UN appoints Trump nominee Lindberg to head World Food Programme

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.