United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga (Gabon) as his Special Representative for the Central African Republic and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Mr. Onanga-Anyanga served as the Acting Special Representative for the Central African Republic and Head of MINUSCA since 16 August 2015, when he succeeded Babacar Gaye of Senegal, who served as the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General of MINUSCA.

Mr. Onanga-Anyanga brings with him extensive experience with the United Nations in conflict-affected areas, including in his role as the Coordinator of United Nations Headquarters Response to the Boko Haram crisis since January 2015, and previously as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi and Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi, as well as Assistant-Secretary-General and System-Wide Senior Coordinator on Burundi (2012-2014).

From 2007 to 2012, he was the Director of the Office of the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General. Previously, Mr. Onanga-Anyanga was Special Adviser to the President of the sixtieth and sixty-first sessions of the General Assembly from 2005 to 2007 and served as the Chef de Cabinet to the President of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly in 2004.

Mr. Onanga-Anyanga holds a post-graduate degree in political science from l’Université Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne in France, and a master’s degree in sociology from l’Université Omar Bongo in Libreville, Gabon.

Born in 1960, Mr. Onanga-Anyanga is married and has three children.