Japanese diplomat to head UN disarmament department

UNITED NATIONS: Nobuyasu Abe, a Japanese diplomat with wide experience in the United Nations, has been appointed head of the UN Department on Disarmament Affairs.
Abe, will succeed Jayantha Dhanapala as the Under Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs on July one, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday.
Abe, currently the Japanese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, served in the Japanese missions to the international organisations in Geneva from 1977 to 1979, to the UN in New York from 1987 to 1999 and again from 1996 to 1997, and to the international organisations in Vienna from 1999 to 2001.
As Director-General for Arms Control and Science Affairs in his last Tokyo assignment, from 1997 to 1999, he helped organise the Tokyo Forum for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.
He was instrumental in bringing about Japanese ratification of the Ottawa Convention to Ban Antipersonnel Landmines.