Peter van Walsum

Who is Peter van Walsum?

A. Peter van Walsum is a Dutch diplomat who served as United Nations Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. He was appointed to the position by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2005 and left the position in September 2008 when his mandate expired.

Van Walsum earned a degree in law from the University of Utrecht in 1959, going on to serve in the Dutch Military from 1960 to 1962 before joining the Civil Emergency Planning section of the Ministry of General Affairs from 1962 to 1963.

He went on to serve in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for almost forty years. His posts included the Permanent Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Paris, the embassies in Bucharest, New Delhi and London, and the Permanent Mission to the European Commission in Brussels.

After joining his country's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, he became the Dutch representative on the Security Council in 1999 and Chairman of the Iraq Sanctions Committee in 2000.

Peter van Walsum is married with four children.