NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF NIGER PRESENTS CREDENTIAL
Press Release
BIO/3066
NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF NIGER PRESENTS CREDENTIAL
19970402 Biographical NoteJoseph Diatta, the new Permanent Representative of the Niger to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
From May 1996 until his new appointment, Mr. Diatta was Special Adviser to the President of the Niger. Prior to that, from October 1994 to May 1996, he served as Secretary-General and, subsequently, as Acting High Commissioner of the High Commission for the Restoration of Peace, the body responsible for a negotiated settlement of the armed Touareg rebellion in the Niger.
Mr. Diatta joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Niger in 1970. Throughout the 1970s, he served successively in the Ministry as Technical Adviser in the Minister's office, Director for International Organizations, Deputy Secretary-General and Secretary-General.
In May 1979, Mr. Diatta was appointed Ambassador of the Niger to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the Organization of African Unity (OAU). From November 1982 to June 1988, he was Ambassador of his country to the United States and concomitantly, from May 1985 to June 1988, Permanent Representative of the Niger to the United Nations. Following that assignment, Mr. Diatta served as Ambassador of the Niger to China, from November 1988 to February 1990.
From 1990 to 1991, Mr. Diatta served in his Government as Director- General for State Protocol in the Office of the President, and from December 1991 to June 1993 as Diplomatic Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government of the Niger. From 1993 to 1994, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
Mr. Diatta was born in Fadama, Niger, on 15 May 1948. After receiving his bachelor's degree in public law, he earned a Diploma of the International Institute of Public Administration, in Paris in 1971. He is married and has four children.
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