UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Ashe-Rose Migiro has been sworn in as the world organization's third deputy chief and second woman in the post.
The 50-year-old former foreign minister of Tanzania for the past year comes from an academic background in law and also served as her country's minister of community development, gender and children's affairs.
Shortly after the private ceremony Monday in U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office, she met with reporters and said she had signed as do all staff members upon joining the organization; "a declaration pledging to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience, the functions entrusted to me with the interest of the United Nations only in view."
Migiro said she was dedicated to "strengthening the work of the United Nations, enhancing trust between member states and the (U.N.) Secretariat, bolstering the working culture of the organization to ensure it is equipped to meet the mandates our membership has given us."
She added, "In particular I will support the secretary-general in managing and reforming the secretariat, and work with the broader U.N. family on economic and social issues. In all I do I will strive to bring about a more integrated United Nations, which delivers as one."
Answering criticism she had scarce experience in management, Migiro cited to reporters her academic background and the work managing two ministries in here native land.
Over the next few days, she is expected to visit various U.N. departments and agencies, as well as receiving briefings and meeting with officials.
Migiro succeeds Mark Malloch-Brown, who was appointed in April 2006. He followed the first deputy secretary-general, Louise Frechette, in the post established in late 1997 by Ban's predecessor, Kofi Annan.
