SG/A/945
     AFR/1256
     27 September 2005

Secretary-General Appoints Haile Menkerios of Eritrea as Deputy Special Representative for Democratic Republic of Congo

NEW YORK, 26 September (UN Headquarters) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of Haile Menkerios of Eritrea as his Deputy Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Previously, from June 2003 to June 2005, Mr. Menkerios was Director of the Africa I Division in the Department of Political Affairs.  Mr. Menkerios is expected to arrive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in early October.

In 2002, Mr. Menkerios was Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, Moustapha Niasse, and assisted the Special Envoy on all aspects of the mediation process prior to the signing of the Global and All Inclusive Agreement on 17 December 2002 in Sun City, South Africa.  From 1991 to 2000, Mr. Menkerios represented the Eritrean Government in various capacities including as Ambassador to Ethiopia and the Organisation of African Unity, Special Envoy to Somalia and also the Great Lakes region, and as Permanent Representative to the United Nations. 

Mr. Menkerios has a Master's degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree from Brandeis University.  

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