New Delhi: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Atul Khare, senior India-born diplomat with the UN, as his Special Representative for Timor-Leste and Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).
An official of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) before he joined the UN, 57-year-old Khare has served with the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) from June 2002 till its completion in May 2005, first as Chief of Staff and later as Secretary General Kofi Annan's Deputy Special Representative.
Khare has replaced Sukehiro Hasegawa of Japan, whose appointment expired on 30 September 2006.
Khare's appointment assumes significance as it comes ahead of next year's Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Timor, which has witnessed violence recently due to differences between eastern and western regions of the country.
The UN Security Council in August created the expanded UN Integrated Mission in Timor (UNMIT) to help restore order in the country, which witnessed large-scale violence after independence from Indonesia in 2002.
Crisis in Timor erupted after the firing of 600 striking soldiers, a third of the country's armed forces. The ensuing violence claimed at least 37 lives and drove over 1.5 lakh people, 15 per cent of the total population, from their homes.
Atul Khare’s diplomatic career began in 1984 and while serving with the Indian Government, he had held some key positions like Deputy High Commissioner to Mauritius, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York and Counseller at India's UN Mission and Charge d'Affaires in Senegal where he was also accredited to Mali, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde.
He had also held the posts of Chef de Cabinet of the Foreign Secretary in New Delhi and Director (UN) in External Affairs Ministry.
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