UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named former Norwegian development minister Hilde Johnson and former senior Somali government official Omar Adbi as deputy executive directors of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF).
Johnson has been serving as senior adviser to the president of the African Development Bank since 2005.
Prior to that, she was Norway's Minister of International Development, a post she has held twice. She succeeds Rima Salah of Jordan.
Abdi is Director of UNICEF's Middle East and North Africa Region since August last year. Before joining UNICEF in 1992, he held a number of senior positions in the Somali Government. He succeeds Toshiyuki Niwa of Japan.
Active in over 190 countries, UNICEF works for the protection of children's rights and helps meet their basic needs.