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Ross MountainPolitician
Country:
 New Zealand |
Content:
Biography of Ross Mountain
Ross Mountain is a politician and graduate of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. He began his career at the United Nations in 1973, initially overseeing interagency relations in the Department of Social Affairs. From 1976 to 1985, he headed the Information Service at the European Office of the United Nations Development Programme in Geneva.
Special Representative to Iraq
UN Secretary-General appointed Ross Mountain as his temporary Special Representative to Iraq. As a New Zealand diplomat, he will be based in Nicosia, Cyprus, and will travel to Iraq as needed, until the security situation in the country improves. This appointment follows the tragic death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the previous Special Representative, in a terrorist attack in Baghdad on August 19 of this year.
Humanitarian Work
In addition to his role as Special Representative, Ross Mountain is currently serving as the Assistant Coordinator for Emergency Relief and Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva. Throughout his 30-year career with the UN, he has primarily focused on humanitarian issues. He first assumed leadership of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 1998 and has made several visits to Iraq in this capacity, most recently in July of this year.
