UNDP's Africa bureau director appointed head of UN Economic Commission for Africa

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Regional Director for Africa the new Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Abdoulie Janneh, a UNDP veteran, has held the Regional Director position since June 2000, managing the agency's largest regional bureau and covering 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with over 1,500 staff members.

As UN Assistant Secretary-General and a senior UNDP manager, Mr. Janneh has strongly advocated development efforts that respond effectively to Africa's national and regional priorities. Under his leadership, the UNDP Bureau for Africa made significant contributions to the promotion of good governance, economic reform, fair trade, crisis prevention and poverty eradication, as well as the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Janneh has been particularly interested in the institutional transformation of the continent-wide, Addis-based African Union (AU) and the successful implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), including the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), as critical initiatives for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

He joined UNDP in 1979 as a development planner from the Government of his home country, Gambia. He holds an MA in Urban and Regional Planning Studies from the University of Nottingham, England and an undergraduate degree from Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone.