SG/SM/8254
 4 June 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED BY DEATH OF NIGERIAN DIPLOMAT JOSEPH GARBA, WHO SERVED AS PRESIDENT
OF FORTY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

NEW YORK, 4 June (UN Headquarters) -- The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General was saddened to learn of the death of Ambassador Joseph Nanven Garba, the former Nigerian Foreign Minister and President of the United Nations General Assembly. During the 1980s, Mr. Garba emerged as a leading figure in Nigeria’s diplomatic campaign against apartheid. Before serving a distinguished term as President of the forty-fourth General Assembly, he was Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Chairman of the United Nations Committee against Apartheid for five years until 1989. The Secretary-General conveys his condolences to the family of Mr. Garba and to the Government and people of Nigeria.

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