Old Middle East hand to become top UN envoy in Iraq

Staffan de Mistura, a veteran of United Nations operations in the Middle East, is slated to become the next top UN envoy in Iraq.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Mr. de Mistura, who is Swedish and Italian, as his Special Representative for Iraq, in succession to Ashraf Qazi whom Mr. Ban is appointing Special Representative for Sudan, a spokesperson told a news briefing at UN Headquarters in New York today.

Mr. de Mistura has already served in Iraq under Mr. Qazi as Deputy Special Representative in 2005 and 2006. Before that he was then Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon for four years.

Last year, he led a high-level UN team to Nepal to discuss UN assistance for the peace process in the Himalayan country. He currently serves as Director of the UN Staff College in Turin, Italy.