Vivacious and outspoken

BORN in Cairo on 13 June 1946, Nadia Younes grew up in the Egyptian capital where she earned a bachelor's degree in English literature at Cairo University in 1966. She then travelled to the United States, where she obtained a master's degree in political science and international relations from New York University.

In 1970, Younes joined the United Nations Office of General Services. Four years later, she worked as press officer for the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI). Her other assignments at UNDPI included serving as information officer for the World Conference of the Decade for Women; information officer for the Planning, Programme and Evaluation Unit; and spokesperson for the president of the Forty- Second Session of the General Assembly.

Between March 1988 and January 1993, Younes served as deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary general, serving Secretaries General Javier Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Ghali. She was then appointed as director of the UN Information Centre in Rome before moving to New York, where she became director of the media division at the UN Department of Public Information.

In 1998, she was appointed as the UN Chief of Protocol. But between July 1999 and January 2001, Younes went to Kosovo, where she worked as spokesperson for UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner. In February 2001, she returned to New York where she resumed her position as chief of protocol until mid-2002.

In August 2002, Younes moved to Geneva and joined the World Health Organisation (WHO) as executive director in charge of external relations. In May 2003, she was appointed as the chief of staff for Sergio de Mello, the UN Special Representative in Iraq.

Known as a witty, vivacious and outspoken woman with a great sense of humour, Younes was in de Mello's office on 19 August, when the UN headquarters in Baghdad was bombed, killing the two and other senior UN staff.

C a p t i o n :
Nadia Younes (1946-2003)

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 28 August - 3 September 2003 (Issue No. 653)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/653/re14.htm