Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF BURUNDI PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Representative of Burundi to the United Nations, Zacharie Gahutu, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Gahutu was Chief of Staff to the President of Burundi’s National Assembly from 20 March 2007.  Between November 2006 and March 2007, he was Adviser to the Department of Arts in the Ministry of Education and Culture.

His diplomatic experience includes a posting as Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva from November 2002 to August 2006, a period in which he was Chairman of the Group of African Ambassadors in Geneva between January and March 2004.  He was a member of the Troika of that Group from October 2003 to June 2004.

During 2003, meanwhile, Mr. Gahutu was accredited to Cyprus and Greece in February, to the World Trade Organization in March, and to Berne, capital of Switzerland, in September, having served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary within the Ministry of External Relations and International Cooperation between June and November 2002.

Mr. Gahutu’s previous Government experience included service as Director-General of the Bureau of Agricultural and Rural Development, and Director of the Lycée Scheppers de Nyakabiga in Bujumbura, Burundi.

After earning an engineering degree in agronomy from the Institut des Sciences agronomiques in Yangambi (former Zaire), he was appointed Professor of Agriculture at the Kabare-Kibungo School in Rwanda.

Born on 29 November 1950 in Ngozi Province, Burundi, he is married and has four children.

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