Swedish Diplomat To Be Named Top UN Envoy To Iraq

Staffan de Mistura, the Swedish national currently at the helm of the United Nations System Staff College in Turin, Italy, is tipped to be the next top envoy of the Secretary-General in Iraq, UN diplomats said speaking on condition of anonymity. It is still unknown when an official announcement will be made.

Rumors about De Mistura’s new appointment have been circulated around UN circles since the Security Council agreed to renew and strengthen the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1770 earlier in August. Other candidates for the top position in Iraq were Lebanon’s former Minister Ghassan Salame and Italy’s former Ambassador in Baghdad, Gianludovico de Martino, diplomats said.

In August, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, suggested Qazi may be replaced in Baghdad by de Mistura, who served as Secretary General’s Deputy Special Representative in Iraq and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for southern Lebanon, before being posted to Turin in May 2006.

This past week end, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is on an official visit to Sudan, traveled to Turin where he chaired a three-day retreat meeting for UN senior management.

De Mistura will be taking over from Ashraf Qazi, appointed earlier today as the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sudan. De Mistura will work closely with a the newly appointed Deputy Special Representative for Iraq, David Shearer of New Zealand.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 1947, de Mistura joined the United Nations system in 1970, when he worked for the World Food Programme in Sudan. Prior to his appointments in Lebanon first and Iraq later, de Mistura was Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome.

For more than three decades, he has served the United Nations in many capacities mostly related to humanitarian operations in conflict areas. He was Director of Fund-Raising and External Relations of the United Nations Office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan from 1988 to 1991, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Albania in 1990, Director of the World Food Programme operations in Sudan in 1987 and as the Food and Agriculture Organization's Deputy Chef de Cabinet, from 1976 to 1985. In addition, he was given special humanitarian assignments to Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Viet Nam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

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