Alvaro de Soto of Peru named new Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ envoy to Middle East
6 May 2005 – Veteran United Nations negotiator Alvaro de Soto will begin work immediately as the top Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ envoy in the Middle East after Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed the Peruvian national to the post.
On Monday, Mr. de Soto will accompany Mr. Annan to a working meeting of the Middle East Quartet – which comprises the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ, the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States – in Moscow.
Mr. de Soto succeeds Terje Roed-Larsen as Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General's Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. He will also act as Mr. Annan's envoy to the Quartet.
In a statement announcing the appointment, Mr. Annan noted that Mr. de Soto assumes the post at a time of renewed momentum for peace in the region and will therefore “play an essential role” in trying to help the parties sustain that pace.
He also thanked Mr. Roed-Larsen, who served from October 1999 to December 2004, for the “excellent job” he had done.
Mr. de Soto, 62, has spent 23 years working for the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ, most recently in senior peacemaking positions. From October 2003 until this month he served as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Western Sahara, and he was the Special Adviser on Cyprus from late 1999 until mid-2004. Both positions were at the level of Under-Secretary-General.
His previous roles have included Special Envoy for Myanmar, Personal Representative for the Central American peace process, and Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, responsible for the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Mr. de Soto was also a Senior Political Adviser to Boutros Boutros-Ghali while he was Secretary-General.
Document Sources: Secretary-General, United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), United Nations News Service, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµSCO)
Subject: Envoy, Palestine question, Peace process, Peace proposals and efforts, Peace-building
Publication Date: 06/05/2005