According to the ICTR Spokesman, Roland Amoussouga, Mr O'Donell stepped down on his accord. "He has resigned for personal family reasons," Mr Amoussouga told Hirondelle Agency Thursday.
O'Donell joined ICTR as Chief of Chamber Support Section in late 1990's. He became acting Deputy Registrar in 2005 to replace Lovemore Munlo, who was appointment Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
O'Donnell was confirmed as the Deputy Registrar in May 2007 by the Registrar, Adama Dieng.
Last year, Senior Trial Attorney, Sylvana Arbia, stepped down to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague as the Registrar.
The UN Security Council has directed that all first instance ICTR trials must be concluded before end of this year. The original completion deadline was December, 2008.
Following the Security Council's extension, the ICTR Registrar last month disclosed during a staff members meeting that their contracts had been extended until September, 2009
However, despite the extension offer, senior UN staffs have been leaving the Arusha-based court for greener pastures elsewhere, creating a big vaccum in number of important positions and which may affect the completion strategy if proper and timely replacements were not availed.
SC/GF
© Hirondelle News Agency
