student at Harvard Law School; and one year as resident fellow at the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, where he did research on European international organizations.
Born in Freetown on 27 January 1934, Mr. Jonah is married and has two children.
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