Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

28 May – Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today the appointment of a Japanese diplomat with wide experience in United Nations operations as the new chief of the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs.

Mr. Annan commended Nobuyasu Abe, who will succeed Jayantha Dhanapala as Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, as an accomplished diplomat with wide experience in the field of arms control and disarmament. He will take up his new post on 1 July.

Mr. Abe, presently the Japanese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, served in the Japanese missions to the international organizations in Geneva from 1977 to 1979, to the UN in New York from 1987 to 1999 and again from 1996 to 1997, and to the international organizations in Vienna from 1999 to 2001.

As Director-General for Arms Control and Science Affairs in his last Tokyo assignment, from 1997 to1999, he helped organize the Tokyo Forum for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. He was instrumental in bringing about Japanese ratification of the Ottawa Convention to Ban Antipersonnel Landmines.