Kinshasa, February 8, 2010 - The new Deputy Special Representative for the Mission of the United Nations in the DRC, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations and Humanitarian Coordinator Mr.Fidele Sarassoro arrived in Kinshasa to take office on February 7, 2010. Mr. Sarassoro had been nominated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, on December 23, 2009.

Mr. Sarassoro brings to the United Nations system in the DRC a great deal of experience in coordination of humanitarian action and in programme management for relief and poverty reduction in Africa.

Since 2006, Mr. Sarassoro has been Resident Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations as well as Resident Representative of the UNDP in Ethiopia. In this country he has among other things improved the coordination of one of the biggest UN teams in Africa and the efficiency of international assistance.

Between 2002 and 2006, he was the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations and Resident Representative of the UNDP in Togo, where he assisted the government in conceiving key reforms for governance.

Before that Mr. Sarassoro worked with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), in the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) as well as in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

An Ivorian national, Mr. Sarassoro is following Mr. Ross Mountain from New Zealand who left DRC at the end of 2009.