Ghanaian diplomat Anita Kiki Gbeho gets top UN post in South Sudan

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday, December 8, announced the appointment of Anita Kiki Gbeho of Ghana as his new Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Resident Coordinator in South Sudan.

Ms Gbeho will also serve as the Humanitarian Coordinator.

Ms Gbeho succeeds Sara Beysolow Nyanti of Liberia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedication and service.

Ms Gbeho brings over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, coordination and management in political, development and humanitarian affairs at United Nations Headquarters and in diverse conflict and post-conflict settings, including Angola, Cambodia, Iraq, Namibia, Somalia and Sudan.

She has served as the Deputy Special Representative (Political) of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) since 2021, where she assists the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in supporting Somalia to achieve its peace and State-building goals.

Prior to that, from 2018 to 2020, Ms. Gbeho served as Deputy Joint Special Representative of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) where she led the development and implementation of the mission’s transition strategy.

Between 2015 and 2018, she was Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Namibia.

She has also served as Chief of Section in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York and as Head of Office for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia and South Sudan.

Ms Gbeho holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.