Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ZAMBIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Lazarous Kapambwe, the new Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

For four years, Mr. Kapambwe was Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union, beginning in May 2003.  Before holding that post, he was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2003, after serving as Deputy Permanent Secretary responsible for Asia, Africa and the Middle East from 2000 to 2002.  He was the Director for Africa and Organization of African Unity Affairs from 1996 to 2000, after two months as Director for European Affairs from June to August 1996.

Mr. Kapambwe also held posts in Europe and the United States, as Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Zambian Embassies in Bonn, Germany, from 1993 to 1996, and in Washington, D.C., from 1988 to 1993.  He was Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Zambia to the United Nations from 1987 to 1988.

Before that, he was a principal in the Cabinet Office, from March to August 1987, where he was a speechwriter for the Prime Minister.  From 1985 to 1987, he was a principal in the Research Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  He also served in the Foreign Ministry’s Directorate of International Organizations and Research Department as an Executive Officer from 1981 to 1985.

During his career, Mr. Kapambwe has represented Zambia in major multilateral and regional meetings of the United Nations, Organization of African Unity, African Union, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Great Lakes region and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD).

He also took part in the United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme in Geneva and New York in 1983, and holds a 1984 Foreign Service Training Course Certificate from the Australian National University.  In 1988, he attended the International Humanitarian Law course given by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), New York.

Born on 31 December 1959, Mr. Kapambwe, who is married, obtained a bachelor’s degree in political economy from the University of Zambia, where he studied from 1977 to 1981.  He has a post-graduate diploma in international relations from Nairobi University, Kenya, which he attended from 1985 to 1986, and received a certificate in contemporary American politics from New York University in May 1988.

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