This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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The Head of United Nation Mission In South Sudan (UNMISS) and United Nation Special Representative for the Secretary General (UN-SRSG) Ellen Margrethe Løj arrived today in Juba, South Sudan, to take up her duties.
Speaking to the press at Juba International Airport soon after her arrival, the UNMISS boss said she needs a lot of briefing to know more about South Sudan.
“I’m very happy to be here and look forward to start my new function as Special Representative. I will need a lot of briefing and I will need to get to know South Sudan. It is a huge challenge and am looking forward to it”, said Ms. Lø
She was welcome at the airport by senior UNMISS management, led by Deputy SRSG Toby Lanzer, and the South Sudan Undersecretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hon. Charles Manyang.
Ms. Løj, a Danish citizen, succeeds MS Hilde F. Johnson of Norway who completed her assignment on July 08th 2014.
As part of her initial activities in the country, Ms. Løj held a meeting with UNMISS staff. She is also expected to meet President Salva Kiir and other senior South Sudanese officials later this week.
Løj noted that although there are about 100,000 displaced people seeking shelter at UNMISS bases, there are “probably more than a million internally displaced in the whole country.”
The new UN boss calls for peace in the Country, urging the end of the war:
“It is really a challenge that peace be established and the weapons are silent to give the citizens confidence to return to their villages,” she said. “In the meantime, we have to do what we can to protect them, to ensure that they as individual citizens feel safe.”
The UNMISS chief clarified that although the mission’s current mandate has authorized a force of up to 12,500 troops, “it does not carry a lot of military weight” she said.
Ms. Løj said that the UN mandate which she will be working on is about protecting civilians, monitoring and reporting on human rights, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance and providing support to the peace process led by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Ms. Løj was appointed on July 23rd 2014 by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as his new Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS).
Ban Ki Moon, in his press release in July, expressed his gratitude for Ms. Johnson’s dedication and leadership of UNMISS since the Mission’s inception in July 2011.
Ms. Løj brings to the position a wealth of experience in peacekeeping and international affairs, having served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the United Nations Mission in Liberia from 2008 to 2012.
Previously, Ms. Løj held a number of senior positions in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Ambassador to Israel.
Born in 1948 in Gedesby, Denmark, Ms. Løj graduated from Copenhagen University in 1973 with a master’s degreein political science.
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