NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ZIMBABWE PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
Press Release
BIO/3241
NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ZIMBABWE PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
19990907 Biographical Note(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)
Tichaona Joseph Benjamin Jokonya, the new Permanent Representative of Zimbabwe to the United Nations, presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan today.
Mr. Jokonya comes to New York from Geneva, where he served as his countrys Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1992 to the present time. From 1991, he was also Personal Representative of the President of Zimbabwe to the Group of 15. He transferred to the Foreign Ministry in 1990 from the Ministry of Political Affairs, where he had worked as Senior Permanent Secretary since 1988. At that time, he became Senior Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs. From 1983-1988, he was his countrys Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
Mr. Jokonya started his career in 1973 as a teacher in Birmingham, United Kingdom. From 1978-1980, he lectured at what was then known as the University of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. In 1981, he joined the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in Zimbabwe as Deputy Secretary.
Born in Chikomba District, Zimbabwe, on 27 December 1938, Mr. Jokonya holds a Bachelors Degree in History from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and a Ph.D in Political History from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He also has a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of London, United Kingdom. Mr. Jokonya is married, with three daughters and a son.
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