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UN chief names new head of UN Mission in Somalia

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced the appointment of Michael Keating of the United Kingdom as his new special representative for Somalia and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).

Keating will succeed Nicholas Kay, who will complete his assignment at the end of the year.

The secretary-general is grateful for Kay's dedication, courage and excellent leadership of UNSOM over the past two and a half years, a critical period for Somalia's political transformation, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"Mr. Keating brings to this position extensive experience in supporting political and peacebuilding transitions, as well as leading complex humanitarian and recovery programs in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa," Dujarric said.

While as associate director of Chatham House since 2012, he concurrently served as senior advisor to the secretary-general's special envoy to Syria. He was deputy special representative of the secretary-general and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan from 2010 until 2012.

Having served as executive director of the Africa Progress Panel, a policy group chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his earlier career was divided between assignments with the United Nations, serving in Malawi, Gaza/Jerusalem, New York, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the private sector, working with companies and public sector bodies engaged in environmental, human rights, and development issues.

Keating holds an MA in History from the University of Cambridge.

Born in 1959, he is married and has four children. Enditem