SG/A/784
24 January 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS MICHAEL STEINER
AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR KOSOVO

NEW YORK, 23 January (UN Headquarters) -- The Secretary-General has appointed Michael Steiner of Germany to be his Special Representative for Kosovo.

Mr. Steiner, who replaces Hans Haekkerup as head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), is an experienced diplomat and former Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. Mr. Steiner has also held posts in Prague, Sarajevo, Zagreb and at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Steiner is the third Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo since UNMIK was established in 1999. He follows Mr. Haekkerup of Denmark and Dr. Bernard Kouchner of France.

The new Special Representative will take up his duties in Pristina early next month.

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