Michael Keating appointed as Special Representative for Somalia and Head of UNSOM Michael Keating appointed as Special Representative for Somalia and Head of UNSOM

Michael Keating appointed as Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) announced by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Mr. Keating will succeed Nicholas Kay of the United Kingdom who will complete his assignment at the end of the year.

About Michael Keating :

• Mr. Keating brings to this position extensive experience in supporting political andpeacebuilding transitions, as well as leading complex humanitarian and recovery programmes in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa.
• He was 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.
• He served as Executive Director of the Africa Progress Panel, a policy group chaired by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

About UNSOM :
United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM ) was the first part of a United Nations (UN) sponsored effort to provide, facilitate, and secure humanitarian relief in Somalia, as well as to monitor the first UN-brokered ceasefire of the Somali Civil War conflict in the early 1990s.