Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Martin Kimani of Kenya as the new Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO). Mr. Kimani succeeds Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee of Ghana, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service.

Mr. Kimani brings to the position 25 years of experience in international relations, peace and security, and multilateral diplomacy across government, regional organizations and the non-governmental and private sectors.

Previously, Mr. Kimani served as Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations in New York (2020-2024). During Kenya’s tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council from 2021 to 2022, he served as President of the Council 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. In 2023, he was 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.

His earlier positions included Director of Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Centre and the President’s Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism (2015-2020), 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).

In the non-governmental sector, Mr. Kimani has 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.

Mr. Kimani holds a PhD and a master’s degree in War Studies from the King's College, University of London, United Kingdom. He also has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of New Hampshire, United States. He is fluent in English and Kiswahili.