Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary A. DiCarlo
Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary A. DiCarlo
Rosemary A. DiCarlo of the United States assumed the post of Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs on 1 May 2018. She was appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres and succeeded Mr. Jeffrey Feltman.
As Under-Secretary-General and head of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), Ms. DiCarlo advises the Secretary-General on peace and security issues globally, while overseeing "good offices" initiatives and field-based political missions carrying out peacemaking, preventive diplomacy and peace-building activities in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia and the Americas. She also oversees the United Nations electoral assistance provided to dozens of its member states each year.
Ms. DiCarlo brings more than 35 years of experience in public service and academia. During her distinguished career with the United States Department of State, she served, among other functions, as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. In that capacity, she represented the United States at the Security Council, General Assembly and other United Nations bodies. Prior assignments included Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Director for United Nations Affairs at the National Security Council in Washington, D.C. Her overseas tours took her to the United States Embassies in Moscow and Oslo.
She also served as President of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy from August 2015 to May 2018 and was concurrently appointed a Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
Ms. DiCarlo graduated from Brown University with a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature, as well as Slavic languages and literature. She speaks French and Russian.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Ms. DiCarlo is married.
Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco
Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina was appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support on 2 September 2014 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
With more than 30 years of experience in the United Nations System, Mr. Fernandez-Taranco worked both at Headquarters and in the field, managing development, political, peacebuilding, human rights and humanitarian operations in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific and Europe.
Prior to his appointment, he was Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs in the Department of Political Affairs since July 2009. He also served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania.
From 1994 to 1998, he served as Deputy Special Representative of the Administrator in the West Bank and Gaza Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People. He was also the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director in the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP, from 2001 to 2006, and Resident Representative, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti from 1998 to 2001.
Mr. Fernandez-Taranco was educated at Cornell University, where he studied economics, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying urban-regional economic planning. Born in 1957, he is married and has two children.
Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Bintou Keita
Bintou Keita is Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations..
Ms. Keita joined the United Nations in 1989. From 2015 to 2017, she served as Deputy Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). Prior to that, her most recent positions include Ebola Crisis Manager for Sierra Leone, Chief of Staff and Director of Operations for the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response from 2014 to 2015.
Ms. Keita served in several senior management and leadership functions with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Chad, Congo, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Burundi and the United States. From 2007 to 2010, she was Deputy Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi. She has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency in Guinea.
Born in 1958, Ms. Keita holds a master’s degree in social economy from the University Paris II, France, and a post-graduate degree in business administration and management from the University of Paris IX, France.
Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Miroslav Jenča
Miroslav Jenča of Slovakia became Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs on 1 May 2015.
With the reform of the United Nations peace and security infrastructure that came into effect on 1 January 2019, Mr. Jenča assumed responsibility for overseeing the Organization’s work in Europe, Central Asia and the Americas on behalf of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.
Mr. Jenča has served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, between 2008 to 2015. He was previously Director of the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, as well as Ambassador and Head of Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He served as Ambassador and Representative of Slovakia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union and Ambassador of Slovakia to Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, including positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and diplomatic missions in Ireland and Mexico.
Mr. Jenča holds a Doctor of Law degree from Comenius University in Bratislava. He studied foreign trade at the University of Economics in Bratislava, diplomacy and international relations at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and diplomacy at Stanford University.
Born in 1965, he is married and has two children.
Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Khaled Khiari
Khaled Khiari of Tunisia was appointed as Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations on 28 May 2019.
Mr. Khiari brings over 35 years of experience in diplomacy and foreign affairs alternating between his Foreign Ministry headquarters and overseas postings. He served inter alia as Director General of Americas, Asia and Oceania in the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2018-2019), Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations in New York (2012-2018), Director of Human Rights within the Department of International Organizations and Conferences at the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011-2012), Chargé de Mission in the Ministry of Youth and Sports (2009-2010), Deputy Director, Euromed, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Europe Directorate (2007-2009), Deputy Head of Mission (2003–2006) and Secretary of Foreign Affairs with the Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the United Nations Office in Geneva (1987-1993) and the Ministry’s Department of Maghreb Countries (1984).
Mr. Khiari participated in numerous multilateral and regional activities during his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notably as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform, President of the Executive Board of UN-WOMEN, Vice-President of the United Nations General Assembly, Non-Aligned Movement Coordinator of the Peacebuilding Commission in New York, President of the African Group of experts to the World Summit on Information Society in Geneva and Coordinator of the Arab group on European Parliament issues in Brussels.
He is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Management of Tunis, where he earned a master’s degree in Management, specializing in marketing.
Born in 1960, Mr. Khiari is married and has two children.
Senior Officials in the Field
| Country | Title | Name (Country) | Organizations | Date of appointment |
| Afghanistan | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of UNAMA |
Deborah Lyons |
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) |
24 March 2020 |
| African Union | Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union, UNOAU |
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh (Ghana) |
United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) |
10 December 2018 |
| Burundi | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General |
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| Central Africa | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA | François Louncény Fall (Guinea) | United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) | 14 February 2017 S/2017/137 S/2017/138 |
| Central Asia | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Asia and Head of UNRCCA | Natalia Gherman (Moldova) |
UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan | 13 September 2017 S/2017/785 S/2017/786 |
| Colombia | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Colombia and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia | Carlos Ruiz Massieu (Mexico) | UN Verification Mission in Colombia | 10 December 2018 |
| Cyprus | Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus | United Nations Good Offices Mission | ||
| Geneva International Discussions | UN Representative to the Geneva International Discussions |
Ayşe Cihan Sultanoğlu (Turkey) |
United Nations Representative to the Geneva International Discussions (UNRGID) | 6 July 2018 S/2019/597 S/2019/596 |
| The Great Lakes region | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Great Lakes Region | Huang Xia (China) | Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region |
17 January 2019 |
| Guinea-Bissau | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Guinea-Bissau and Head of UNIOGBIS | Rosine Sori-Coulibaly (Burkina Faso) | United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) |
29 July 2019 S/2019/597 S/2019/596 |
| Horn of Africa | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa |
Parfait Onanga-Anyanga (Gabon) |
12 March 2019 |
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| Hudaydah | Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) | Abhijit Guha (India) | United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) |
12 September 2019 |
| Iraq | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of UNAMI | Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (Netherlands) |
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) | 31 August 2018 S/2018/809 S/2018/808 |
| Lebanon | Special Coordinator of the Secretary-General for Lebanon | Ján Kubiš (Slovakia) |
Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) | 9 January 2019 S/2019/27 S/2019/26 |
| Libya | Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of UNSMIL | United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) | ||
| Middle East | Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority | Tor Wennesland (Norway) | Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process | |
| Mozambique | Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Mozambique | Mirko Manzoni (Switzerland) | 8 July 2019 | |
| Myanmar | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar | Christine Schraner Burgener (Switzerland) |
26 April 2018 |
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| Somalia | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and Head of Mission, UNSOM | James Swan (United States) | United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) |
30 May 2019 |
| Syria | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria | Geir O. Pedersen (Norway) |
31 October 2018 |
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| West Africa and the Sahel | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and Head of UNOWAS | Mohammed Ibn Chambas (Ghana) |
United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) | 18 March 2016 |
| Western Sahara | Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara | |||
| Yemen | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen |
Martin Griffiths |
Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen (OSESGY) |
16 February 2018 |