SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS IBRAHIM AGBOOLA GAMBARI OF NIGERIA AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR ANGOLA

Biographical Note                                            SG/A/876

                                                            AFR/478

                                                            BIO/3454*

                                                            12 September 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS IBRAHIM AGBOOLA GAMBARI OF NIGERIA

AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR ANGOLA

The Secretary-General announced today the appointment of Ibrahim Agboola Gambari of Nigeria as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Angola. 

Prior to joining the United Nations in December 1999 as the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Special Assignments in Africa, Mr. Gambari was Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from January 1990 to October 1999. 

Earlier in his career, from 1969-1974, Mr. Gambari taught at the City University of New York and later at the State University of New York (Albany).  He returned home to Nigeria to teach at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, first as Senior Lecturer (1977-1980), then as Reader, and subsequently as Professor (1983).  He was also Chairman (Head) of the Department of Political Science at the University in Zaria (1982-1983), where he founded the first undergraduate Programme in International Studies in Nigeria.

Mr. Gambari was appointed Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in October 1983, a position he held until his appointment as the Minister of External Affairs of Nigeria in December 1983.  At the end of his tenure in August 1985, he returned to Ahmadu Bello University to continue teaching.  Between 1986-1989, he served as Visiting Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and also taught at both Georgetown University and Howard University in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Gambari was also a Research Fellow at Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., in the latter part of 1989.  Furthermore, he was a Resident Scholar at Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Study and Conference Centre, Italy in 1989.  Mr. Gambari has authored a number of books, including on foreign policy decision-making. 

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*     This supersedes BIO/2443 of 22 January 1990.

            - 2 -                   Press Release SG/A/876

                                                              AFR/478

                                                              BIO/3454

                                    12 September 2002 

Mr. Gambari is the founder of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, a non-governmental "think-tank" being established in Abuja, Nigeria, and devoted to critical analyses of -- and solutions to -- the problems

of conflict prevention, management and resolution, as well as democratization and sustainable development in Africa.

Mr. Gambari was born in Ilorin, Nigeria, on 24 November 1944.  He holds a B.Sc. (Economics) degree in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations from the London School of Economics, an M.A. and a Ph.D. both in Political Science/International Relations from Columbia University, New York.

Mr. Gambari is the recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters degree (honoris causa)(2000) conferred by the University of Bridgeport, USA in 2000.  He was also elected by Johns Hopkins University to membership of the University’s Society of Scholars (2002).

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