Paul John Firmino Lusaka (10 January 1935 – 11 November 1996UN-Democracy.com
) was a

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

n politician and diplomat who became President of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

General Assembly in 1984.

Life and politics

Lusaka was born in Moomba Village near

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

on 10 January 1935. He attended Roma University College in Lesotho where he obtained a degree in history and geography in 1959. The following year he was on an exchange programme that took him to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

funded by the Ford Foundation.U.N. Biography
/ref> His 1963 Master's Degree in Political Geography was from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and he was also trained in diplomacy by the Canadian United Nations contingent. In 1964 he was at the Zambian High Commission in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he rose to the position of Deputy High Commissioner in 1965, which he held until 1968. From 1968 he served as the Zambian Ambassador to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, until he left Russia to become a Permanent Representative at the UN in 1972 as well as a number of other diplomatic positions. Between 1973 and 1978 he was a Member of Parliament in Zambia, where he held a number of ministerial positions.

The United Nations

In 1979 he became the Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as President of the United Nations Council for

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. He was vice president in 1980 and in the following year President of the Economic and Social Council. He was

's chief representative at the Security Council in 1979 and 1980. In 1985 the ''New York Times'' recorded that after a meeting with ten former U.N. Presidents he said,

Family

Lusaka was married and had nine children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lusaka, Paul John F 1935 births 1996 deaths Zambian diplomats University of Minnesota alumni Members of the National Assembly of Zambia Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly Permanent Representatives of Zambia to the United Nations Ambassadors of Zambia to the Soviet Union Ambassadors of Zambia to Yugoslavia Ambassadors of Zambia to Romania