‘I know the pain of losing a home,’ says new refugee agency chief

KAKUMA, Kenya: Barham Salih has known torture and the wrenching loss of exile. Four decades after his own ordeal, he has taken the helm of the UN refugee agency as it grapples with a funding shortfall and ever-rising needs. A former Iraqi president, Salih, 65, became the first former head of state to run the UN High Commission for Refugees at the start of the year. “It is a profound moral and legal responsibility,” Salih said during his first trip in the new role — to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. “I know the pain of losing a home, losing your friends,” he said.

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