New York, USA, 4 Jul 06

Following nomination by Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, Mrs Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka has been re-elected Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT for another term of four years. The election took place in New York during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 28th June 2006. Her current term expires on 31 August this year and the new one runs from 1st September 2006 to 31st August 2010.

After the unanimous GA re-election, the representative of South Africa on behalf of G77 and China, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria made strong congratulatory and supportive statements details of which are attached below.

Some of the highlights of these statements include her dedication and commitment, strong and visionary leadership and hard work in raising the profile of UN-HABITAT, excellent work of UN-HABITAT in water, sanitation and slum upgrading, and her instrumental role in assisting the African Union to establish the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD). Also noted was ability and success in forging strategic partnerships with financial institutions for follow-up investment in housing and urban infrastructure notably UN-HABITAT USD 590 million agreement with the African Development Bank. However, the G-77 and China decried the fact that she has been forced to do all this without access to funding commensurate to the important mandate she has to deliver. The group urged its development partners to provide core predictable funding and sufficient resources to capitalize the Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation and its Slum Upgrading Facility, as recently reiterated at the 2005 World Summit Outcome, and at the just concluded Third World Urban Forum in Vancouver, hosted by the government of Canada, attended by more than ten thousand people, and successfully organized by UN-HABITAT.

The President of the General Assembly, Mr. Jan Eliasson, capped it all when he concluded that he had personally witnessed the impact of Mrs. Tibaijuka's leadership during his recent visit to Nairobi, where he toured the only UN-Office in the sprawling largest contiguous slum settlement in Africa, Kibera. The Kibera UN-HABITAT office is part of the Kenyan Slum upgrading Programme (KENSUP). The Kenyan Permanent Representative to the UN, Mrs. Judigh Bahemuka, acknowledged in the GA that Mrs. Tibaijuka had played an instrumental role to assist the government launch the KENSUP programme 5 years ago. Kibera is home to close 1 million people crowded on only about 240 hectares of land, under one of the world's most appalling living conditions without access to safe water and sanitation.

In a tremendous display of support, admiration and confidence, congratulatory messages for Mrs. Tibaijuka continue to be received from Member States, UN Colleagues and staff  as well as other Habitat Agenda partners in all walks of life and from different parts of the  world.