New Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) arrives in the region- UNSCO media advisory

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Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process

31 May 2005

MEDIA ADVISORY

(Jerusalem)  Alvaro de Soto, the new Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process arrived in the region today.

Expected to travel frequently regionally as well as internationally, Mr. de Soto will take up residence in Jerusalem.

Mr. de Soto is an experienced UN diplomat. He was the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Western Sahara from October 2003 until May 2005. He was the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus from late 1999 until mid-2004. He has held the rank of Under-Secretary-General since 1999.

Previously, Mr. de Soto was Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs from 1995 to 1999. Earlier, he held senior positions in the Secretary-General’s Office for thirteen years (1982-1994): he was Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali’s Senior Political Adviser from 1992 to 1994; he headed the Office for Research and the Collection of Information throughout 1991; he was Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar’s Executive Assistant, at the Assistant Secretary-General level, from 1988 to 1990. He joined the United Nations as Mr. Perez de Cuellar’s Special Assistant in 1982.

During his 23 years in the service of the United Nations, Secretaries-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan have entrusted Mr. de Soto with various special assignments. Among these, he was the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar from 1995 to 1999. He was the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for the Central American peace process from 1988 to 1992, in which capacity he spearheaded the first full-scale field observation by the United Nations of elections in a member State, in Nicaragua in 1990; he conducted the 22-month negotiations in 1990-1991 which led to the peace accords ending the 10-year conflict in El Salvador.

A Peruvian national, Mr. de Soto holds the rank of ambassador in his country’s diplomatic service, from which he is on secondment to the United Nations.

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For further information: Henriette von Kaltenborn, UNSCO Media Adviser

Mobile: 0545 627839    Email: kaltenborn@un.org