USAID head Mark Green announces resignation

March 16 (UPI) -- Head of the United States Agency for International Development Mark Green announced Monday that he will step down next month.

Green announced his departure from the primary agency overseeing global U.S. Humanitarian aid in a statement thanking the Trump administration for its support and highlighting its response to "disasters both natural and man-made."

"For two and a half years I have had the honor of serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. Today, it is with pride and not a little sadness that I announce my plans to leave USAID and return to the private sector next month," he said.

The announcement of Green's departure comes as the USAID has participated in the United States' efforts to aid other countries amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Green on Monday told The Washington Post the announcement and the pandemic are "not related at all."

During Green's tenure at USAID, the agency responded to various natural disasters but said that "increasingly, these human disasters are man-made, regime driven, a fallout from the flight from tyranny."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Green as a "brilliant administrator" lauding his work at the agency.

"He has shown American leadership and heart by responding to natural disasters and public health emergencies around the world, such as earthquakes in Mexico, cyclones in Mozambique, Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas, the outbreak of Ebola in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the plague of locusts in East Africa, and now COVID-19," Pompeo said.