The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Hilde Johnson will step down after completing her term in July, she announced today.

She informed the country’s president of the decision during a meeting today.

In remarks after the meeting Johnson linked her departure to the change of UNMISS’ mandate. She said, “This is a new mandate, it is different from the one that was decided when I came in as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), which was in 2011.”

Johnson, who heads the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), said the new mandate for UNMISS “will imply changes also for the Mission.” She said by 9 July she will have completed her term of office and will not be continuing. 

She also pointed out that she will have spent three years as Special Representive, "which is much more than usual for an SRSG in a peacekeeping mission of this nature, and in particular also with the crisis that we’ve gone through.”

“I informed the President that I have come to the end of my term and I will be departing South Sudan. It’s been a real honor to serve, and I will still be here for a few weeks,” she said.

Johnson noted that South Sudan has “a strong place in my heart and will continue to have that.”

The announcement came just days after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to extend UNMISS’s mandate by six months.

Johnson’s announcement was initially reported by the UNMISS Department of Public Information, not by the New York headquarters. No successor has been announced.