FRANCESC VENDRELL APPOINTED SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL AND HEAD OF SPECIAL MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN
Press Release
SG/A/720
AFG/112
FRANCESC VENDRELL APPOINTED SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL AND HEAD OF SPECIAL MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN
20000117The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secrretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General has appointed Francesc Vendrell, who is the Officer- in-Charge of the Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, his Personal Representative and Head of the Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) at the rank of Assistant Secretary-General. The appointment, which takes effect on 1 February, has been communicated to the Presidents of the Security Council and the General Assembly.
Mr. Vendrell, a national of Spain, has been Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs with responsibility for Asia and the Pacific, the Americas and Europe, since November 1999. He has also been serving as Deputy Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor since June 1999. From August 1993 to December 1997, Mr. Vendrell served as Director of the East Asia and the Pacific Division of the Department of Political Affairs and, between January 1998 and October 1999, as Director of the combined Asia and the Pacific Division.
Mr. Vendrell joined the United Nations in 1968 and has held a variety of posts related to political affairs and international law. Among his more recent assignment, he was Deputy Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central American Peace Process (El Salvador and Nicaragua) from 1989 to 1991. He also represented the Secretary-General during the first phase of the Guatemala peace negotiations between March 1990 and May 1992. In 1993, he served as Senior Political Adviser to the Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for Haiti and, in his capacity as Director for Special Political Assignments in 1992, he was responsible for issues relating to the Caucasus. In addition, between 1987 and 1992, Mr. Vendrell was also Chief and subsequently Director for Europe and the Americas in the Office of Research and the Collection of Information in the Office of the Secretary-General.
- 2 - Press Release SG/A/720 AFG/112 17 January 2000
During Mr. Vendrells tenure at the United Nations, he has been Visiting Professor at the Yale Law School, in 1977 and 1979, and at Rutgers law School from 1972 to 1974, and Director of Studies at The Hague Academy of International Law in 1979. Prior to joining the United Nations, he was Lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Papua New Guinea.
Mr. Vendrell holds a law degree from the University of Barcelona, an L.L.B. from Kings College, University of London, and an M.A. in Modern History from Cambridge University.
Mr. Vendrell was born on 15 June 1940.
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