Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS IBRAHIM GAMBARI OF NIGERIA AS SPECIAL ADVISER

ON INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ, OTHER ISSUES

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to appoint Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria as his Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues.  The appointment is at the Under-Secretary-General level.

Based at United Nations Headquarters, the Special Adviser’s role with regard to the International Compact with Iraq will be to ensure coordinated support from the United Nations system to the implementation of commitments made, through the Compact, towards a peaceful, secure and prosperous Iraq.

The Secretary-General values Mr. Gambari’s recent service to the Organization as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, and he looks forward to working with him in this new capacity.

Prior to serving as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Gambari held the position of Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa.  In that capacity, his functions included promoting United Nations and international support for African development, in general, and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).  Mr. Gambari served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Angola, from September 2002 to February 2003.

Before joining the United Nations Secretariat in 1999, Mr. Gambari served as the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations.  He was also a senior member of the Nigerian delegation to 10 sessions of the General Assembly.  Mr. Gambari served as President of the Security Council on two occasions when Nigeria was a member.  He also chaired the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, which successfully saw the demise of apartheid and the establishment of democratic rule in South Africa.  Prior to his tenure as Ambassador/Permanent Representative, Mr. Gambari served as Minister for External Affairs of Nigeria.  He had served as Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

Born in Nigeria in 1944, Mr. Gambari attended Kings College, Lagos, as well as the London School of Economics, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in political science, with a specialty in international relations.  He received his Master of Arts in 1970 and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1974 in political science/international relations from Columbia University in New York.

From 1969 through 1983, Mr. Gambari held a variety of teaching posts, beginning at the City University of New York, then at the State University of New York in Albany, and later at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.  He was Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University in Zaria, where he founded the first undergraduate programme in international studies in Nigeria.  He was a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University and Howard University (1986-1989).

Mr. Gambari was also a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., and a resident scholar with the Rockefeller Foundation Center in Italy.  He has also authored several books and scholarly articles on international relations and foreign policy.

In recognition of a distinguished career as a scholar-diplomat, the University of Bridgeport ( United States) awarded Mr. Gambari the Doctor of Humane Letters degree (honoris causa -- 2002); the prestigious Johns Hopkins University elected him to membership of the University’s Society of Scholars (2002); and the Government of Nigeria awarded him the national honour Commander of the Federal Republic.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/928-BIO/3666 dated 10 June 2005.

For information media • not an official record