Bert Koenders was a young European Parliamentarian when we became more familiar during the conflict in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and we were drawn to each others sense of a shared global future based upon principled respect for fellow humanity. It may have appeared to some naïve then. Commitment to policy based upon humanistic principles and the rule of law was something that most would espouse rhetorically but few would follow. The problem is that expediency would look to make prostitutes of most of us when faced with selecting between an egalitarian approach and an elitist club demanding its dues. No doubt that Mr. Koenders still shares the view, and that this has delivered to him some setbacks for “not going along” in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. (There were rumors that some in Washington might have looked to block his appointment). UNSG Ban Ki-moon has now announced his intention to appoint Bert Koenders of the Netherlands as his Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire and head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the West African country. Mr. Koenders will replace Choi Young-jin of the Republic of Korea, who will complete his term on 31 August. The Secretary-General expressed his gratitude to Mr. Choi for his “dedicated service and excellent leadership” of the peacekeeping mission, known as UNOCI, during a critical and challenging period in the country over the past four years. Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation: Mr. Koenders will bring to the position more than 25 years of experience in international affairs, development cooperation, and international policy-making on humanitarian, development and governance issues. He is currently serving as the co-chair of the Working Group for the Fourth UN High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and as chair of the Rutgers World Population Foundation. Mr. Koenders, who was born in 1958, also served as the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation from 2007 to 2010 and worked on peace support initiatives for Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan. He was previously a Dutch lawmaker from 1997 to 2007. He also served with the European Commission and the UN in Mozambique, and was foreign policy adviser to several Dutch members of parliament. Côte d’Ivoire is emerging from a crisis that ended in mid-April, when former president Laurent Gbagbo finally surrendered, ending months of violence in the wake of his refusal to step down after he lost last November’s UN-certified run-off election to Alassane Ouattara, who was sworn in as President in May. The country now faces a number of key post-crisis challenges, including the restoration of law and order, national reconciliation, the holding of legislative elections, and economic recovery. Cote 
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 By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey

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