SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS JEAN ARNAULT DEPUTY

SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN

The Secretary-General today appointed Jean Arnault as his Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan.� Mr. Arnault, whose appointment at the level of Assistant Secretary-General comes into effect immediately, succeeds Francesc Vendrell who retired from the United Nations at the end of January.

Mr. Arnault, a national of France, will be based in Kabul and will act as Ambassador Lahkdar Brahimi’s deputy responsible for political matters.�

Mr. Arnault will be the head of the political pillar of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, as Nigel Fisher is the head of the humanitarian and developmental pillar.

Mr. Arnault was the Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi from June 2000 to August 2001.� Before that, he had served since 1997 as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of mission of the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).

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