United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Yacoub El Hillo of Sudan as his Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).  He will also serve as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
 

Mr. El Hillo succeeds Antonio Vigilante of Italy, who concluded his assignment on 15 June 2016, and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his outstanding contribution and dedicated service in supporting the implementation of the mandate of UNMIL and coordinating the activities of the United Nations system in Liberia.

Mr. El Hillo brings to the position a wealth of experience in the field and at United Nations Headquarters.  Since August 2013, he has served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Syrian Arab Republic, based in Damascus.

Prior to his assignment in Syria, he served as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Director for the Middle East and North Africa in Geneva, a position he held since November 2010.  He was the UNHCR Regional Representative to the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2009-2010); UNHCR Representative in Tanzania (2006-2009); Deputy Reconstruction and Humanitarian Coordinator, United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in Baghdad (2005-2006); UNHCR Chief of Mission in Iraq (2003-2005); and he was the Chef de Cabinet of the High Commissioner’s Office at UNHCR Headquarters (2001-2002).

He also served in a number of other assignments since joining the United Nations in 1989, in his native Sudan (1989-1991), Kenya (1991-1993), Somalia (1993-1994), Tanzania (1994-1996), Liberia (1996-1999), Geneva (1999-2002) and at the United Nations Headquarters in New York (2002-2003).

Mr. El Hillo graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Khartoum, Sudan, in 1986.

Born in 1963, he is married and has five children.

New York, 27 June 2016