Swiss Appointed U.N.’s Top Envoy for Middle East
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WASHINGTON — Swiss Ambassador Edouard Brunner was named Thursday as a special U.N. representative for the Middle East and declared himself quietly optimistic about prospects for a settlement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Commenting on his new job as a representative for U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, Brunner quoted two French military heroes.
“ Impossible is not a French word,” he said, citing Napoleon’s admonition to a reluctant aide, and he then quoted from the memoirs of Charles de Gaulle:
“I went to the complicated Mideast with simple ideas.”
Brunner, who will retain his post as Switzerland’s ambassador to Washington, said that he will meet with Perez de Cuellar today and later with Secretary of State James A. Baker III and foreign ministers of the other four permanent members of the Security Council. He said that he then plans to tour the Middle East.
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