SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO APPOINTED EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR
Press Release
SG/A/657
BIO/3120
SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO APPOINTED EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR
19971114 Biographical Note Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of Sergio Vieira de Mello as Emergency Relief Coordinator. Mr. Vieira de Mello will head the new office of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, at the level of Under-Secretary-General, effective January 1998.Mr. Vieira de Mello, a national of Brazil, has served as United Nations Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees since January 1996. He has extensive headquarters and field experience in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, including in Bangladesh, the Sudan, Cyprus, Mozambique, Peru and Lebanon. Mr. Vieira de Mello has also served as Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for Cambodia, Director of Repatriation for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), Head of Civil Affairs of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), as well as United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes.
Mr. Vieira de Mello studied in Brazil and France, receiving a doctorate from the University of Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne). Born on 15 March 1948, he is married and has two sons.
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