United Nations (New York), (Samajweekly) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday announced the appointment of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga of Gabon as his special representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU).
He will succeed Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana to whom the Secretary-General expresses his deep gratitude and appreciation for her dedicated service, Xinhua news agency reported.
Onanga-Anyanga brings over 25 years of progressively responsible experience at the national, regional and international levels with extensive experience with the United Nations, both in conflict-affected areas and at headquarters. He brings to the position well-honed skills in building consensus among stakeholders and his knowledge of the organisation to strengthen the partnership between the UN and the AU in the area of peace and security, according to a press note issued by the Secretary-General’s office.
He served since 2019 as the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa. Prior to that, he served as special representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
In his previous capacities, he was the Coordinator of United Nations Headquarters Response to the Boko Haram crisis as well as special representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi and Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi.
Previously, he served as the Chef de cabinet to the President of the 59th session of the General Assembly and as special adviser to the President of the 60th and 61st sessions of the General Assembly.
