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.
Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support
Elizabeth Spehar of Canada was appointed on 18 January 2022 as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA).
With 35 years of experience in international and political affairs, Ms. Spehar has worked in United Nations headquarters and in the field, leading political, development, peacebuilding and conflict prevention initiatives. Most recently, since 2016, she was the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), also serving as Deputy to the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus.
Previously, Ms. Spehar was Director of the Policy and Mediation Division in the former Department of Political Affairs (DPA), where she worked on policy and operational matters related to conflict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding and gender mainstreaming. Prior to this, she was the Director for the Americas and Europe Division and Director of the Europe Division in DPA, engaging extensively on key political issues facing the region. She also served briefly as Interim Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNFICYP in 2008.
Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Spehar was a senior official with the Organization of American States for more than 12 years, working to promote democracy and develop the Organization’s dialogue and conflict resolution instruments.
Ms. Spehar holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours from Queen’s University in Canada, a master’s degree in international affairs from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, also in Canada, and a Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures from the University of Pau in France. She speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Croatian.
Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee
Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee is Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.
A career diplomat, Ms. Pobee brings more than 30 years of experience in international affairs and diplomacy with her Foreign Ministry. Currently Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, she was previously Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations from 2015 until 2020. In that position, she performed various special assignments, including as the Chair of the African Group of Ambassadors in New York, Vice-President of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Chair of the New York Group of Friends of the African - Women Leaders Network, Co-Facilitator of the High-level meeting on Financing for Development 2019, and Co-Chair of the Group of Friends on Gender Parity at the United Nations, among others.
Ms. Pobee previously served as Deputy Head of Mission and Chargé d’affaires at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria (2012 to 2015), Director of the Information and Public Affairs Bureau at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2010 to 2012) and Head of Chancery at the Ghanaian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (2006 to 2010). She was Acting Director of the Bureaux for Human Resources and Administration (2006) and for Information, Culture and Linguistics (2004 to 2006). Posted to the Ghanaian Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2000, she served as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission (2002 to 2004), and as Chargé d’affaires (2000 to 2002). Ms. Pobee also served as Acting Director of the Personnel and Training Bureau (1998 to 2000), having been posted to Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva (1995 to 1998) and to the Embassy in Moscow, where she was First Secretary (1994 to 1995).
A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms. Pobee also holds a master’s degree in Development Studies with a specialization in Women and Development from the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. She also has diplomas in Public Administration and Multilateral Diplomacy from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and the Geneva Institute of International Studies.
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 |
Roza Otunbayeva |
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) |
2 September 2022 |
| African Union | Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union, UNOAU |
Parfait Onanga-Anyanga (Gabon) |
United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) |
22 February 2022 |
| Central Africa | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA | Abdou Abarry (Niger) | United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) | 28 July 2022 S/2022/582 |
| 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 S/2018/1097 S/2018/1098 |
| 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 |
| Haiti | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti |
Helen Meagher La Lime (United States) |
United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) |
14 October 2019 |
| Horn of Africa | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa |
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh (Ghana) |
22 February 2022 |
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| Hudaydah | Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) | Major General (retired) Michael Beary (Ireland) | United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) |
23 December 2021 |
| 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 | Joanna Wronecka (Poland) | Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) | 1 April 2021 S/2021/293 S/2021/294 |
| Libya | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Libya and Head of UNSMIL | Abdoulaye Bathily (Senegal) | United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) | S/2022/669 |
| 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 | 21 December 2020 |
| Mozambique | Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Mozambique | Mirko Manzoni (Switzerland) | 8 July 2019 | |
| Myanmar | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar | Noeleen Heyzer (Singapore) |
25 October 2021 |
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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 |
| Sudan | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan | Volker Perthes (Germany) | United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission (UNITAMS) | 7 January 2021 S/2021/11 S/2021/12 |
| 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 | United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) |
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| Western Sahara | Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara | Staffan de Mistura (Italy) | 6 October 2021 | |
| Yemen | Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen |
Hans Grundberg |
Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen (OSESGY) |
6 August 2021 |