New UNAMID chief to arrive on Friday

January 20, 2010 (KAHRTOUM) — The new Joint Special Representative of the African Union –United Nations Mission in Darfur, Ibrahim Gambari, is due to arrive in Khartoum on Friday to assume office as the new Joint Special Representative and Head of the hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The UNAMID official spokesman, Noureddine Mezni, pointed out that Professor Gambari will hold a series of meetings with the government of Sudan officials before leaving for Darfur on Monday.

He is also expected to travel to Addis Ababa at the end of this month to meet
with AU Commission leadership and attend the upcoming AU summit.

Asked by Sudan Tribune to comment on UNAMID expectations from the new JSR, Mezni welcomed on behalf of the Mission’s leadership and the entire staff, Professor Gambari who “will bring along a rich international experience and a great knowledge of the African affairs, which certainly help him to consolidate UNAMID achievements on the beginning of its third year of operations,” he said.

He added that the new envoy will continue to play a constructive role in the overall search of an enduring stability and a lasting peace in Darfur.

Gambari was Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Iraq Compact and Other Issues from 2007 to 2009. On 22 May 2007, the Secretary-General also entrusted him with the Good Offices mandate on Myanmar.

The Nigerian diplomat worked as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, from 2005 to 2007; and UN Special Adviser on Africa (1999-2005), and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Angola (2002-2003).

Mezni paid tribute to former JSR Rodolphe Adada who laid a solid foundation of the first ever AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur and to the Acting JSR Henry Anyidoho who ensured, with the support of UNAMID leadership and the Mission’s staff, a smooth interim period since last September.

(ST)