Morocco World News
Morocco World News
New York, August 1, 2012
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has confirmed on Wednesday in New York the appointment of Mr. Jamal Benomar as his Sepcial Adviser on Yemen with the rank of Under-Secretary General.
He will be charged with leading so-called ‘good offices’ in the Middle Eastern country during its current transition period.
Mr. Benomar has served as the Special Adviser on Yemen since April last year, and has been working with the United Nations since early 1994 in various capacities, including with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA).
Benomar was a former political prisoner from 1976 to 1984. After he was released from prison, and as the former Minister of Interior, Driss Bassri, refused to provide with him a passport, Benomar, with the help of friends, boarded a patera (a makeshift boat) without passports, and left to Spain, before heading to London and Paris.
After working for three years for the French CNRS (National Center of Scientific Research), he was recruited by Amnesty International in London. By the end of the 1980’s, his responsibilities within AI led him to Sudan where he met with Jimmy Carter. It turned out that former U.S. President, who headed a center working in conflict resolution, was very interested in the possibility of conducting a mediation between the Sudanese government and rebel movements.
After that meeting, Benomar became the director of the Carter-Menil Human Rights, before becoming the Special Adviser to the former President of the United States. He remained in his post until 1994 when he was appointed as the head of Division of Technical Cooperation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
