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9 unusual facts about Bernard Kouchner


Bernard Kouchner

Kouchner was born in Avignon, to a Jewish father and a Protestant mother, he began his political career as a member of the French Communist Party (PCF), from which he was expelled in 1966 for attempting to overthrow the leadership.

CIA activities in Sudan

In June 2007, the Khartoum government rebuffed appeals by the new French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, to allow a UN-African Union force into Darfur.

Yet a day earlier, Bashir told French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that only Africans would be accepted.

France–Kosovo relations

Accordingly, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner was the first UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Kosovo when the United Nations took over from Serbia in June 1999 in administration of the territory.

France–Turkmenistan relations

10–13 April 2008 was visit of Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner to Central Asia, where during his visit to Turkmenistan opened a new building of the French Embassy in Ashgabat, with the presence of the Ambassador of France to Turkmenistan Christian Lechervy.

France–Yemen relations

The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, went to Yemen on 21 February 2009 and was received by Foreign Affairs Minister Al-Qirbi and by President Saleh.

Médecins du Monde

Founded in 1980 by a group of 15 French doctors, including Bernard Kouchner after he had left Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders), the aid society which he had co-founded earlier in 1971.

Nigerian Civil War

Bernard Kouchner was one of a number of French doctors who volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centres in besieged Biafra.

Paul Berman

Also, Berman tracks major figures like Bernard Kouchner — the later founder of Doctors Without Borders — a member of the 1968 Generation who would later marry active improvement of human rights to established political goals.


Reactions to the ROKS Cheonan sinking

: French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner, expressed to his South Korean counterpart, Yu Myung-hwan, France’s very firm condemnation of the attack which was directed against the Republic of Korea.


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