Martin Kimani appointed UN assistant Secretary General for Africa

• The Kenyan diplomat succeeds Ghana's Akyaa Pobee.

Ambassador Martin Kimani, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Africa. Photo: UN

Ambassador Martin Kimani has been appointed the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Africa.

Kimani was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday, in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO). The Kenyan diplomat succeeds Ghana's Akyaa Pobee.

Kimani has previously served as Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations in New York (2020-2024). He also served as a member of the UN Security Council from 2021 to 2022, when Kenya had non-permanent membership.

During his tenure at the Security Council, Kimani also served as President in October 2021, chaired its Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, and co-chaired its Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security in 2022.

Kimani also previously served as the President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Office for Project Services.

In Kenya, Kimani earlier served as Director of Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Centre and the President’s Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism (2015-2020). He was also Kenya's Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme and UN-Habitat (2012-2015), as well as Director of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (2011-2012).

He has also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Africa Center, Executive Director of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, and Deputy Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.