UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced on Monday, May 1, the appointment of Clementine Nkweta-Salami of Cameroon as Deputy Special Representative for Sudan in the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). Clementine Nkweta-Salami has many years of experience in managing complex humanitarian situations and refugee issues.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami will also serve as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. She succeeds Khardiata Lo N’Diaye of Senegal.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami, says the UN, has 30 years of experience in humanitarian affairs and protection, mainly in the field. Prior to her appointment, she was, since August 2019, director of the Regional Office for the East Africa, Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Regions ((EHAGL) of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), responsible for providing strategic guidance, support and oversight to 11 UNHCR country offices.
The EHAGL covers 11 countries, including Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as the Office of the UNHCR Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (RAUECA). Clementine Nkweta-Salami also oversaw UNHCR’s engagement with the East African Community (EAC), the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Previously, she was UNHCR representative in Ethiopia for 4 years. She was also UNHCR’s Regional Representative for Southern Africa, accredited to the Republic of South Africa, based in Pretoria, and oversaw UNHCR’s operations in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Indian Ocean Island countries.
Managing complex humanitarian situations
Long before, Clementine Nkweta-Salami was UNHCR Representative in Burundi. Prior to that, she was Deputy Representative (Protection) in Guinea, Head of the Inspection Section in the Office of the Inspector General at UNHCR’s Geneva headquarters and Senior Legal Advisor in the Department of International Protection at the agency’s Geneva headquarters. She has also held field positions with UNHCR in the United Republic of Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami is a lawyer and member of the Bar of England and Wales and the Cameroon Bar Association. She began her professional career as a lawyer in Cameroon and has worked for UNHCR since 1993. Her first assignments were in Benin, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami holds a Master’s degree in Corporate and Commercial Law from University College, London, a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Warwick (UK) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences, Sociology and Political Science from the University of Ottawa (Canada).
