UN chief appoints new head of UN Office on Drugs and Crime

UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed Monica Kathina Juma of Kenya as the new executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), his spokesperson said.

Juma will also serve as head of the UN Office at Vienna. She succeeds Ghada Fathi Waly of Egypt in both roles, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a daily briefing.

Currently serving as the national security adviser to the president of Kenya and secretary to Kenya's National Security Council, Juma is a strategic senior leader with a depth of expertise, experience and knowledge spanning public policy making, execution and academia across critical areas of security, diplomacy and governance, according to a statement issued by the Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General.

It added that John Brandolino, director of the division for treaty affairs at UNODC, will continue to serve as acting executive director of UNODC and acting director-general of the UN Office at Vienna until Juma assumes her position. ■