Secretary-General Appoints Bintou Keita of Guinea Ebola Crisis Manager for Sierra Leone

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Bintou Keita of Guinea as Ebola Crisis Manager for Sierra Leone for the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).  In her role as Ebola Crisis Manager Ms. Keita will work with the host Government and key stakeholders to ensure rapid and effective international emergency response to Ebola continues in Sierra Leone.

Ms. Keita succeeds Amadu Kamara of the United States, who will return to the United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia.  The Secretary-General expresses his gratitude to Mr. Kamara for his exceptional work in Sierra Leone and his commitment and dedication to fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Ms. Keita brings to the position a wealth of experience with more than 25 years of service in the United Nations including her most recent work as the Chief of Staff for UNMEER.  Previous to that, Ms. Keita served extensively in various senior management and leadership functions with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Chad, Congo, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Burundi and New York.  Ms. Keita also served as Deputy Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB).  She has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Guinea.

Ms. Keita holds a master’s degree in social economy from the University Paris II, Assas France and a post-master’s degree in business administration and management from the University of Paris IX, Dauphine France.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1104-BIO/3946 of 24 October 2007.