Biographical Note Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint Tun Myat of Myanmar as United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq. Mr. Myat will succeed Hans von Sponeck of Germany, whose resignation from the post is effective on 31 March 2000. The Secretary-General wishes to record his appreciation for the dedication that Mr. Von Sponeck brought to this complex assignment.
The Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq is an integral part of the Office of the Iraq Programme, with the Coordinator reporting to the Executive Director of the Programme Office, Benon Sevan. The Secretary-General established the Office of the Iraq Programme in October 1997 to consolidate the management of United Nations Secretariat activities related to Security Council resolutions 986 (1995) and the Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Iraq.
Since the first deliveries in March 1997, 10 million tonnes of foodstuffs, worth more than $4.4 billion, and some $830 million of medicines and health supplies, as well as a range of other humanitarian and oil industry supplies, have arrived in Iraq under the “oil-for-food” programme.
Mr. Myat joined the United Nations system in 1979 and is currently Director of the Resources and the External Relations Division at the World Food Programme headquarters in Rome. He has degrees from the University of Rangoon, the Chartered Insurance Institute in the United Kingdom, and a Master of Laws from the University of London. He is expected to take up his new duties in Iraq in April.
Mr. Myat was born on 20 September 1942 and is married.
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