BENON SEVAN TO BE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF IRAQ PROGRAMME
Press Release
SG/A/656
BIO/3111
BENON SEVAN TO BE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF IRAQ PROGRAMME
19971013 Biographical NoteSecretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of Benon V. Sevan, a national of Cyprus, as the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, effective 15 October 1997. The Secretary-General has decided to establish the office of the Iraq Programme and consolidate the management of United Nations activities undertaken under Security Council resolutions 986 (1995) and 661 (1990). Mr. Sevan will report directly to the Secretary- General.
Since July 1994 Mr. Sevan has been serving as the Assistant Secretary- General for Conference and Support Services and United Nations Security Coordinator, and will continue to carry out the latter function. From August 1992 to March 1994, Mr. Sevan served as Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Political Affairs, with particular responsibility for General Assembly and Security Council Affairs. Since 1992, Mr. Sevan has also been carrying out, on behalf of the Secretary-General, special assignments regarding missing persons in the Middle East.
In April 1988, Mr. Sevan was appointed Director and Senior Political Adviser to the Representative of the Secretary-General on the Settlement of the Situation relating to Afghanistan. In May 1989, he was appointed the Secretary-General's Personal Representative in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in January 1990 he was also asked to serve as the Secretary-General's Representative on the implementation of the Geneva Accords on Afghanistan. In addition to those responsibilities, in January 1991 Mr. Sevan assumed responsibility for the overall direction and administration of the Office for the Co-ordination of United Nations Humanitarian and Economic Assistance Programmes in Afghanistan.
Mr. Sevan joined the United Nations Secretariat in 1965 and worked in the Department of Public Information until 1966, later working in the Secretariat of the Special Committee on decolonization.
From 1968 to 1969, he was a United Nations Observer with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Act of Free Choice in West Irian (now Irian Jaya, Indonesia). From 1970 to 1972, he was Assistant Resident Representative with the Fund of the United Nations for the Development of West Irian.
- 2 - Press Release SG/A/666 BIO/3111 13 October 1997
Mr. Sevan joined the Secretariat of the Economic and Social Council in 1973 and served as the Secretary of the Council from 1982 to 1988. He has also served as Secretary of numerous intergovernmental and expert bodies, as well as of United Nations special conferences.
Mr. Sevan is a graduate of the Melkonian Educational Institute in Cyprus. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Philosophy from Columbia College, Columbia University, New York. He also has a graduate degree from the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University.
Born on 18 December 1937, Mr. Sevan is married and has a daughter.
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