|
Migiro deputy UN boss
2007-01-06 09:35:14
By Dar es Salaam
New UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was yesterday expected to officially appoint Tanzanian Foreign Minister Asha-Rose Migiro as his deputy, fulfilling a pledge to name a woman to the No. 2 post, UN officials said yesterday.
Yesterday, the State House in Dar es Salaam reported that President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete had received with pride the news that Mr Ki-Moon had named Dr Asha Rose Migiro as the Deputy Secretary Secretary General of the United Nations.
Before her appointment, she was Tanzania’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
President Jakaya Kikwete said that he was happy and proud that Tanzania had been given the opportunity to serve in the world’s highest body.
“The foreign ministry is a very important portfolio to me, but this choice is also an honour for my country and I am very proud of Dr Migiro,” he remarked.
The statement revealed that the UN secretary general had made a personal call to President Kikwete to inform him of the choice and he had agreed.
President Kikwete then called Dr Migiro who is currently in Lethoto, to inform her of the important appointment to the United Nations.
The President has already released Dr Migiro to take up her new post immediately.
Until yesterday, another Tanzanian, Prof Anna Tibaijuka, who serves as a UN under-secretary general and the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), was the highest ranking African woman in the UN system.
Now Dr Migiro’s appointment puts even a greater spotlight on Tanzania as she is now the deputy secretary general of the UN.
She is the first woman minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania since she was appointed in January 2006.
She was previously the minister for community development, gender and children. She is also a member of the CCM central committee and national executive committee.
Born in Songea on July 7, 1956, Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, a lawyer by profession, graduated at the University of Dar es Salaam, then continued with her further studies at the University of Konstanz in Germany where she obtained her doctorate in Juris.
She had served as a Head of Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the University of Dar es Salaam in between 1992 and 1994.
Dr Asha Rose Migiro is married to Prof Cleophas Migiro and they have two daughters.
Kofi Annan created the post of deputy secretary-general during his 10 years as UN leader, and Migiro would be only the third person to hold the job after Louise Frechette of Canada and Mark Malloch Brown, a Briton.
Ban, the former South Korean foreign minister, became the world body’s eighth secretary-general on Monday, succeeding Kofi Annan of Ghana.
Ban has been trying to ensure balance in his choice of top aides between permanent Security Council members instrumental in his election and key developing nations.
He has also vowed to include women among his top appointees, including the key post of deputy secretary-general.
Ban has named just a few senior appointees, choosing Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar as his chief of staff, Haitian broadcast journalist Michele Montas as his spokeswoman, Mexican environmentalist Alicia Barcena Ibarra as undersecretary-general for administration and management, and senior British diplomat John Holmes as undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
|
