Editing Rolf Ekéus

{{Short description|Swedish diplomat (born 1935)}}
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| image = Rolf ekeus-evstafiev.jpg
| caption       = Ekéus in 2006
| name          = Rolf Ekéus 
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| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1935|07|07|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Kristinehamn]], [[Sweden]]
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'''Carl Rolf Ekéus''' (born 7 July 1935) is a Swedish [[diplomat]]. Ekéus had a long career in diplomacy and international security. He began as a district court clerk before joining the Swedish [[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)|Ministry for Foreign Affairs]] in 1962, with postings in [[Bonn]], [[Nairobi]], and [[The Hague]]. He played a key role in Sweden’s UN delegation, serving as deputy representative on the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] and later as ambassador to the Disarmament Delegation in [[Geneva]]. From 1991 to 1997, he led the [[United Nations Special Commission]] on Iraq, overseeing disarmament efforts after the [[Gulf War]].

Ekéus later served as Sweden’s ambassador to the United States (1997–2000) and held influential positions in arms control, including membership in the [[Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons|Canberra Commission]] and the UN Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. From 2001 to 2007, he served as [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]] [[High Commissioner on National Minorities]]. He has since remained active in international security, including roles with [[Stockholm International Peace Research Institute|SIPRI]], the [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]], and the [[International Commission on Missing Persons]].

==Early life==
Ekéus was born on 7 July 1935 in [[Kristinehamn]], Sweden, the son of Axel Eriksson, a teaching assistant, and his wife Margit (née Johansson). He earned a Candidate of Law degree from [[Stockholm University|Stockholm University College]] in 1959.<ref name="Jönsson (2000), p. 273">{{cite book |url=https://runeberg.org/vemardet/2001/0273.html |editor-last=Jönsson |editor-first=Lena |title=Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 2001 |trans-title=Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 2001 |year=2000 |publisher=Norstedt |location=Stockholm |language=sv |isbn=9172850426 |id={{SELIBR|8261515}} |page=273}}</ref>

==Career==
Ekéus served as a district court clerk from 1959 to 1962 before joining the [[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)|Ministry for Foreign Affairs]] as an attaché in 1962. He was posted in [[Bonn]] from 1963 to 1965 and then served as embassy secretary in [[Nairobi]] from 1965 to 1967. In 1967, he became an administrative officer (''kanslisekreterare'') at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and was appointed desk officer (''departementssekreterare'') in 1970. From 1970 to 1974, he worked as secretary to the [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)|minister for foreign affairs]].<ref name="Jönsson (2000), p. 273"/>

Ekéus then served as first secretary at Sweden's UN delegation in [[New York City]] from 1974 to 1978 and was deputy representative for Sweden on the [[United Nations Security Council]] from 1975 to 1976. In 1978, he was appointed counselor at the Swedish Embassy in [[The Hague]]. He later became Sweden's ambassador to the Disarmament Delegation in [[Geneva]] in 1983 and [[Permanent Representative of Sweden to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|Permanent Representative of Sweden to Military Negotiations]] in [[Vienna]] from 1989 to 1994.<ref name="Jönsson (2000), p. 273"/>

Between 1991 and 1997 he was director of the [[United Nations Special Commission on Iraq]], the [[United Nations]] [[disarmament]] observers in [[Iraq]] after the [[Gulf War]].  In late July 2002 he reportedly said in the ''[[Svenska Dagbladet]]'' newspaper that during his time in this position he attempted to resist attempts by the United States to use the commission to perform [[espionage]].  His successor as director was [[Richard Butler (diplomat)|Richard Butler]]. The journalist [[Andrew Cockburn]] reported in ''[[The First Post]]'' that Ekéus told him how the former US President [[Bill Clinton]] attempted to prevent [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Iraq]] from being certified as free of [[weapons of mass destruction]]. Despite Ekéus' belief that Iraq was nearly certifiable as being free of such weapons, US Secretary of State [[Madeleine Albright]] announced that [[United Nations]] sanctions would not be lifted until such time as Hussein was no longer in power.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=6463| title = Iraq’s WMD myth: why Clinton is culpable}}</ref>

According to the journalist [[Christopher Hitchens]], Ekéus  "told me that he'd been offered by [[Tariq Aziz]] in person, to his face, a [[bribe]] of a million and a half dollars to change his inspection report. That was going on throughout the entire process. Rolf wouldn't, of course, agree to take it, but if they were asking him, it means they were asking everybody."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://radioblogger.com/#001710 | title=Interview with Christopher Hitchens. | publisher=[[Hugh Hewitt|The Hugh Hewitt Show]] | date=21 June 2006}}</ref> The story has also been covered by ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Francis|title=Saddam's $2m offer to WMD inspector|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1485500/Saddams-2m-offer-to-WMD-inspector.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=12 March 2005}}</ref>

Ekéus was a member of the [[Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons]] in 1996. He served as Sweden's ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2000. In 1999, he became a member of the UN Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and in 2000, he joined the board of the [[Stockholm International Peace Research Institute]] (SIPRI).<ref name="Jönsson (2000), p. 273"/>

In January 2000, Ekéus was nominated to head the [[United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission]] (UNMOVIC), charged with investigating allegations that [[Iraq]] possessed [[weapons of mass destruction]]. But Ekéus' name failed to receive the approval of the United Nations Security Council, due to the opposition of France, Russia and China, and so [[Hans Blix]] was appointed instead.

Ekéus was [[High Commissioner on National Minorities]] at the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]] from 2001 till 2007, as well as on the board of directors for the [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]] (NTI). Since 2005, Ekéus has been a Commissioner of the [[International Commission on Missing Persons]] (ICMP). He is also Member of the Supervisory Council of the [[International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe]], a not-for-profit organisation uniting leading experts on [[non-proliferation]] of [[nuclear weapon]]s, materials and delivery vehicles.

==Honors==
*Honorary Doctor of Laws, [[California Lutheran University]] (1999)<ref name="Jönsson (2000), p. 273"/>

==Personal life==
Ekéus married in 1970 to Kerstin Oldfelt (born 1938), the daughter of Professor Carl Olof Oldfelt and Vera (née Svenonius).<ref name="Jönsson (2000), p. 273"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.osce.org/hcnm/25328.html OSCE Profile]
* {{C-SPAN|24946}}

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{{succession box |before=''None'' |title=Director of the [[United Nations Special Commission]] |years=1991–1997 |after=[[Richard Butler (diplomat)|Richard Butler]]}}
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{{succession box |before=[[Henrik Liljegren]] |title=[[List of ambassadors of Sweden to the United States|Ambassador of Sweden to the United States]] |years=1997–2000 |after=[[Jan Eliasson]]}}
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[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Kristinehamn]]
[[Category:People from Kristinehamn Municipality]]
[[Category:Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Sweden to the United States]]
[[Category:Stockholm University alumni]]
[[Category:United Nations officials]]