Mohamad Sahnoun to serve another year as UN Special Adviser on Horn of Africa

Responding to a decision by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend the term of his special adviser helping with issues affecting the Horn of Africa, the United Nations Security Council has agreed to the renewal of Mohamed Sahnoun's appointment for a year, according to documents released today.

In a recent exchange of letters with this month's Council President, Ambassador Abdallah Baali of Algeria, Mr. Annan asked for the term of Mr. Sahnoun, a former Algerian ambassador, to be extended until 31 December 2005.

"During the first several months of the past year, Mr. Sahnoun continued to lead the United Nations observer delegation at the Sudan peace talks in Kenya and he subsequently followed the talks on Darfur, as well as the peace progress in Somalia. He also represented me at the League of Arab States Summit in Tunis," Mr. Annan said in the letter, dated 22 December.

The Secretary-General added that Mr. Sahnoun had provided advice "on what useful role the UN could play to promote negotiated settlements of conflicts."

In a response on the same day, Mr. Baali said the Council had taken note of the decision.