New York, 26 May 2026 : United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Mohamed El-Amine Souef of the Comoros as his new Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). He succeeds Abdou Abarry of Niger, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his important contribution and service to UNOCA.
Mr. Souef brings 35 years of experience in the areas of diplomacy, foreign affairs and peacekeeping. Since March 2025, he has served as Chief of Staff of the African Union Commission. Previously, he was the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union for Somalia and Head of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), and of its predecessor, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) (2022-2025).
Prior to joining the African Union, Mr. Souef served in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) (2020-2022 and 2015-2017) and the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) (2011-2015).
Mr. Souef has held various leadership positions in the Government of the Comoros, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (2017-2020 and 1999-2005), and Permanent Representative of the Comoros to the United Nations (2006), Member of Parliament at the National Assembly (2002), Ambassador of the Comoros to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the League of Arab States (1994-1998) and Adviser to the President of the Comoros (1992-1994).
Mr. Souef holds a post-graduate Diploma of Advanced Studies in Modern Literature from Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco, and a Bachelor’s degree in Language and Literature from the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia. He also attended diplomatic trainings at the Institute for Diplomatic Studies of Egypt (1991) and the Foreign Service Academy of Islamabad, Pakistan (1991-1992). He is the author of six books on Politics and Geopolitics. In addition to his native Comorian, he is fluent in Arabic, English, French and Swahili.
