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New Executive Secretary Abdoulie Janneh Joins UNECA Addis
Ababa, 3 October, 2005 (ECA) - Senior UN manager and Africa specialist Abdoulie
Janneh assumes his new post as Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA), Addis Ababa, Monday. Mr Janneh comes to ECA after a 26-year
career with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), culminating in his
position as Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau
for Africa, a post he has held in New York since June 2000. In that role, he managed
UNDP activities in 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a complement of over
1,500 staff. Speaking in Addis, Friday, Mr Janneh said he was looking forward
to working with a team that had "done great things for Africa over the past
ten years." He praised the leadership of his outgoing Executive Secretary,
K.Y. Amoako, adding: "I want to give him the assurance that we will continue
to follow his commitment, hard work, and dedication to African priorities, as
defined by Africans and their institutions, particularly the AU, to really make
sure that this decade belongs to Africa." K.Y. Amoako served as ECA
Executive Secretary for ten years, 1995-2005. Introducing his successor to staff,
he said he was leaving ECA "in a brother's hands." He told Mr Janneh:
"You bring to this job, tremendous experience and a strong commitment to
the cause of Africa's development. Under your leadership, I am convinced that
what we started here will be strengthened and will even be pushed to further heights."
Mr Janneh has long experience working with core elements of the ECA work
programme, notably the promotion of good governance, economic reform, the fight
against HIV/AIDS, fair trade, crisis prevention and poverty eradication. He
sees the institutional transformation of the African Union and the successful
implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), including
the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), as initiatives critical to the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals across the continent. Before his most
recent position at the head of UNDP's Africa Bureau, Mr Janneh served as UNDP's
Resident Representative in Ghana (l996-l999) and also in Niger (l993- l996). He
was previously the Deputy Executive Secretary for the United Nations Capital Development
Fund (l990-1993). Before that he was the Deputy Resident Representative in Guinea
(l984-l986) and later in Sierra Leone (l987-l989). He originally joined UNDP in
October l979. Mr Janneh came to the UN as a development planner from the
Government of Gambia. He holds an M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning studies
from the University of Nottingham in England. He also attended Fourah Bay College,
Sierra Leone (Engineering Science), as well as the University of Bradford, England
(Project Planning and Appraisal), and the Economic Development Institute of the
World Bank (Project Management). Issued by the ECA Communication Team PO
Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia Tel: +251 11 551 58 26
Fax: +251
11 551 0365
Email: ecainfo@uneca.org
Web: www.uneca.org | 
