Staffan de Mistura
Encyclopedia
Staffan de Mistura is a long-serving Italian
-Swedish
diplomat. After a 36 year career in various UN agencies, United Nations Secretary-General
, Ban Ki-moon
appointed him as his Special Representative
(SRSG) for Iraq
on 11 September 2007. He was the successor of SRSG Ashraf Qazi
and assumed his responsibilities in the Mission Area on 5 November and in Baghdad
on 11 November 2007. In July 2009 de Mistura became the Deputy Executive Director for External Relations of the World Food Programme
in Rome. On March 1, 2010 de Mistura assumed the post of the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in Afghanistan.
De Mistura’s previous UN posts have included that of Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon, and Director of the UN Information Center in Rome. His work has taken him to many of the World's most volatile trouble-spots including Afghanistan
, Iraq, Lebanon
, Rwanda
, Somalia
, Sudan
and the former Yugoslavia
.
father. His father belonged to a noble family of Sebenico, Dalmatia, and was force to flee after World War 2, when Jugoslavia took over the former Italian territories of Istria, Fiume and Zara. Although Sebenico never belonged politically to Italy, most of the Italians there felt themselves threatened and fled.
Working as an intern for the UN World Food Programme
(WFP) in Cyprus
in the early 1970s, he witnessed the death of a child, shot by a sniper. The child had wandered over the 'green line' dividing Cyprus and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
. This experience was something he found profoundly shocking, but it also stirred up a sense of 'constructive outrage' as he has described it; a desire to study humanitarian emergency relief and dedicate his life to working for the peaceful resolution of conflict.
operation.
By 1976, he was working as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
's Deputy Chef de Cabinet
, a post he remained in until 1985. In addition, he was given special humanitarian assignments to Dubrovnik
, Sarajevo
, Sudan, Ethiopia
, Vietnam
and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
.
In 1987 he returned to Sudan to become WFP Director of Operations. And from 1988 to 1991, he acted as Director of Fund-Raising and External Relations of the United Nations Office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan.
Moving on again, he was employed as Director of the Division of Public Affairs of the United Nations Children's Fund
, known as UNICEF, and was also UNICEF representative for Somalia.
He was briefly the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. The job lasted from March through August 1997.
In 1999, de Mistura sat as a member of the Security Council Panel on Humanitarian Issues in Iraq. He was also briefly Special Adviser to the High Commissioner for Refugees in Kosovo
; a job that lasted from April to June. He was then given the task of Regional Administrator for the Mitrovica
Region in Kosovo.
Forum on Regional Cooperation and Coordination in Crisis Management for Europe and the Newly Independent States. Until 2001, he was Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome
.
From 2001 to 2004, de Mistura was Personal Representative of the Secretary-General in Southern Lebanon. One of his major achievements in that post was to set up and organise a successful de-mining operation. He then went on to serve as Deputy Special Representative for Iraq for 15 months, starting in January 2005. During his tenure, he was keen to portray an optimistic view of Iraq and its chances of recovery, highlighting the hard work the UN were putting in behind the scenes to provide Iraqis with a better standard of living.
After that, he became Director of the UN Staff College in Turin, Italy, a post he retained until being appointed to his position in Iraq in September 2007.
In the weeks leading up to the appointment, it was reported that politicians in Baghdad strongly favoured a former Romanian envoy to Iraq, Radu Onofrei.
In July 2009 de Mistura left Iraq to become the Deputy Executive Director for External Relations of the World Food Programme
in Rome.
In January 2010, Holbrooke
, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, revealed that de Mistura had been offered the job as the U.N. special representative in Afghanistan, replacing Kai Eide
. The New York Times noted in an editorial that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
was also considering Jean-Marie Guéhenno
of France and Ian Martin
of Britain for the Kabul mission.
End of January 2010, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced his intention to appoint de Mistura in March 2010 as the top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan.
Staffan de Mistura was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Representative and Chief of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
While U.S. President Barack Obama laid the blame for the massacre of U.N. officials in Mazar-i-Sharif on the Afghans, Staffan de Mistura said "I don't think we should be blaming any Afghan. We should be blaming the person who produced the news - the one who burned the Koran."
On 28 November 2011, he was nominated Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in Italy's technocratic cabinet
headed by Mario Monti
.
Staffan de Mistura is married and has two daughters.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
-Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
diplomat. After a 36 year career in various UN agencies, United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
, Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
appointed him as his Special Representative
Special Representative of the Secretary-General
A Special Representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent her/him in meetings with heads of state on critical human rights issues...
(SRSG) for Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
on 11 September 2007. He was the successor of SRSG Ashraf Qazi
Ashraf Qazi
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is a politician in Pakistan and a career diplomat in the United Nations. On September 4, 2007, the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ashraf Qazi as his new Special Representative in Sudan...
and assumed his responsibilities in the Mission Area on 5 November and in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
on 11 November 2007. In July 2009 de Mistura became the Deputy Executive Director for External Relations of the World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
in Rome. On March 1, 2010 de Mistura assumed the post of the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in Afghanistan.
De Mistura’s previous UN posts have included that of Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon, and Director of the UN Information Center in Rome. His work has taken him to many of the World's most volatile trouble-spots including Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Iraq, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and the former Yugoslavia
Former Yugoslavia
The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
.
Early life
De Mistura was born in 1947, the son of a Swedish mother and an ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
father. His father belonged to a noble family of Sebenico, Dalmatia, and was force to flee after World War 2, when Jugoslavia took over the former Italian territories of Istria, Fiume and Zara. Although Sebenico never belonged politically to Italy, most of the Italians there felt themselves threatened and fled.
Working as an intern for the UN World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
(WFP) in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
in the early 1970s, he witnessed the death of a child, shot by a sniper. The child had wandered over the 'green line' dividing Cyprus and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus or North Cyprus , officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus...
. This experience was something he found profoundly shocking, but it also stirred up a sense of 'constructive outrage' as he has described it; a desire to study humanitarian emergency relief and dedicate his life to working for the peaceful resolution of conflict.
1970s-1990s
In 1971 de Mistura started his career with the UN as a WFP Project Officer in Sudan. In 1973 he was an Emergency Relief Officer in Chad, there he led the first ever UN airdropoperation.
By 1976, he was working as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
's Deputy Chef de Cabinet
Chef de Cabinet
Chef de Cabinet is the head of an office in the United Nations Secretariat, appointed by the Secretary-General, or in the European Commission, appointed by an individual European Commissioner for his personal cabinet. The position's rank and responsibilities are equivalent to a chief of staff....
, a post he remained in until 1985. In addition, he was given special humanitarian assignments to Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, Sudan, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
.
In 1987 he returned to Sudan to become WFP Director of Operations. And from 1988 to 1991, he acted as Director of Fund-Raising and External Relations of the United Nations Office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan.
Moving on again, he was employed as Director of the Division of Public Affairs of the United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
, known as UNICEF, and was also UNICEF representative for Somalia.
He was briefly the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. The job lasted from March through August 1997.
In 1999, de Mistura sat as a member of the Security Council Panel on Humanitarian Issues in Iraq. He was also briefly Special Adviser to the High Commissioner for Refugees in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
; a job that lasted from April to June. He was then given the task of Regional Administrator for the Mitrovica
Kosovska Mitrovica
Kosovska Mitrovica , is a city and municipality in northern Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous district....
Region in Kosovo.
2000-Present
In June 2000, he was Special Rapporteur during the FribourgFribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
Forum on Regional Cooperation and Coordination in Crisis Management for Europe and the Newly Independent States. Until 2001, he was Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
From 2001 to 2004, de Mistura was Personal Representative of the Secretary-General in Southern Lebanon. One of his major achievements in that post was to set up and organise a successful de-mining operation. He then went on to serve as Deputy Special Representative for Iraq for 15 months, starting in January 2005. During his tenure, he was keen to portray an optimistic view of Iraq and its chances of recovery, highlighting the hard work the UN were putting in behind the scenes to provide Iraqis with a better standard of living.
After that, he became Director of the UN Staff College in Turin, Italy, a post he retained until being appointed to his position in Iraq in September 2007.
In the weeks leading up to the appointment, it was reported that politicians in Baghdad strongly favoured a former Romanian envoy to Iraq, Radu Onofrei.
In July 2009 de Mistura left Iraq to become the Deputy Executive Director for External Relations of the World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
in Rome.
In January 2010, Holbrooke
Richard Holbrooke
Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke was an American diplomat, magazine editor, author, professor, Peace Corps official, and investment banker....
, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, revealed that de Mistura had been offered the job as the U.N. special representative in Afghanistan, replacing Kai Eide
Kai Eide
Kai Aage Eide is a Norwegian diplomat. He was appointed the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on 7 March 2008, a position he held until March 2010 when Staffan de Mistura took over.Eide has previously served as...
. The New York Times noted in an editorial that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
was also considering Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Jean-Marie Guéhenno is a former French diplomat. He served as the United Nations' Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. Guéhenno was appointed to the position in 2000 and retired in August 2008. He is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the NYU Center on International...
of France and Ian Martin
Ian Martin
Ian Martin, from the United Kingdom, is a human rights activist who has been involved in a number of human rights organisations. He was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal for the United Nations Mission in Nepal from 2007 to 2009....
of Britain for the Kabul mission.
End of January 2010, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced his intention to appoint de Mistura in March 2010 as the top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan.
Staffan de Mistura was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Representative and Chief of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
While U.S. President Barack Obama laid the blame for the massacre of U.N. officials in Mazar-i-Sharif on the Afghans, Staffan de Mistura said "I don't think we should be blaming any Afghan. We should be blaming the person who produced the news - the one who burned the Koran."
On 28 November 2011, he was nominated Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in Italy's technocratic cabinet
Monti Cabinet
The Monti cabinet is the incumbent cabinet of the government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. The cabinet is composed of technocrats, three of whom are women. It includes 12 ministers with portfolio, and five without portfolio.-References:...
headed by Mario Monti
Mario Monti
Mario Monti is an Italian economist and academic who is Prime Minister of Italy, as well as Minister of Economy and Finance, since November 2011. Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation from 1995 to 1999...
.
Personal life
Dual citizen of Italy and Sweden, Mr. de Mistura speaks Swedish, Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic (colloquial).Staffan de Mistura is married and has two daughters.