Mr. H¨¦di Annabi, 1943 - 2010
Special Representative to Haiti (Tunisia)
H¨¦di Annabi, a national of Tunisia, was head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). He served the UN for almost 30 years in various humanitarian and peacekeeping roles.
H¨¦di joined the Organization in 1981 as Principal Officer in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in Southeast Asia and subsequently became Director of that Office.
For the next decade, H¨¦di was closely associated with the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Special Representative to contribute to a comprehensive political settlement in Cambodia. Following the Paris Agreements in October 1991, H¨¦di was instrumental in the establishment of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).
A year after his work related to Cambodia, H¨¦di joined the Department of Peacekeeping Operations as Director of its Africa Division and in 1996 as Officer-in-Charge of the Department¡¯s Office of Operations. In 1997, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed H¨¦di as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and, in 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chose him to head MINUSTAH.
To say that H¨¦di was well respected is an understatement. A consummate international civil servant, his native Tunisia honoured him with the Knight of the Order of the Republic.
In paying tribute to H¨¦di, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described him as ¡°an icon of UN peacekeeping, there was no better representative of the international civil service. A mild man with the heart of a lion ... he was proud of the UN mission in Haiti ¨C proud of its accomplishments in bringing stability and hope to Haiti¡¯s people, proud of his UN staff.¡±
Former Chef de Cabinet Iqbal Riza wrote that H¨¦di ¡°reported on specific operations and their challenges to the Security Council, where he became a favourite for his crisp presentations ¨C although they were often laced with barbs for its members for their lapses, in particular for Western governments which enthusiastically supported new operations but balked at dispatching their own troops.¡±
H¨¦di loved his work and often worked long hours late into the night. Quiet, soft-spoken or reserved are adjectives used in connection with H¨¦di and many remember his sense of humour and prodigious memory.
¡°H¨¦di worked long hours to make a difference to the world,¡± said Lieutenant General Daniel Opande, a longtime colleague and the former Force Commander of the UN¡¯s missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
¡°He was the quintessential diplomat who had good manners and was polite,¡± said a close colleague, adding that ¡°he was meticulous to the extreme, particularly when it came to peacekeeping reports.¡±
Another remembered H¨¦di giving a tribute that was moving ¡°in a quiet and dignified way¡± for a staff member who passed away.
H¨¦di received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Tunis and diplomas in political science from the Institut d¡¯Etudes Politiques in Paris and the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva.
H¨¦di is survived by his wife, Dani¨¨le, his mother Ferida, his brothers, Hassen and Abdelazziz, and their families, as well as his stepson, Nicolas, and his family.