DAVID STEPHEN APPOINTED HEAD OF SOMALIA POLITICAL OFFICE

30 September 1997

Press Release
SG/A/652
AFR/17

DAVID STEPHEN APPOINTED HEAD OF SOMALIA POLITICAL OFFICE

19970930 Secretary-General Kofi Annan has designated David Stephen as Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) effective 1 October 1997. Mr. Stephen will assume duties on 9 October in Nairobi, Kenya, where the Office is currently located in view of security conditions in Mogadishu.

Mr. Stephen, who is a national of the United Kingdom, is at present Chief Speechwriter in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Between June 1996 and February 1997 he was Director of the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).

Prior to his Guatemala appointment, Mr. Stephen served in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General since 1992. A specialist in Latin American Government Studies with considerable experience in immigration, refugee and development issues in that region, he also previously headed the Latin American regional office of the International University Exchange Fund. He also served as Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Director of the United Kingdom's immigrant advisory service and Director of Corporate Relations of the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

* *** *