United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Ruby Sandhu-Rojon as his new Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel. Ms. Sandhu-Rojon succeeds Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, who completed her assignment on 6 August 2017.

The Secretary-General is grateful for Ms. Guebre Sellassie’s accomplishments as Special Envoy for the Sahel and later as Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, including for her role in mobilizing international support for the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel.

Ms. Sandhu-Rojon brings to the position extensive experience with the United Nations, including in leadership positions with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and strong strategic planning, coordination, and programmatic skills. Since 2014, she has been serving as the UNDP Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa. She served as UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana from 2010 to 2014, and was the UNDP Country Director in Burkina Faso, where she also assumed the interim role of Resident Representative. Earlier in her career, Ms. Sandhu-Rojon was posted to Germany as Chief of the African Section of UN Volunteers (UNV), as Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Madagascar from 1999 to 2002, and as Special Assistant to the Administrator of UNDP from 1997 to 1999. She started her career as a Programme Officer at the African section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Born in 1962, Ms. Sandhu-Rojon holds a MSc in Russian Politics from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Political Science specializing in International Economics and Politics from Bryn Mawr College, US. She is married with two children.