Ex-UN Hostage Negotiator to Promote World Dialogue
August 8, 1999 - 0:0
UNITED NATIONS -- Former UN hostage negotiator Giandomenico Picco was named on Friday to be the secretary-general's personal representative for the UN year of dialogue among civiliz ations, to be observed in 2001. The year was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly last November, on the initiative of Iran, to foster greater understanding among various world civilizations. Picco, 50, a former assistant-secretary-general, was a star trouble-shooter during nearly 20 years with the UN secretariat.
He resigned in 1992 to enter the private sector. Since 1994 he has headed an international consulting firm in New York and is a regular lecturer at conferences and universities. The tall, Italian-born diplomat gained a worldwide reputation in the early 1990s when he negotiated the release of more than half a dozen Western hostages held by shadowy groups in Lebanon. The effort earned him awards from five governments as well as other distinctions.
Picco recently published a book, "Man Without a Gun," recounting such experiences as being hooded, bundled into a car in the middle of the night, and driven off to meet masked hostage-takers, wondering whether he himself might be taken captive. "Today's appointment underlines the importance which the secretary-general attaches to the United Nations year and the preparations leading to it," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
"Mr. Picco will launch, on behalf of the secretary-general, initiatives aimed at furthering the dialog among civilizations. These efforts will be pursued in coordination with other parts of the UN system and with member states," he added. The idea of a dialog among civilizations was placed on last year's assembly agenda after being proposed by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in his first speech to the world body.
The notion of a clash of civilizations, which the proposed dialogue seeks to avert, has grown in recent years, pioneered by the American political science professor Samuel Huntington. He has developed the theory that, just as most conflicts used to be between emperors and princes, then between nations and most recently between ideologies, in future the clash of civilizations will dominate global politics and the fault lines between civilizations will form the new battle lines.
Picco, who was born in Udine, northern Italy, speaks English, French and Spanish as well as Italian and is an avid jogger who once ran in a New York marathon. (Reuter)
He resigned in 1992 to enter the private sector. Since 1994 he has headed an international consulting firm in New York and is a regular lecturer at conferences and universities. The tall, Italian-born diplomat gained a worldwide reputation in the early 1990s when he negotiated the release of more than half a dozen Western hostages held by shadowy groups in Lebanon. The effort earned him awards from five governments as well as other distinctions.
Picco recently published a book, "Man Without a Gun," recounting such experiences as being hooded, bundled into a car in the middle of the night, and driven off to meet masked hostage-takers, wondering whether he himself might be taken captive. "Today's appointment underlines the importance which the secretary-general attaches to the United Nations year and the preparations leading to it," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
"Mr. Picco will launch, on behalf of the secretary-general, initiatives aimed at furthering the dialog among civilizations. These efforts will be pursued in coordination with other parts of the UN system and with member states," he added. The idea of a dialog among civilizations was placed on last year's assembly agenda after being proposed by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in his first speech to the world body.
The notion of a clash of civilizations, which the proposed dialogue seeks to avert, has grown in recent years, pioneered by the American political science professor Samuel Huntington. He has developed the theory that, just as most conflicts used to be between emperors and princes, then between nations and most recently between ideologies, in future the clash of civilizations will dominate global politics and the fault lines between civilizations will form the new battle lines.
Picco, who was born in Udine, northern Italy, speaks English, French and Spanish as well as Italian and is an avid jogger who once ran in a New York marathon. (Reuter)