UN humanitarian relief chief offers to step down

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos pauses during a news conference on Ebola at the United Nations in Geneva in this file photo from September 16, 2014. Amos plans to step down at the end of March after more than four years in the position, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced November 26, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

UNITED NATIONS - Valerie Amos, the UN under- secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and UN emergency relief coordinator, has offered to resign, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here Wednesday.

Haq made the announcement at a daily news briefing here.

"But she continues to serve in her capacity as undersecretary- general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator right now and at that time we are also looking for a potential replacement," Haq stressed. "We don't have anything to announce on that just yet."

A statement issued by Amos' office, however, laid out a schedule by saying that she "will leave her position at the end of March."

"Ms. Valerie Amos has informed me of her intention to step down as United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement issued here shortly after the announcement of Amos' plan to quit. "I would like to express my utmost gratitude for her outstanding service to the United Nations, the humanitarian community and people in need."

On July 9, 2010, Ban appointed Amos, a national of the United Kingdom, to the current post. Amos, born in March 1954, is the eighth and current UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she was British high commissioner to Australia.

She used to serve in other high-level government positions including British Cabinet minister with responsibility for international development, which encompassed arrangements for the Department for International Development budget and responsibility for its response to crises around the world.