In May 2007, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Michael C. Williams of the United Kingdom as his Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.  He will also serve as the Secretary-General’s Envoy to the Quartet.   Mr. Williams previously served as the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Situation in the Middle East.  Prior to this, he was the Director for the Asia and the Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs.

From 1999 to 2005 Mr. Williams was the Special Adviser to two United Kingdom Foreign Secretaries, Robin Cook (1999-2001) and Jack Straw (2001-2005).

He held a number of senior positions with the United Nations in the 1990s, including Director of Human Rights in the United Nations Transitional Administration in Cambodia (UNTAC) and Director of Information in the United Nations Protection Force in Former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR).  From 1996 to 1998, he was a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.  From 1984 to 1991, he served as Editor and later Senior Editor for Asia with the BBC World Service.  He also worked for several years with Amnesty International as Head of Asia Research.

He is a member of the Executive Committee and Council of Chatham House (Royal Institute for International Affairs).  He has written widely on Asian politics, international security and peacekeeping.  He is the author of Vietnam at the Crossroads, (Chatham House and Council on Foreign Relations, 1992) and Civil Military Relations and Peacekeeping (International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1998).  His Doctor of Philosophy thesis was on Islam and Politics in Indonesia.

Mr. Williams was born in Bridgend, Wales, on 11 June 1949.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in international relations from University College, London, in 1971, a Master of Science degree in the politics of developing areas from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, in 1973, and subsequently earned a doctorate in politics from the same institute.  Mr. Williams is married to Isobelle Jaques and has two children. 

Link: Secretary-General appoints Michael C. Williams of United Kingdom as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process