WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- A non-governmental body that helps U.N. chief Kofi Annan in his campaign for small arms nonproliferation appointed a new director Friday -- Annan's nephew.
The Washington-based Eminent Persons Group said it has appointed Michael Francis Dei-Anang its new executive director. Dei-Anang, like his uncle a Ghanaian citizen, has been working in the group which brings together prominent international political figures and diplomats to support U.N. efforts to combat the illicit spread of small arms, particularly in the Third World.
Global small arms and light weapons nonproliferation is a relatively recent concern for the United Nations despite the fact that there are millions of such weapons in private hands.
Following a U.N. conference focusing on the problem in 2001 Annan would like to have a U.N. global nonproliferation regime in place by 2006.
Dei-Anang succeeds Albrecht Gero Muth at the head of the 5-year-old organization, which has Salim Ahmed Salim, former head of the Organization of African Unity, and former president of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, as co-chairs.
