LEONARD Zulu has been appointed the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Uganda.

The host country approved his credentials with effect from November 1 2024 following his appointment by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

"Leonard has more than 20 years of experience in humanitarian action, development, peacebuilding, human rights, and the protection of refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons. He holds a master's degree in international law from Lund University and a Bachelor of Laws Honours Degree from the University of Zimbabwe," a statement from the office of the UN Secretary General said.

A lawyer by profession, Zulu began his career at Honey and Blankenberg Legal Practitioners between 1996 and 1997 specialising in Civil Litigation, Criminal Law defence among other roles.

He joined the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR) as an Executive Assistant between 2002 and 2005 before his elevation to the position of Senior Regional Protection Officer until 2009. Thereafter he was promoted to the position of Head of Global Cluster Support Cell and several other positions going up the agency's ladder before his subsequent appointment to Resident Coordinator.

Zulu has also served as the UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan, where he led and coordinated the agency's operations. Before that, he worked as a UNHCR Representative for the South Africa Multi-Country Office (2020-2022) and as Deputy Director of that Office (2019-2020).

He also served in Kenya, Hungary, Serbia and Zimbabwe, as well as at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva.