The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed the Presidential Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Joseph Mutaboba, as his Representative to Guinea-Bissau.

Mutaboba will also work as Head of the United Nations Peace Building Support Office in the country known as UNOGBIS.

Ki-moon announced two new appointments to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

The second appointment was that of Karin Landgren of Sweden who was appointed Head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal.

Speaking to The New Times in Kigali on Thursday, Mutaboba expressed his joy upon his new responsibilities saying it not only makes him proud, but the whole country as a whole.

"I feel happy, it is a new move altogether. It’s a new challenge and I am a man of challenges,” said an excited Mutaboba at Kigali Serena Hotel yesterday.

Mutaboba, who is scheduled to meet the UN Chief in Addis Ababa for a briefing, said that he expects to take up his new position in the tiny West African Country with immediate effect and will be based in the Capital Bissau. He replaces Shola Omoregie who retired from the position at the end of 2008.

The experienced diplomat added that his new appointment will help foster peace in a country which for many years has been hampered by a series of political upheavals.

Mutaboba, who has had a long career in diplomacy and foreign affairs, also expressed satisfaction that most of his assignments during his short stint as the President’s Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region were successful.

He particularly cited his input in the successful talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to jointly work together to uproot remnants of the Ex-FAR Interahamwe under FDLR from the eastern part of DRC as his greatest achievement. 

Prior to his appointment as the President’s Special Envoy, he served as a Secretary General (Permanent Secretary) of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Internal Security respectively.

He also co-chaired the UN Permanent Advisory Committee on Security Issues in the Central African Region in 2006 and he also served as Rwanda’s Permanent Representative at the United Nation from 1999 to 2001.

Mutaboba has also, since 2003, participated in preparatory meetings of the International Conference on Peace and Security in the Great Lakes region and has overseen major reform programmes aimed at improving efficiency in different ministries. He also served as Coordinator for Rwanda and Head of the Peace and Security Thematic Group

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