Bennon Sevan, Former UN Envoy to Afghanistan, Dies
Cypriot media have reported the death of Bennon Sevan, a Cypriot diplomat and former UN secretary-general representative in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Cyprius Mail reported that he died on Monday at the age of 88, and the General Union of Armenian Charitable Associations also confirmed the news.
Sevan joined the United Nations Secretariat in 1965 and worked in various departments of the organisation over several decades. According to reports, he was appointed in 1988 as director and senior political adviser to the UN secretary-general’s representative in efforts to resolve the Afghanistan crisis.
A year later, he was named the personal representative of the UN secretary-general in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and played a role in the UN’s efforts to implement the Geneva Accords on Afghanistan and advance a political solution to the country’s war. After the mandate of the UN monitoring group for Afghanistan and Pakistan ended in 1990, Sevan took over as head of the UN secretary-general’s office in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which was established at the time.
According to the report, Sevan was also appointed in 1990 as the UN secretary-general’s representative for implementing the Geneva Accords on Afghanistan, and in 1991 he took on responsibility for coordinating the UN’s humanitarian and economic aid programmes for Afghanistan. During this period, the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, the follow-up to the Geneva Accords, the return of refugees and diplomatic efforts to end the war were among his main tasks.
Sevan became UN under-secretary-general for political affairs in 1992. He later managed the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq from 1995 to 2003.
It was also reported that he survived the bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad in 2003, an attack that killed 22 UN staff members, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN secretary-general’s special representative in Iraq.
