Veteran UN humanitarian official named deputy envoy to Middle East

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today named Kevin M. Kennedy, a national of Ireland and the United States with extensive humanitarian experience, as his Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

“The United Nations does great work in the Middle East in peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and development, and I look forward to being part of that effort,” Mr. Kennedy, who leaves Monday for the region, told the UN News Service.

In his new post, Mr. Kennedy will also serve as UN coordinator for humanitarian and development activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. He will function as the deputy of Alvaro de Soto, the chief UN envoy to the Middle East peace process.

Mr. Kennedy was, most recently, the Director of the Coordination and Response Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), where he has spent the last thirteen years of his career. He also held senior humanitarian positions in Sudan, Iraq, the Balkans, East Timor and Somalia.