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Hédi Annabi
Annabi speaking during a January 2008 conference on the Brazilian presence in Haiti
Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
Incumbent
Assumed office  September 2007
Born	4 September 1944(1944-09-04)
Alma mater	Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris University of Tunis Graduate Institute of International Studies
Profession	Diplomat
Website	MINUSTAH Leadership

Hédi Annabi (4 September 1944^[1] – reported missing on 12 January 2010) is a Tunisian diplomat and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).^[2] Annabi is missing after 2010 Haiti earthquake in which the UN Headquarters in Port-au-Prince collapsed. He was previously an Assistant-Secretary-General at the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, from 1997 to 2007.

Background

Annabi received a degree in Political Science from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Tunis, and a master's degree (diplôme) in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales) in Geneva.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Annabi was a member of Tunisia's Foreign Service, where he served as Diplomatic Adviser to the Prime Minister before being appointed as Chairman and General Manager of the National News Agency (Agence Tunis-Afrique-Presse) in 1979.

Career with the United Nations

Annabi joined the United Nations in February 1981. He served as the Principal Officer in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in Southeast Asia. He was subsequently appointed as Director of that Office. Between 1982 and 1991, he was closely associated with the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Special Representative to contribute to a comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodian problem. Following the conclusion of the Paris Agreements in October 1991, he was involved in the preparations for the establishment of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).

Annabi joined the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in 1992 and served as Director of the Africa Division from 1993 to 1996. In addition, he was designated as Officer-in-Charge of the Office of Operations of DPKO in June 1996. He was appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations on 28 January 1997. In September 2007 he was appointed head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).^[3]

The collapsed MINUSTAH headquarters after the 2010 earthquake.

Immediately following the earthquake of 12 January 2010, Annabi was reported to be missing after the UN headquarters in Haiti, the Christopher Hotel in Port-au-Prince, collapsed.^[4] Although later prematurely confirmed dead by President René Préval, he is still reported as missing.^[5][6] In confirming 22 UN peacekeepers dead from the collapse, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had yet to receive confirmation of the death of Annabi, but that he was in fact buried in the rubble and remains unaccounted for.^[7][8]

References