Sir Walter Kieran Prendergast KCVO CMG (born 2 July 1942) is a British retired diplomat who was Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the United Nations.
In 1982, he was appointed Head of Chancery and Consul-General in Tel Aviv, Israel and worked there for four years, later serving as High Commissioner to Zimbabwe and Kenya, before returning to Ankara, this time as Ambassador to Turkey.
[1] He helped call attention to human rights violations and "ethnic cleansing" resulting from the War in Darfur,[2][3] and was deeply involved in Cyprus reunification negotiations in 2004, following the Cypriot Annan Plan referendum.
[4] When he retired in 2005, following pressure from the Bush administration for the removal of key UN Secretariat officials who had opposed the Iraq war and the many subsequent errors of policy, Kofi Annan thanked him for his "outstanding service" and "invaluable advice.
Prendergast is chairman of the Anglo-Turkish Society, a trustee of the Beit Trust, and senior adviser at the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, as well as being counsellor at Melbourne-based Dragoman Global.