NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ZAMBIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Tens C. Kapoma, the new Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Kapoma served as Zambia’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, beginning in February 2003.  A career diplomat with over 30 years’ service in his country’s diplomatic service, the new envoy was Deputy Head of Mission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from April 2000 to January 2003.

From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Kapoma was Deputy Permanent Secretary in charge of the Asia, Africa and the Middle East Directorates in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Prior to that, he served as Deputy Director of Cabinet in the Office of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) Secretary-General in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, from 1986 to 1990.

Between 1990 and 1993 and also from 1985 to 1986, Mr. Kapoma was Director of Africa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Before that, he served as First Secretary in the Zambian Embassy in Washington, D.C., from 1979 until 1985.  He first served at the Zambian Mission to the United Nations from 1973 to 1979, where he held the position of Second Secretary.

During his career, Mr. Kapoma has undertaken several special assignments, including serving as Special Assistant (Liaison) to the President of the thirty-ninth UN General Assembly in 1984.  He was also a member of the Zambian team on the Angolan negotiations that culminated in the Lusaka Protocol (1993-1994) and led a team of senior Zambian officials on the Democratic Republic of the Congo ceasefire talks, which ended with the signing of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement in 1999.  In addition, he was a member of the OAU observer teams to the elections in both the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe in 2000 and 2002, respectively.

Mr. Kapoma attended the front-line States and OAU summits; and served for 12 consecutive years on the Fourth and Third Committees of the UN General Assembly while a delegate to the United Nations and the United States between 1973 and 1984.

Born on 26 June 1946 and married with three children, Mr. Kapoma first joined the Zambian civil service as an Immigration Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1967.  He holds a Cambridge School Certificate and a Certificate in Diplomacy issued by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1977.

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