Secretary-General Appoints Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee of Ghana Assistant Secretary-General for Africa

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee of Ghana as Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.

Ms. Pobee succeeds Bintou Keita of Guinea, who took up a new assignment as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).  The Secretary-General is deeply grateful for her service and contributions as the first Assistant Secretary‑General for Africa in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.

A career diplomat, Ms. Pobee brings more than 30 years of experience in international affairs and diplomacy with her Foreign Ministry.  Currently Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, she was previously Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations from 2015 until 2020.  In that position, she performed various special assignments, including as the Chair of the African Group of Ambassadors in New York, Vice-President of the seventy-first session of the United Nations General Assembly, Chair of the New York Group of Friends of the African Women Leaders Network, Co-Facilitator of the High-Level Meeting on Financing for Development 2019, and Co-Chair of the Group of Friends on Gender Parity at the United Nations, among others.

Ms. Pobee previously served as Deputy Head of Mission and Chargé d’affaires at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria (2012-2015), Director of the Information and Public Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2010-2012) and Head of Chancery at the Ghanaian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (2006-2010).  She was Acting Director of the Bureaux for Human Resources and Administration (2006) and for Information, Culture and Linguistics (2004-2006).  Posted to the Ghanaian Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2000, she served as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission (2002‑2004), and as Chargé d’affaires (2000-2002).  Ms. Pobee also served as Acting Director of the Personnel and Training Bureau (1998-2000), having been posted to Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva (1995‑1998) and to the Embassy in Moscow, where she was First Secretary (1994-1995).

A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms. Pobee also holds a master’s degree in development studies with a specialization in women and development from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.  She also has diplomas in public administration and multilateral diplomacy from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and the Geneva Institute of International Studies.

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* This supersedes Press Release BIO/4741 of 31 July 2015.