New Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso Presents Credentials

Michel Kafando, the new Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Mr. Kafando was the Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso from 1982 to 1983. He has served a previous term as his country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and was also its Ambassador to Cuba. In addition, he was Vice-President of the African Centre for Environmental Protection, a non-governmental organization.

During his career, Mr. Kafando has served as Vice-President of the General Assembly (1982) and was head of delegation to a number of conferences of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations. He has also represented his Head of State in meetings with other Heads of State in the subregion on a number of occasions.

Among his accomplishments, Mr. Kafando has initiated, elaborated and negotiated many bilateral and multilateral treaties, including cooperation agreements with friendly States, agreements on development financing and assistance, and the charters of various non-governmental organizations and institutes. He has participated in many economic missions abroad, and was Chairman of both the National Remote Sensing Commission and the Commission on External Assistance.

Mr. Kafando holds a Bachelor's degree in public law from the University of Bordeaux (1969), a diploma in political science from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (1972), and a diploma in diplomacy from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Diplomatic Training in Geneva (1973). He earned his doctorate in political science at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, in 1990.

Born in Ouagadougou in 1942, Mr. Kafando is married and has one child.