Secretary-General Appoints Bintou Keita of Guinea Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Bintou Keita of Guinea as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.  She will succeed El Ghassim Wane of Mauritania, to whom the Secretary-General reiterates his deep gratitude and appreciation for his dedicated service to the organization.

Ms. Keita joined the United Nations in 1989.  Since 2015, she has been serving as Deputy Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).  Prior to that, her most recent positions include Ebola Crisis Manager for Sierra Leone, Chief of Staff and Director of Operations for the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response from 2014 to 2015.

Ms. Keita served in several senior management and leadership functions with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Chad, Congo, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Burundi and the United States.  From 2007 to 2010, she was Deputy Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi.  She has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency in Guinea.

Born in 1958, Ms. Keita holds a master’s degree in social economy from the University Paris II, France, and a post-graduate degree in business administration and management from the University of Paris IX, France.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1601-BIO/4772-PKO/534 of 27 October 2015.