LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Britain's Valerie Amos, who
is heading to Syria on a U.N. humanitarian mission, is an expert
in the delicate art of international diplomacy.
Softly-spoken and famously cool under pressure, the U.N.
humanitarian chief will need all the tact and diplomacy she has
proved she possesses during a remarkable career if she is to
make progress in Syria.
Her task is to try to secure access for aid workers to
deliver U.N. emergency relief to people trapped in Syria's
conflict zones.
Before coming to international prominence with the United
Nations, Amos, 57, rose higher within Britain's political
hierarchy than any other female black Briton before her.
She became the first black woman to be appointed to the
cabinet when then Prime Minister Tony Blair made her
international development secretary in 2003.
A British newspaper described her at the time as "ice-cube
cool, prone to neither emotional nor indiscreet outbursts, she
thinks first, answers questions later."
Less than six months later, she became the first black
leader of Britain's parliamentary upper chamber, the House of
Lords.
After a stint as British high commissioner to Australia from
late 2009, Amos, who rarely gives interviews, took up her
current job as U.N. under-secretary general for humanitarian
affairs and emergency relief coordinator.
She was reported to have been nominated by Prime Minister
David Cameron, whose Conservatives ousted her Labour Party in
the 2010 parliamentary election.
"Valerie is not seen as a political person," British sources
were reported to have said at the time.
Her role, in charge of all emergencies requiring U.N.
humanitarian assistance, has taken her to a number of trouble
spots including earthquake-stricken Haiti. She also visited the
Libyan-Tunisian border area during Libya's civil war, and
famine-hit Somalia.
Born in Guyana in 1954, she developed a good grounding in
international affairs when minister for Africa in the British
government from 2001.
She worked on tackling poverty and increasing aid flows
through debt relief initiatives and promoting private-sector
investment on the continent.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby, editing by Andrew Osborn)
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