United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the appointment of Simon Munzu of Cameroon as his Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI).

He will succeed Arnauld Akodjènou of Benin, who now serves as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Akodjènou for his outstanding performance in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mr. Munzu brings to this position a wealth of political, human rights, legal, academic, and management experience from a career spanning more than thirty years.

He joined the United Nations as a United Nations Volunteer in 1995, and served the Organization until 2012 in various capacities in Rwanda, New York, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr. Munzu has served as Acting Head of the United Nations Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda; Senior Policy Adviser with the United Nations Development Programme; Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Côte d’Ivoire and Chief of UNOCI’s Human Rights Division and Director of Political Affairs in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO).

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Munzu spent more than thirteen years in academia as a senior lecturer in law in Cameroon, and is currently an advocate and member of the Cameroon Bar Association.

Mr. Munzu holds a degree in law from the University of London, as well as a doctorate degree in law from the University of Cambridge, and has been a Member of the Bar in England since 1973.

Born in 1949, Mr. Munzu is married and has four children.