Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ALAN DOSS OF UNITED KINGDOM AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Alan Doss of the United Kingdom as his Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Mr. Doss will replace William Lacy Swing of the United States.

Mr. Doss has been the Special Representative for Liberia since 2005.  Prior to that appointment, he served as Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d’Ivoire from June 2004.  Mr. Doss was also the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, while concurrently serving as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Doss held the position of Director of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), before which he was Director of the UNDP European Office in Geneva, where he was responsible for strengthening UNDP’s outreach and liaison work in Western Europe, focusing on the Programme’s advocacy of human development.

Mr. Doss has previously served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Regional Representative in Bangkok.  At the same time, he was Director of the United Nations Border Relief Operation, in charge of United Nations assistance to displaced Cambodians on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Previous assignments include posts with the United Nations in China, Kenya, Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and Benin.

Mr. Doss was born on 7 January 1945 and was brought up in Cardiff, Wales.  He graduated from the London School of Economics.  He is married with three children.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/932-AFR/1217-BIO/3671 of 20 July 2005.

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