United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday appointed Oxfam International executive director Winnie Byanyima as the new UNAids executive director.
Ms Byanyima, a Ugandan, has held several roles affiliated to the governance of the African Union, and has influenced the international agenda at the United Nations through her leadership in many coalitions of civil society organisations.
She has been the Oxfam executive director for six years since her appointment in January 2013.
Ms Byanyima will take over from Malian Michel Sidibé who stepped down in May, following accusations of serious mismanagement, a statement issued in Nairobi disclosed.
Mr Sidibé was also accused of creating “a patriarchal culture tolerating harassment and abuse of authority.”
An Independent Expert Panel (IEP) report commissioned by UNAids governing body said the agency’s culture under Sidibé also failed “to uphold the United Nations’ laws and values.”
Sidibe left UNAids after a decade-long tenure to become Mali’s health minister.
JK/as/APA