Yao Roland Kpotsra (February 20, 1947 – October 10, 2018) was a

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

lese diplomat and politician. He was Togo's Permanent Representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2009; he was also

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 2002 to 2003."New Permanent Representative of Togo presents credentials"
United Nations press release, BIO/3940, October 1, 2007.

Diplomatic and political career

Kpotsra was born in

Lomé Lomé ( , ) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Togo, largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

and died on 11 October 2018. He began working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974 at its Administrative Affairs Division. From September 1976 to February 1979, he was Secretary at Togo's Permanent Mission to the United Nations; he was then Counsellor at the Permanent Mission from February 1979 to April 1980 and ''

Chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

'' at the Permanent Mission from April 1980 to August 1980. He was First Counsellor at the Togolese Embassy to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

from September 1980 to May 1982."New Permanent Representative of Togo presents credentials"
United Nations press release, BIO/3050, December 11, 1996. At the Foreign Ministry, Kpotsra was Director of the Treaties and Legal Affairs Division from July 23, 1982 to January 5, 1988, as well as Director of Administration and Personnel from October 9, 1987 to August 1990. From 8 September 1990 to 30 June 1991, he was ''Chargé d'affaires'' in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

; he was then ''Chargé de mission'' of the Foreign Ministry from September 1992 to March 23, 1993. From March 1993 to 1996, he was Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry. During this time, he headed the Togolese delegation to the Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

on April 25–27, 1995 in

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, as well as the Togolese delegation to the sixty-third regular session of the

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

's Council of Ministers, held on February 26–28, 1996 in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

. Kpotsra was appointed as Permanent Representative to the UN for the first time in 1996, presenting his credentials on December 11, 1996; he remained Permanent Representative until December 2002. Kpotsra was named Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on December 3, 2002,, presse-francophone.org . serving in that position until he was appointed as Minister of the Promotion of Democracy and the Rule of Law in the government named on July 29, 2003. He remained in the latter position until he was dismissed from the government that was named on June 20, 2005. President

Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (; born 6 June 1966)"Biographie de nouveau pré ...

then appointed Kpotsra as Diplomatic Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic on July 26, 2005. He held that post until 2007, when he was appointed as Togo's Permanent Representative to the UN again; he presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

on October 1, 2007. Kpotsra was recalled to Lomé in early 2009, and Kodjo Menan was appointed to replace him on 3 April 2009."Kodjo Menan retourne à New York"
Republicoftogo.com, 3 April 2009 .

Honors

Kpotsra was awarded the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit in April 1984 and was made an Officer of the Order of Mono in March 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kpostra, Roland 1947 births 2018 deaths Togolese diplomats Ministers of foreign affairs of Togo Permanent representatives of Togo to the United Nations Government ministers of Togo 21st-century Togolese politicians