UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday chose a former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres to head the UN High Commission for Refugees, with a three-year mandate beginning June 15. Mr Annan sought approval of UN General Assembly in a letter sent on Tuesday.

Mr Guterres, 56, a founding member of the 14-year-old Portuguese Refugee Council, was his country’s prime minister from 1996 to 2002 and has been an adviser to the Board of Directors of Portugal’s second largest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, since 2003. Since 1999 he has been president of the Socialist International, an association of over 160 Social Democrat, Socialist and Labour parties and major organizations from some 140 countries.

Mr Guterres, who was a member of the Portuguese parliament from 1976 to 1983, also was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1981 to 1983.—MH