WINNIPEG – A Canadian Muslim aid worker has been appointed director of global emergencies, staff security and supply management by the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Thank God I’ve been able to do it up until now,” Ahmed Warsame told CBC News from Africa on Thursday.

“I feel very much strong and have a sense that yes, the job comes with a great deal of stress. Often times we are working away from our families and loved ones, and that, too, adds a personal cost.”

Warsame, a Somalia-born humanitarian aid worker, has spent most of the past 30 years in areas where some of the world’s worst conflicts have occurred, including south Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan.

The new role in Geneva required him to help provide protection and assistance to millions of displaced refugees worldwide.

His job and other leadership roles at the UN come bundled with some scary occupational hazards.

Warsame said in all his years working around the world, the scale of the recent refugee crisis that led millions to leave countries in the Middle East for Europe is worse than anything he’s ever seen.

“The number of people internally displaced and those forced to leave their homes has increased quite substantially,” he said.

“We’re not seeing an end to many conflicts around the globe just yet.

“It’s been unprecedented, and again, many of them are fleeing from wars and conflict. I hope the situation in their home countries [improve].”

Who Is Ahmed Warsame?

Warsame has been a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in South Sudan during the last three years. He worked in several hotbed humanitarian zones including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Pakistan.

During his time in Kenya, he led UNHCR operations in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world.

In Pakistan, he led UNHCR assistance and protection programs for 1 million Afghan refugees and 1.5 million internally displaced Pakistanis. In Geneva he worked as UNHCR’s humanitarian coordinator for Horn of Africa countries.

His appointment comes at a time when the world is dealing with global refugee crisis in Syria, Iraq, Kenya and elsewhere.

“I will be overseeing UNHCR’s timely and quality deliveries, making sure that UNHCR in partnership and in collaboration with international, national organizations and with governments to respond to emergencies and the needs of the displaced populations in their home countries as well as those who cross into other countries, international borders,” he told Voice of America.

“Our priorities” he said are “to make sure those who are affected by conflict and by man-made crisis and those who are subjected to flee their homes for fear of prosecution are assisted in a timely manner.”

Warsame will be based in Geneva and will take up his post January 15.