SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ABOU MOUSSA (CHAD) AS HIS NEW REPRESENTATIVE IN LIBERIA AND HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS PEACE-BUILDING SUPPORT OFFICE IN LIBERIA (UNOL)

Biographical Note                                            SG/A/817*

AFR/491

                                                            BIO/3461

                                                            2 October 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ABOU MOUSSA (CHAD) AS HIS NEW REPRESENTATIVE IN LIBERIA

AND HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS PEACE-BUILDING SUPPORT OFFICE IN LIBERIA (UNOL)

The Secretary-General announced on 17 September the appointment of Abou Moussa of Chad as his representative in Liberia and head of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL).  Mr. Moussa is currently Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Director in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Mr. Moussa joined the UNHCR in 1980 as Associate Programme Officer and has since held progressively responsible assignments in several duty stations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Switzerland, Ethiopia and Zambia.  In 1989, he was appointed Senior Programme Officer and later served as Coordinator in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Between 1993 and 1995, he served as UNHCR Representative in Lusaka, Zambia.  He was later assigned as Head of Desk, Regional Bureau for Africa, Geneva.  In 1997, he served as Head of Regional Operations in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where he was later assigned as Regional Director.

Mr. Moussa was born in Chad in 1950 and was educated at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he studied international law.  He holds degrees from the École Supérieure de Journalisme and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.  Mr. Moussa also holds a master’s degree in sociology and development economics from the University of Paris 1 (Sorbonne).

Mr. Moussa is married with three children.

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*     Press Release SG/A/876 dated 12 September 2002 should have been numbered SG/A/816.