ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Senior UN official and African specialist Abdoulie Janneh on Monday assumed his new post as executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

    Janneh came to ECA after a 26-year career with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), culminating in his position as assistant secretary-general and director of the UNDP regional bureau for Africa, a post he has held in New York since June 2000.

    Janneh praised the leadership of the outgoing executive secretary, K.Y. Amoako and vowed that he will "continue to follow his commitment, hard work, and dedication to African priorities, as defined by Africans and their institutions, particularly the African Union, to really make sure that this decade belongs to Africa."

    Janneh has long experience working with core elements of the ECA work program, notably the promotion of good governance, economic reform, the fight against HIV/AIDS, fair trade, crisis prevention and poverty eradication.

    Before his most recent position as the head of UNDP's Africa regional bureau, Janneh served as UNDP's resident representative in Ghana and also in Niger.

    Janneh came to the UN as a development planner from the government of Gambia. He holds a Master of Arts in urban and regional planning studies from the University of Nottingham in England.

    He also attended Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, as well as the University of Bradford, England, and the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. Enditem