Defence Forces Review 2008

Short Biographical Statement
unsuccessfully against Alberto Fujimori for President of Peru. He was President of
the Council of Ministers, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs from November
2000 until July 2001, during the turbulent period following Fujimori’s resignation
over corruption charges. In September 2004, he stepped down from his position as
Peru’s Ambassador to France, where he formerly resided. He currently resides in
Johor Bahru, Malaysia. With the death of Kurt Waldheim in June 2007, he became
the oldest former Secretary General of the United Nations. Pérez de Cuéllar joined
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1940 and the diplomatic service in 1944, serving
subsequently as Secretary at Peru’s embassies in France, the United Kingdom,
Bolivia, and Brazil. He later served as ambassador to Switzerland, the Soviet Union,
(concurrently in Poland), and Venezuela. He was a junior member of the Peruvian
delegation to the General Assembly at its first session - held in London in 1946-, and
a member of the delegations to the 25th through 30th sessions of the Assembly. In
1971, he was appointed permanent representative of Peru to the United Nations, and
he led his country’s delegation to all sessions of the Assembly from then until 1975.
In 1973 and 1974, he represented his country in the Security Council, serving as its
President at the time of the events in Cyprus in July 1974. On 18 September 1975,
he was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus – a post
he held until December 1977-, when he rejoined the Peruvian Foreign Service. On
27 February 1979, he was appointed as United Nations Under-Secretary-General
for Special Political Affairs. From April 1981, while still holding this post, he
acted as the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative on the situation relating
to Afghanistan. In that capacity, he visited Pakistan and Afghanistan in April and
August of that year in order to continue the negotiations initiated by the Secretary-
General some months earlier. On December 31, 1981, Pérez de Cuéllar succeeded
Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General and was re-elected for a second term in October
1986. During his two terms, he led mediations between Britain and Argentina in the
aftermath of the Falklands War and promoted the efforts of the Contadora Group to
bring peace and stability to Central America. He also interceded in the negotiations
for the independence of Namibia, the conflict in Western Sahara between Morocco
and the Polisario Front, and the Cyprus issue. Shortly before the end of his second
term, he was unofficially requested by members of the Security Council to reconsider
his earlier decision not to run for a third term, albeit shortened to two years, as
a search for his successor had not, as of then, yielded a consensus candidate. Mr.
Pérez de Cuéllar graciously declined the offer once a candidate was found, in late
December of 1991, his second term as Secretary-General concluding, as scheduled,
on December 31, 1991.
7. Dr. Mike Cosgrave earned his PhD at the Department of History, University College,
Cork. His doctoral thesis, Comparative and Operational Aspects of Peacekeeping in
Intra-State Conflicts with particular reference to Irish participation in ONUC, 1960-
64 drew parallels between ONUC and peace operations of the 1990s in order for
the importance of a full ‘Lessons learned’ process for peacekeeping. He is currently
lecturing in History at UCC with particular interests in military and political history,
and computer applications in history.
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