GENEVA (AP) – World Food Program head Ertharin Cousin says she won’t seek a new five-year term.
WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that Cousin has informed staffers at the U.N. food assistance agency and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of her decision.
Cousin’s term as WFP executive director expires on April 6.
Luescher said that the American didn’t specify her reasons for not seeking a new term, but had indicated “she does it with a great deal of emotion, but without an ounce of regret.”
The agency’s website says that the WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization with about 13,500 staffers serving more than 90 million people in 80 countries.
Luescher said that the WFP is now coping with its highest-ever number of crises.