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By Julius N. Uma
July 26, 2012 (JUBA) - The United Nations Secretary-General on Thursday announced the appointment of Toby Lanzer, British national, as the new Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
- Toby Lanzer (left), addresses reporters when he was UN Humanitarian Coordinator to the Central African Republic on 28 February 2008 (Photo : UN)
Lanzer, who replaces Lise Grande, will also double as the UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator, and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP).
Ban Ki-Moon said in a statement that he was grateful for Grande, an American national, for her dedicated service in Juba, the South Sudan capital.
Lanzer, prior to his current assignment, reportedly served as Deputy Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), and UNDP Resident Representative in the Central African Republic (CAR).
He has also served as the Chief of the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) based at the United Nations Office at Geneva, and as Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Russian Federation.
His appointment, further says the statement, brings to the position
“varied experience” in development, humanitarian affairs, and peacekeeping, since Lanzer first joined UNDP two decade back.
The appointment of the new humanitarian chief comes at a time when the world’s newest nation is facing several humanitarian challenges, which recently forced the United Nations (UN) to revise this year’s funding appeal for South Sudan, initially at US$763million, to nearly US$1.2billion.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), also said its efforts to assist
thousands of Sudanese refugees in South Sudan were at breaking point, citing logistical challenges. An estimated 200,000 Sudanese, it says, have fled fighting in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile States into neighbouring South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Born in 1965, Lanzer holds a post graduate certificate in Forced Migration from the University of Oxford, a Masters of International Affairs with a specialization in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of New Hampshire.
(ST)
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