Former Guyana Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Noel Sinclair, who had been called one of the country’s finest diplomats, has died.
Sinclair, 76, passed yesterday morning in New York.
A past Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he had a long and distinguished foreign service career that included diplomatic postings and high level responsibilities in national, regional and international organisations. He held senior posts at the Guyana embassies in Washington and Caracas, at the Guyana High Commission in Lusaka, Zambia and in New York, where he served as Permanent Representative of the Guyana Mission to the UN.
It was during this latter posting that he served as President of the UN Security Council. He also acted as President of the United Nations Council for Namibia, promoting expanded recognition of the Council by the international community as the legal administering body for the territory of Namibia, then under illegal occupation by South Africa. He also served as Deputy Permanent Secretary of SELA (the Latin American Economic System) at its headquarters in Caracas.
His last known post was that of Deputy Chef de Cabinet to the President of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Ambassador John Ashe, of Antigua and Barbuda.
He assumed that post immediately after finishing a tour of duty as Caricom’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations. Prior to becoming Caricom’s Permanent Observer, Sinclair was Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where he presided over the peace talks and the weapons disposal process of the former antagonists to end their 10-year civil war.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashleigh Jackson described Sinclair as a superb diplomat who along with being well liked was important to the implementation of Guyana’s foreign policy while he served the nation.
He explained that Sinclair was a close friend who belonged to a cadre of excellent diplomats and who will surely be missed by those who knew and worked with him in Guyana and at the level of the UN.
The current Director General, Audrey Waddell, in a statement to the press yesterday, described Sinclair as well spoken, socially sophisticated and someone who was as close as one would get to the image of an ideal diplomat for a country like Guyana.
She noted that his presentations at the General Assembly and the Security Council of the UN were often well received and the calm and reasoned approach he brought to his duties made him well liked and respected by his colleagues.
“In addition, Ambassador Sinclair’s enviable command of English made him a superb drafter of diplomatic documents. These attributes and his deep imbibing of a culture which encompassed wide reading and an appreciation for music and the other arts made him into a more complete human being as well as an entertaining and informed colleague,” Waddell said as she expressed condolences on behalf of herself, the ministry and other members of staff.
Sinclair was educated at Central High School and the University of the West Indies. At the latter institution, he obtained a BA degree in French and a Diploma in International Relations.
