NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SOMALIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SOMALIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

The new Permanent Representative of Somalia, Elmi Ahmed Duale, today presented his credentials to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Duale (a Doctor of Medicine) worked for some 30 years at the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).  Joining the WHO in 1974, Mr. Duale spent his first three years as WHO Medical Officer and Team Leader for North-Western State, Nigeria.  From 1977 to 1983, he held the position of WHO Team Leader, Programme Coordinator for Nigeria.  He also served as WHO Representative for the United Republic of Tanzania (1983-1994) and Eritrea (1994-1999).  From 1999 to 2005, he held the position of Public Health Consultant in Dar es Salaam.

Mr. Duale’s career in public health also included numerous Government assignments, including Director General of Somalia’s Ministry of Health (1963-1968).  From 1973 to 1974, he served as First Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Vice Chancellor of the National University of Somalia in Mogadishu.  From 1960 to 1962, Mr. Duale worked as a clinical physician at the DeMartino General Hospital in Mogadishu and as a medical officer at Mogadishu’s Department of Health.

Elected Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in 1969, Mr. Duale spent three years -- from 1970 to 1973 -- as a political detainee at the former Presidential Villa, together with all the Cabinet members of the last democratically elected civilian Government of his country.

Mr. Duale received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Rome in 1960.  He also received a diploma in public health at the University of Edinburgh in 1963.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record