SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DIRECTORS FOR DISARMAMENT CENTRES IN AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Press Release
SG/A/688
DC/2622
SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DIRECTORS FOR DISARMAMENT CENTRES IN AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
19981209 The Secretary-General is pleased to announce the appointments of Ivor Richard Fung, as Director of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, and Péricles Gasparini Alves, as Director of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Both Directors took office on 1 December, pursuant to the request of Member States made last year for the revitalization of the activities of the Centres.The Department for Disarmament Affairs oversees and coordinates the activities of three Regional Centres established by the General Assembly, in Africa (Lomé, Togo), in Latin America and the Caribbean (Lima, Peru) and in Asia and the Pacific (Kathmandu, Nepal).
The Regional Centres act as catalysers of human, material and financial resources for regional or subregional projects aimed at optimizing cooperation and strengthening security and development. Efforts are also made to encourage intra-regional activities, as appropriate. The primary objectives of the Regional Centres are to provide advisory services, information and training programmes and capacity-building to governments on matters relating to arms control, disarmament, peace, security and development, and to follow and analyze trends in disarmament and international security in their respective regions.
The Regional Centres were established on the basis of existing resources and on voluntary contributions that Member States and other organizations may provide. The Secretary-General takes this opportunity to renew his call for support to the activities of the Centres.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Fung was Regional Manager for Peace- building and Governance with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa. Before that, he was the representative of the United Nations to the peace processes in Mali and Niger, in the context of the Touareg problem. As Political Affairs Officer with the former Centre for Disarmament Affairs, he served as Acting Director and Research Coordinator for the Lomé Regional Centre. He is a national of Cameroon and holds a doctoral
degree in political science. He has researched and published extensively on peace and security-related questions. In his capacity as Director of the Regional Centre, Mr. Fung will also manage the Programme for Coordination and Assistance for Security and Development -- the implementing mechanism for the moratorium on import, export and manufacturer of light weapons in West Africa, declared in October.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Gasparini was the head of political affairs at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva where he served close to ten years. Mr. Gasparini has published widely on a variety of topics on disarmament and international security, notably small arms, conventional weapons register, technology transfer, chemical weapons, outer space and information technology. Beyond his political and academic experience, Mr. Gasparini has also participated in peacekeeping field exercises involving Latin American military and civil contingencies. He is a national of Brazil and will defend his doctoral thesis on the transfer of dual-use outer space technologies at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva, in February 1999.
* *** *