Shaheed Hafed, May 12, 2014 (SPS) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Canadian Kim Bolduc as the Special Representative and head of theUN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), replacing German Wolfgang Weisbrod Weber, whose term expires in July.
This appointment waswelcomed by the Polisario Front, expressing readiness to cooperate with Ms. Bolduc to find a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara that guarantees the right of Saharawi people to self-determination, according to a diplomatic source.
MINURSOhas been established by the Security Council through Resolution No. 690 since April 29, 1991 for the organization of the Referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara to enable the Saharawi people to decide their own future. A referendum which has been blocked for over 23 years due to obstacles of Morocco, it should be recalled.
Ms.Bolduc was born in Vietnam in 1952. She is licensed in International Cooperation and Development from the University of Ottawa and Conflict Resolution and Humanitarian Action from the University of Geneva.
She heldvarious positions within the UN in the field, including in Honduras from 2004 to 2006, Iraq in 2003, Peru from 1997 to 2002 and in Ecuador from 1992 to 1997.
She servedfrom November 2009 to April 2010 as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Haiti, before she is appointed Coordinator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Panama from 2010 to 2014, it should be recalled. (SPS)
062