UN appoints Trump nominee Lindberg to head World Food Programme

The logo of the World Food Programme is seen at a community kitchen set-up by them and USAID in Cucuta, Colombia February 7, 2019. REUTERS/Marco Bello

ROME, Sept 18 - The UN's World Food Programme, the world's biggest humanitarian agency, on Friday named U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee, Luke Lindberg, as its next executive director, a statement said.

Lindberg, currently a senior U.S. agricultural official, was appointed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Qu Dongyu, head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, after consultation with the WFP board.

He succeeds Cindy McCain, who stepped down for health reasons from the Rome-based agency and was succeeded on an interim basis by her deputy, Carl Skau.

The WFP said some 266 million people were facing acute food insecurity worldwide because of conflict, extreme weather and economic hardship, and that it provided assistance to more than 100 million people in 83 countries. REUTERS