The UN and African Union announced today the appointment of a Somali diplomat as Deputy Joint Special Representative for Operations and Management in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

Mr. Yonis succeeds Hocine Medili of Algeria.

"The Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) is grateful to Mr. Medili for his tireless dedication and invaluable service to the United Nations over the past thirty-seven years," said a statement issued today in New York.

Mr. Yonis is already involved in the UNAMID activities since 2006.

He is currently serving as the Director of Mission Support in UNAMID, where he has been contributing in addressing the Mission’s operational, administrative and logistical support challenges.

His work with these operations began at the initial planning stages in 2006, when he served as the Head of the Darfur Planning Team in New York and later as the Mission Support Advisor to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).

His "broad management experience in supporting complex mission deployment activities will greatly contribute to his new role at UNAMID."

Mr. Yonis’s prior peacekeeping experience also includes senior-level assignments in field missions, including serving as the Chief Administrative Officer with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) from 2002 to 2006 and the Chief Administrative Officer in the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) from 2001 to 2002. .

Prior to service in peacekeeping, he worked for the African Development Bank in Côte d’Ivoire in various senior positions, including the Director and Management Advisor to the President of the Bank and the Deputy Director of Human Resources Management.

The former Joint Special Representative, Rodolphe Adada, a former foreign minister of the Republic of Congo, stepped down from his duties as UNAMID chief on August 31.