Iraqi ex-president Salih on track to lead UN refugee agency and take over from Grandi, letter says

GENEVA (AP) — Former Iraqi President Barham Salih is on track to become the next head of the U.N. refugee agency, according to a letter from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres shared with The Associated Press on Friday.

Salih, 65, is set to succeed longtime UNHCR veteran Filippo Grandi as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Grandi took office on Jan. 1, 2016, and his second five-year term expires on Dec. 31. He had succeeded Guterres in the post.

Salih, a native of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, served as Iraq’s president from 2018 to 2022.

The letter dated Thursday and signed by Guterres was addressed to Ambassador Atsuyuki Oike, Japan’s top diplomat in Geneva and chair of UNHCR’s executive committee.

Diplomatic officials in Geneva, speaking on condition of anonymity because the appointment wasn’t finalized, told the AP that the letter was authentic.

Alessandra Vellucci, chief spokesperson for the U.N. office in Geneva, said that the appointment must go through “a proper process” that includes consultations with the committee, and a final decision will be taken by the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

“The process is ongoing. And once it’s finished, there will be an an official announcement made by the United Nations,” she told reporters at a regular U.N. briefing.

The expected succession comes at the end of a devastating year for many U.N. organizations like the Geneva-based refugee agency. It has cut thousands of jobs and spending in the wake of sharply reduced foreign aid contributions by the United States — traditionally its top donor — and other Western countries.