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| State Department Official Picked to head World Food Program |
| 2006-11-08 |
| American diplomat Josette Sheeran, who was selected by the United Nations as the next head of the U.N. World Food Program, said her top priorities will be to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and to reduce hunger-related deaths. Sheeran, the U.S. undersecretary of state for economics, business and agricultural affairs, will replace American James T. Morris for a five-year term as head of the world's largest humanitarian agency. The date she takes up her duties was not announced Tuesday. Founded in 1962, WFP provides food aid to an average of 90 million poor people, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries. The United States said it provides nearly half of the annual contributions to the Rome-based agency, which has an annual budget of just under US$3 billion (€2.35 billion). Sheeran defeated three other candidates on the final shortlist — American Tony Banbury, who heads WFP's Asia operation and was not supported by President George W. Bush's administration; Walter Fust, the director of the Swiss Development and Cooperation Department; and Robert Fowler, Canada's ambassador to the World Food Program. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who was told of the WFP board's decision and jumped the gun on the official announcement, said the United States was very pleased with Sheeran's selection, calling her "extraordinarily well-qualified." Sheeran said "WFP has the unique mission of making sure that no child goes to bed hungry any night, and while WFP has made huge contributions to saving lives there's more to be done." WFP must also be part of a global strategy to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty by half by 2015, she said. In her current State Department job, Sheeran is responsible for economic issues including development, trade, agriculture, finance, energy, telecommunications and transportation. Prior to that, she served as the deputy U.S. trade representative. Sheeran, formerly known by her married name of Josette Shiner, spent 15 years at the Washington Times founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, including as managing editor. She joined Moon's Unification Church in the 1970s, but has said she later became an Episcopalian. She has long conservative credentials as a writer and commentator and as president and CEP at the conservative public policy group Empower America, based in Washington. She served as managing director of Starpoint Solutions, a leading Wall Street technology firm, and was one of 13 members of an independent panel that just finished a report on streamlining U.N. development, humanitarian and environment operations. The Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger called the defeat of Fust, the Swiss development director, "surprising, as he led Secretary-General Kofi Annan's shortlist." "Pressure from the U.S. government is thought to have been decisive," the paper said. Both Tages-Anzeiger and the Swiss daily Le Temps said Bush called FAO chief Jacques Diouf to push for Sheeran. Both papers said Bush made clear that U.S. funding for both FAO and WFP could be less generous if the U.S. candidate was not accepted. But a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Bush did not call Diouf. The U.S. State Department said Sheeran "has a proven track record in development policy and humanitarian assistance, and more than 20 years of successful management experience in government, foundations and the private sector." |
| Posted by:ryuge |