ARRIVAL IN KINSHASA OF M. ALAN DOSS, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

3 Mar 2009

ARRIVAL IN KINSHASA OF M. ALAN DOSS, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

Kinshasa, 10 January 2008

M. Alan Doss, the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Head of MONUC, the Peacekeeping Mission of the UN in DRC, arrived last night in Kinshasa to assume his new functions.

Mr. Doss, a national of the United Kingdom, whose appointment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, was officially announced on 24 October 2007, replaces Mr. William Lacy Swing of the United States.

Mr. Doss has been the Special Representative for Liberia since 2005. Prior to that appointment, he served as Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire from June 2004. Mr. Doss was also the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, while concurrently serving as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Doss held the position of Director of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), before which he was Director of the UNDP European Office in Geneva, where he was responsible for strengthening UNDP's outreach and liaison work in Western Europe, focusing on the Program's advocacy of human development.

Mr. Doss has previously served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Regional Representative in Bangkok. At the same time, he was Director of the United Nations Border Relief Operation, in charge of United Nations assistance to displaced Cambodians on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Previous assignments include posts with the United Nations in China, Kenya, Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and Benin.

Mr. Doss was born on 7 January 1945 and was brought up in Cardiff, Wales. He graduated from the London School of Economics. He is married with three children.