SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS STEINAR BJORNSSON OF ICELAND

 

DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR OPERATIONS IN LIBERIA

 

The Secretary-General has appointed Steinar Bjornsson as his Deputy Special Representative for Operations in Liberia.  Mr. Bjornsson has a long and distinguished career with the United Nations, having served most recently as the Director of Administration in the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone between January 2003 and July 2004.  He is expected to arrive in the Mission later this month.  

Prior to his appointment in Sierra Leone, Mr. Bjornsson was the Director of Administrative and Common Services at the United Nations Office at Vienna from September 1999 to May 2002.  Between September 1997 and August 1999, he served as Deputy Director in the Field Administration and Logistics Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).  He was Director of Administration in the United Nations Peace Forces in the former Yugoslavia from September 1995 to August 1997 and in the United Nations Operation in Somalia from June 1994 to August 1995.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Bjornsson worked in the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Secretariat in New York.  He served with the United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group between 1990 and 1991 and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force from 1991 to 1992.  He was Chief Administrative Officer in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon from 1992 to 1993 and Officer-in-Charge of the Logistics and Communications Section in the Field Operations Division of DPKO from October 1993 to May 1994.

Mr. Bjornsson graduated from the University of Iceland in 1967, majoring in Economics and Business Administration. He was born on 11 February 1942. 

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