SECRETARY-GENERAL NOMINATES AMBASSADOR LEGWAILA OF BOTSWANA
TO SERVE AS UNMEE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has nominated Botswana's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, as his Special Representative to lead the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Mr. Annan nominated Ambassador Legwaila in a letter to the Security Council sent late on 29 September, according to a UN spokesman speaking in New York yesterday, 2 October.

Ambassador Legwaila, who is 63, has had a distinguished career since joining his country's Foreign Service in 1973. He first served as Botswana's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1980.

From June 1989 to 1990, he served as Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Namibia and from 1992 to 1994 he was Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity for South Africa.

In 1981, 1987 and again in 1991, Ambassador Legwaila served as Vice-President of the 36th, 42nd and 46th Sessions, respectively, of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ambassador Legwaila also served as Botswana's High Commissioner to Guyana (1981), High Commissioner to Jamaica (1982) and Ambassador to Cuba (1983).

The Ambassador, who is married with three children, began his career as a schoolteacher. He is a graduate of the Universities of Calgary and Alberta, Canada, and holds a BA in Political Science and History and an MA in Political Science and International Relations.

Maintained by the Peace and Security Section of the Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. (c) United Nations 2000

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