UK's Tom Fletcher named head of UN humanitarian agency

The United Nations named British diplomat and academic Tom Fletcher as head of its humanitarian agency on Wednesday, as the organization grapples with unprecedented crises and budget pressures.

He succeeds Martin Griffiths, who has suffered poor health, at the helm of the sprawling organization that has long been headed by a British national. A spokesman for the UN told a briefing that Fletcher did not yet have a start date to head the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and that Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, would continue as the acting OCHA chief until he took up his new role.